Cumberland Pictorial

Pictures Contributed by Joanna Grove Greenwell

John Long's Store

At Gettysburg with friends. Great-Grandfather, George Grove, is fourth from left standing. He was born in 1865 and wouldn't have been in the Civil War.

Cumberland Worker's Campaign Ball
1888 for Benjamin Harrison's campaign. In front of his home in Indianapolis.

Flood 1902 Feb 28
Ralph Grove is standing in the water. The picture was probably taken from the viewpoint of George Grove's German Village. The family lived over the Restaurant/Tavern. The Post Office replaced that building.

Circus People
My Great-Grandfather, George Grove, in his early days, was a machinist for the B&O. He made a gear for the circus carousel. They became life-long friends. They paid him enough to open his German Village Restarant/Tavern.

George Grove's German Villiage
on Front Street
They served the best homemade sauerkraut and sausage in Cumberland. The entire staff is posed outside in this picture, including the cooks, William H. Grove and Mrs. Rattinger.

34 Virginia Avenue (per 1917 directory)
31 Virginia Ave (in 1925).
I believe only the number changed. At the corner of Virginia and Boone. Left to right: her Aunt Sallie Valentine(?), Louisa Sangston Grove, her granddaughter Georgia Grove.

Pictures Contributed by Tom Hynson

Baltimore Street

1858
Baltimore Street

Washington Street

Green Ridge Railroad
Okonoko to Mertensville

Green Ridge Railroad
John Mertens, Manager of Lumber Business

Queen City Glassworks Employees
Operated by F. Mertens Sons;
John H. Mertens, Manager;
F. L. Tilghman, Sect.;
B. F. Biser, Floor Manager

Queen City Hotel
Opened 1873
with 125 girls from Boston

Postcards contributed by Carol Nida

City Water Works

St. Patrick's Catholic Church

St. Peter & Paul's Catholic Church

"G. W. Pugh 3 Virg. Ave." Written in pencil on the back - South Cumberland

Narrows Pictures Contributed by Buddy Duckworth

Narrows 1906

Narrows Park

First Baptist Church

Believed to be the 1919 Sunday School Class.

John Sherman TWIGG, sitting, second from left, is the only one identified.

Contributed by Barbara Raschka

Swift & Company

1928 Employees of the Swift & Co.
South George Street, Cumberland

Stanley Twigg, W. E. Growden, George Mingle, Gus Heinrich

Ercit McDonald, Richard Sulser, Edith Cochenhour, Clara Shobe

James Littlefield, Charles Bowman, E. M. Twigg

Carl Shatzer, Joseph Taylor, Charles Shryhock

May Zimmerman, Eva Riehl, Bertha Free

Paul Kelker, Richard Shober, Mike Loar

Roman Twigg, Howard Willison, Melvin Little, Howard Collins

Lucy Cross, __ Smith, Eva Brotemarkle, Fred Hawkins

Clifford Bucher, Bob Kanaur, Gene Brannon

Ulrich C. Barnard, and plant manager Bernard E. Burkey

John Place, John Macbeth, Fred Lauree

Donald Bennett, Henry Twigg.

The only three living members are Richard Sulser, Melvin Little and Clara Shobe.

The plant burned down in the late 1940's, and employees were transferred to other areas. The plant was rebuilt on the same site, but recently it moved to the Industrial Park along Rt 220, south of Cumberland.

Contributed by Oliver E. Sulser of Cumberland

Pictures contributed by Connie Beachy

Allegany County Courthouse

Baltimore Street

Algonquin Hotel

George Washington's Headquarters

Riverside Park on Greene Street
Background (east): Retaining wall for Wills Creek and Western Maryland RR tracks and station.
To the right of photo (south) Wills Creek empties into Potomac River.
A tad further south is where the C&O Canal terminated and where canal boats were loaded in Cumberland.

