Report45Fischerpp1340 .pdf

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In June, 1896, my grandfather, Friedrich

J. Fischer, purchased four acres, one

rood and eight perches¹ of land on the

north side of Bird River Neck Road from

James J. Milling, He paid $40.00 per acre

or a total price of $172.00.

Grandfather Fischer had recently

arrived in America from Germany, where he

was born in 1842. With the help of four of

his six sons, also born in Germany, Fried-

rich Fischer proceeded to build a single-

room, one-and-one-half-story log cabin

with a tin roof on the land he had purchased.

Three of his sons purchased adjoining land

and also built log cabins. They then pro-

ceeded to clear the land for farming. I still

have in my possession the broad axe which

was used in hewing the logs. My father,

Friedrich (Frederick) Barnabas Fischer, was

born in 1880. As a young man, he attended

Orems public school in Middle River to

learn the English language. Sarah Pielert

was his teacher. He was granted American

citizenship by the Baltimore County Circuit

Court on September 3, 1901, when he

reached the age of twenty-one. Part of the

document which confirmed his new status

stated: "having declared an oath taken in

open court his intentions to become a citizen

of the United States and that he doth

absolutely renounce all allegiance and

fidelity to the Emperor of Germany of

whom he was heretofore a subject."

In 1905 my father returned to his na-

tive village of Widerau in Saxony to bring

Hedwig Louise Kunde, a village girl, back

to America as his betrothed. They wed on

November 12 that year in Maryland. Hed-

wig's passport indicates her occupation as a

seamstress. I was born on September 19,

1906; my brother Herbert was born in 1908.

We were both born in the homestead on Bird

River Neck Road in Baltimore County,

which by that time had been enlarged.

My grandfather's six sons all came to

America with him. At that time in Germany

all young men had to serve in the military.

Since my grandfather did not agree with

compulsory military service, he decided to

bring his family to America. His daughter,

Lydia, remained in Germany. Three of the

brothers, Martin, Johannes (John) and

Edmund hitchhiked to California to seek

their fortune. Later Edmund and John

THE FISCHER FAMILY OF

BALTIMORE COUNTY,

MARYLAND:

A PICTURE OF THE LIFE OF A GERMAN-AMERICAN

FAMILY

IN THE

EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

In 1990, Rudolph F. Fischer, Sr. finished writing his recollections from child-

hood. Although Mr. Fischer intended his narrative solely for his family, the

story he tells will likely appeal to many. He focuses on his own experiences

yet recounts a virtual chronicle of life in rural Baltimore County in the early

twentieth century.

Mr. Fischer is now deceased, but his son, Rudolph, Jr., has graciously con-

sented to the publication of his father's narrative in the Report. The story is

presented largely as Mr. Fischer wrote it. Some explicit references to fami-

ly members have been omitted, and several notes and illustrations have

been added to make the whole accessible to a wider audience, particularly

those who might not be intimately familiar with the geography of Baltimore

City and County (Ed.).

THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

returned to Baltimore County to begin farm-

ing the land. Martin stayed in Anaheim,

California, and planted an orange grove. He

never returned to the east coast, even for a

visit. His land is now part of the Disneyland

complex. When we visited Martin's family

in 1955, after his death, his wife, my Aunt

Lydia, related to us his experiences while

traveling west. The brothers passed through

New Orleans, where they took a job unload-

ing banana boats and lived on a diet of

bananas. For the rest of his life, Martin

could not stand the sight of a banana. We

were in California on the day that Disney-

land opened and were among the first one-

hundred paying customers.

In all, five of my grandfather's six

brothers made Baltimore Country their

home. Edmund and John were farmers, sup-

plying fruits and vegetables to Baltimore

market. Brother Ernst settled in the

Stemmers Run area and proceeded to grow

flowers for cutting. His specialty was sweet

peas, and he gained some national renown

as a grower and propagator of them. He car-

ried his flowers in large shoulder baskets to

the Baltimore market by train. In the early

1900's, Uncle Ernst gave father some red

rose bushes which he planted on the front

lawn of our home. Uncle Ernst probably

received them from his friend, Mr. Cook,

who was a rose grower of national renown.

