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BICENTENNIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE FREDERICK, MD., NEWS-POJJefferson * Robbers9 haven to respectabilityBy LKK SHORTThe evolution of New Town, in 1800 a rough spot in the road now known as Md. 180, into the quiet community of Jefferson is one of the more curious of , the municipal histories ot Frederick* County. /Not much is known about the present . site of the town betore June 20, 1774, when Daniel Johnson Low was granted* 100 acres at the present town site by the British CrownThis tract, “Low Land’1 was sold to Melcor Tabler on Aug. 22, 1705, and Tabler sold 98 acres of the land 10 a St. Mary’s County native, the widow Eleanor Medley, on Nov. 15, 1774, who combined the acquisition with a three-acre tract she purchased from the225-acre “Children’s Chance” adjacent to “Low Land.”Leonard Smith, executor under Mrs. Medley’s will, laid out the town of “New Town” on Low Land in 40 lots, 20 on each side of Main Street.The 40 lots, most of them having 82 feet of Irontage on Main Street and a depth of 204 feet, were placed on sale and 22 were sold in early 1775 at a purchase price of five pounds sterling, subject to a ground rent ol six pence per year, payable to Mrs. Medley’s heirs._Of the first 22 lots sold in New Town in 1775, 15 were purchased by farmers, two by wheelwrights, one by a shoemaker, and another by a blacksmith. Most of the early development of New Town appears to have occurred in the western half ofthe town.From the beginning New Town was dependent upon the north-south turnpike along which the original 40 lots were laid out. Designated Main Street, the road was reported to be 50 feet wide through the small town in 1787.The heavy traffic of coaches, teams of horses, horsemen, and foot travelers on the road soon provided the basis for noteworthy business development in New Town, with the opening of mills, stores, houses, and eventually churches.About 1795, Elias DeLashmutt laid out another community, New Freedom, to the west, adjacent to New Town. New Freedom, inspired by the apparent success of New Town, contained at least 22 lots bearing a 60-foat frontage on Main Street and a depth of 182 feet.But the twin villages entered the 19th century with the reputation of being a tough place on the north-south turnpike It was said to be a dangerous place for travellers to tarry, due greatly to the reputation of the two taverns situated at the northern and southern ends of the town that by then was called “Traptown” or ‘‘NewtownTrap.”It is said that in 1800 there were only four dwellings to be found in the tough town on the turnpike, but this did not keep the town from becoming a focal point for local residents interested in discussing news of the day.In 1799 an Irish immigrant, James Torrence, arrived in New Town and opened a general store on Hidge Road (Main Street). In addition to supplying the local residents with the materials they needed from time to time, his store „ soon became a gathering place where neighbors could tarry and discuss local gossip and news.It was natural, then, that Torrence’s general store should become the site of the Newtown Trap post office on Sept. 23, 1801, with Torrence being appointed post master.In 1832, during the term of Frederick County Commissioners William Lynch, Levy Williss, and John W. Pratt, and due largely to the efforts of state legislator William Cost Johnson, the twin communities of New Town and New Freedom (or Newtown Trap or Traptown) were merged into the single town of Jefferson.The decision to name the recently-merged community Jeffersoncame about after considerable controversy. It seems there was strong sentiment for the naming of the town “Catoctin” after the local Indian tribe, but Jefferson was settled upon in honor of the third President of the United States. Henry Culler became Jefferson’s first mayor.Churches began to make their appearance on the Jefferson landscape at about 1830 with the construction of the Methodist Episcopal ChurchBy that time the town was being served by its first physician, Dr. John Tilder, who practiced medicine after the Revolutionary War in this small community until his death in 1838.Jefferson’s reputation for being a tough town got a new boost in 1837. On Feb. 13 of-that year in Alexandria, Va., Congressman William Cost Johnson, a Whig from Jefferson, participated in the infamous “pattern duel” with William Schley.Johnson and Schley were both wounded but neither seriously in the duel in which a single pistol shot was fired by each. The two reportedly became friends from that day for the rest of their lives.Two of the town's most successful business enterprises got their start in 1848 with the establishment of an undertaking business by J.G. Etehison and his wife Julia Ann and the establishment of the Hemp Meat Market by Abraham Hemp.The Etchisons and their sons, Louis C. and Eugene, built caskets in a barn in the front corner of the Methodist churchyard west of the Lander Road intersection.In 1922 the business was moved to Frederick, where it still operates as the Smith, Fadeley, Keeney and Basford Funeral Home, P.A.Abraham Hemp bought property and an existing butcher shop from Feaster Hoffman Co. in 1848. He and his son, R Douglass Hemp, drove cattle up the 7xh mile toll road from Jefferson to Frederick for further shipment to Baltimore in the days before cattle were shipped by truck. They often drove cattle through Jefferson’s Main Street.The meat market still operates as R.D. Hemp Sons. It is said that beef could be purchased from the market in 1850 for five to seven cents per pound, liver for three cents per pound, pork for 6.25 cents per pound, and veal for 6.5 cents perpound. Today’s prices are somewhat higher.Public schooling came to Jefferson in 1865, although the Union School had been built in 1824, the Jefferson School in 1841, and Jefferson High School in 1861. Blacks were taught at Holland’s Chapel in a one-room building on the Old Middletown Road in the early 1900’s.By 1887 mail was delivered to the town by rail via the Lander Post Office, for 30 years located in Russ Horine’s general store. Not until the 1950s did trucks carry the town’s mail from Frederick.In about 1906 a freight and passenger trolley line was constructed by a New York contractor using a labor force of mostly Italian immigrants. It ran 4 75 miles from Jefferson to Braddock Heights and operated as the Braddock Heights Railway Co. until Sept. 9,1943.In 1907 Lewis E. Summers began selling Oliver farm machinery, feed, fertilizer, seed, coal, and farm supplies. A year later the Oliver line was replaced by International Harvester machinery.In 1945 Summers erected a new machinery repair business building. On Jan. 31, 1950, however, fire destroyed almost everything. Nonetheless, the H.C. Summers Co. was rebuilt and remains a bulwark of Jefferson’s business community.Progress came to Jefferson in an unhurried manner until the post-war building boom increased the town’s population six times over between 1949Middletown(Continued from pages)advertised lines of furniture. The Gladhill Funeral Home was another of the Gladhill family businesses The Valley Register, begun in 1839 by Jacob T.C. Miller, was the town’s enterprising newspaper.More recently the town has grown to include barber shops, beauty salons, doctors and dentists, insurance and realty agencies, Gates Variety Store, the Valley Coffee Shop, two automobile dealerships (Middletown Ford, formerly Reed’s, and the Model Garage), The Grangers Mutual Insurance Company, and two suppliers of garden and agricultural needs Southern States and Agway.
Newspaper Details
Frederick Foundations
Frederick, Maryland, US
Mon, Oct 20, 1975
Page 28
Full Page
Clipped by
Frederick C.
MD, USA 14 Apr 2024
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