George Washington's Headquarters
Significant Dates

• 1755 - Constructed by General Braddock's men
• 1755-1758 - Occupied by George Washington during French and Indian War.
• 1794 - President Washington used it once again as his headquarters when he came to visit the troops sent to put down the Whisky Rebellion.
• 1844 - At the request of Judge Thomas Perry, George Blocher purchased and moved the headquarters from its original site at Fort Cumberland to the Blocker farm on Bedford Road. John Baker resided there for 22 years.
• 1920 - Dr James Walter Thomas discovered and purchased the headquarters. Requested by the Mayor and City Council to donate it to the City of Cumberland.
• 1921 - Restored by William J. Morley. Presented to the citizens of Cumberland on April 21, 1921. Guests of honor were General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American forces in the World War, and Major Charles Bridges, military attaché, representing the British Government. Also present were Dr James W Thomas, Major G. C. Marshall, Jr, Pershing's aide, George Henderson of the American Letion, William C. Walsh, City Attorney, Congressman Fred N. Zihlman, Tasker G. Lowndes and Rev Dr James E Moffatt, who offered the invocation. The parade featured a large number of dough-boys, representatives of the Grand Army of the Republic and Spanish-American war veterans.

Source: History of Allegany County, Thomas & Williams, p 360-5

Bell Tower Building

City Hall (1912) 57 North Liberty Street This structure replaces Cumberland City Hall and Academy of Music, completed in 1876 and destroyed by fire in 1910. City Hall is on the east side of North Liberty, facing west.	Bell Tower Building (1885) Corner of Liberty & Bedford This structure was built as police headquarters and served as the county jail until 1936. From 1941-1972 it was used by the Allegany County League for Crippled Children. Today it is the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce headquarters.	US Courthouse & PO (1904) 19 Frederick Street This structure originally served as a post office and courthouse. In 1934, it was converted to a police station. Today, Cumberland's Senior Citizens Center occupies the building. The police are in a building across the street in the foreground, Bedford Street.
Central Station #1 - Location of Cumberland's First Paid Fire Department (1906) This structure was located to the right of the Bell Tower Building and faced the City Hall. It was razed in 1978. [From Feldstein's Top Historic Postcard Views of Allegany County, Maryland]

Baltimore Street

View from the southwest corner of Mechanic Street, looking east down Baltimore Street

Fourth building from the left is the Fort Cumberland Hotel (1917). It is on the northwest corner of Liberty and Baltimore Streets. This is where General Pershing stayed when he visited Cumberland in 1921, You can still see the words Fort Cumberland Hotel along the sides and back of the building though the building is no longer called that. The tall building with the flag flying on its roof beyond the Fort Cumberland Hotel building is Rosenbaums. The local radio station WCBC occupies the two story brick building on the southeast corner of Mechanic and Baltimore Streets. To take this photo, I stood in front of the location of the men's clothing store Metro Clothes owned and operated by Joseph Feldstein in 1932-1984. He began his business in the Olympia Hotel on the northwest corner of this intersection. After the 1936 flood, he moved to the south west corner. The Feldstein family has placed a plaque at the store's location to commemorate Joseph's years of service to the community.

Second National Bank on southeast corner of Liberty and Baltimore

The Second National Bank Building (1890)
71 Baltimore Street

This photo is taken standing next to the old Fort Cumberland Hotel, looking south. along Liberty Street. The First National Bank and the Second National Bank merged in 1963 under the name First National Bank and located in this building. The plaque on the building is confusing as it makes no mention of the Second National Bank. Today this site is occupied by the F & M Bank. The First National Bank building prior to 1963, is on the southwest corner of George and Baltimore Streets. It was constructed in 1912 and is currently occupied by the First People's Community Federal Credit Union.

Today the building houses a bakery, just as it did in 1957 (Federal Bake Shop) and a cafe. In 1957 Kay Shoes occupied the location of the cafe. The building can be seen in a photograph on page 143 of A Pictorial History of Allegany County. Also visible in the 1957 photo is the building on the right, then the location of the Home Pharmacy. The front was not covered with that hideous metal siding. Hopefully, someone will elect to restore the building to its earlier grandeur. The building partially visible on the left has the number 84 "carved in stone" on the face of the building. I have not found any other photographs that would help to identify what business may have occupied this site in earlier times. Also visible in the 1957 photo are St Paul's English Lutheran church, now gone, and McCrory's, and Rosenbaums. Though these businesses have gone their buildings remain, giving all a chance to reflect on a more prosperous time in Cumberland.