When Marie and I were married and moved

into our home at 8805 Harford Road, we

brought them with us. They are now grow-

ing in the two beds behind the house.

They have the fragrance of old-time

roses, but the blooms are very short-lived.

Much later, Uncle Ernst's property was pur-

chased by Baltimore County as a flood plain

project, and the buildings were removed.

His descendants moved the business to

Jericho Road, adjacent to the covered bridge

in Upper Falls. There, they continue to grow

cut flowers, shipping to the Washington

market daily. Their flowers have been used

in the White House for many years.

Brother Paul brought with him from

Germany seeds for a highly scented variety

of violets. He grew these violets in an exten-

sive system of hot beds for the Baltimore

market. During the colder weather the hot

beds were covered with straw mats which

he wove for the purpose. In the early spring,

when the violets came into bloom, their

scent could be detected a long distance

away. To this day, the scent of violets is a

memory of springtime for me.

My father, Friedrich, was the youngest

of the brothers and made his living as a

country carpenter. He inherited the family

homestead, which I still own.

For over forty years the Fischer broth-

ers played cards several times a week at

Uncle Paul's house. They played Skat—the

German national card game—using special

cards of German design. Kernels of corn

were used as markers.

THE BIRD RIVER AREA IN THE EARLY

DAYS

DAILY LIFE

Our home had a rear wing of log construc-

tion with a corrugated tin roof, which was

original. A two-story front building was

added later. The new building had two

rooms down and two rooms up and was of

very light construction. It had no central

heating. We lived in the rear wing with its

log construction. It had a wood burning

stove for heating and cooking and a dining

table. The logs were covered with wainscot-

ing inside and German siding outside. The

rooms in both wings were lined with wall-

paper, which served to keep the outside air

from blowing into the rooms.

—14—

___________________________FISCHER

We always had a problem with roaches

in the walls, and there was no way to get at

them. Every few weeks mother would close

off the room and spread Black Flag roach

powder, but in a few days another new gen-

eration would be there. The floor sloped at

least six inches to the rear, probably because

the logs were rotting. In one corner was a tin

bathtub with a removable cover, which

served as our seat at the dining table. A

kerosene lamp was hung over the table, and

it always leaked kerosene. When we did our

homework, we wrapped a cloth under it to

soak up the kerosene. The lamp was an

"Angle" lamp.

There was no electricity, running

water, or telephone. Our nearest phone was

at Uncle Ernst's home in Stemmer's Run. A

bucket of water sat on a low shelf in the

kitchen with a dipper hung alongside it. This

served for drinking and kitchen water.

The wooden privy was across the yard.

A wooden commode was kept in the house

for people who were unable to go out.

Newspaper or old Sears and Roebuck cata-

logs were used for toilet paper. Until I was

about the age of fourteen, we slept in the

low-ceilinged room over the kitchen. I can

still hear the rain falling on the tin roof.

Later on, after my brother Herbert's death, I

moved to the far upstairs room and used it

until I married. Marie and I lived there for a

few months until we moved into our new

home. There was no heat, and the room was

just as cold as the outdoors. I often found

the bed covered with snow that had drifted

through the window. There were very thick

feather blankets, and mother would place a

warming bottle in the bed before I went up.

Once I had settled in, it became comfort-

able. In the early years we slept on a mat-

tress filled with corn husks. They were

lumpy and rustled loudly when we moved.

Our living room was next to the

kitchen, and we used a portable kerosene

heater for heat. It threw a very pretty pattern

of light on the ceiling, but the whole room

smelled of kerosene and carbon monoxide

went up to sickening levels. We never used

the other room on the first floor after my

Grandfather died. For awhile, father occa-

sionally sold bicycle accessories there, but

the business never really amounted to any-

thing. The original structure was torn down

in 1933.

