Main Street buildings - Old Ellicott City - North side

Historic & flood prevention sites along Main Street (Frederick St.), in Ellicott City. 1860 Schase map (left) and 1834 McLoughlin lottery sketch depict the buildings on Main Street.

For more info on the history and physical descriptions click links to their Historic American Buildings Survey data sheets (HABS) after most building names.
Old Ellicott City Trolley more info and photo at end, is free Sat/Sun 11:00-7 for transport, not a tour bus.
Click to enlarge images

Oliver Viaduct (RR bridge with ELLICOTT CITY) HERE, Angelo Castle (on hill) HERE, Bridge Market (E.T. Clark Property, Radcliffe's Emporium, Louis T. Clark Grocery) HERE

Baltimore to Frederick town turnpike mile stone "10 M to B" [Baltimore] under B&O Oliver Viaduct (bridge) HABS HERE. Blog posts: Mile stone HERE, B&O Railroad HERE, B&O Station HERE

Old Patapsco Hotel (8018 Main St). 5 posts- County fair held inside one year and initially for passengers (RR station for baggage). Posts: HERE; rebuilt using the old stones.

Old Railroad Hotel c1847 for RR workers. (on left side) HABS HERE

Old Stone Tavern/ Town Hall/ Opera House. (now: Forget Me Not Factory), HABS HERE

The rock in the ground form some of the back wall

8048-8056 Main St. Hill, Robbins, Carter's 5 shops on Main Street. 5 doors, 2 passages to stairs HABS HERE

Hunt’s General Store (stone) c1837 HABS HERE. McLaughlin-Campbell-Laumann Building 8060 Main (purple) HABS HERE

Stairs incase of flooding

John Williams house c1835, law offices then businesses HABS HERE. 8080 Main (tall beige) HABS HERE. Bernard Campbell House (stone) HABS HERE

Patapsco National Banks: Building 3 - brick with white columns c1905-1980s 8098 Main Street closed as First National Bank HERE. Building 2 - Second Patapsco Bank brick c1886 8090 Main Street HABS HERE [Building 1 - stone c1840 on hill, St. Paul's St next to church HERE]

8120 Main (white) HABS HERE, 8116 (pink), 8104 (yellow)

I.O.O.F. Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge. bought in 1863. HABS HERE

Howard County Times newspaper 8156 Main St. built between 1890-1924

Walker House c1790 (stone, right)
Charlotte Tazewell House 8188 + 8186 Main c1842 (white). HABS HERE
Samuel Powell House 8198 Main c1835 (stone) next to Howard House. HABS HERE
Howard House then Firehouse

Walker House c1790 became a tavern, bootery “largely for the young men who attended St. Charles College” [HABS], Red Cross headquarters, C&P phone office, various stores now Syriana. HABS HERE

Howard House Hotel, 8202 Main Street. The new wing on left side has a Masonic symbol on the light center square since the Patmos Lodge No. 70 met there. Large area for meals. Easy access to the courthouse on the hill via the back door on the 2d floor, then up the stairs. HABS HERE

Firehouse 3829 Church Road 1889-1924, municipal office and a meeting hall from 1906-1935, library until 1988, now a museum. HABS HERE

Talbott Lumber (Stone), Disney's Hotel, Starr Funeral Home (brick)

Deborah Disney's Hotel and 'tavern' 1830s to 1860. Posts HERE. HABS HERE

Talbott Lumber Co. Replaced a 4 story hotel annex by Disney. In 1894 Talbott and Clark. Now a restaurant with their brewery building across the alley. HABS HERE. 8329 Main 1920.

Through the alley is a Stormwater Staircase. 2017. Stairs but also area to disperse flood waters HERE

Brick part of building on the right was Mrs. Disney's office mentioned in the posts HERE. encased in 8321 building then 8334 Main 1860. Dr. Owings home and office for short time; Third firehouse 1938-1997 now: Wine Bin (at far end before log cabin). HERE , then log cabin.

Mrs. Disney's office. now Sunflower Trading Co. 8398 Court Ave

Jonathan Ellicott had the building built c1839. John Day had home and store, then Dr. Owings, after losing most of family and their home in 1868 flood (eventually put up that post) HERE

Firehouse. Third firehouse 1938-1997 now: Wine Bin. "the lantern on the roof is a close copy of the lantern on Doughoregan Manor." [HABS report HERE]

Aubergine by Jan Kirsh 2018

Current firehouse - Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Department 4150 Montgomery Road (by Rt 29 exit and Old Columbia Rd into Main St. EC). Large model train display for Christmas every year.

Thomas Isaac Log Cabin was moved and reconstructed at 8394 Main Street. Research by Marlena Jareaux (Early Ellicott City Black History: A Historic African American Church, A Log Cabin and Lynching) found that it was built in 1851 on land owned by Levi Gillis. Sat-Sun 11-4 May-Nov

Old Ellicott City Trolley. Free. Sat/Sun 11:00-7. Look for the TROLLEY signs. Parking Lot F behind Log Cabin off Ellicott Mills Drive; Visitor Center (PO); to mid Main; to Tiber Park; to Parking Lot A off Oella Avenue across the Patapsco River. Started in 2025. HERE. HoCo buses are part of Transitapp which shows exact locations if downloaded HERE

Trolley working in 1950s from Stewart, George R. US 40: A Cross Section of the United States of America. Boston: 1953.

Electric trolley 1898 post HERE.
EC electric power co. 1894 post HERE

Maps of Main Street businesses from the Visitor's Center in the old Post Office.

Search: Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties- MIHP HERE
Howard County Interactive Historic Sites Viewer map HERE

Floods blog posts HERE


©2026 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten History of Ellicott City & Howard County MD