This building is located on the north side of Baltimore Street between Liberty Street and Centre Street

Where the Jewelers Worked

At least three of these buildings have housed jewelers over the last century.

• The second brick building from the left, with the pink trim and small circular windows decorating the roof line is where Walter Powell conducted his business at 103 Baltimore Street. The building can be identified in an 1896 photo on page 74 of A Pictorial History of Allegany County. The building to the right with the arched window is also partially visible in the old photograph. The brick building to the left of Powell's building was not yet constructed in 1896.
• The stone building with the blue trim was the location of the S.T. Little Jewelry Company. In the early 1900's its address was 97 Baltimore Street, and at that time as indicated on an advertising button, they were "Jewelers Over Half A Century." Barnes Jewelers located in this building and their name is still on the building above the entrance. Today you can find antiques of all sorts there.
• Located next door is Morton Jewelers, in business on Baltimore Street for 69 years, though not always at this location. The current owner went out of her way to fix a ring of mine, before I left Cumberland. Ironically, this was the ring of my great aunt Pearl, who came to Cumberland frequently on her way to visit cousins on a farm in nearby Barton. For all I know, she may have purchased the ring right here on Baltimore Street.
• FYI, a new restaurant is located in the building next to Morton's. It is worth a visit!

Baltimore between Centre & George

North side of Baltimore between Centre & George Streets

Moving from left to right in this photograph, you can see the corner of McCrory's, Rosenbaums, Schwartzenbach & Son's, a red brick building and the G.C. Murphy's. Beyond Murphy's it the empty block that was once graced at its corners by the Barnum and Revere Houses, AKA the Windsor Hotel and the Kenneweg Building.

Actually, the F & M Bank has a drive-thru facility located on part of the Windsor Hotel lot. Never-the-less, it feels like a lot of empty space.

Rosenbaums was founded by Susman and Simon Rosenbaum in 1878. They built this building in the late 1890's, opening here in 1899. Rosenbaums closed in 1971.

Schwartzenbach's still has the name above the entry way. The business began before the turn of the century. This building was erected in 1911. Rumor has it that the state of Maryland is renovating the building and intends to use it.

G.C. Murphy's has occupied the northwest corner of George and Baltimore Streets since about 1929. In 1896, the McMullen Brothers first occupied this site and constructed this building in 1910. In 2001, G.C. Murphy's is going out of business.

Baltimore Street - Looking West from Queen City Drive

Baltimore Street and Baltimore Avenue Intersection

The York Hotel and the YMCA Building (1928)

The building to the left appears in an early 1900 photo as the Hotel Imperial,
then in the early 1940's, it assumes the name Walton.
(See pages 78 & 132 in A Pictorial History of Allegany County)

Cumberland Cement & Supply Company

Photo taken from the parking/vacant lot between Centre Street and the RR tracks. You can see the tracks and a building on Henderson Blvd in the background.

Photo taken on the same side of the buildings but at a slightly different angle.

Photo taken from the RR side of the silos. For those familiar with the area, note the tressels are gone. The building behind the house may be a part of the Old German Brewery.

Photo taken from the back of the silos so the homes you see are located along Centre Street.

Today this building is filled with fantastic parts of church organs in all stages of creation. A pleasant young man said the building still belonged to the Steiners who now operate their cement business out of the Cumberland Cement place located just off Rt 40/National Pike about a quarter mile west of the old Mt. Savage Road.

According to Mark Steiner who still owns the silos and is the person who makes and repairs organs, and got an ok to share the pictures. And this little bit of history.

1. Mark's grandfather, George Steiner, bought the silo building in the 1920.
2. Tressels were removed by whatever train company owned the tracks in 1992.
3. Mark doesn't know when the Centre St. School was torn down.

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