One of my jobs was to split and store

the firewood for the kitchen stove. In the

winter mother would be the first one up. She

would start the fire, and when the room was

warm and breakfast was ready, she would

call us and we would rush down and dress in

the kitchen.

Prior to 1916, our standard of living

would probably have been considered at

poverty level by today's standards. How-

ever, despite a lack of money, there was usu-

ally enough wholesome food to put on the

table due to hard work and foresight. I

remember the long walk with my mother to

the steetcar line at Middle River in order to

go shopping in Highlandtown. We would

then walk back home with her loaded, black

mesh shopping bag. It was over a two-mile

walk, each way. Mother purchased our beef

supplies from Mr. Hammond, a butcher

from Upper Falls. He wore a black derby hat

and drove a one-horse wagon containing

large sides of beef. The meat was covered

with a white sheet to keep out flies and dust.

Mother would select the cuts of beef that

she wanted and then Mr. Hammond would

cut off the amount of meat that she needed.

The wagon was on the road all day, and the

meat was not refrigerated or iced down. Yet

I can recall no problems caused by spoiled

meat. At hog-butchering time, the brothers

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THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

made sausage, smoked hams and generally

shared the meat among themselves. Very lit-

tle food was store-bought. We had a cow for

milk and butter, chickens, a vegetable gar-

den and apple trees. Vegetables were pre-

served for use in the winter and a winter's

supply of potatoes and apples were stored in

large bins in the basement. No one had to go

hungry.

There were no movies, TV, radios, auto

rides, soft drinks, or iced drinks. Ice cream

was limited to a cone at the annual Sunday

School picnic. I remember one Christmas

when my only present was a small chocolate

bar with the promise of more gifts later if

the money became available. When I was

about fifteen we did have a small wind-up

gramophone with about six records. Some

people had player pianos, but we could not

afford one. We did have a hand-me-down,

foot-powered organ with a round stool. We

still have the stool in use today. The organ

was later given to Uncle Edmund. Uncle

Paul also had an organ, and every Sunday

night my cousin Lena would play hymns on

it and sing. We thought it sounded very nice.

About 1925, a friend of Father's built a

single tube radio for him for $5.00. We in-

stalled it with a long outside antenna.

Sometimes we could hear station KDKA in

Pittsburg, but it was very faint. This was

almost unbelievable; the neighbors would

come to our house to hear it. Later we got an

Atwater Kent receiver with a seashell

mounted on the Statue of Liberty as a speak-

er. I think the radio is still in the attic at Bird

River Road.

Older people generally lived close to

their children and they were expected to

make themselves useful to the best of their

ability. In most cases this worked out rea-

sonably well with benefits to all members of

the family. We never seemed to lack for

things to do, largely because there was

always work to be done. People who were

really indigent, with no family for support

were sent to the County almshouse (we

called it the poorhouse) in Cockeysville.

There they were again expected to work to

the best of their ability, no matter what their

age. The women worked at housekeeping

and taking care of the sick and infirm. The

men performed chores such as grounds

keeping and gardening. No social workers

were needed to entertain them.

One of the exciting events of the times

was seeing blazes at night. They could be

seen twenty miles or more away and they

happened rather frequently. People would

gather and speculate on the location of the

blaze and whether it was a house, a barn or

a woods fire. Often we would go looking for

the location of the blaze. When fires reached

such a large stage, neighbors would come

from all around to rescue people, posses-

sions and livestock. They would also try to

save adjoining buildings with bucket bri-

gades, but it was usually impossible to save

buildings already on fire. Other frequent

types of fires in our neighborhood were the

marsh and woods fires. They sometimes

burned for many hours. My father was an

unpaid State forest warden and he had the

authority to hire people to fight such fires.

