Trying to tame the floods - Stormwater Staircase; Tiber branch, Hudson branch, New Cut

The Hudson and Tiber 'branches' (more like streams in dry weather) join in parking lot D behind the visitor's center (old post office).  The Tiber branch enters from the pipe on the left, and the Hudson branch flows under Main St. then under the building in the upper right. They become the Tiber branch as it proceeds east, joined by New Cut stream, then flows into the Patapsco River.

The Pioneer - the first railroad passenger car - on a stamp

In 1830, the first horse drawn passenger car was used on the B & O rail road from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills.  To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the B & O, a postage stamp was released showing the Pioneer, Tom Thumb (first steam engine) and a 1952 modern locomotive.

Wealthy Kraft family's butcher shop on Main Street OEC

8081 Main St., a fine stone building, was built c1833 as a home then became a store.  In 1881 Dorothy Kraft bought the building for Kraft's Meat Market. The Kraft meat sign is seen on the first building.



Andrew Kraft (1836-1881) and Dorothy (1839-1916) were both from Germany - he arrived at age 15, she at age 6 and started working at the mills.  He worked for a butcher, then started out on his own. They married in 1858 and had a large family which continued the business after she died in 1916 as "one of the richest women" in the county leaving "$300,000 worth of property" to her family.

Walking from Ellicott Mills to Elkridge, then by train in 1843

On Friday, Oct. 13, 1843 a reporter (“Old Honesty”) walked the six miles from Ellicott’s Mills to Elkridge Landing and wrote a long article about the scenery, mills and trains along the Patapsco River.  He passed Illchester, Thistle Factory (image left), Avalon Furnace, Elkridge Landing and Relay station.

The river was called 'Patapsco Falls' until it reached Elkridge, where it was called 'Patapsco River' to the Chesapeake Bay.

1831 B & O survey of route for the first rail road line

The first passenger and freight railroad ran from Baltimore to Ellicott's mills (Ellicott City).  The tracks headed south out of Baltimore to run along the Patapsco River mills (Avalon mill at Elkridge, Md) to Ellicott's mills.  From the 1831 Ellicott mills rail road station (the oldest rr station in America, now a museum HERE) the route ran west along the river then to Frederick.

Oldest train station in America - B & O station in Ellicott City

The Ellicott City B & O train station, on lower Main St., was opened in 1831.  The right (southern) portion of the station was a "Car House" for repairs, making it also the only "combination" rail road station still in existence.  It is a museum, owned by Howard County since 1997, with free admission.  Go visit!   The track and railroad bridge are still in use by CSX. To the side of the station is a turntable, a replica of the first horse drawn passenger car "The Pioneer", an 1885 brick freight station building and a 1927 caboose.

Ellicott City flood.... again

Less than two years after the last devastating flood of 2016, Main Street was flooded again on Sunday May 27, 2018.  Within a few mile swath 9.5 inches of rain pummeled us over a short time in the afternoon, however less than 15 miles south there was no rain.

An old stone building - the first county courthouse - turned into orientation center behind the log cabin museum, is now gone; as is the road on left side of the photo.

Chief Little Turtle visited George Ellicott's home in 1807

The then famous Native American chief Little Turtle (c1752-1812) and other chiefs visited Ellicott mills during Christmas week 1807 after meetings in Washington City and Baltimore.  Two were chiefs of the Miami nation: The Little Turtle and Busheville; two from the Delaware nation; two chiefs of the Shawnee nation; and two chiefs of the Potowatomi nation (Marpau and his wife did not go to Ellicott's home). 

George Ellicott's (1760-1832) wife Elizabeth (Brooke) Ellicott (1762-1853) prepared hominy and other dishes she felt would interest their guests.  Their daughter Martha (Ellicott) Tyson  wrote about the visit.  Ellicott and Gerard Hopkins, the uncle of Johns Hopkins, had been part of the Quaker delegation to visit the chiefs near Fort Wayne, in 1804.

B & O rail road sites in Howard County 1857

"Ellicott's Mills, fourteen miles from Baltimore, covering the bottom and slopes of the steep hills with dwellings, and their tops with churches and other public edifices." From excerpt below. Click on images to enlarge.

