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Page 42 March 2016 The Catoctin Banner Newspaper www.TheCatoctinBanner.com Published by www.EPlusPromotes.com
The Present Past financing another
Personally
resort for the H&F
Milton in the Middle line was a risk worth
taking for Ramsburg
as the Lakeview
by “My Father’s Son” Hotel became a
popular destination.
East of Rt. 15, a pristine identified in Canada. The Illinois city Patrons arriving
testament to an era excited by the of Elgin, located between Rockford by trolley were
th
20 century’s turn can be observed. and Chicago, has long maintained the dispatched to the
Diluted over the past 100 years by largest concentration of Sears Homes, base of the hill that
economic factors, cultural shifts, with over 200 erected within one held the hotel. The
and the persistent Frederick County community. building’s four-story
vegetation that has reclaimed most The 1900s pre-fab home business figure impressively
of the site, imagination is required to relied on the railroad to transport menaced down
visualize this superb specimen, with products across the country. Perhaps upon one side of the
assistance from the features that still not a coincidence, the procurer coach, the sparkling
remain. This site is suited for historic of Lewistown’s Milton, Charles coolness of the lake
examination because of the adequate J. Ramsburg, was an officer of shimmering upon
trace of the property’s uses rarely so the WF&G Railroad, whose rails the other. The Hotel
apparent. This place is that of the connected to those of the H&F Trolley has been described as
“Milton” house in Lewistown, on line running through the property having turret-topped
the northeast corner of Rt. 15 and where Mr. Ramsburg would build his corner towers and Above is a portion of the Sears catalog page advertising the
Stull Road, disguising a much more residence. The H&F junction from a rooftop garden. Milton house kit on record by the Maryland Inventory of Historic
splendid past than it currently alludes. the Western Maryland in Thurmont, It featured various Properties.
An appealing home, “The Milton” a central station on the Baltimore to past-times, including
is a suburban design of Stevenson & Hagerstown mainline, traveled across a landscaped lake for swimming and pediments rather than the craftsman-
Jandl’s Houses by Mail, marketed the original Monocacy Valley Railroad boating, and bowling, dancing, and style brackets shown by Sears
nationally through the 1913 and and onto the newer rails, extending roller skating housed within a two- Roebuck, random pebble material
1916-18 Sears Roebuck Company beyond the Catoctin Furnace district story casino building. Until 1998, used to face the porch, and the
Catalogs. “Catalog houses” were through the Schley-Ramsburg Farm an empty, exemplary casino building substitution of floor and baluster
the forerunners to the massive pre- built upon the lengthy lane connecting remained at Braddock Heights where in place of the open-air pergolas,
fabricated home segment existing in the Springfield Tract to Hessong games were once on the main level establishing a wholly covered first
the U.S. today, a market displayed Bridge Road. From the south, the and roller rink on the second, but was floor porch and full-length second
first-hand in Thurmont by the NV railroad came from Frederick where it destroyed by arson. story balcony that were also not
and Ryan Homes (NVR) plant, which connected to the WF&G and extended Documentation shows the to plan. The Maryland Inventory
manufactures and ships upward of to the D.C. region. Lakeview’s Casino burned to the of Historic Properties (MIHP)
125 homes a week. For this model, At one time, Ramsburg relied on ground in 1910. The building’s has filed the 1918 Sears catalog
Sears boasted built-in bookcases and the freight-capable trolley for much location is undetectable due to page exhibiting the Milton plan
seats in the living room, bay window more than delivery of his handsome overgrowth on the property but and suggests “the designs for the
and buffet for the dining room, abode. As it stands, perched on may have been adjacent to the previous years may have included
beveled glass surrounds at the front a knoll overlooking a precisely hotel structure paralleling the lake’s such variations and further research
door, seven bedrooms, one bath, and rectangular man-made lake, the southern bank. The Hotel was able to in the Sears catalogs may reveal the
a two-story gabled porch with tapered Milton is nearly centered within the retain an adequate amount of business sources of the Ramsburg House
columns and pergola-covered terraces confines of a ghostly, cement outline in the casino’s absence until it too changes.” The MIHP surveyed this
on each side. The home-building marring the ground. This outline, a met the same fate. Lakeview Hotel site in 1992 listing Architecture,
kit could be purchased for between 1908 foundation, marks the perimeter went up in flames just years after its Landscape Architecture, and
$1,520 and $2,491 and arrived of what was once the Lakeview Hotel. missing casino, as would Pen Mar’s Community Planning as items
“ready-to-build” from pre-cut lumber, Ramsburg’s position at WF&G massive Blue Mountain House in of qualification. Now painted a
fittings, and trim. Company sales granted him immediate observation to 1913, grandiose Buena Vista Springs mustard-like yellow, the house can
document over 70,000 catalog homes, the success of the Resort business that Hotel (the largest wood structure on be seen from the raised interruption
sold between 1908 and 1940 in states emerged in the Catoctin mountain the East Coast) in 1967, and the Hotel of US-15. A segment of the lake,
as widespread as Florida, California, region around 1900. Taking up Braddock in 1929, leaving only Hotel better described as a pond, and the
and Alaska. Assemblies have also been tenement in private boarding houses, Melvue, home of Camp Louise, as the graded lane of the H&F rail-bed
like Thurmont’s Aurora Cottage most comparable surviving sample. between the water and house are still
or Belvedere Inn to escape the city, Hotel destroyed, Ramsburg intact. Referencing old photographs,
was going out of style. Lakeview resolved to make the Lakeview it is easy to ascertain that the Rt.