There was some crime in the commu-

nity. One night father was coming home

from work and was held up by two men who

stole money. Several days later, policemen

from Highlandtown, Baltimore County

(where they had a small police force) arrest-

ed the two men in an abandoned shack.

They were put on trial and received jail

terms of five years each. We also had a bicy-

cle stolen from our barn and there were

other robberies in the neighborhood. Father

purchased a small revolver and kept it near

—16—

___________________________FISCHER

his bed at night. Mother was terrified that he

would use it, but he never did.

When I was a boy there were no

income taxes of any kind, no social security

taxes or sales tax; the only taxes were

Baltimore County real estate taxes. As a rule

people did not feel that they were overtaxed

by the County although the County provid-

ed very little in public services, mainly the

public schools and a modest road mainte-

nance program. There were no paid fire

companies, and I didn't see a County police-

man until about 1920. There were County

constables who served as a sort of legal offi-

cer in the community and who would listen

to citizen's complaints. They served on a

part-time basis. I suppose that there was a

county sheriff, but we never saw him.

People who lived within the law never came

into contact with a County, State, or Federal

official. The only exception was when we

had business with the Post Office

Department. A rural free delivery service

(RFD) was provided. Rural Free Delivery

was established by Congress in 1896. The

mailman traveled in a horse drawn mail-

wagon and delivered the mail to each box

on his route. There were no local banks in

our area and very few people were familiar

with checks as an item of exchange. The

mailman sold money orders, which were

used for purchases.

People who held public office were, as

a rule, poorly paid, but they usually held a

career position with some retirement bene-

fits. These people were looked upon in the

community with respect. Mechanics who

worked in government installations such as

the Navy Yard in Washington and shipyards

were considered tops in their fields. These

places had high standards of workmanship,

and people who worked there were accord-

ed considerable respect. Generally people

who were employed worked long hours at

poor pay. However, they were grateful for

work to support their families on an exis-

tence level. There were no unions. People

seemed to be happy that they lived in a

country of unlimited opportunity and that

they could better themselves by individual

effort.

CLOTHING

Up until World War I, many men wore hard,

black derby hats. I can vividly remember

my father wearing one. Boys and some men

wore cloth caps. For very formal wear, men

wore high, flat-top, black silk hats. Both

younger and older men wore felt hats in the

colder months. They expressed their indi-

viduality by creasing the brim in a certain

way. The brim was sometimes turned up in

the back and down in the front (a conserva-

tive statement); others would wear their felt

hats with the brim turned down all around

(devil may care) or just on one side. In the

summer we would wear hard straw hats

with a low flat crown. The brim had a silk

band around it. On May 15, I believe, felt

hats were considered to be out of season. If

you forgot and went out wearing a felt hat,

someone was sure to bash you on top of

your head and drive the hat down around

your ears.

During the summer smaller children

spent most of their time playing outdoors in

their bare feet. My mother only permitted us

this luxury after the second thunderstorm of

the spring. We were also required to pick up

all the broken glass and other sharp objects

were in the yard first. At dusk, Mother

would put a wash basin and towel on an out-

door bench where we would wash. Shortly

thereafter we went to bed. There were no

indoor plumbing facilities.

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THE FISCHER FAMILY

___________

I cannot recall having store-bought

clothes during my early years. Mother

always made them at home on her treadle

sewing machine. During the 1930s, the

manufacturers of chicken and cattle feeds

shipped their grain in large sacks made of

good quality cotton fabric which were print-

ed with color designs. These feed sacks

were much in demand among the farm

women, who sewed them into dresses,

underwear and other garments.

LAUNDRY

Monday was wash day all over the city and

county. Clothes hung out to dry could be

seen everywhere. A large oblong copper ket-

tle called a wash boiler (about one foot

high) was placed on a wood-burning stove.

