Brunswick History Commission Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

Media and Other Communications

Brunswick Post Office During Brunswick's first 65 years the location and building of its post offices were determined by the political slant of a hopeful property owner. Contracts were signed, leasing rooms or buildings. The government would equip the facility and the Post Office Department was in business. This helps explain the many changes in location of the town's postal buildings.

Brunswick's present post office was built in 1958 under reformed conditions. The United States Postal Service selected a building lot and built the structure. The Brunswick History Commission's list of locations results from continuous inquiry and information in the local museum. The Barry Post Office was established in 1832.

No one is certain why "Barry" was chosen; Volume A of America's Educator Encyclopedia, p. 347, states that R. R. John Barry (1745-1803) became rich as a shipbuilder. He was the first American officer to capture an English ship (1776-?). He built a strong American navy. Austin Cooper's grandmother used to tell the same story, including the belief that Barry was named for him.

Locations First) South just across the present westbound tracks on the west side of First Street (later Virginia Avenue). Shown in Titus' Atlas of 1873 is a rather large building that houses also the railroad depot and a store.

Second) 1900, One East Potomac Street in Martha Shilling Darr Callary's building. A post card exists with the bold letters POST OFFICE above the entrance.

Third) In corner of Gross House, 15 South Maryland Avenue

Fourth) In brick building across from Gross' store on South Maryland Avenue, on lot where the freight office was located (along railroad).

Fifth) In a storeroom where Frank Kelly, Jim Rau, and Sam Cincotta had a business; west side of present location of Good Will (17 W. Potomac).

Sixth) In the old Bank of Brunswick building on the Square Corner, possibly the second decade of the century, between the closing of the Savings Bank and the opening of the Bank of Brunswick. Lenwood Moss reported the bank location and Sherman Lowry verified it and even suggested the period.

Seventh) Red Men's Hall, 44 West Potomac Street, corner of Museum building.

Eighth) Smith Building, now Commuter Lounge, formerly Kehne's Paddock Grill (12 S. Maple).

Ninth) Potomac Hotel, East Potomac Street where Gas and Go is now located. (1942)

Tenth) Present location 315 Brunswick Street, U. S. Government owned; dedicated October 11, 1958. The picture of the dedication ceremonies shows a large turnout. Richard C. Bowers was chairman of the program. Congressman DeWitt Hyde spoke, and Mrs. Mary Payne led the national anthem. The Lions Club presented the planter and Postmastesr Arthur Hightman provided other shrubbery .

Postmasters The first postmaster of Berlin was John T. Frazier, appointed April 26,1832. The name changed to Brunswick Post Office April 8, 1890, when the town incorporated. The facility was advanced from Fourth Class to Third Class on October 1,1900, and became Second Class on July 1,1924, a designation it retains. Lenwood Moss July 1961) was the last politically-appointed Postmaster. On July 13,1973, Jerry Pearrell became the first merit-appointed Postmaster.

Among the early postmasters listed are such familiar names as C. F. Wenner, Hebbs, Garrott, Sigafoose, Short, Porter, and Spitzer, A. R. and F. L.

Anyone interested in post office records should visit the Brunswick Museum's display. An inventory sheet of 1887 reports "good" postal guides, scales, postmarking stamp, ink and pads. It shows "00" desks or tables, a "tolerable" case and a "good" mail key. There are records showing the number of stamps sold every day; for March 1895 it shows $115.44 worth of stamps sold. Other inventory records are also in the Museum.

Changes During Harry Truman's administration (elected 1948) Jesse Donaldson became Postmaster General, the first career employee to attain that post.

There were two deliveries of mail to the home every day except Sunday until this service was terminated in 1950.

Another change instituted by the Postal Service was the use of the Zip Code, which went into service July 1, 1963.

Railroads provided the bulk of the movement of mail, especially long distance mail, and trucks served locally. Since 1969 railroads have been completely out of the business of transporting mail. That year mail service by train from Washington to Chicago terminated.

S - Lenwood Moss
   - Dedication program with the late Nelson Strathern's name on it.
   - Elizabeth R. Frye
   - Brunswick Museum
W - M M M

Post Office Wendell Stewart held the contract for hauling mail between the post office and the t two rail stations when the post office was on East Potomac Street across from the old YMCA.

His work started a little after 5 AM by hauling mail which had been received over night and stored in a room at the West Bound Station. This mail had to be at the post office by 6 AM, when the employees came to work. He hated it when he opened the mail room door at the station and found mail bags filled with Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs.