B & O rail road and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal in 1829

James Stuart (1775-1849) from Scotland, traveled in Maryland in 1829, and wrote about the canal, railway and the famed "Baltimore clipper" ships.

Although both had ground breaking ceremonies on the same day - July 4, 1828 - (B&O in Baltimore, C&O in Washington DC), the canal only reached Cumberland, MD and stopped because the train line progressed further and was more profitable.

The image, from the 1850s, at Point of Rocks, shows the rails on left, the canal, and the towpath on right.

1831 B & O railroad drawn by horse and wretched breakfast at Ellicott Mills

Thomas Hamilton (1789-1842) rode in "a wooden house or chamber...drawn by a horse at the rate of about four miles an hour."  After 3 hours he arrived in "Ellicot Mills" to a poor breakfast.

1831 B & O horse drawn carriage

During an 1831 trip to North and South America, Sir James Edward Alexander (1803-1885) took a detour from riding a “coach (a sort of windmill, freely admitting the cold air through the leathern sides)” from Washington to Baltimore to ride on the “Baltimore Railway”.  They rode in a "heavy double carriage, drawn by one horse."

Ruthless, winner of first Belmont Stakes, killed by a hunter at "Oakland Manor"

In 1867 the first Belmont Stakes race was held at the new Jerome Park racecourse.  A filly won. Ruthless was raised by Francis Morris (1811-1886) at Throggs Neck, now part of NYC.  Morris also owned farms in Texas and "Oakland Manor" near Ellicott City where Ruthless was shot in 1876.  In her short career, Ruthless ran in 11 races: won 7 and second in 4, before an injury.  Her first foal Battle Axe, won the Kentucky Stakes at Saratoga in 1873.

Surgeon General Robert Murray from Elkridge

Robert Murray (1822-1913) was born in Elkridge and earned his medical degree at University of Pennsylvania in 1843. After serving in the Army for forty years - 1846-1886 - the general retired to live in his childhood home in Elkridge.

Enchanted Forest - a fairy tale wonderland - now at Clark's Elioak Farm

In August 1955 the Harrison family opened a new concept family park.  A story-book-land.  And it was a success.  It closed in 1989 and luckily, after 2004, many of the buildings and figures were moved to Clark's Elioak Farm, restored and now part of the popular petting farm.

Ellicott's Mills and Bonnie Branch mill 1907

Now all gone, one mill on the Bonnie Branch river was preserved in photos and described in this 1907 article.  Wooden gears are also described from the Ellicotts' Gwynn Falls mill, and the problems they had with Oliver Evans, 200 years ago.

Bollman truss bridge images

Wendel Bollman (1814-1884) from Baltimore started working for the B&O railroad and created a more stable bridge of iron for the trains. His first iron bridge was at Savage in 1850, and received a patent in 1852. Many photos (one of Mr. Bollman) and information at link below.

Bleak House - historic home ruin becomes a tot slide

On a hill off the east side of Rain Dream Hill near Wilde lake sits the shell of a stone house - "Bleak House" - once part of "Oakland." The wealthy George Riggs Gaither built the home for his newly married son George (who became a Confederate cavalry officer) and his wife Rebecca Dorsey.  As the home of a confederate, Bleak House was sold during the Civil War in 1863 and the family moved to a safer Baltimore.  During the Depression the home was deserted and was just a few wall fragments by 1960.  The ruins form a creative play space with a slide, a ramp and a few levels to practice stairs.  A small outbuilding, probably the dairy, is beyond the slide in the photo to the left.

Ilchester tiny post office is even tinier

At one time the smallest post office in Maryland, it was built about 1910 on the shore of the Patapsco River.  In the 1950s it was moved to 4607 Bonnie Branch Road at the postmistress, Teresa Schaad’s house.  Originally it had wood siding, but it now has stone to match the current home. 

Patapsco Female Institute and the women who ran it

As pictured in 1854, the institute (opened 1837) was managed or owned by three ladies ... and a few men.  The most well-known, from 1841 to 1856, was Almira Phelps who moved in with her family and made it a nationally celebrated school. Sarah Randolph, author and great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson, was the last director from 1879 to 1885. A descendant of one of the Ellicott founders, Lilly Elliott owned it from1891 until her death in 1924; first as her home, then hotel, then as a WWI hospital.