The Way we Were
As our city continues its progress toward the future with a reinvigorated downtown area, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back to the city’s previous heyday. Some of us still remember places like Everly’s Department Store and some of the West Washington Street shops that were the focal point of downtown. Most are long gone, and the street itself looks quite different, but there are new stores, shops, and restaurants opening and filling the void of the last several decades. Now, as it was then, downtown Hagerstown is attracting residents and tourists to shop, eat, and maybe take in a ball game or a concert. In the new incarnation of downtown, we have parking decks instead of trolley rails, a spanking-new ballpark instead of a rickety old one, and new generations of residents who will bring the city back to its previous glory. Photography editor Mark Youngblood went through the library of Raup Photographic Studios and assembled this look back.
West Washington Street
In the days before shopping malls there were five-and-dime stores like Woolworth’s where folks went to buy inexpensive items (five to 10 cents usually) and maybe grab a burger at the lunch counter; and there were department stores, large, often several-level stores divided into departments where shoppers could buy anything from record albums to living room furniture.
Charles Eyerly and his father, George, started a dry goods store in the late 1880s, and by 1900 George turned everything over to his son who expanded and became the Charles H. Eyerly Department Store. In its heyday, general merchandise manager John S. Bussard said: “Eyerly’s is Hagerstown’s oldest and largest department store. It consistently does the largest dollar volume annually in the Hagerstown area, and that record is possible only because it enjoys the confidence of the local buying public.” Indeed, generations of families shopped at Eyerly’s, but other local shops like Leiter Brothers, Rand’s Cut Rate, Montgomery Ward, Newberry’s, McCroy’s, and an early People’s Drug Store, drew shoppers downtown as well.
Eyerly sold the store to the owners of the Bon-Ton Department Store and in 1974, when the Valley Mall opened, the institution of Eyerly’s left downtown Hagerstown.
The last trolley.
The first bus.
The Last Trolley and the First Bus
Trollies were a huge aspect of transportation in Western Maryland in the first half of the 20th century. But August 4, 1947, marked the end of trolley service in Washington County. The Hagerstown and Frederick Railway, once an intricate network of tracks throughout Frederick and Washington counties, had dwindled to only the Hagerstown-Williamsport line for passenger service. Buses replaced inner-city streetcars, and the automobile replaced the trolleys that ran between the area’s cities and towns.
The Alexander Hotel.
The Elegant Alexander
The invention of the elevator made constructing taller buildings possible, and on St. Valentine’s Day 1929 the 10-story Alexander Hotel opened on the Public Square. A group of Hagerstown businessmen recognized the need for an elegant downtown hotel. Historically, the building attests to the economic strength of Hagerstown in the years before the Depression. Considered a skyscraper in its time, the Alexander was built between 1927 and 1929, an eclectic example of Renaissance Revival influenced architecture. Celebrities didn’t flock to Hagerstown, but when one showed up (Debbie Reynolds is in the car) they stayed at the Alexander. The hotel, later called the Alexander Inn, closed in 1971. It was renovated in 1978 for residential apartments.
Play Ball!
The early days of Municipal Stadium were barebones for the minor league teams that played there. It was built in just six weeks (hence the plywood outfield wall), opening just in time for the first home game of the Hagerstown Hubs on May 8, 1930. Baseball had been played at Willow Lane Park, but the city needed that land for a new school, so the Field and Athletic Association was charged with finding land and building a new stadium. The association struck a deal with the city to lease the Municipal Stadium site for 99 years for $1 per year. The stadium didn’t quite last for those 99 years. It was razed after 92 years in 2022 to make room for the recreation facility named the Hagerstown Field House. While Municipal Stadium was in use it went through several renovations and by the time the last minor league game was played there in 2020, it had become a historic minor league ballpark. Negro league games were played there, Willie Mays played his first professional game there. George H.W. Bush attended a Hagerstown Suns game there in 1990 and was the first sitting president to attend a minor league baseball game, and by the time the Suns disbanded, Municipal Stadium was one of the three oldest Minor League ballparks in the county.
The Holidays in Hagerstown
From the 1930s to the ‘60s, the holidays were a magical time downtown. The tradition of trimming a 40-foot Christmas tree in the Public Square was one of Hagerstown’s greatest annual events. It still is, although the tree no longer stands in the intersection of Washington and Potomac streets. In these images it’s easy to see how the tree was the centerpiece of the city’s holiday season.
Henry’s Theater
Historic Henry’s Theater
A focal point of downtown for more than 70 years, the Palace Theatre opened in 1908 as a nickelodeon (it cost a nickel to see a film). Apparently, the original owners ran into financial problems and the Elks Club No. 378 ran the theater for a time in the 1920s. In the early 1930s Henry Weinberg of Frederick took over, hence the name Henry’s Theater.
Weinberg and his sister Clara Wachter operated the theater until 1948 when it was purchased by John Miller Sr., who ran the theater until it closed on December 5, 1979. The last film shown in Henry’s was “Fiddler on the Roof,” starring Chaim Topol but over the years most of Hollywood’s biggest films made it to Hagerstown residents via Henry’s. The building is now the Barabara Ingram School for the Arts.
Ford Automobiles
The Automobile Takes Over
The early days of color photography were also the early days of Massey Ford on East Baltimore Street. Jerry Massey started the business in the early 1960s and sold the dealership later that decade. Today it lives on as Hagerstown Ford on Massey Boulevard and Massey’s original building is now Hub City Vinyl. In the black-and-white days, Sharrett Motors was a primary Ford dealer in town. Long gone now is Yingling’s Auto Works on Frederick Street, which specialized in repairing Pontiacs and always had several for sale on the small lot. The building remains standing on the north end of Frederick Street.
Before the Big-Boxes
In the days before big-box hardware stores smaller shops like Mays’ Hardware serviced Hagerstown residents and their do-it-yourself needs. At 1583 Potomac Avenue (where the Dollar General is now) you could get nuts and bolts, lawn and gardening supplies, lumber and tools to shape it into something. Like many small-town hardware stores that no longer exist, Mays was a place where you could get friendly advice or just hang out with other DIYers. Downtown was filled with such small businesses, like Nowell Electric, Kohler’s Jewelry, Thom McAn Shoes, Semler’s Sporting Goods, and the Lovely Dame, a candy store and ice cream parlor. And while you were downtown you could get a hearty meal at places like the Keystone Luncheonette, George’s Restaurant, or the Savoy Restaurant.