It was long enough to cover two stove

plates. It was filled with water and the dirty

clothes were placed in it. Homemade brown

soap was then pared off the bar with a knife

into the water. This all was brought to a boil

and stirred with a short piece of broomstick.

After boiling, the clothes were dipped out

with the stick and hand scrubbed on a wood-

en washboard. The clothes were then placed

into a wooden washtub for rinsing. Starch

and scents were added and the clothes were

either wrung out by hand or put through a

hand-operated wringer clamped to the side

of the tub. Then they were hung outdoors on

a wire line for drying. If the outdoor weath-

er was not suitable for drying clothes, then

they were hung on temporary lines in the

kitchen. After they were dry, the clothes

were ironed with heavy irons that were on

the kitchen stove. Some houses had summer

kitchens to keep the stove heat out of the

main house during the summertime.

BAKING

At Christmas time mother would bake

Stollen and Pfeffernüsse (small, round, hard

cookies). I did not like them. There were

also large, sugared cookies cut in the shape

of angels and Santa Claus. The sugar cook-

ies were hung on the Christmas tree. We

were not allowed to remove them from the

tree, but we could have any that fell off. By

a strange coincidence, one or two would fall

off every night! At the beginning of Lent,

mother would make Pfannkuchen (like pan-

cakes) which she rolled in powdered sugar.

They tasted great! Throughout the year she

made sheet cakes-peach, apple, and crumb.

The dough was rolled really thin and would

rise to about one-half inch in thickness. I

liked the crumb cake best. It had a thick

layer of crumbs and tasted good with hot

cocoa in the wintertime. These cakes were

about two feet in diameter and were baked

on large, round tins. I think the wooden

board she used to roll out the dough is still

in the attic. Mother did not bake bread, but

each Friday Uncle Paul brought home bread

from his street route. They were large, round

loaves of Rokos rye bread, which tasted

very good when fresh. However, by the end

of the week the bread that was left had

become dry and hard. Sometimes Uncle

Paul would also bring home bags of stale

buns and doughnuts. We were always glad

to get them.

PHYSICAL HEALTH AND MEDICINE

The dread of various diseases was always

on people's minds. Tuberculosis was a great

threat and it had no definitive cure. A person

with pneumonia was considered to be at

death's door, and often was. There were

smallpox, scarlet fever, and typhoid as well.

These diseases were not fully understood by

the medical profession and were treated

mainly by general practitioners. A great flu

epidemic occurred during World War I and

killed thousands of people. Many of our

friends and neighbors died, but—strange to

—18—

_____________________________FISCHER

say—I can recall no member of the Fischer

family who contracted the flu at this time.

Uncle Paul had a homeopathic kit for

his family. It contained about twenty-five

bottles of different pills, with a chart show-

ing which pills to use for certain problems.

He had a lot of faith in it, and his family was

always treated with it. A lot of natural reme-

dies were used. Mother bottled red raspber-

ry juice that we would drink when we had

an upset stomach. It really worked for me

We suffered quite a bit with teeth prob-

lems. One could always see children with

badly swollen jaws and a scarf wrapped

around their face and tied at the top of their

head. There was a wax substance which we

placed around the tooth that was supposed

to provide some relief. It was difficult to get

to town to see a dentist because it meant a

walk to Middle River and a long streetcar

ride into town. When we did have a tooth

pulled, it was pure torture. I can't recall if

the dentist used an injection to lessen the

pain or not. When a drill was used to fill a

tooth, it was a dry drill which hurt almost as

much as the toothache. Sometimes there

was an assistant to hold the patient in the

chair. Many people asked to be put to sleep

with gas, but we never did. We were afraid

we would not come out of it.

SCHOOL DAYS

At age six I entered school. I was not able to

Speak English at that time. Our school was

Baltimore County School #9, District 14,

and was known as Poplar School. It got its

name from the Poplar railroad station and

had been formerly known as Buck's School.

