Reformation Day

(Wikipedia) Reformation Day is a religious holiday celebrated on October 31 in remembrance of the Reformation, particularly by Lutheran and some Reformed church communities. It is a civic holiday in Slovenia (since the Reformation contributed to its cultural development profoundly, although Slovenes are mainly Roman Catholics) and in the German states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. It is also a national holiday in Chile since 2008.

In the United States churches often transfer the holiday, so that it falls on the Sunday (called Reformation Sunday) on or before October 31, with All Saints' Day moved to the Sunday on or after November 1. Continued

The Witch of Pungo

(HMDB) The witchcraft case of Grace Sherwood is one of the best known in Virginia. She was accused of bewitching a neighbor’s crop in 1698. Allegations grew over time until the Princess Anne County government and her accusers decided she would be tested by ducking, since water was considered pure and would not permit a witch to sink into its depths. Sherwood’s accusers on 10 July 1706 tied her hands to her feet and dropped her into the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven River near what is now know as Witch Duck Point. Sherwood floated, a sign of guilt. She was imprisoned, but was eventually released. Sherwood lived the rest of her life quietly and died by 1740.

Photo: The Historical Marker Database 

Anatomy of a Hurricane

Daniel Nathans

Daniel Nathans (October 30, 1928 – November 16, 1999) was an American microbiologist. ... Nathans served as President of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland from 1995 to 1996.
Along with Werner Arber and Hamilton Smith, Nathans received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978 for the discovery of restriction enzymes. He was also awarded with National Medal of Science in 1993. Continued

Temperance and Prohibition

(LoC) On October 28, 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act providing for enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified nine months earlier. Known as the Prohibition Amendment, it prohibited the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" in the United States. Continued

Katharine Byron

(Wikipedia)  Katharine Edgar Byron (October 25, 1903 – December 28, 1976), a democrat, was a U.S. Congresswoman who represented the 6th congressional district of Maryland from May 27, 1941 to January 3, 1943. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Maryland. Continued

Stock Market Crash of 1929

(Wikipedia) The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash or the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout.
Four phrases—Black Thursday, Black Friday, then Black Monday, and Black Tuesday—are commonly used to describe this collapse of stock values. All four are appropriate, for the crash was not a one-day affair. The initial crash occurred on Thursday, October 24, 1929, but the catastrophic downturn of Monday, October 28 and Tuesday, October 29 precipitated widespread alarm and the onset of an unprecedented and long-lasting economic depression for the United States and the world. This stock market collapse continued for a month. Continued

Photo: Wall Street bubbles; - Always the same / J. Ottmann Lith. Co. ; Kep, 1901. Caricature of John Pierpont Morgan as a bull blowing bubbles "inflated values", for which group of people are reaching. (Library of Congress)

The Lend-Lease Act

(LoC) The Senate passed the $5.98 billion supplemental Lend-Lease bill on October 23, 1941, bringing the United States one step closer to direct involvement in World War II. The Lend-Lease Act, approved by Congress in March 1941, gave President Roosevelt virtually unlimited authority to direct material aid such as ammunition, tanks, airplanes, trucks, and food to the war effort in Europe without violating the nation's official position of neutrality. Continued

The Panic of 1907

(Wikipedia) The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when its stock market fell close to 50 percent from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred during a time of economic recession, when there were numerous runs on banks and trust companies. The 1907 panic eventually spread throughout the nation, and many state and local banks and businesses entered into bankruptcy. Primary causes of the run included a retraction of market liquidity by a number of New York City banks, a loss of confidence among depositors, and the absence of a statutory lender of last resort. Continued

Photo: "A crowd forms on Wall Street during the Bankers Panic of 1907" (New York Public Library).

The Battle of Ball’s Bluff

(NYTimes) The first months of the Civil War had been a series of humiliating lessons for the citizens and soldiers of the Union, highlighted by dramatic defeats at Bull Run and Wilson’s Creek. The war, it was becoming clear, would be neither easy nor quick. But it was also clear that, especially among the Union Army officer corps, those lessons had not yet fully sunk in — a fact made all too clear by the Oct. 21 disaster at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff. Continued

Photo: Discovering the bodies of the slain in the Potomac river, Battle of Balls Bluff (Va.) fought 21 October, 1861 by Alfred Waud (Library of Congress).