Throughout the day mail was dispatched from the post office and put on both east and west bound trains. Mail for trains that did not stop in Brunswick was placed in a special mail bag with rings on each end. These rings were attached to a special rack
near the railroad tracks. The bags were held so that the railway mail employee would extend a metal arm out and grab the bag from the rack. At the same time he would throw off a mail bag which would tumble about 50 feet. Most rail car employees would then signal by waving that everything was O.K.

Hauling mail made a long day, from the 5 AM start until the last mail went out at 9 PM and the post office closed.

About 10 trips were made throughout the day between the post office and the two stations (east and west bound). In between trips Steward would deliver "Special Delivery" mail where he received 25 cents from the post office plus any tip the customer cared to give.

W - Wended Steward

Telephone Service The Maryland State Gazetteer of 1910-10-11 lists under Brunswick two telephone companies: Chesapeake and Potomac, with Viola Leah, operator, and Frederick County Telephone Company, with Knell Harridan listed as operator.

In the Brunswick Council minutes of January 4, 1911, a motion was passed for the town to revoke its franchise to the C&P Telephone Company unless a telephone was placed in the Mayor's office within ten days from the date of notice.

December 3, 1912 minutes reported the presence of a Mr. Waters, of C&P, to procure a franchise. He was advised that the Council would notify his company when the matter was to be taken up for consideration.

Further research revealed no official conclusion to this confrontation. Since the 1909-10-11 Gazetteer shows two companies in town at that time, one may wonder if split loyalties had anything to do with the decision. Whatever, one must be satisfied to know that telephones came to the Mayor's office early in the second decade of the 20th century.

Lavetta Irene Kelley Thomas was 17 years of age when she began as an operator at Brunswick on April 30, 1917. She retired in 1963 after 46 years service. Today (1990) Lavetta lives at Homewood Retirement Home.

Bessie Mohler was the first supervisor at Brunswick's exchange, where Hanna Harrison and Peggy Harrison were operators. Private families were already enjoying the new-fangled communication. Some, anyway. Some were not. Great grandmother Mary V. Himes Hogan and her daughter Ella R. 150 Hogan were sitting in the kitchen of their ancestral home in the mid- 1920's when the telephone on the wall gave a shrill ring. "Ellie, come here! That thing's ringing again!" came from Grandmother Hogan, who wouldn't have anything to do with the new contraption. The house still stands on the southwest corner of North Virginia Avenue and West "B" Street, where the Grover Frye family now lives.

The old magneto set on the wall had to be cranked to alert the operator. Another feature of this early telephone in Brunswick was a mandatory party line with twelve parties on each line. This required a user to wait until the renter of one of the dozen lines with the same number but a different letter— like 297J—finished her conversation and hung up the earpiece.

People were even said to lift the receiver off the hook and eavesdrop on their neighbors. This magnificent wall box with separate earpiece and hard varnish finish is a collector's item today.

Refining the heavy wall phone to an upright bakelite model whose earpiece fitted neatly to one side of the phone ended the need to use the crank. Up to this time, Brunswick was served by an exchange —or central office—at two different locations. Mrs. Jauntier Molar Goodie and Mr. Sermon Lowly recall one location on the upper floor of what has come to be called the Cinchona Building, at 26 West Potomac Street. (Today, Antiques N' Old Stuff is located on the street floor.) Milder Smith Mills and Milder Mohler Lecher were operators there. Later the exchange was moved to the second floor of a small building to the rear of the first Bank of Brunswick. This would be about where the Drive In area is now located.

A dial was added to the base of the upright model in 1923 when dialing came to Maryland. Twelve years later, on May 10, 1935 Brunswick's central office equipment was changed to dial operation, the first in Frederick County. Mayor Harry Mace made the first call to the Mayor of Williamsport. Five hundred and ten phones were converted to dial operation. Among the Brunswick people at the cut over ceremony were Nellie Nichols, Bessie Mohler, Mabel Harrison, and Lavetta Thomas. After dial service was installed, although Brunswick calls were dialed, long-distance calls were still operator assisted for a while.

Since Brunswick's exchange became dial service before World War II, there was quite a time gap until the rest of the county had that service. The Great Conflict put everything on hold except the war effort.

By then a streamlined base was designed to cradle a hand-held bar with mouthpiece at one end and earpiece at the other. This basis pattern is still used.Another refinement was the gradual decree in the number of parties to a line: from 12 to eight from eight to four. Today, most telephones have private lines, except for those in remote areas.