was Ramsburg’s attempt to emulate plot his personal address. Charles 15 bypass was built over a slice of
the commercial achievements of the Ramsburg’s Milton varied slightly the lake, isolating a portion west of
Western Maryland Railroad’s Pen Mar from the design of Kathleen Stevenson the highway to become the sunken,
(Pennsylvania-Maryland) Amusement and Ward Jandl. Most noticeably, marshy area seen today, further
Park, as well as the H&F Trolley’s the raised basement story on the contributing to the rural unanimity
own Braddock Heights. Braddock front façade to accommodate the the site uses to camoflauge and guard
Heights was brilliant on behalf of the sloping terrain, altered the appearance what was once a vastly contrasting
H&F, because the company could and necessitated need for the wide scenario. Ramsburg’s Milton house
both transport guests and power the concrete steps leading to the front stands as a modern marker between
entire operation internally. Braddock porch. As some believe, it’s quite two divergent uses of property in
Heights attracted figures like possible that this front story of rural Maryland, a presently out-
Presidents Roosevelt and Nixon, and foundation and the nearby steps of-character holiday spot and its
Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy; Ethel Skakel, are remnants of the hotel blaze. ultimate summation as a rural
during its time as a summer-getaway Further changes to the home include farm arrangement typical in our
destination. dentil molding on the cornices and agricultural area.
The Present Past financing another
Personally
resort for the H&F
Milton in the Middle line was a risk worth
taking for Ramsburg
as the Lakeview
by “My Father’s Son” Hotel became a
popular destination.
East of Rt. 15, a pristine identified in Canada. The Illinois city Patrons arriving
testament to an era excited by the of Elgin, located between Rockford by trolley were
th
20 century’s turn can be observed. and Chicago, has long maintained the dispatched to the
Diluted over the past 100 years by largest concentration of Sears Homes, base of the hill that
economic factors, cultural shifts, with over 200 erected within one held the hotel. The
and the persistent Frederick County community. building’s four-story
vegetation that has reclaimed most The 1900s pre-fab home business figure impressively
of the site, imagination is required to relied on the railroad to transport menaced down
visualize this superb specimen, with products across the country. Perhaps upon one side of the
assistance from the features that still not a coincidence, the procurer coach, the sparkling
remain. This site is suited for historic of Lewistown’s Milton, Charles coolness of the lake
examination because of the adequate J. Ramsburg, was an officer of shimmering upon
trace of the property’s uses rarely so the WF&G Railroad, whose rails the other. The Hotel
apparent. This place is that of the connected to those of the H&F Trolley has been described as
“Milton” house in Lewistown, on line running through the property having turret-topped
the northeast corner of Rt. 15 and where Mr. Ramsburg would build his corner towers and Above is a portion of the Sears catalog page advertising the
Stull Road, disguising a much more residence. The H&F junction from a rooftop garden. Milton house kit on record by the Maryland Inventory of Historic
splendid past than it currently alludes. the Western Maryland in Thurmont, It featured various Properties.