Harvest Moon Dinner and Auction to Benefit the Harford Land Trust

(Aegis/Sun) The Harford Land Trust, a nonprofit organization that helps protect farms and forests and create community parks in Harford County, will hold its first Harvest Moon Dinner and Auction fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Bel Air Reckord Armory. The Harvest Moon Dinner and Auction will begin at 5:30 p.m. with live entertainment from The Wallis Brothers Band with Dar Coomes, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and a silent auction that will continue throughout the evening.
Dinner will be served promptly at 6:45 p.m. and will consist of seasonal and local menu items, including a preset salad bar, pasta station, carving station and seafood station provided by MacGregor's Restaurant of Havre de Grace. A live auction will follow dinner at 8 p.m. Continued

Battle of Cedar Creek

(Wikipedia) The Battle of Cedar Creek, or Battle of Belle Grove, October 19, 1864, was one of the final, and most decisive, battles in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 during the American Civil War. The final Confederate invasion of the North, led by Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early, was effectively ended. The Confederacy was never again able to threaten Washington, D.C., through the Shenandoah Valley, nor protect the economic base. This victory aided the reelection of Abraham Lincoln and Union Army Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan won lasting fame. Continued

Image: Sheridan's ride by Alfred Waud, Oct 19th, 1864 (Library of Congress)

Howard Rollins

(Wikipedia) Howard Ellsworth Rollins, Jr. (October 17, 1950 – December 8, 1996) was an American television, film, and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Coalhouse Walker, Jr. in the film Ragtime, and for his portrayal of Virgil Tibbs in the NBC/CBS television series In the Heat of the Night. The youngest of four children, Rollins was born in Baltimore, Maryland where he studied theater at Towson State College nearby. Continued

Goose Goslin

(Wikipedia) - Leon Allen Goslin (October 16, 1900 – May 15, 1971), better known as Goose Goslin, was a left fielder in Major League Baseball known for his powerful left-handed swing and dependable clutch hitting.
... The 20-year-old Goslin was called up to the major leagues to play for the Washington Senators for the last two weeks of the 1921 season. He had a promising .351 on base percentage in 14 games in 1921 and became a starter for the Senators in 1922.
Goslin played 93 games in 1922 and became a fixture for the Senators in left field until 1930. Continued

Jim Palmer

(Wikipedia) James Alvin "Jim" Palmer (born October 15, 1945) is an American retired right-handed pitcher who played all of his 19 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Baltimore Orioles (1965–1967, 1969–1984) and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990. The winningest pitcher in the majors during the 1970s with 186, he won at least twenty games in each of eight seasons and received three Cy Young Awards and four Gold Gloves during the decade. His 268 career victories are currently an Orioles record. A six-time American League (AL) All-Star, he was also one of the rare pitchers who never allowed a grand slam in any major league contest. Continued

William Penn

(LoC) William Penn, English reformer and founder of Pennsylvania, was born on October 14, 1644, in London, England. Persecuted in England for his Quaker faith, Penn established freedom of worship in Pennsylvania. The colony became a haven for minority religious sects from Germany, Holland, Scandinavia, and Great Britain.
Born the privileged son of a landed gentleman, young William Penn was greatly affected by the preaching of Quaker itinerant minister Thomas Loe. Expelled from Oxford in 1662 for refusing to conform to the Anglican Church, Penn joined the Religous Society of Friends five years later. At that time, Friends, commonly called "Quakers," were subject to official persecution.
Penn was jailed four times for stating his beliefs in public and in print. No Cross, No Crown (1669), written while imprisoned in the Tower of London, condemns Restoration England's excesses and extols the benefits of Puritan asceticism and Quaker social reform. Continued

Haussner's film shot in 1961

From the digital tour at the Baltimore Museum of Industry and the DVD, The Port that Built a City a short piece that includes an interview done by Helen Bentley in the stag bar at Haussner's and 16mm film footage of food being prepared and served.

Rube Waddell

(Wikipedia) ... Waddell was odd and unpredictable, including a bad habit of leaving the dugout in the middle of games to follow passing fire trucks to fires, and performed as an alligator wrestler in the offseason. He was also easily distracted by opposing team fans who used to hold up puppies and shiny objects, which seemed to put Waddell in a trance on the mound. Continued

'Lord Baltimore' to reminisce about My Lady's Manor land he once owned

(North County News) As the 300th anniversary of the deeding of My Lady's Manor draws near, the Manor Conservancy has invited a special guest to its annual meeting on Oct. 23 in Monkton.
Charles Calvert, Third Lord Baltimore, will speak about the 10,000 acres he once described as "a faire land" and gave to his fourth wife, Margaret, in 1713.
J. Scott Watkins, a Baltimore actor, historian and horseman, will portray Lord Baltimore. Continued

Stevenson Archer

(Wikipedia) Stevenson Archer (October 11, 1786 – June 26, 1848) was a United States Representative from Maryland, representing the sixth district from 1811 to 1817, and the seventh district from 1819 to 1821. His son Stevenson Archer and father John Archer were also U.S. Congressmen from Maryland.Archer was born at Medical Hall, near Churchville, Maryland, and attended Nottingham Academy of Maryland, later graduating from Princeton College in 1805. He studied law, was admitted to the bar of Harford County, Maryland in 1808, and commenced practice the same year. Continued

Photos: 1. Medical Hall, 1936 (Library of Congress). 2. Stevenson Archer (Find A Grave)

Anchors Aweigh!