It was located on the west side of

Philadelphia Road about one-half mile north

of Middle River Road. It was later convert-

ed to a residence and was still standing as of

1990.

Philadelphia Road was formerly

known as the Great Eastern Road, also as

the old Post Road. In colonial times, it was

the only direct road between the cities on

the east coast. It originally was an Indian

trail. Colonel John Eager Howard is said to

have made the first survey of the road in

1787. On December 20, 1791, the Maryland

General Assembly appointed Commis-

sioners to lay out and mark the new road.

The Philadelphia road had been used

frequently by George Washington in his tra-

vels between Mount Vernon, Philadelphia

and New York. Thomas Jefferson, Patrick

Henry and others who were important to the

founding of our nation also traveled along

the road. The troops of Generals LaFayette

and Rochambeau marched along the road on

their way to Yorktown and the final battle of

the Revolutionary War.

The first regular stage line to

Philadelphia over this road was started by

Gabriel Van Horn in 1782. It ran from the

Fountain Inn in Baltimore to the Havre De

Grace ferry. There it met the Philadelphia

stage and transferred the passengers and

mail. The fare was $4.00 per person, and let-

ters were carried for one-sixth of a hard dol-

lar. Other stage lines of the time were oper-

ated by William Clark in 1788, William

Evans in 1794 and Stockton and Stokes in

1818. In 1811, the New Pilot stage, owned

by D. Fulton and Company, left Gadsby's

tavern in Baltimore and traveled straight

through to Philadelphia in one day. It

arrived at the Mansion House in

Philadelphia early in the evening. The fare

was $8.00. As a child attending Poplar

School I was impressed by the historical

significance of Philadelphia Road. The fact

that persons famous in the history of our

nation passed over it seemed to make our

study of history come alive.

—19—

THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

Each public school in Baltimore

County had a committee of citizens, called

trustees, to take care of the maintenance of

the physical property. These trustees served

without pay. The trustees for Poplar School

were W. Howard Milling, Dr. Oliver Davies

and my father. Dr. Davies' wife had at one

time been a music teacher in the city and she

would come to the school several times a

year and conduct singing lessons. Their son,

Floyd (Bosie) Davies was my best friend at

school. He died about 1978.

The school had two rooms, two teach-

ers, eight grades and about forty pupils.

There were twin desks with inkwells and

folding seats. Each room had a blackboard

and there were individual slates for writing

lessons, but we no longer used them. Each

room had a coal-burning furnace for heat.

There was a water bucket and dipper to use

for drinking water. A bell was on the roof for

starting and stopping classes, and there were

two outbuildings in the yard for toilets. One

student, usually one of Uncle Edmund's

children, served as janitor and would come

to school early to take out the ashes and

sweep the floors. The student received a

small amount of pay for this work. Other

chores that the students performed included

filling inkwells, beating erasers, and bring-

ing in drinking water.

We walked to school through the

woods behind our house and across the rail-

road tracks, a distance of about one mile.

When we walked home from school in the

wintertime, we would walk along the rail-

road tracks and pick up lumps of coal to

take home for heating the house. Sometimes

locomotive firemen on trains would see us

and throw out lumps of coal for us. Books

were carried in a book bag at the side with a

strap over the shoulder. At the beginning of

the school term, our parents bought us what

was called a companion: a small box con-

taining a pen, pencil, eraser and a ruler.

They also bought a notebook. We carried

our lunch in a paper bag.

During my time at Poplar School the

principal was Rose Gilbert. She lived in the

Benson area and boarded with local families

during the week. Assistant teachers at vari-

ous times were Mamie Peper, Mary Norris,

and Irene Baer. The assistant teacher had the

first four grades in one room and the princi-

pal had the four older grades in the other

room. Children in the younger classes could

hear lessons being taught to the older chil-

dren and benefit from them. Punishment in

the form of switching was done by the prin-

cipal, but very seldom. Usually the threat of

switching was enough. Miss Gilbert was a

no-nonsense teacher and quite a disciplinar-

ian. She always wore black! She died in

middle age and is buried at St. Stephen's in

Bradshaw.