Further improvements were made in 193 Brunswick, "an important railroad center on tl B&O line, began to use its new dial service May 10 is stated in The C&P Story/ Service in Action /Maryland by Joseph H. Cromwell.

Another new dial system went into use c August 16, 1948, when Mayor Stanley Virts mae the first call. Joseph B. Payne, a Brunswick member of the Maryland legislature, Emory Frye, preside of the Brunswick Rotary Club, and Richard Magali president of the Brunswick Lions Club, were present for the ceremony.

In the 1950's, "state of the art" telephone equi ment was installed in the 834 Exchange Building c Petersville Road, replacing operators and cord board Temperature and humidity control reduced mai tenance problems. Nevertheless, it used to take o' man about a week to make a round of prevent), maintenance.

In 1985, updating eliminated the need for regular maintenance person. Everything went elec tronic at this time. Brunswick became a satellite Frederick with electronic switching, using automatic computer control. In case of electric pow failure, an auxiliary generator insures continue service.

Local C&P managers included Pete Brengl deceased, who lived in the stone "Michaels Hous' at 6th Avenue and "H" Street, where Koenigs ha, lived since moving to Brunswick in 1972.

Clarence Stem, of Oakland, was next, followed by Robert Hemp, of Westminster. (His paren farmed the Eugene Hemp farm on Steiners Hill.)

Don Myers was also a local manager. Men i that position could install and maintain phone ser ice as well as do administrative work. Local P tersville resident William Gladhill worked wil Don Myers as installer-repairman from January 1956, to December 12, 1963, at which time hc w' transferred to Frederick in an administrative cape ity. He returned to Brunswick as a central offi` technician in 1970, in which position he stayed unl he retired in 1983. Don Myers was the last manage serving here from January 1, 1956, to May 1,196 He now resides in Rocky Ridge.

Brunswick had its own small business offi. until about 1960 at the entrance door of thc c change building on Pctersville Road. People could pay their bills there to ImogeneThompson, orpay a bank.

After Myers' departure, C&P serviced Brunswick from the central office at Frederick.

Customers could also deal with the bus.ness office in Frederick, until that office closed. Now, the nearest office is at Hagerstown.

The crash of a training plane and a small Viscount passenger plane in 1958 presented a challenge to manager Don Myers and installer-repairman Gladhill. The plane crashed between two telephone lines. By laying the telephone lines on the ground, Myers and Gladhill enabled newspaper and television crews inundating the area to report to their stations. The dead bodies were removed to Feete's Funeral Home, where Myers and Gladhill also installed lines for American Airlines.

Reference: John H. Cromwell, The C. and P. Story, Service n Action/Maryland, Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland, 1981, pp. 75,81,120.
S - Al Boyer
- Don Myers
- William Cladhill
W - M M M

The Brunswick Herald Brunswick's first weekly newspaper, the BRUNSWICK HERALD AND LOUDOUN COUNTY ADVERTISER, owned and edited by E. C. Shafer, first appeared in June 1890. It was a full-size double sheet of newsprint, providing four pages. Issues dated November 9,1906 and April 17,1908 disclose a front page divided equally between advertising and copyrighted feature articles on general topics.

All news seems to have been of a local nature— who visited town on a particular date, even to mention the subscriber who visited the newspaper office to renew his subscription.

Under the heading of "Business Cards," doctors, dentists, lawyers, and others advertised. The extensive train schedule appeared in great detail, and local and county government officials were listed, as well as churches and lodges.
Ads frequently end with "yours truly" and the name of the business. Ordinances enacted by the town council were given verbatim.

Of interest is the note in some advertisements that the particular business establishment had "both phones—C and P and Maryland."

The annual subscription price for this paper was one dollar.

S - Copies of THE BRUNSWICK HERALD

W - W H H

Brunswick Newspapers Almost as long as there has been a Brunswick, there has been a local newspaper. Its starting date is one exception. THE BRUNSWICK HERALD published Vol. I No. 1 on March 6, 1891, almost a year after the incorporation, April 8, 1890.

Fortunately, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, has bound copies of the HERALD. Since they are accessible through the Maryland Room, on the upper floor, they are somewhat protected. Some isolated copies are carefully held in the Brunswick Museum, and some individuals have a few.

The editor, Edward C. Shafer, published it until 1912, when someone from the FREDENCK NEWS continued until the last issue was printed January 17,1914. Shafer was an uncle of Louise Nicodemus Porter, who resides in the house that the Shafers lived in on North Virginia Avenue. Many still living remember Mr. Shafer's widow, Miss Eva, who continued her husband's insurance business until her death in 1970.

Knowing someone who knew so intimately her aunt and uncle seems to eliminate the years between now and the beginning of Brunswick; Louise can answer many of our questions about this couple. It's almost like having been there.

The first copy of the HERALD was printed at the FREDERICK NEWS plant. After about a year the HERALD established its own plant in Brunswick.

A partnership formed in 1891 between E. C. Unger, formerly connected with the FREDERICK DAILY NEWS, and Edward Shafer started the HERALD. In 1894, Shafer purchased Unger's interest and became sole editor and proprietor. The HERALD "became one of the leading journals of the county," according to its short-term successor newspaper, THE TIMES.

The HERALD began in old Berlin, south of the westbound track, moving to its new building at the corner of South Delaware Avenue and Walnut Street in 1906.

It was a folksy paper and old fashioned, having limited local news and much copied material, like fiction, usable information, oddities, and jokes. Many ads were on the front page. One of the most surprising types of article was a statement from a local hotel boasting of the places his guests of the week came from: Martinsburg, Frederick, Charles Town, and other nearby places. There was a fair amount of editorializing.

When Mr. Shafer's health declined in September 1912, he required a rest, during which absence the FREDERICK NE WS filled in. Someone later to become editor of the TIMES, was sent to Brunswick to manage the publication of the HERALD a number of weeks. However, Mr. Shafer decided to dispose of the paper.

The EVENING POST (which later became the FREDERICK POST) bought the HERALD and continued to run it in connection with Frederick's daily paper.

On January 17, 1914, the HERALD ceased publication. As time passed, Brunswick felt the loss and the demand for a home paper increased. The new paper was the BRUNSWICK TIMES.

When the first issue of the BR UNS WICK TIMES appeared on September 3,1914, it too was printed at the Frederick plant, one of the finest plants in the state outside of Baltimore. The pressman of both papers, by coincidence, was the same: W. S. Bennett.

There were 350 copies of the first HERALD printed on an old Cottrell press, with sheets of paper fed one at a time, each sheet needing two impressions, one for two pages of the paper and the other for the remaining two pages. After being printed, each copy had to be folded by hand.

The second paper, the TIMES, printed by a Duplex press, allowed a thousand copies of the TIMES, an eight-page paper, to be printed and folded "in twenty minutes easily," according to pressman Bennett in the first issue of the TIMES. Printing, cutting, and folding were done in one operation.

Although printed in Frederick, the TIMES was to be "strictly a Brunswick proposition . . . as soon as conditions justify," in a plant in Brunswick. Publication, starting weekly, was to increase to semiweekly, tri-weekly, and finally daily.

The TIMES must have been a short-lived paper. Another paper, THE BRUNSWICK PRESS, to be a weekly, was announced at the town's February 3, 1914 Council meeting, but that may not have materialized at all. No copies have yet come to this writer's notice.

Next Henry I. "Cap" Rinker and his father founded the BRUNSWICK BLADE on September 1, 1915. According to Pete Maynard, Rinker's interview of many years ago suggests that the TIMES was also being published in September 1915. Rinker absorbed the TIMES into his paper as the BLADETIMES. He subsequently published his paper al- W M M M most 43 years.

According to a reliable account told to this writer, Cap Rinker always published his paper alone. He was only 17 when the publication started and he had to use his father's name on the mastheac to be able to publish: K. I. Rinker, Editor; K. I. Rinke & Son—Publishers. The masthead was changed but Cap never did remove his father's name fron his paper after his death in 1923.

This next statement contradicts the dates tw paragraphs back: In 1917, THE TIMES and TH] BLADE merged into the BLADE-TIMES. By 1918 Cap Rinker was proud that the paper was "enjoyin' a fine circulation in Loudoun Co., Va., and Westen Md." In 1918 the paper went modern with its firs composingmachine. The early BLADE-TIMES wer' seven columns wide. Rinker did EVERYTHING a the paper except for hiring carriers. This discrep ancy will be researched.

Jim Bryan bought the BLADE-TIMES in 195f and ran it until he sold it to the LOUDOUN-TIME! MIRROR in 1968.

Arthur Arundel continued the BLADE-TIME' with several interim editors. The paper was printec in Leesburg, but publication dropped, possibl because it now had an outside owner.

During that period, Bob Dawson, who lived fo a while in Brunswick before moving to Reston Virginia, was editor.

