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The History of The Blue Ridge Summit Free Library

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Celebrating Its 100th Anniversary

Joan Bittner Fry

Statement Concerning the Monterey Library: From private undated papers. Previous to a library being housed at the Episcopal Church property, a library was located at Dunbrack Inn. The Dunbrack Library was originated by the leaders of the summer community around Monterey and Blue Ridge Summit in 1894.  Located behind the library was the Dunbrack Inn. This and other Dunbrack properties were set back almost in the forest along Charmian Road.

The library building and the lot on which it stood belonged to a corporation chartered by the State of Pennsylvania, called the Monterey Library Building Company. This property was originally subject to a mortgage held by a Mrs. Cropper of Washington, D.C., and the mortgage money went into the construction of the library building. This mortgage was finally reduced to $1,800. Mrs. Moore, who at that time owned Mr. Knapp’s cottage; Mrs. Cowman of the Clermont Hotel; Miss Rolando; James Carey; and Thomas Hughes contributed $300 toward the mortgage.

The contents of the library consisted of donations made to The Monterey Improvement Association, which existed for many years from the time of the construction of the library. 

There was a similar association at Blue Ridge Summit, called “The Blue Ridge and Monterey Improvement Association.” It was found that The Blue Ridge and Monterey Protective Association was ample to look after the interest of both sections in consequence of the extensive area growth.

The contents of the library, composed of donations exclusively or purchases made with library funds, belong to this community and are supervised and guarded by the committee of the library, the successors of the committee of the former Monterey Improvement Association, and is this for the benefit of the community.

The Monterey Library was reorganized in 1922, and for the next 26 years, was located in the upstairs of the parish house of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration (see photo right), near the Western Maryland Railroad Station in Blue Ridge Summit. Miss Elizabeth Willard was the librarian at that time.

The Church of the Transfiguration began as a house church in the late 1800s when summer visitors to Blue Ridge Summit felt a need for worship in the Episcopal tradition. The church grew, and a parish house was built that became the center of much activity in the Blue Ridge Summit area. It eventually housed a library, a basketball court, a bowling alley, a large kitchen for suppers, a stage for plays, and an apartment for the rector. Later, with the advent of air conditioning and each family owning an automobile, the summer population dwindled, and in the early 1960s, the parish house was converted into the present church building. The library was moved to the upstairs of the church.

Western Maryland Railroad Company Donates Blue Ridge Summit Train Station, 1957  

Located in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains, the Blue Ridge Summit Railway Station was deeded July 8, 1957, to the community by the Western Maryland Railroad Company to be used as a public library. The building was a former passenger station for the many thousands of vacationers who came to this resort for the summer. A unique feature of this library is that it serves residents from four counties (Franklin and Adams and Washington and Frederick) and two states (Pennsylvania and Maryland).

The rambling gray railroad station, which dominates this verdantly cool Franklin County town of Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, in Franklin County, in the center of one of the east’s most famous summer resorts a half century ago, was presented to the people of the community by the Western Maryland Railway Company. The site includes the large frame building, plus 1.5 acres of land.

The wooden building, with its conical metal-covered tower that has been a landmark here for years, wooden platforms, benches, tiny telegraph room and concourse, occupying in all an acre and a half of land, will be used as a public library.

Presentation of the deed for the property marked a brief afternoon ceremony.  J. B. Ferguson, a member of the board of directors of the Western Maryland Railroad and a long-time cultural and business leader of Hagerstown, C. R. Zarfoss, vice president of traffic for the Western Maryland Railroad, and a group of town leaders participated.

Mrs. Robert W. Hearne, president of the board of the Blue Ridge Summit Free Library, accepted the deed on behalf of the library and the people of this area. She declared: “The entire community owes a debt of gratitude to the Western Maryland Railway Company for the gift of this station. It is to be a real community center. It is to be preserved, insofar as possible, in its present form. We shall have to change the interior, of course, but we want to retain its outer physical characteristics so that people will always know that it was once a railroad station. We of the board want especially to thank Mr. Ferguson for his efforts on our behalf. When the idea was broached of making this building a library, Mr. Ferguson went to work to help make this dream a possibility.”

Mr. Ferguson then paid tribute to Mrs. Hearne and the library board, Harvey Gearhart, vice president; Miss Marea Harris, treasurer, and Earl Bohn, Miss Blanche Eyler, Mrs. James Annis, Mrs. Jack Kramer, Miss Ethel Wedge, and Miss Martha Connor.

The gay days of the swift Blue Mountain Express that carried Baltimore’s top society the 70 miles to this great mountaintop resort at the turn of the century were recalled nostalgically by those present.