During recess periods we played hide-

and-go-seek, catty (a piece of broomstick

about four inches long and pointed at both

ends, was laid on the ground and one end

was hit with a broomstick; as it flew up; it

was hit again, and the person hitting it the

farthest won), marbles, and spinning tops.

When the weather was warm, we went

swimming in a branch near school during

recess. The girls played ring-around-the-

rosy and jacks. On Arbor Day, we all helped

to rake and clean up the school yard. During

my school years we never heard of soccer or

football and we never owned a baseball or

tennis ball. Balls were usually made out of

rubber and painted in different color pat-

terns.

The truant officer was Mr. Hershner, a

tall, very stern-looking man. He had a black

mustache and always wore a black suit. He

drove a black buggy pulled by a black

—20—

_____________________________FISCHER

horse. He would come around to the school

about twice a year to handle truancy and

discipline problems. Many years later he

often fished with Captain Edwards out of

the Edwards' boat yard on Frog Mortar

Creek in Bowleys Quarters.

County law required attendance

through seven grades of school. Some chil-

dren dropped out at this point to help out at

home or on the farm. There were some

eighth-grade graduating classes with only

one graduate. I do not know of any graduate

who went on to public high school after the

eighth grade. The nearest high school was in

Towson, which required a trip to Baltimore

by train and then the student had to travel by

streetcar or the "Ma & Pa Railroad" to

Towson ("Ma & Pa" was a popular nick-

name for the Maryland & Pennsylvania

Railroad).

After graduating from the eighth grade

at the age of fifteen, I got a job at the Ross-

ville plant of the Baltimore Brick Company.

My father also worked there. One of my

duties was to sit at a long inclined conveyor

belt and pick out stones from the clay going

to the brick making machines. After hours at

this job I would get the strange sensation of

the conveyor standing still and the building

revolving around me. I was paid $12.00 for

a full six-day week. I gave my mother $6.00

per week board, put $2.00 per week in the

Golden Ring Building Association, and paid

for my clothes and other expenses with the

remainder.

I also enrolled in the evening classes at

the Maryland Institute. I took the four-year

course in Architectural Drafting. I went

three nights a week to the school which was

then located next to the fish market in

downtown Baltimore City. After working

outdoors in the cold all day (there was no

lightweight thermal clothing in those days),

I would come home with my hands swollen

and numb, dress in a cold bedroom and then

travel to school in a car with no heater. My

father drove me until I was old enough to

get a license. Whenever we passed by light-

ed houses on the way to night school, I was

envious of the people who were warm and

cozy inside. During our graduation exercis-

es at the Lyric Theater I was asked to come

up and receive the Martin Myerdirck prize

for outstanding effort.

After that, I went to the Baltimore

Polytechnic Institute for two years, taking

courses in Mathematics, and then to Johns

Hopkins for five years (at night) for courses

in Structural Engineering. During those

years I also completed an extensive

International Correspondence School in

building construction and a course in

English composition. In 1936 I became a

registered architect and am still registered

today (1990).

ZION EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH

STEMMERS RUN (ZIONSEVANGELISCHE

LUTHERISCHE GEMEINDE)

Zion Lutheran Church was (and still is) a

small country church which sat on the top of

a hill overlooking the surrounding country-

side. There were open sheds in the church-

yard to house the horses that brought the

people to church. There were, I believe,

three bells in the steeple. In the early days, a

bell would be rung one hour before the start

of the service in order to give the surround-

ing farm people time to get ready for

church. The countryside was quiet in those

days, and I can remember hearing the bells

on Bird River Road, At the beginning of the

service, all the bells would be pealed in a

certain pattern and the entire church seemed

to vibrate. Then during the recital of the

Lord's Prayer a single bell was rung. This

bell was called "our father" bell. A bell was

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THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

also tolled when a funeral procession came

into sight. The number of times the bell was

rung was equal to the age of the deceased.