An appealing home, “The Milton” a central station on the Baltimore to past-times, including
is a suburban design of Stevenson & Hagerstown mainline, traveled across a landscaped lake for swimming and pediments rather than the craftsman-
Jandl’s Houses by Mail, marketed the original Monocacy Valley Railroad boating, and bowling, dancing, and style brackets shown by Sears
nationally through the 1913 and and onto the newer rails, extending roller skating housed within a two- Roebuck, random pebble material
1916-18 Sears Roebuck Company beyond the Catoctin Furnace district story casino building. Until 1998, used to face the porch, and the
Catalogs. “Catalog houses” were through the Schley-Ramsburg Farm an empty, exemplary casino building substitution of floor and baluster
the forerunners to the massive pre- built upon the lengthy lane connecting remained at Braddock Heights where in place of the open-air pergolas,
fabricated home segment existing in the Springfield Tract to Hessong games were once on the main level establishing a wholly covered first
the U.S. today, a market displayed Bridge Road. From the south, the and roller rink on the second, but was floor porch and full-length second
first-hand in Thurmont by the NV railroad came from Frederick where it destroyed by arson. story balcony that were also not
and Ryan Homes (NVR) plant, which connected to the WF&G and extended Documentation shows the to plan. The Maryland Inventory
manufactures and ships upward of to the D.C. region. Lakeview’s Casino burned to the of Historic Properties (MIHP)
125 homes a week. For this model, At one time, Ramsburg relied on ground in 1910. The building’s has filed the 1918 Sears catalog
Sears boasted built-in bookcases and the freight-capable trolley for much location is undetectable due to page exhibiting the Milton plan
seats in the living room, bay window more than delivery of his handsome overgrowth on the property but and suggests “the designs for the
and buffet for the dining room, abode. As it stands, perched on may have been adjacent to the previous years may have included
beveled glass surrounds at the front a knoll overlooking a precisely hotel structure paralleling the lake’s such variations and further research
door, seven bedrooms, one bath, and rectangular man-made lake, the southern bank. The Hotel was able to in the Sears catalogs may reveal the
a two-story gabled porch with tapered Milton is nearly centered within the retain an adequate amount of business sources of the Ramsburg House
columns and pergola-covered terraces confines of a ghostly, cement outline in the casino’s absence until it too changes.” The MIHP surveyed this
on each side. The home-building marring the ground. This outline, a met the same fate. Lakeview Hotel site in 1992 listing Architecture,
kit could be purchased for between 1908 foundation, marks the perimeter went up in flames just years after its Landscape Architecture, and
$1,520 and $2,491 and arrived of what was once the Lakeview Hotel. missing casino, as would Pen Mar’s Community Planning as items
“ready-to-build” from pre-cut lumber, Ramsburg’s position at WF&G massive Blue Mountain House in of qualification. Now painted a
fittings, and trim. Company sales granted him immediate observation to 1913, grandiose Buena Vista Springs mustard-like yellow, the house can
document over 70,000 catalog homes, the success of the Resort business that Hotel (the largest wood structure on be seen from the raised interruption
sold between 1908 and 1940 in states emerged in the Catoctin mountain the East Coast) in 1967, and the Hotel of US-15. A segment of the lake,
as widespread as Florida, California, region around 1900. Taking up Braddock in 1929, leaving only Hotel better described as a pond, and the
and Alaska. Assemblies have also been tenement in private boarding houses, Melvue, home of Camp Louise, as the graded lane of the H&F rail-bed
like Thurmont’s Aurora Cottage most comparable surviving sample. between the water and house are still
or Belvedere Inn to escape the city, Hotel destroyed, Ramsburg intact. Referencing old photographs,
was going out of style. Lakeview resolved to make the Lakeview it is easy to ascertain that the Rt.
was Ramsburg’s attempt to emulate plot his personal address. Charles 15 bypass was built over a slice of
the commercial achievements of the Ramsburg’s Milton varied slightly the lake, isolating a portion west of
Western Maryland Railroad’s Pen Mar from the design of Kathleen Stevenson the highway to become the sunken,
(Pennsylvania-Maryland) Amusement and Ward Jandl. Most noticeably, marshy area seen today, further
Park, as well as the H&F Trolley’s the raised basement story on the contributing to the rural unanimity
own Braddock Heights. Braddock front façade to accommodate the the site uses to camoflauge and guard
Heights was brilliant on behalf of the sloping terrain, altered the appearance what was once a vastly contrasting
H&F, because the company could and necessitated need for the wide scenario. Ramsburg’s Milton house
both transport guests and power the concrete steps leading to the front stands as a modern marker between
entire operation internally. Braddock porch. As some believe, it’s quite two divergent uses of property in
Heights attracted figures like possible that this front story of rural Maryland, a presently out-
Presidents Roosevelt and Nixon, and foundation and the nearby steps of-character holiday spot and its
Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy; Ethel Skakel, are remnants of the hotel blaze. ultimate summation as a rural
during its time as a summer-getaway Further changes to the home include farm arrangement typical in our
destination. dentil molding on the cornices and agricultural area.
