CARROLL COUNTY, MARYLAND

HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY


1764. First Methodist house of worship in colonies, the John Evans House, built under leadership of Robert Strawbridge in Frederick (later Carroll) County.

1787, May 21. Toll roads connecting Baltimore with Frederick, Hanover, Reisterstown, Winchester's Town (now Westminster), and York authorized by General Assembly.

1818. Westminster incorporated.

1833. Manchester incorporated.

1825, Sept. 13. William Henry Rinehart (1825-1874), sculptor, born at Union Bridge.

1836. Taneytown incorporated.

1837. Carroll County formed from western Baltimore County and eastern Frederick County; named for Charles Caroll of Carrollton (1739-1832).


[color photo, Carroll County Historic Courthouse Courthouse Square, Westminster, Maryland] 1838. Courthouse constructed at Westminster.

1839. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad extended line through Mount Airy Cut.

1843. New Windsor incorporated.

1843, March 10. First New Windsor College chartered but never opened.

Carroll County Historic Courthouse, Courthouse Square, Westminster, Maryland, January 2002. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.


1846, Aug. 8. Frank Brown (1846-1920), Governor of Maryland, born at “Brown’s Inheritance”, near Sykesville.

1852, May 31. Calvert College (1852-1873), a Roman Catholic institution, incorporated at New Windsor (first building, "Old Main," opened in Oct. 1850).

1862, Sept. 11. Confederate 5th Virginia Cavalry Regiment under Col. Thomas L. Rosser raided Westminster.

1863. Westminster Public Library opened.

1863, June 29. Maj. Gen. George G. Meade (1815-1872) established his Union headquarters at Taneytown.

1863, June 29. Union Capt. Charles Corbit led Companies C and D of 1st Delaware Calvary in unsuccessful charge against Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's Cavalry Division at Westminster. Confederate Cavalry stopped at Union Mills on their way north to Pennsylvania.

1863, June 29. Union troops under Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock encamped at Uniontown on route to Gettysburg.

1863, June 30. Union troops encamped at Union Mills.

1863, July 1. Union troops under Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock marched through Taneytown on route to Gettysburg.

1863, July 1. Union Maj. Gen. George G. Meade designated Westminster as main supply depot for Union troops at Gettysburg.

1863, July 29. Union Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg's division passed through New Windsor at night on route to Westminster.


[photo, McDaniel College, Westminster, Maryland] 1868. Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) chartered by Methodists (organized 1866), the first coeducational college south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

1869, Sept. 28 - Oct. 1. Carroll County Agricultural Society held first exhibition at new fairgrounds in Westminster.

1872. Union Bridge incorporated.

McDaniel College, Westminster, Maryland, July 2006. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.


1876. New Windsor College, a Presbyterian institution, founded in former Calvert College.

1885, June 2. Townshend Cook lynched in Westminster.

1888. Hampstead incorporated.

1894. Mount Airy incorporated.

1896, July. Second Hospital for the Insane of the State of Maryland (now Springfield Hospital Center) opened at Sykesville.

1897, August 14. Carroll County Fair began as annual picnic at Otterdale Schoolhouse near Taneytown.

1899, Nov. Maryland Collegiate Institute founded by Church of the Brethren at Union Bridge.

1904. Sykesville incorporated.

1910. Maryland Collegiate Institute renamed Blue Ridge College.

1912. Blue Ridge College bought and moved into New Windsor College.

1943. Blue Ridge College closed.

1948, Dec. 2. Whittaker Chambers removed several canisters of microfilm containing State Department documents from hollowed-out pumpkin on his Pipe Creek Farm for U.S. House of Representatives UnAmerican Activities Committee in hearing against Alger Hiss.

1954, Aug. 12. Carroll County Fair moved to Carroll County Agriculture Center in Westminster.

1976. Carroll Community College opened in Westminster as a branch of Catonsville Junior College.

2004, March 2. Electronic voting system used during primary elections at polling places and for absentee ballots in all counties and Baltimore City.

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