Mr. Zarfoss noted that the train used to carry as many as 2 million riders a year—most of them between Baltimore and the Pen Mar area. In the 1920s, the automobile sounded the death knell of the railroad’s thriving passenger trade and signaled the end of the area’s role as a great summer resort. Mr. Zarfoss presented the library two copies of Harold A. Williams’ The Western Maryland Story.

Miss E. Willard, Summit Librarian, Honored at Dinner

Note: Miss Elizabeth (Betty) Willard was the former librarian. This undated article pertains to her retirement.

In October, Miss Elizabeth Willard, for 35 years the librarian at the Blue Ridge Summit Free Library, has stepped down. Mrs. Robert Hearne, president of the library board, said Mrs. James Annis will take over as librarian. Miss Willard will continue as assistant librarian.

The announcements were made at a dinner meeting at Greystone Inn.  The affair honored Miss Willard. Edward Cooey spoke for the group in appreciation of Miss Willard’s service. In addition to Miss Willard, Mrs. Hearne, and Mrs. Annis, the party included J. Harvey Gearhart, vice president; Mrs. Joseph Dailey, secretary; Miss Marea Harris, treasurer; and E. E. Bohn; Miss Blanche Eyler; Mrs. Jack Kramer; Mrs. J. M. Dutrow; and Miss Ethel Wedge. Representing the Washington County Library Association were Edward W. Cooey, president, Mrs. Mary Louise Holzaphel, and Mrs. Madeline S. Startzman.

Western Maryland Railway Station at Blue Ridge Summit became the Blue Ridge Summit Free Library (1957).

Looking Back 1915

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The Wreck of the Blue Mountain Express, Part 1

by James Rada, Jr.

Note: This is the first of two articles about the wreck of the Blue Mountain Express between Thurmont and Sabillasville in 1915.

On June 25, 1915, the Blue Mountain Express, bound for Hagerstown, pulled into the Western Maryland Railroad Station in Thurmont about twenty minutes late for its 5:10 p.m. stop in town. Apparently, the train had had a hotbox that needed to be repacked while the train was in Union Bridge, according Charles Eyler in George Wireman’s book, Gateway to the Mountains.

In Thurmont, the train hurriedly took on water and dropped off Baltimore’s afternoon newspapers for delivery. The stop was short, in hopes of making up some lost time.

The express was made up of a Pullman Parlor Car, three coaches, and a baggage car. “Although it was primarily a freight line, the Western Maryland became famous for the excursion trains it ran to the Blue Ridge, and for the Blue Mountain Express, said to have been the finest train in the East,” Wireman wrote.

Meanwhile, in Hagerstown, the train dispatcher, Edgar Bloom, was busy trying to keep trains moving along the stretch of track that he watched over. Of the 180 miles under his supervision, all but 20 miles were single track. That meant if two trains were coming from different directions, he had to notify the nearest station to have one train pull off onto a siding until the other train passed.

“Bloom had been doing this for a while and knew his job, but, today, he was having trouble communicating to the east. A storm earlier in the week had knocked down a telegraph line. Add to that, the general confusion of a very busy day and Bloom lost track of countermanding an order that gave the Blue Mountain Express the right of way,” according to the Adams County News.

From Thurmont, the next stop was Sabillasville. Outside of Thurmont, the Blue Mountain Express started up the mountain on a section of single track that ran for just over two miles.

Around 5:30 p.m., local residents heard the familiar sound of the Blue Mountain Express’s train whistle, but instead of stopping, it continued blowing. People knew something was wrong and rushed to where they heard the whistle.

On the tracks, it’s not certain how soon the engineers saw the trouble coming at them. The eastbound Baltimore Unlimited came head to head with the westbound Blue Mountain Express. “It is presumed that the engineers of both trains believed the other had been ordered to take the siding to allow his train to pass, …all-steel cars helped minimize loss of life,” the Adams County News reported.

The two engines hit. The impact crumpled some cars and knocked others off the High Bridge, over Owens Creek, and into the ravine one hundred feet below.

Seconds before the crash, Fireman Vendergerst, on the Baltmore Unlimited, “made a thrilling leap for safety,” according to the Frederick News. It did him little good. He was found later with a broken back and legs broken in several places. He was taken to the hospital in Hagerstown.

  1. B. Taylor of Westminster was sitting in the smoking car when he felt the train slowing. He thought the engineer might be applying the emergency brake.

“I thrust my head out of the window and beheld a terrifying sight,” Taylor told the Hagerstown Herald Mail. “The engine and tender of the Blue Mountain was over the bridge, while the baggage car was smashed in, part of it falling into the ravine behind the engine and tender.”

Uninjured, Taylor grabbed his things and headed for the door, along with the other passengers in the car.

He was one of the lucky ones.

high-bridges-wreck-002-co

Train wreck at High Bridges, taken June 24, 1915. This view shows the east bound engine; the other had been moved.

Photo Courtesy of Thurmontimages.com