Four letter carriers, including Joshua Corbin and his horse “Harry”, begin free daily delivery of the mail from Westminster to the rest of Carroll County. They are the first government-sponsored “guinea pigs” to test Rural Free Delivery county-wide in the U.S.
Corbin delivers about 30 pieces of mail a day. He and his colleagues are so successful that U.S. Post Office makes RFD official in 1899.
Jacob R. Thomas, a Carroll County farmer, assembles a wheat reaping machine in 1811 and tries it out locally. It doesn’t cut well, but the first experiment with a mechanical reaper ushers in the age of agricultural machinery.
The Afro-American is the oldest family-owned newspaper in the U.S. Founded in 1892 by John Henry Murphy, born a slave and a Civil War veteran, the newspaper becomes the most successful weekly on the East Coast. It is still run by the Murphy family
Lincoln suspends Habeas Corpus to jail secessionists at Ft. McHenry in 1861. John Merryman (pictured on the left) sues and Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney (center in photo) rules against Lincoln who ignores the ruling.
We acknowledge the enduring presence of many American Indian tribes who once lived in Maryland and who now, having lost their lands, live in a diaspora. Read more.
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