Main Street buildings - Old Ellicott City - North side

A walk by 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.

NOTE: A work in progress. Need to establish buildings, and later will do seperate posts on some.

For more info on the history and physical descriptions click links to their Historic American Buildings Survey data sheets (HABS) after most building names.
Search: Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties- MIHP HERE
Howard County Interactive Historic Sites Viewer map HERE
Old Ellicott City Trolley more info and photo at end, is free Sat/Sun 11:00-7 for transport, not a tour bus.

Baltimore to Frederick town turnpike milestone "10 M to B" [Baltimore] under B&O Oliver Viaduct (bridge) HABS HERE. Blog posts: Milestone 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 and RR station for baggage. Posts: HERE; HABS HERE

Old Railroad Hotel c1847 for RR workers. HABS HERE

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

????? 8050-8056 4 doors and 2 openings to alley

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

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: Larger HERE. HERE

????? ___ white 8116 pink 8104 yellow

I.O.O.F. Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge HERE

Times newspaper

Walker House c1790 then 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

Charlotte Tazewell House 8188 + 8186 Main c1842 white, HABS HERE

Samuel Powell House 8198 Main stone c1835 next to Howard House. 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, 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.

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

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

Talbott Lumber Co. HABS HERE

Jonathan Ellicott Building. Built by Ellicott, Day had home and store, then Dr. Owings after losing most of family and their home in 1868 flood HERE

Third firehouse 1938-1997 now: Wine Bin (at far end before log cabin)

Log Cabin 8394 Main Street Sat-Sun 11-4 May-Nov

Old Ellicott City Trolley. Free. Sat/Sun 11:00-7. 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

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

Floods blog posts HERE


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