"Mother's Day" Carroll County Times article for 10 May 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal The May 9, 1942 issue of the Binghamton, N. Y. Sun newspaper published a brief history of the first Mother's Day observance which mentioned the role of J. Hampton Baumgartner, a former Westminster resident: "Here's the Story of America's first Mother's Day we believe [...]
"A Letter from the Klondike" Carroll County Times article for 3 May 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal The discovery of gold on Klondike Creek in the Yukon on August 12, 1896 sparked the "Klondike Stampede" of 1897-8, the second great "gold rush" in the nineteenth century. News of the strike reached the U.S. in June 1897 [...]
"Westminster Businessmen Unite" Carroll County Times Article for 26 April 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal The second Westminster Train station was a nearly new building in the spring of 1898 when local business men perceived the railroad as an indirect threat to their livelihoods. The April 9, 1898 issue of the Westminster Democratic Advocate newspaper described the formation [...]
"Destruction of the Battleship Maine" Carroll County Times article for 19 April 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal On February 15, 1898, Havana Harbor was rocked with the violent explosion of the Battleship Maine, described by one witness as a "bursting, rending, crashing sound of immense volume." When the survivors were counted they numbered only 85. The [...]
"Carroll County in 1853" Carroll County Times article for 12 April 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal As tax time approaches, it may be interesting to look at how local government spent tax dollars nearly a century and a half ago. In 1953 Walter V. Bennett, president of the Board of County Commissioners, presented an entertaining lecture [...]
"Elmer Stubbins: Itinerant Artist" Part II Carroll County Times article for 5 April 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal Last week's column presented Part I of George Wetzel's 1973 article about local artist Elmer B. Stubbins. This column concludes the story of this colorful figure: "Gradually Elmer began to leave the camera at home more and more, [...]
"Elmer Stubbins: Itinerant Artist" Part I Carroll County Times article for 29 March 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal Many readers of this column are familiar with our native artist William Henry Rinehart. Far less well known are a number of other local artists who worked in the county during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. [...]
"George Washington Bicentennial Exhibition" Carroll County Times article for 22 March 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal The Bicentennial of George Washington's birth in 1932 rekindled popular interest in the first president and the Colonial era. Among the many local activities was a storefront exhibition of artifacts prepared by Alfred Nusbaum of Westminster. A newspaper article describes [...]
"McGinnis Distillery Robbed" Part II Carroll County Times article for 15 March 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal Part I of this story appeared last week. "The Federal grand jury was called on to investigate the robbery it was announced Monday by Amos W. W. Woodcock, United States Attorney. Three other investigations are in progress, it was [...]
"McGinnis Distillery Robbed" Part I Carroll County Times article for 8 March 1998 By Jay A. Graybeal The ratification of the 18th Amendment in January 1919, which made the sale of alcoholic beverages illegal, ushered in the turbulent era of Prohibition. While the proponents of Prohibition thought that the absence of alcohol would improve society, the [...]