sugar’s underselling store by Richard D. L. FultonSugar’s Underselling Store, also known as Thurmont’s Underselling Store, was—for that particular time—a rather unusual business that operated in Thurmont from 1916 through 1918, one that ultimately accepted eggs in payment for goods purchased. Sugar’s Underselling Store was essentially a late-Victorian version of today’s Ollie’s or Big Lots,…

1921        Thurmont School’s First 7th Grade Graduation Ceremony In 1921, the Thurmont community had two school graduations: one for the high school students and one for the grade school students. “For the first time in the history of our schools, a Seventh Grade public commencement will be held in Town Hall, this place,” the Catoctin…

by James Rada, Jr. Rural Free Delivery in Northern Frederick County Better late than never, as they say. The United States Post Office started experimenting with Rural Free Delivery in 1891. Despite starting in neighboring Carroll County, the home delivery of mail didn’t reach Frederick County until 1901. However, it wasn’t as if the county…

The Mountain Seaside by James Rada, Jr. It was supposed to be a Maryland seashore on a mountaintop. In 1889, the Buena Vista Ice Company bought 400 acres of land where Fort Ritchie would eventually be built, and set aside 20 acres for a lake. “The business had counterparts on the East Coast below the…

Note: This is the first of two articles about the murder of Leo Creager and the pursuit of his murderer. by James Rada, Jr. Note: This is the first of two articles about the murder of Leo Creager and the pursuit of his murderer. In the early morning hours of October 18, 1919, Clarence Wallace…

The Year is … 1871 There’s Gold in Them There Hills! by James Rada, Jr. With the arrival of the railroad in Thurmont, you would have thought that attention would have been focused on how it connected Thurmont with the world and the economic development opportunities it brought with it. “The sound of the steam…

The Train Derailment No Passenger Noticed by James Rada, Jr. The Western Maryland Railroad mail train left Hagerstown on time on August 26, 1913, just another day on the daily mail run. However, as it rumbled down the steep grade on Horseshoe Curve in Sabillasville, the driving wheels of the engine left the tracks. “The…

By James Rada, Jr. Safecrackers Go After the Thurmont Post Office Late one Saturday night in 1916, two men walked up to the Thurmont Post Office, which at the time was located on the first floor of the Masonic building on East Main Street. They walked casually, alone on the street. They paused beneath the…

Young Boy Rescues Friend from Runaway Rail Joseph Flautt Frizell was walking along the tracks of the Emmitsburg Railroad one evening in May 1922 with some friends. They were goofing around, as teenage boys are known to do, as they approached the station located on South Seton Avenue. The Emmitsburg Railroad had been incorporated on…

by James Rada, Jr. 1915 — David Firor’s Missing Days On March 2, 1915, David Firor kissed his wife goodbye and told her that he would be back on the evening train from Baltimore. Then he headed into the city to buy Easter items for his store on East Main Street in Thurmont. That evening,…