A recent donation from the collection of Mrs. Agnes (Martin) Fisher illuminates early 1900s Clarysville, Maryland, just down the hill from Frostburg.
Depicted in the photo below is a scene of Clarysville shortly after the start of the Cumberland and Westernport Electric Railway Company in 1902. On the left, along the unpaved Route 40, is the large car barn of the streetcar line. The two stacks are on the boiler house and turbine room where there were dynamos supplying electricity for the line. On the far right is the famed Clarysville Inn. Constructed in 1807 as a stagecoach stop, it was used during the Civil War as a hospital by the Union Army. It remains today as an operating motel. Most of the houses shown above are still standing in the small community. The first house on the left of the Clarysville Inn was the home of William and Rachel Delaney. Across the street in the middle house, which was a double block structure, lived the families of Joseph and Golda (Delaney) Storey and Hilda (Delaney) Martin. (The Martin’s home was the side showing). Continuing on Route 40 past “The Clarysville Inn” takes you to “Pompey or Pompey Smash” (now Vale Summit).
These streetcars are shown on a track leading into the car barn of the Cumberland and Electric Railway Company in Clarysville. The picture taken in the first decade of the 20th century shows the stacks of the powerhouse where turbine-driven generators were installed to provide electricity for the system. The other powerhouse for the Georges Creek end of the line was located at Reynolds between Lonaconing and Westernport. Above, the car next to the barn is a work car used by maintenance forces. There were regular passenger cars, shift cars to haul coal miners, freight cars for delivery of perishable commodities, and one for special occasions. How could we ever forget this landmark?
Want to learn more about local transportation history? Visit the Frostburg Museum during regular hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, or email the Frostburg Museum to set up an appointment!