Barnum Hotel feeding 500 in 1855

Andrew McLaughlin (1802-1863) owned the Patapsco Hotel in Ellicott's Mills from c1830 until it was sold by lottery tickets in 1834.  A year later he bought into his father-in-law's hotel in Baltimore - Barnum Hotel.  More info in past post HERE  Charles Weld (1813-1869) visited the huge hotel while McLaughlin owned it and although the rooms were full they had a bath and breakfast.

Andrew McLaughlin and the Patapsco Hotel

Andrew McLaughlin (1802-1863) is remembered in Howard County for the sketch showing lower Main St. for a lottery to sell his property.  He worked at the Indian Queen hotel in Baltimore for his uncle John Gadsby (known from Gadsby's Tavern Museum, Alexandria, VA). Gadsby's second wife, Margaret McLaughlin, was born in Ellicott's Mills.  McLaughlin married David Barnum's daughter and became the proprietor of the famous Barnum's City Hotel in Baltimore (left; click images to enlarge).

Thanksgiving Day county fair... IN... the Patapsco Hotel

The Howard County fair began on Thanksgiving Day, 1907, and probably took place in the old Patapsco Hotel, by the train tracks and across the bridge from the railroad station.  The hotel was originally a passenger station for the new Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. A past post HERE.  Ponies, poultry, pumpkins, 'Pekin ducks,' turkeys and more filled all the four floors.

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.

Tom Randall and the Howard House

Tom Randall was the son of Julia Bacon, a slave who was the cook at Howard House.  The Howard House hotel, built in 1850 contained a bar and dining room in addition to the bedrooms.  Randall told his story in the WPA's Slave Narrative Project in 1936.

George Ellicott Jr. home becomes part of St. Mary's College

The Ilchester Hotel/Home/Tavern that Ellicott built in the early 1830s was sold in 1866 to the Redeptorists for $15,000.  The walls had weakened by the coal trains and had to have pipes to stabilize the old stone structure.  The main 'upper house' was built in 1868, and a large wooden addition was built beside and behind the 4 story granite building.  The first chapel with long windows was attached to the granite hotel and used into at least 1895.

Lilly (Tyson) Manly Elliott turned the Patapsco Female Institute into a 60 room home, then hotel

Lily or Lilly Tyson (1852-1924) was a descendant of two prominent Quaker milling and merchant families – the Tysons of Jericho Mills north of Baltimore and the Ellicott founders of Ellicott City. Martha Ellicott Tyson, her grandmother, helped found Swathmore College, wrote a biography of  
Benjamin Banneker and was the daughter of George Ellicott. Lilly bought the old hilltop girls school in 1891.

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.

Dismal Mill then George Ellicott Jr.'s Ilchester Mill

Down stream on the Patapsco River from Ellicotts mill was a corn mill (which occasionally could grind flour) eerily called Dismal Mill, built in 1761.  By 1831 George Ellicott Jr. (1798-1869) had erected the 3 story stone 'Dismal Mill Factory' or Ilchester Mill at that site and constructed a 3 story home.  Ellicott sold his home in 1866 to the Redemptorists who started St. Mary's College. click to enlarge.