The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1907-03-29
Some alimpses Of Westminster as
If Was so Years Ago.

The ADVOCATE has had the opportunity
of seeing private record of one OF our
citizens, from which the following Is taken'
od which we are sure will be read with
interest
uGreat changes have taken place In
Westminster in the past fifty years. Inc
nonnl.t;on has almost entirely changed and
the general appearance of the place Also
There was not at that time three story
bouse in town and no houses at all on the
Main street, from the property now occu-
MED by Mr.. Oscar Gilbert, until you reach
the property now the residence OF MI DO
seph Smith, opposite Carroll street. except
an old red one story weatherboarded house
where the Westminster Savings Bank now
stands On the otherside of the street, there
MOS M house from near the present site OF
.,,o r.;lroad TO the corner of Carroll street.
Tbsre was more or less dilapidated post
and rail fence on both sides of the Main
street at this point, and also, what was "a
feature of the town, tan walk on the
north side of the street, in front OF this
property. This was great promenaaing
place, and when ayoung gentleman "an'eu
to take young lady upon a particularly
nice walk, he would invite her to the tan
walk. There were very few good pave
ments in any part of the town, and every
one who did any paving at all, established
his own grade, and used boards, stone'
bricks Or tan, just as his pocket book or
his fancy inclined him to do
The West end of the town was always
known as "Irishtown. Just why this
was 80 is not we'll understood. The street
we know as Liberty street, was always
called ssThe Goose Pond Lane, and Tor
the reason that in the early history OF the
place, the section of the town where the
Railroad Depot now stands and the low lands
near it, were brick yards, and after they
ceased to be used in this way, were simply
ponds of water, where the geese OF the
town. and lots of geese there were, would
hold their daily convocations, 'none daring
to modest or make them afraid not even
the small boy, particularly if the old gan
der was on guard.
Two newspapers were published in the
town. one "The Carroll County Democrat
with the Office in old Carroll Hall, and the
other "The Carrolltonian' in building
on the site of Mr. Henry B. Grammer' S
store room. These papers represented the
two political parties ofthat day, the former
the Democratic party and the latter the
Wing party.
Ice cream, now so common that we sup
pose every child imagines the world was
never without it, and would scarcely think
it possible that it could get along without
it, was barely known to the people OF
Westminster at that time. The first per-
son to sell ice cream in Westminster was
Mary Behoe, an old colored woman, one
of those clean, nice looking old colored
women, who kept little cake shop in
Irishtown, near the forks. But the quail
ity as we know the article now was very
inferior and the quantity amazingly small
for the money. Very soon after, however,
Jonathan Creager, who kept book and
confectionery store at what was known as
No. 2 Carroll Hall, (since rebuilt) opened
an ice cream saloon in the basement of the
building, and did moderately good bust
ness
Other places for the sale of the article,
as time went on, were opened, and
for many years the saloon of Mrs.
James Keefer on Main street was the most
literally patronized establishment of the
kind in the town.
No milk was sold upon the streets of
Westminster at that time, nor for some
time thereafter. The first person to sell
milk in that way was Mrs. William Struth,
the wife of our present townsnan, William
Struth, so we'll known to our people.
Mrs. Struth was a very neat, CHEEKY,
bright-faced German woman, who would
be out early in 1.-The morning, with COW
cred milk bucket in each hand and
measures swinging to the handle, and the
buckets and measures shining like the bright
face of the thrifty house wife who carried
them. Soon after this Mr. John Englar, a
farmer living near town, entered upon the
milk business regularly, supplying customers
as they are supplied at present.
The public means of communication be-
tween Westminster and Baltimore, was by
line of stage coaches. This line was
owned and conducted by Denton Gehr, and
ran daily between Baltimore andG gettysburg,
a line also running daily between Westmin-
ster and Emmittsburg via Taneytown, and
another line running between Westminster
and Uniontown daily. These coaches carried
the United States mail and also passengers,
and were well patronized for that day of
travel. The trip to Baltimore was made
in about 8 hours, the horses being changed
twice on the trip, breakfast for the passen-
gers being taken at Reisterstown. This
line Of old stage coaches was subsequently
replaced BY omnibusses, which were used
until the completion of the Western Mary
land Railroad to Westminster in 1860.
The omnibuss was considered great i'm