Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1932-07-29
History OF The COunty's First
Newspaper Provides Interesting
Accounts OF Early Residents
fcontinued from page D

and that It viii gladly furnish music
at any time for quick steps, poIkas,
reels, waltzes and gallops-
The advertisements hit the spot,
Perry Trail. proprietor Of the Wash
ton Hotel which stood where Vinson's
Drug Store and the theatre, etc, Is
now located. kept on hand the @choie-
est wines, liquors and seegars." He
also set the ''best table the town can
afford"
Charles 7. Mskinson was the wheel
wright at Triadelphia, the one-time
pretty little village on the Patuxent
near Sunshine. He and ". F. Kimble,
blacksmith, ran ads regularly in the
Sentinel. John n. Higgins boasted
that he was agent for the Herman
coffee rooster, ~the greatest invention
Of the age"
Ten years later, at the death of
Mr.. Fields, Mrs. Rebecca Fields took
over the reins and the Sentinel re-
ports many more advertisers. Nearly
every business man in Rockville pat
rOnized the paper.
There is an account Of the first
baseball game written up in the Sen
tinel Burnt Mills played Brightwood
and the score was 50 to Is, as near
as could be aseertained, IN favor of
the boys from Montgomery.
One Of the biggest If not the big
gest event ever to be celebrated in
Rockville, occurred in Nay, 1873 when
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
completed its line out from Washing
ton to Point Of Rocks, a distance Of
~ miles.
The Sentinel, in its issue Of May 30,
states that the suspicious event oc-
CURED last Sunday. A train Of mag
nifcent cars passed over the Metro
politan Branch Of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad on the Wednesday pre-
ceding the formal opening of the road
on an excursion to Cumberland Vice
president Keyser and other officials of
the road were accompanied by Cover
nor Cooke, members of the District
Legislature, General Sherman and
Postmaster-Gener Criswell-"
On Sunday, May 25, 1873. the first
regular through train passed by
Rockville while hundreds of people
looked on The Sentinel says that the
Gears were beautiful specimens Of
workmanship. The engine drawing the
train dashed through the county seat
Washington was thus drawn closer t.
Rockville"
The regular schedule showed train:
west 10 Parkersburg, Marietta, Gin
cinnati and Chicago. There were tive
passenger trains daily stopping a
Rockville, the one west at 5:42 P. u.
and the one east at s:36 A. N. TIVE
way freights also stopped at th'
county seat The fare TO Washington
was go cents and it required IS min
utes to reach the District from Rock
, vile.
I There were stations at Silvel
Spring, Knowles, Rockville, Gathers
burg, Germantown, Boyd, Dickerson
in Montgomery County and at Tuscan
ora and Point Of Rocks in Fredericl
;. County. The new route cut of 4
miles and gave the Baltimore AM
Ohio a much more level roadbed thai
would have presented itself if tn
| right of way had been obtained ~
the Patapsco Valley.
] Ground for the railroad was frs
] broken in this county in 1866, but al
! rights of way were not acquired unit
/ 1870, the Sentinel explains. The Net
ropolitan Branch was constructed q
q cost of $4,000 per mile. Great
bridges were constructed at varioul
i points in the county and a double
track was later built to Gaithersburg
i In August, 1873, there occurred Z
big fire in the county seat, the livery
stable adjoining Mrs. Kleindinst'l
Hotel being consumed and the hote
i, itself threatened. The loss was cover
ed by insurance and the proprietor
advertised that a new stable would b
ready in time for the Rockville Fair
The origin Of the fire was not known
but incendiarism was suspected.
4 In that same year the cornerstone
I of the new Presbyterian Church wa.
laid, many prominent residents Of
Rockville contributing literally to tht
new structure An account of the
Washington Grove camp meeting