Thematic Context History – Agriculture Agriculture has always been a significant part of the economy and social network of Frederick and the surrounding community. Founded in 1745, Frederick-Town sat near the center of a remarkably fertile and gently rolling landscape ripe for the production of grains, fruits, and livestock. By the middle of the 19th century, the town of Frederick was well established as a county seat and marketing center for Frederick County. As the grain-based agricultural economy of mill processing in the western Maryland region began to decline in the late 19th century, a result of the ascendance of steam powered mills, the railroad, and the large grain farms of the Mid-West, Frederick’s manufacturers turned to the production of other agriculture based commodities such as fertilizers and canned fruits and vegetables. Gradually, as the 20th century dawned, the region’s farmers turned to dairy production and again the focus of manufacture and distribution shifted. World War II, new technologies, and a continually changing agricultural economy nationwide through the middle of the 20th century brought about a near-complete move away from agricultural product marketing and distribution in Frederick. Accelerated population growth since the 1950s, largely due to government and corporate employment opportunities in the expanding Washington D.C. and Baltimore metropolitan area, defines the new economy of retail sales and home construction and has resulted in significantly expanded city boundaries. The first period of settlement history in Frederick County and the surrounding region was one of instability, confused claims and habitation patterns and very modest material culture. Two main cultures met and began to converge: English investors and settlers from eastern Maryland, and German farmers from Pennsylvania. The German settlers began to buy or lease land from the English speculators and the two cultures mixed. In 1744, Daniel Dulaney bought Taskers Chance from the heirs of Benjamin Tasker. He advertised the land for sale to Palatine Germans from Pennsylvania. Grain farming was prominent, and as a result many gristmills were established. The mills took advantage of the ample waterpower in mid-Maryland to convert grain into more easily transportable and marketable flour or meal. The prominence of milling was a significant feature of the local economy. It reflects the influence of Pennsylvania German culture in that Frederick area farmers developed a general agricultural economy with emphasis on small grains, rather than the staple economy focusing on tobacco common in eastern and southern Maryland.1 In 1745, Daniel Dulaney laid out the town of Frederick on part of Taskers Chance. Dulaney’s vision for Frederick-Town was clear, having encouraged the development of the surrounding area with productive grain farms, his new town would serve as a regional market town; a place to gather agricultural products for refinement, shipment or local sale, and where goods could be purchased by town residents and the 1 Information on regional agricultural history from Paula S. Reed & Assoc., “Mid Maryland Agricultural Context Report,” Draft, (Frederick, MD: Catoctin Center for Regional Studies, 2003). 1 surrounding community.2 In 1746, Dulaney received permission from the Proprietary to hold a weekly market at Frederick-Town, and by 1747 he was placing advertisements in the Maryland Gazette for a fair “at Frederick-Town, near Monocacy,” and a market “to be held there every Saturday.”3 Placement of the town grid over part of Carroll Creek also ensured the necessary industrial development, particularly of flour and gristmills to process the grain for shipment to Baltimore. Despite the national and international turmoil that embroiled the latter years of the 18th century with the French and Indian War and the Revolution, Frederick-Town and the farms of the surrounding county in general prospered. From the end of the French and Indian War through most of the first half of the 19th century, agriculture developed, matured and profited with grain farming dominating. The farmsteads that now characterize the region were for the most part established and constructed during this time period. The large “Swisser” barns with cantilevered forebays and a ramp or bank at the back, hallmarks of central Maryland and south central Pennsylvania, replaced small log-crib stables and shelters for livestock and crops. Small log houses were improved with siding and additions, or replaced with stone or brick dwellings. Many of these buildings were vernacular adaptations influenced by the dominant German culture in the region.4 Frederick County became known for grain production. Grain was sold in bulk, or processed into flour and meal, or distilled into whiskey. By the last decade of the 18th century, Frederick County had as many as 80 gristmills and 300-400 stills, along with 47 tanneries, two glass works, two iron furnaces, two forges and two paper mills.5 These industries show the dominance of grain production through the high number of mills and stills and the degree to which the area had developed marketable finished goods. In Frederick-Town, Jacob Bentz’ stone mill was constructed on his Long Acre tract, on the west edge of town, by 1787.6 A second flourmill was operating on Carroll Street by the early 19th century as were as many as nine tanneries, perhaps the best-known being the 2 Diane Shaw Wasch, “City Building in Frederick, Maryland 1810-1860,” (thesis, George Washington University, 1990), p. 4. 3 Wasch, p. 16; Maryland Gazette, Sept. 1, 1747, copy in files of The Great Frederick Fair administrative office, Frederick, MD. 4 Although the Germans had a major impact on Frederick County’s culture as evidenced in architectural and agricultural traditions, types of churches and language, the Germans were nevertheless a minority in the population. According to the nation’s first census, taken in 1790, Frederick County (which at that time included much of today’s Carroll County) had a population of 26,937 whites, with 5,137 Germans which computes to 20% of the white population. Frederick County had the greatest population of all counties in Maryland in 1790, with a total count of 30,791. A Century of Population Growth From the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790-1900, (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970), p. 272. 5 T. J. C. Williams, History of Frederick County, Maryland, (Baltimore, MD: Regional Publishing Co., 1967, reprint of the original 1910 edition). p. 267. 6 Timothy L. Cannon, Tom Gorsline, and Nancy F. Whitmore, Pictorial History of Frederick Maryland: The First 250 Years 1745-1995, (Frederick, MD: Key Publishing Group, 1995), p. 28; the mill is also referenced in the “Book of Field Notes,” an original manuscript which includes notes from 1821 survey, an 1870 survey, and 1899 survey, Engineering Office, Frederick City Hall, Frederick, MD. Sanborn Maps show this mill’s date as 1719 although that date seems unlikely it is possible an early mill operated at this location as early as 1749. 2 Val Birely Tannery built c.1800 on the west bank of Carroll Creek, on the south side of Carroll Street.7 Clearly, Frederick-Town was prospering. However, sited far from navigable water, the most common form of transportation in Maryland during the eighteenth century, Dulaney’s choice of location for Frederick was unusual. There was no inland water route to the farming areas or the market town of Frederick. Although navigation of the Potomac River and Monocacy River was promoted, neither river was capable of providing year-round transportation. Rail service did not develop until the 1830s, so overland transportation by wagonload had to serve the freight hauling needs of the region. Baltimore officials in 1787 laid out 20-foot wide roads to Frederick, Reisterstown and York, Pennsylvania.8 Probably following part of the old route to Annapolis, the Baltimore road to Frederick joined the main cross street known as Patrick Street. After the establishment of the National Road in 1806, the roads improved as turnpikes by private corporations included the Frederick to Baltimore (Patrick Street) and to Georgetown (Market Street) routes, and routes north to Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia markets. This was a necessity for the heavy wagon traffic that used them, as observed by local diarist Jacob Engelbrecht in 1821: As I was coming from Baltimore yesterday I counted one hundred & two wagons, all going to Baltimore with flour. These I counted from morning till 12 o’clock AM.9 The prosperity of the greater region led to its being served by important transportation routes, a good system of turnpikes, the National Road, C&O Canal and the B&O Railroad. Frederick-Town, however, was never directly connected to the C&O Canal and was connected to the B&O and Pennsylvania Railroad system by branch lines. Despite the lack of direct water or rail access, Frederick was a major regional crossroads; its local shops and markets provided goods from the port towns of Baltimore and Philadelphia, as well as local products and services. The main Market House in Frederick-Town was constructed on Market Street in 1769,10 although regular markets had been held since 1746 (see reference above). By 1825, a second market house was located on West Patrick Street, in the area known as Bentztown. The markets, as reported by Jacob Engelbrecht, carried local meats, vegetables, butter, eggs, cider, and fruit; some vendors sold imported items such as coffee, sugar, salt and pepper. On April 9, 1835, Engelbrecht reported: The market house was altered a few days ago by placing the butchers’ shambles on the north side & the vendors of 7 Reimer, p. 92. 8 Robert J. Brugger, Maryland a Middle Temperament, (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins, 1985), p. 153. 9 Jacob Engelbrecht, May 23, 1821, “The Diary of Jacob Engelbrecht,” CD-ROM, (The Historical Society of Frederick County, 2001), p.