Brownsville Dedication Event, 2014

Brownsville Dedication Event

The increased expansion of present-day Frostburg State University during the 1920's and continuing for decades afterwards resulted in the displacement of an African-American community known as Brownsville. On October 11, 2014 members of the African-American community, descendants of the residents of Brownsville, citizens of Frostburg and members of the university community gathered to remember and document this event.

Depicted above and addressing the gathering is Allegany College of Maryland professor, Lynn G. Bowman, who along with Dr. Amy Branam-Armiento and Robyn Wynder, organized the event which consisted of historical readings, prayer, music, remembrances and tours.

Also depicted, in the leather jacket and walker, is Mr. Ernest (Junie) Cole who grew up in Brownsville. His family was living at 8 Oak Street in Frostburg, Maryland when the State of Maryland took that property in 1927. He was seven years of age. Later the state would need his family's home on Park Avenue. On a miner's salary, his parents, Ernest and Deanna Cole, then purchased a "wreck of a home" on Spring Street. Their seven sons and three daughters all pitched in to make the disheveled house into a showplace.

Several historical overviews of the community of Brownsville are located elsewhere on this website.