Patapsco Hotel as railroad station

Interestingly, this hotel had a side balcony at track level and used as the passenger station for the new train.  Then the train crossed Main Street/turnpike on the Oliver Viaduct to get to the freight station.  The train service began on May 24, 1830, arriving at 9AM, 1 and 6PM for 75 cents. Its many owners have used the building as hotel, apartments and even an ice plant.

The black and white image from the 1834 lottery print depicts the extended balcony, further detailed in an 1855 print. The lottery sale transferred the hotel from Andrew McLaughlin to T.G. Brown. Advertisements from the mid 1830s called it 'Blackwood's Hotel' (leased?), and an 1850 promo by John R. Brown. During the Civil War it owned by unionist McGowan, and by 1878 owned by T. Wilson who sold it to the Hunt family in 1905.  The stone building was gutted in an attempt to make an ice plant, which weakened the structure, thus causing it to be torn down in April 1926, and rebuilt by Pennington using the original granite blocks, windows and doors.  Other owners included a Thomas and a Stewart.  

A sketch from an 1855 book shows the X Hotel (front and side view), next to V Oliver Viaduct (the railroad bridge over main street) which led to the RR  B&O station and the built up T  railroad tracks (left).  B Turnpike covered bridge (lower right).

Famous individuals who stayed at the hotel in the 1840s were Presidents Andrew Jackson, Martin van Buren, James Buchanan; others were Johns Hopkins, General Z. Taylor, Henry Clay and Sam Houston. [Holland, 1972]

Although the present structure was built c1930, it is made of the granite blocks from the previous building.

More posts on the Patapsco Hotel HERE
 
Sources -
Md. Inventory of Historical Structures HO-70
"A Sketch from Rock Hill, advertising a Valuable real and personal property sold by Andrew McLaughlin by Lottery in accordance with Act of Maryland Legislature passed Feb. 19,  1834"
Holland, Celia. Ellicott City, Md. Mill Town, USA
Holland, Celia. "Old Patapsco Hotel register [1845-1848] found."  Daily Times Oct. 9, 1972 
Bowen, Eli.  Rambles in the path of the steam horse.1855

©2017 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD