This section of the Washington Turnpike Area was settled by German immigrant farmers, chiefly from Hesse Castle [sic] and Hesse Dum Stradt, Germany.

On the South side of the Washington Turnpike beginning at Railroad Avenue was the farm of Henry Deering, Senior. On the Southwest Corner of Washington Turnpike and Railroad Avenue, being the Northwest Corner of the farm, Henry Deering, Junior erected a double two-story brick dwelling about 1885 and was leased to my father, Joseph Henry Heile where he conducted a saloon and an adjacent blacksmith and wheelwright shop. My brothers, Charles, William and I, were born in this dwelling. Later, the saloon was leased to Billy Wade. After his death, it was leased to George Narer. Next came the residence of John Ox, then the residence of William Fosbring. Then came the residence of Henry Deering, Senior. This dwelling was a three-story double brick building and one of the show places of this area. Henry Deering, Senior, his son Henry Deering, Junior and his wife Pamela Ann Deering, nee Wade occupied one section of this dwelling where five of their eight children were born, namely: Ella, Lulu, Addie, George and Bessie.

Henry Deering, Senior’s daughter, Anna married John Link and they also resided here. After the death of Billy Wade, his widow Sue Wade, nee Kessler leased one section of this house where she lived until her death. Her daughter, Florence and her husband, Frank Schwartz lived with her. Henry Deering, Senior’s farm extended to the property line of Phillip Nine’s farm. Phillip Nine’s farm extended to Hammonds Ferry Road. His two-story frame dwelling was adjacent to the intersection of the Washington Turnpike and Hammonds Ferry Road, facing on Washington Turnpike.

I have an Atlas of Baltimore County, Maryland in my possession that was surveyed and published by G. M. Hopkins, C.E. of 320 Walnut Street, Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania in 1877. The map of the Thirteenth District shows the following properties and residences between Railroad Avenue and Hammonds Ferry Road on the South Side of the Washington Turnpike. William Fosbring, Henry Deering and Phillip Nine. Phillip Nine’s chicken and hen houses are also shown. On the same map between Hammonds Ferry Road and Sulphur Spring Road on the South Side of Washington Turnpike are shown the following properties: Beginning at Hammonds Ferry Road, Charles Bender’s Farm, next the William B. Coursey’s Farm, the Adam Link’s Farm that extended to Sulphur Spring Road. Also shown on the Charles Bender property is the Ulrich Post Office which was the Post Office for this area at that time. The Charles Bender, William B. Coursey and the Adam Link Farms were later broken up as described in the following:

On the Southwest Corner of Washington Turnpike and Hammonds Ferry Road was the home and blacksmith and wheelwright shop of Jacob (Jake) Emmett. It was here that my father learned the blacksmith and wheelwright trade. A son of Jake Emmett, Charles, married Daisy May Wade, a daughter of Bill and Sue Wade. Next came the grocery and confectionery two-story frame store of Christhoff Benner, later Augusta Sparrow, Adam Benner and George Mettle operated the store. The Mettle Family lived here for a number of years. Three of George Mettle’s children, Estella, Henrietta and George are now living in the 3900 Block Edmonson Avenue, Baltimore 29, Maryland.

Then came the home of Henry Ulrich Link, who later moved to a farm on Washington Turnpike and Sulphur Spring Road which is shown on the Atlas previously mentioned as the farm of Adam Link who was his father. Then came the home of Phillip Grace. Adam Benner, at one time, also lived here. Then came the Joseph Narer residence, next the George Narer residence who later moved to the tavern at Washington Turnpike and Railroad Avenue. A son of his, Criss Narer, now has a tavern at Woodlawn on Dogwood Road. Then came the confectionery store of Julie Reitz,followed by the double two-story frame building, a section of which previously was the Ulrich Post Office and grocery store. It was also the home of Doctor Ulrich who married Sallie Rittenhouse. Henry Ulrich Link’s middle name was given him in honor of one of the Ulrich Family. He did not care much for this middle name and as a rule left it out of his signature. This two-story double frame building is one of the two oldest buildings that are now still standing in this area. The other is the Old Dames School which was built in 1754. NOTE: I do have an 1863 Baltimore County map which indicates this school and it is labeled “L Gourdie” School.

Some of the other families in the Ulrich Building later were the Reitz Family, Tom Biden, Henry J. Heile, Henry Wagener; John Eichelman conducted a grocery store here, Nick Gaylor conducted a tavern and Buck Grace a grocery store.

When Hen Heile and his family and Tom Biden and his family lived here – to get to the bedrooms on the second floor we had to go up a set of stairs, which were attached to the outside of the house in the rear and led up to a platform outside of the rear bedrooms. Going to bed in the wintertime was quite rugged with snow, sleet and ice on this stairway. In the next house lived Bill and Nancy Strach, followed by John Harold’s home. In later years my father worked at his trade of blacksmith at the Riverside Shop of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad with John Harold as his blacksmith helper. Still many years later when we were constructing the first section of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway from the Baltimore City Line to Patapsco River in Baltimore County, I received a complaint from a property holder whose property laid adjacent to the right-of-way line of the new construction on the South near the Patapsco River. The property holder’s name was Harold. I contacted the wife on the property and they were concerned about the condition of the approach road and entrance to their property.

The name Harold reminded me of John Harold and I asked her if she was a relative of his. She was his sonís wife. I had the approach road and entrance graveled and everybody was then satisfied.

Next to John Harold’s house, the Knecht House was occupied by George Sadler, then Fred Linkís House, followed by the second Knecht House where John Miller lived, now occupied by George E. Lotterer. Then the William B. Coursey Farm, later owned by his son, Wesley Coursey and later by his grandson, Alexander (Bub) Coursey.

On the Coursey property adjoining John Miller’s home was a religious meeting house on what was then known as Meeting House Hill. Here the neighboring residents would gather on Sundays to worship the Good Lord by listening to hell and brimstone fire sermons by a circuit rider parson and by singing hymns led by Wesley Coursey who would always after the singing admonish the Wade and Burrows Girls for singing too damn loud. They were Pamelia, Georgeanna and Ellen Wade, from nearby Arbutus and Lavinia and Sallie Burrows.

Next to the meeting house was the Coursey Home, next was a house on the Coursey Farm leased by Margaret A. Burrows, nee Pickens where she lived with her daughters, Lavinia and Sallie. Lavinia married Jeff Wade.

Later the Coursey Farm was leased to the Hoffmnan Brothers, Will, Jim and George, and still later sold to William Link and his wife, Margaret, nee Tieman. Next to the Coursey Farm was a small tract owned by Michael Reitz and the Kalines, then nine acres owned by Fred Link, then, last but not least, the home and farm of Henry Ulrich Link, containing about twenty-six acres and extended to Sulphur Spring Road. Jack Wade’s Tavern was on the Southwest Corner of Washington Turnpike and Sulphur Spring Road.

When I was on a Survey Party with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad I was sent with several other boys to cross-section the fill on the Washington Pike which was being reconstructed by the State Roads Commission, just West of Sulphur Spring Road. The cross-section was done by the railroad under some Right-of-Way Agreement, if I recall rightly.

The map of the Thirteenth District in the 1877 Atlas shows the following properties to Caton Avenue, which is a continuance of Hammonds Ferry Road and extends northly to Wilkens Avenue and Frederick Avenue.

The first property shown is the McTavish Farm which extended east to the Morell-Morell Farm. Next came Henry Mintz’s residence and farm, then the dwelling and farm of Henry Shriver which extended to  Caton Avenue.

By 1890 there were no changes in the ownership of these properties. The map shows the following properties from Caton Avenue to Sulphur Spring Road. The first is the farm of V. Brant Rittenhouse, then the farm and dwelling of Casper Eichelman, then the Caton Manor Estate, next Adam Link’s Farm that extended to the Sulphur Spring Road. Adam Link’s residence was at this time located on the South Side of the Washington Turnpike and his farm extended south to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Right-of-Way at Lansdowne. North of a section of C. Eichelman’s farm was the farm of Jacob Odensoss.

Referring again to the map of 1877 and beginning at the Baltimore City Line, then located at the Gwynns Falls and going in a Westerly direction, the Morell-Morell, the McTavish, the Mintz, the Shriver, the Rittenhouse, the Eichelman, the Caton Manor Estate and the Adam Link Farms extended from the Washington Turnpike to the old Georgetown Road. The Caton Manor Estate began at the City Line with its south boundary on the Georgetown Road and extended westerly to the J. Odensoss Farm, bypassing this farm, the boundary picked up again at the Eichelman Farm and continued on the North Boundary of the Georgetown Road to the west line of the Eichelman line, thence south to Washington Turnpike. Then west to Adam Link’s east property line, then north to the Georgetown Road, then west to Sulphur Spring Road. The north boundary of this property began at Wilkens Avenue at the city line nearGwynns Falls and westerly along the south side of Wilkens Avenue to Harvest Home, the property of Mrs. Robert Fuller. Saint Agnes Hospital and Saint Mary’s Industrial School are shown on the Caton Manor Estate.

The present Baltimore City Line established in 1919 crosses the Washington Turnpike, now known as Baltimore-Washington Boulevard at Caton Avenue and extends to a point on Wilkens Avenue between Leeds Avenue and Beechfield Avenue.

Between Caton Avenue and Sulphur Spring Road in 1890, there were the following property owners, tenement houses and residences. On the Rittenhouse Farm on the corner was a triple one and one-half story tenement house, frame construction, occupied at various intervals by the following families: Phillip Warner, Florist; Will Wade and his wife Louisa, nee Deering; Fred Litz and his wife Nettie, nee Link; John Fleischman, Howard Brosker and Herbert Wentzel.

Next on the Rittenhouse Farm was a two-story frame dwelling owned by Doctor T. B. Hall, where he had his office and rented the main part of the house at various intervals to the following families; Will Wade and his wife Louisa, nee Deering, moved here from the tenement house on the corner. Jack Wade died here. Edward Salman, Jim Biden and his wife Lizzie, nee Kromer. Jim Biden was a descendant of Larkin Wade. Carrie Ruhl, widow – she was a daughter of Jake Emmett. Her second husband was Will Rietz and they also lived here. Next came a small lot of approximately one-half of an acre on which was a double two-story frame house. This lot and frame building was purchased from the Rittenhouses by Catherine Oursprung shortly after her husband Christian Oursprung’s death about 1885. It was here she conducted a grocery store and tavern. Daniel Henry Toomey, the father of Kate Toomey, and his brother, Joseph Henry Toomey, Junior, were two of the Toomeyís born in this house. Later Thomas Jefferson Wade conducted the tavern and after his death the tavern was conducted by his son, Hileary Jefferson Wade. In the rear of the tavern was a cockpit where Jeff Wade and later, Hileary Wade held cockfights. Hileary J. Wade and his wife, Margaret M., nee Eichelman, constructed a two-story frame house between their tavern and Doctor Thomas B. Hallís office building and moved their tavern to this new location.  After they had moved, Charles G. Weidenhammer and his wife Carrie, nee Link, moved in and they resided here when the building was moved back by the State Road Commission when the Turnpike was widened.

Then next came a triple two-story frame tenement house and six acres of land owned by Joseph Falter and his wife, Catherine, nee Eichelman. She was one of the daughters of Casper Eichelman. The following families resided here at intervals besides the Falters: Mrs. Mettle, widow – she was the mother of George Mettle. Will Link and his wife Margaret, nee Tieman; John Odensoss, Mrs. Snoops, Mid-wife; Charles Christianer and his wife, Sallie, nee Emmett. She was one of the daughters of Jake Emmett.

Then next came a two-story frame dwelling that was occupied by the parents of Fred Litz, who was the husband of Nettie Link. Next came the home and farm of John Eichelman, a son of Casper Eichelman. Next came the home and farm of Henry Tieman and his wife, Margaret, nee Eichelman; she was another daughter of Casper Eichelman. Next came a double two-story frame and brick building occupied by the Old Dames Private School.

Some of the natives prior to 1890 were under the impression that to send their young and innocent daughters to a public school that was in charge of a male teacher was not the right thing to do. So they were sent to this private school where the teachers were of the female gender. Lavinia and Sallie Burrows, daughters of Margaret A. Burrows, nee Pickens were pupils here. Others living here at intervals were the Godfreys, the Steinackers, the Kromers, John Helwig and family, George Link and his sister Gussie Ammond and her husband. This house is the other oldest building in this area. Henry Wagener and his family, the Della Monica family and Clarence Grace and his family were also residents of this building. Then came the one-story frame schoolhouse. I was a pupil here for a period of one year, my first year at any school. I think I was then six years old. Among the teachers who taught here over a period of years were a Mister Andrews, Margaret Tieman, who later married Will Link, Sophia Odensoss, Molly Welslager, who was later Principal of the Lansdowne Public Grammar [sic] School, Lillian Bond, she was a sister of Dick Bond who married Maisie Wade, a granddaughter of Jack Wade.A Mister Kenney, a one-armed Irishman, also taught here. He was well-known for discipline and many a pupil still remembers his birch rod that he maintained discipline with. Then came a new dwelling that Adam Link built and moved into from his prior home across the road. His farm extended to the Sulphur Spring Road. Then came the home of Fred Link, Adam Link’s son that was also on this farm. After Adam Link’s death, Fred Link became the owner of this farm. Fred Link was the father of ten children. Three of them were: Will Link who married Margaret Tieman, Adam Link who married Julie Heffner. They now live at nearby Lansdowne. Also Mattie Link who married Proctor Stewart Wade, a son of Benjamin H. Wade. They now live near Catonsville. Adam and Mattie Link are twins.

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