(LoC) On October 10, 1845, fifty midshipmen and seven faculty attended the first term of The United States Naval School. Five years later, the school became the United States Naval Academy. From the Mexican War to the Persian Gulf War, officers trained at the Academy served in every major U.S. war. President Jimmy Carter holds the distinction of being the sole Naval Academy graduate elected president and commander in chief. Continued

Photo: Bancroft Hall, Annapolis Naval Academy c1911. (Library of Congress)

United States Naval Institute

(USNI) The U.S. Naval Institute has been a fixture at the U.S. Naval Academy since its founding in 1873 by a group of 15 naval officers who began meeting to discuss the serious implications of a smaller, post-Civil War Navy and other matters of professional interest. The Naval Institute's headquarters on the grounds of the Naval Academy have a commanding view of the Severn River and the cemetery, where lie some of the most prominent heroes in Navy and Marine Corps lore.
The founding vision was to create a forum for the exchange of ideas, to disseminate and advance the knowledge of sea power, and to preserve our naval and maritime heritage. Continued 

Illustration: Library of Congress

York Factory Whistle Concert to continue despite New York Wire closing

(YDR) It was with mixed emotions that Jeff Hines discussed the future of the York Factory Whistle Concert.
On one hand, the event's chairman wanted to assure the public that the Christmas tradition - one held at New York Wire's East Market Street plant for the last 57 years - will continue. On the other hand, he wanted to show compassion for the employees at the plant.
All 170 of them are scheduled to lose their jobs by the year's end as the facility closes its doors, said Michael Smeltzer, executive director of the Manufacturers' Association of Southcentral Pennsylvania. Continued

Caesar Rodney

(Wikipedia) Caesar Rodney (October 7, 1728 - June 26, 1784), was an American lawyer and politician from St. Jones Neck, in Dover Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, east of Dover. He was an officer of the Delaware militia during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, and President of Delaware during most of the American Revolution. Continued

Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

(LoC) On October 3, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt met with miners and coalfield operators from the anthracite coalfields in Pennsylvania in an attempt to settle the strike, then in its fifth month. The country relied on coal to power commerce and industry and anthracite or "hard coal" was essential for domestic heating. The miners had left the anthracite fields on May 12, demanding wage increases, union recognition, and a shorter workday. As winter approached, public anxiety about fuel shortages and the rising cost of all coal pushed Roosevelt to take unprecedented action. Continued

Images: 1. Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. John Mitchell, President of the UMWA (United Mine Workers of America), arriving in the coal town. His open four-horse carriage is surrounded by a crowd of boys. 1902. 2. Unidentified coal miner during the UMW labor strike against CF&I, in Ludlow, Las Animas County, Colorado. 1913 or 1914 (Library of Congress). 

A War of Words

(NYTimes) ... the war years did indeed yield a vast outpouring of literature, as ordinary people and authors alike turned to writing as a way of coping with the war. Their works are becoming newly available to us in digital form, scholarly research and anthologies. But this popular writing is difficult for us to read: often, it does not reflect an individual voice and unique experience, and defies our expectations of “good” literature. But we cannot impose our tastes on the past without losing historical knowledge in the process. Nineteenth-century readers found comfort in repetition and in cookie-cutter forms of writing, much the way we might enjoy the endlessly recycled formulas of television drama. Because we measure writing from the past by modern standards, we have yet to discover Civil War literature. Continued

Thurgood Marshall

(LoC) On October 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice. Long before President Lyndon Johnson appointed him the first African-American Supreme Court justice, Marshall had established himself as the nation's leading legal civil rights advocate.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908, Marshall graduated with honors from Lincoln University and received his law degree from Howard University in 1933, ranking first in his class. He soon joined the legal staff of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and, for the twenty years between 1940 and 1961, headed the organization's Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Continued

Pennsylvania Turnpike

(Wikipedia) ... When the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940, it was the first long-distance rural highway in the United States and was popularly known as the "tunnel highway" because of the seven mountain tunnels along its route.
The turnpike was partially constructed on an unused railroad grade constructed for the aborted South Pennsylvania Railroad project, and six of its seven original tunnels (all tunnels with the exception of the Allegheny Mountain tunnel) were first bored for that railroad.
Proposals to use the grade and tunnels for a toll road were made starting in late 1934. The road would bypass the steep grades on Pennsylvania's existing major east-west highways – US 22 (William Penn Highway) and US 30 (Lincoln Highway) – and offer a high-speed four lane route free of cross traffic. Continued 

Photo: Library of Congress