Many Miss Historic Emmitsburg on Their Commutes
Maryland Town is Part of the The Journey Through Hallowed Ground
© Jim Rada
Dec 29, 2008
Thousands of cars pass through Emmitsburg daily. Their drivers are intent on getting to work or getting home and never realize that they are passing through centuries of architecture styles in the Emmitsburg Historic District.
“The Emmitsburg Historic District is significant because it reflects the growth and development of this northern Frederick County market center. Furthermore, the buildings which line its streets reflect small town interpretations of most of the major styles which characterized American architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries and the pre-World War II period of the 20th century. Most of the town remains architecturally intact with some buildings remaining from the initial development of the town in 1785,” according to The Journey Through Hallowed Ground web site.
Where the Name Came From
The first known use of the name “Emmitsburg” appears in an August 12, 1785 deed, where Samuel conveyed 35 acres to his son William, “wherein the lots of a new town of Emmitsburg are laid out.”
One of the earliest printed versions of the founding of Emmitsburg appeared in a November 1880 series in The Emmitsburg Chronicle: “In the year 1786 the male inhabitants of the village and vicinity assembled at Hockinsmith’s tavern, one and a half miles from town, now the home place of Mr. David S. Gillelan, to deliberate concerning a change of name. Hon. John McGurgan being called to preside, proposed to change the name from ‘Poplar Fields’ to ‘Emmitsburg’ after Wm. Emmit, Esq., one of the largest land holders in the District. All present threw up their hats, clapped their hands and hurrahed for Emmitsburg. The company had quite a merry time; drank the health of the newly baptized town and returned home full of sanguine expectations of the rapid growth of their infant settlement.”
The Greater Emmitsburg Area Historical Society believes that a meeting to name the town, not rename it, took place on March 5, 1785 and resulted in an agreement between the town lot purchasers and Samuel and William Emmit. The original town lots were sold for two pounds and 10 shillings provided the buyer built a house on the lot within two years.
Building the Town
Richard Jennings, a merchant, built the town’s first house, which was a one-story log house and he later built the town’s first brick house. The Hughes brothers built their homes on the northwest corner of the town square in 1786. They then went on to build the Eagle Hotel. Richard Baird built the third brick house in town and it became the Presbyterian parsonage.
James Hughes built the town’s second brick house on the northeast corner of the town square. “This venerated mansion was the cradle of the Catholic church in Emmitsburg. It contained a room where the catholics assembled to assist at the Divine Service,” reported The Emmitsburg Chronicle.
Many of these original buildings were lost in the Great Emmitsburg Fire on June 15, 1863. By the time the flames sputtered out, twenty-eight houses and nine businesses were damaged or destroyed. Three of the four corners of the town square were black with fire and all four of the four blocks to the east of the square were fire damaged. Other reports put the number of damaged buildings at 50 and half of the town destroyed. In actuality, probably about a quarter of the town burned, based on a population of slightly less than 1,000.
It’s many of the houses and businesses that were rebuilt from the ashes that have formed Emmitsburg’s present day character and made it part of The Journey Through Hallowed Ground.
