Allegany Co (MD)

Robert Moses Grove, known in baseball circles as Lefty Grove, was born in Lonaconing, Allegany County, Maryland in 1900. He went on to win the first Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy awarded to an American League player by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1931 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947.

This collection comprises the news stories published by Cumberland and Oakland newspapers at the time a B-52 bomber crashed in a snow storm on Big Savage Mountain, near Grantsville, Garrett County, on January 13, 1964. The B-52 bomber had crew of five and two thermonuclear bombs flying in it. The crash resulted in a massive search for the location of the plane, and for the crew, four of whom had ejected from the plane.

This collection records University of Maryland Extension services in Allegany County between 1914 and 1932.  The Extension Office provides instruction and support in diverse fields including agriculture, animal science, food and nutrition and youth development, along with 4-H. 

The 1783 Tax Records for Washington County, Maryland include districts that are in Washington County, Maryland, plus those districts that later became Allegany and Garrett counties. 

The silk mill in Lonaconing, Allegany County, was in operation from 1907-1957. Construction of the Klotz Throwing Mill Company was begun in 1905. Initially, silk was imported from Japan and China and the factory produced silk thread and, during World War II, rayon. In the 1920s the payroll included over 300 people, but in later years fewer than 200 worked there, and by the 1950s antiquated machines in a small mill made competition with larger facilities difficult.

The U.S. General Hospital Register, Clarysville, Maryland, 1863-1865, a log book of 2866 patients treated by Dr. Morris Townsend, was transcribed and verified by Richard H. Sauer. Harriet Moore edited the collection and wrote the introduction.

Lucile Wilcox Roeder, 1903-1992, was an Allegany County, Maryland politician and environmental activist. She was the first woman to serve in the Cumberland City Council and as a member of the Board of Allegany County Commissioners, and served on the Maryland Environmental Trust.

At the end of the World War I, several of the small Western Maryland towns wanted to honor those who fought for their country and those who died. Some towns named on the monument all who went off to war, others emphasized those who died. Garrett and Washington Counties have a countywide memorial, in Garrett located in Kitzmiller, in Washington County in Hagerstown. Each memorial is unique, telling the story of their town and the sacrifices of their sons and daughters.

Maryland declared a state of emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic on March 5, 2020. These photographs document some of the experiences of life under COVID in Western Maryland. They were taken by residents of Allegany and Washington Counties.

Local women from western Maryland dedicated themselves to spreading word of the women’s suffrage movement long before Maryland voted to ratify the 19th Amendment. In Washington and Allegany counties organizing was slow, but steady.