The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1948-01-22

off an old building and found nail.
Now we have all seen nails; you can
buy them at almost any store; find
few laying around in every gar
age, and even pull them out of an
automobile tire occasionally.
But this nail was square and tap
cred, and at least hundred years
old. In this streamlined age of me
chanical miracles, one seldom stops
to wonder how anything is made;
we just take things as we find them,
and growl if they fall mite below
perfection.
But before the arrival of auto
matte machines and atoms, back in
the Horse and Buggy Days, how did
they make things like my little
square cornered nail? And when
there were no movies, no radios, no
Bucks or Flivvers, what did the
people do? Part of the answer was
in the fact that people did not go
into a five and dime store for every
thing they needed, but made many
of these articles at home themselves.
Back in the period just before 1900,
when the United States had reached
the age of twenty years, we find,
according to historians, that there
were a great variety of local indus
tries. These ranged from nail max
ing to whiskey making-the latter
being at one time considered sal
most the chief industry in the
County" There were also flour
mills and rope factories, hat, shoe,
and clock makers, besides many
others, and of course, farming.
Every housewife had her spinning
wheel; and it was not just a relic
but a much-used instrument. For
in those days practically all cloth
ing and linen was manufactured at
home. The people were isolated
from the outside world, and even
neighboring communities, and so
had to be much more independent
than any of us today. How many of
us could elk" our own shoes today
if there were no shoe repair shops?
Many other tasks were done in the
home, including the carding of wool.
This called for a good supply of
cards" and a factory was built in
Hagerstown to make them. In the
year 1890 at least five thousand doz-
en- of these cards were made. Also
for the processing of the wool, there
were dying and fulling mills. For
many years before 1890 Jacob Rohrer
and son John operated fulling mill
ON the Marsh Run, near Hagerstown.
They did fulling and blue dying and
all sorts of coloring. Another fuller
and dyer, and also reed maker, at
that time was Lawrence Protzman,
in Hagerstown. Still other fullers
were William Didenhover, six miles
above WilIiamsport on the Conoco-
cheague; Henry Funk and Martin
Baechtel
Out on the farm folks raised to-
bacco, wheat, corn, flax, hemp and
a little cloverseed. Some cloverseed
was also imported from Lancaster
County, Pa. Good wheat crops were
raised, which were harvested by the
sickle, and threshed by spreading it
on the barnfloor and tramping it
with horses.
Tobacco was an important crop
locally in those days Twice in this
period great damage was caused to
this crop, causing loss to the owners:
in August, 1890, by hail; and by an
early frost in September of 1892.
Many of the old tobacco drying sheds
and barns can still be seen, with
their long windows looking like
vertical Sits.
The crops of hemp raised on the To-
cal farms were used in our rope
walks" A rope walk was a long
narrow covered shed where ropes
were made-by hand of course
Many ropes were required for use
in all kinds of mills, in addition to
well ropes and bed cords.
The best known rope walk of this
section was owned by Col. Thomas
Hart, who later sold it to Col. Ma
thaniel Rochester. 1t was Colonel
Rochester's desire to live near his
rope factory, that led to the building
of our now famous Rochester House
The year 1871 marked the open
ing of the Thomas Dobbins Brush
Shop. Dobbins appealed to the pa
triotism of the people to save thel