In November of 1969, Katharine Van Holte' became Managing Editor and Karolyn McKimmey Editor. BeginningDecember 1, 1970, Richard E Cox and his son, Gregory, were publishers anc editors, with Iris Cox handling advertising.

In Pete Maynard's article on the newspapers, h' stated that the date of the last issue of the BLADE TIMES was not known, but could have been Jun' 1972. Limited bound copies of the        BLADE-TIME' are in the Museum.

Pete Maynard entered the picture in 1973 witt publication of THE BRUNSWICK CITIZEN, which probably covers the largest area of any of the loca papers. It includes Brunswick, Burkittsville, Jeffer son, Knoxville, Lovettsville, Pleasant Valley, and Point of Rocks. It uses lots of meaningful pictures has little or no syndicated material (comics), anc has much more advertising than previous papers in addition to bountiful news.
S - Shafer's newspapers at Enoch Pratt Library
   - Peter Maynard and THE BRUNSWICK CITIZEN
   - Louise Porter
   - Katharine Van Holten

The Telegraph
When Samuel F. B. Morse tapped—"What hath God Wrought!"—between Baltimore and Washington on May 24, 1844, his message traveled on a wire strung in the right of way of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. That event not only opened a vast new era of communication, it was the genesis of a long-lasting and mutually-profitable partnership between railroads and telegraph companies. Railroads needed improved communication—something more rapid than their own trains, which were, in themselves, the fastest communication medium at the time. With the telegraph companies needing rights of way and operators, each was able to fulfill the other's needs. Soon, just about every railroad station agent became a Morse Code telegrapher capable of sending and receiving messages on the old key and sounder sets.

Blair Harrington worked 40 years in B&O towers and stations of the area, including "WB" tower and Brunswick station. When he first started at Weverton in 1948, there were still some messages being transmitted by operators using the key, but a larger portion was being handled by telephone. Teletype machines had also arrived on the scene and were used in larger offices such as "BN" in Brunswick.

Brunswick's connection with the Western Union Telegraph Company was "WB" Tower, where operators handled commercial messages for the public in addition to their duties for the railroad. Blair recalls that about age 13, he and other youngsters delivered telegrams for operator Clarence Shewbridge after school, and that the "mill" sent a daily message over the wire. "Urgent" messages would be telephoned to the addressee if possible, with the delivery following later. "WB" also had the sad job of handling those tragic messages in World War II when too many of our young men did not come home.

With all the modern equipment now available —computers, microwave transmission, and FAX machines—the telegraph and its operators are mostly pleasant memories. But there is a little story that may give an insight as to what at least one local telegraph operator considered to be important. While this is a true story, it certainly must not be considcred as typical of the excellent service usually rendered by B&O people.

It seems that in 1951 a daily commuter, trying to get home from Washington on the "early" local, had just missed it by a minute. He immediately telegraphed his wife in Brunswick stating he would be on the "second" local an hour later. Arriving home at 7:30 PM, he had to explain why he missed most of his son's fourth birthday party. The telegram was delivered at noon the following day!
S - Blair Harrington

W-BRH

WTRI—Brunswick's Radio Station On January 5, 1962 the sum of $4,000 was paid to Brunswick's Mayor and Council by Frank and Janet Manthos and George and Mary Gillespie for a parcel of land on which Brunswick's radio station was to be built. It was located on New York Hill, east of Scheer Stadium, the municipal swimming pool and the new high school.

The radio station has changed hands over the years but has continued in operation. Mr. Bert Thornton, one of the prior owners, was always very accommodating when a radiothon was needed to raise money for a good cause. Subsequent and current owners have continued this good-neighbor policy.

The station operates with a power of 500 watts at setting 1520 on the AM dial. The program format is primarily "Country and Western." It has been owned and managed by Allen Salisbury since 1986.

W-BLC

Do You Know. . . Thatforentertainment the town kids wouldgodown to the canal, ride a distance on a boat, then walk back.
There used to be storage buildings along the line, both east and westbound, well awayfrom the tracks. The "gandy" car sat near the shed at the eastbound crossing in Brunswickfor years.
What the "old main line" is ? It's the linefrom Point of Rocks to Relay.
What the "Metropolitan Branch" is? The linefrom Point of Rocks to Washington, D.C.
Table of Contents

Brunswick Post Office

Locations

Postmasters

Changes

Post Office

Telephone Service

The Brunswick Herald

Brunswick Newspaper

The Telegraph

WTRI- Brunswick's Radio Station

Do You Know...

5/21/07