After a fire in 1987, the steeple housing the

bells was taken down and rebuilt. Before

World War I, services were entirely in

German. After the war, English was intro-

duced gradually.

The congregation was originally segre-

gated: the men sat on the right and the

women on the left. My mother always sat in

the rear pew, women's side, next to the aisle.

The Church Council (die Vorsteher) occu-

pied a bench, set lengthwise, at the corner of

the church. They were always older men.

On entering, some of them would stand fac-

ing the corner and say a prayer. Some would

remove their shoes for comfort during the

service. The Reverend Henry Ellenberger

was the pastor, and Mrs. Ellenberger was

the organist. The organ was in the balcony at

the rear of the church. It was powered by a

bellows which was pumped by a long han-

dle on the back of the organ. The bellows

was pumped by the janitor, Mr. Gross. The

choir also sang from the balcony. My father

was a member. After the service, people

would gather in the vestibule or outside for

handshaking and socializing. For many

farm women this was the only opportunity

they had during the week to put on their best

clothing and socialize. As a rule, the pastor

did not mingle with the congregation at this

time.

Sunday School classes were held in the

church proper and younger children were

not required to attend the regular church

service. Those who did would sit with their

parents and observe proper decorum.

Attendance was required in conformation

class for one term. During my term, classes

were conducted in both German and English

at the same time. Attendance at the regular

church service was strictly required, and

any breach of decorum on the part of the

students was heard about at the next class.

Each confirmation class selected a class

hymn which was sung during the proces-

sional at the confirmation service. Our class

chose "Savior Like A Shepherd Lead Us".

During the service, each of the confirmands

was required to recite a portion of Luther's

catechism as requested by the pastor.

Rudolph Sr. at age 13 with his parents and brother

Herbert, who died in 1920

—22—

___________________________FISCHER

One of the most important services was

the Christmas Eve service. It was usually

held at night. During the service children

would recite the Christmas story. My cousin

Walter was always very good at this. After

the service each child received a small box

of sugar candy. A special part of the Easter

service was the twin trumpet solos played

by the Betz girls.

For a time the annual Sunday School

picnic was held at Budel's Park on the

Middle River. During the picnic each

Sunday School child received a five-cent

check for a free ice cream cone. Other spe-

cial events were steamboat excursions, oys-

ter suppers, and strawberry festivals. As

there was no assembly hall at the church,

large gatherings such as suppers and festi-

vals were held in Rock-About-Hall at

Philadelphia and Ridge Roads. The church

organizations included the Ladies' Aid

Society (Frauenverein), the Young People's

Society (Jugendverein) and the choir.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve was a time of almost unbear-

able excitement for us. Early on Christmas

morning Father would make us wait until he

checked to see if Santa Claus had come and

gone. Santa was always just leaving, and we

could hear loud talk. When the front door

slammed, father said he was gone and we

could come down. The tree was lit with can-

dles. The windup train was running, and the

presents were under the tree. Gifts were

never wrapped. The scent of fresh pine and

burning candles filled the room and I will

never forget the smell of it. First we had to

sing Christmas carols, with father at the

pump organ, then we could examine the

presents.

On December 11, 1920, my younger

brother, Herbert, died at the age of 12. This

was a terrible time for us. He had been oper-

ated on at Johns Hopkins Hospital for a

brain tumor, but he did not survive the sur-

gery. The hospital's best surgeons donated

their time. When father came home from the

hospital and told us that Herbert had died,

my mother and father sat with their arms

around each other and cried. He was laid out

where we usually had the Christmas tree.

Funerals at that time were conducted from

the home and a crepe was hung on the mail-

box-black for adults and white for children.

The undertaker provided a hearse and at

least one coach for the family. Funeral

coaches were beautifully finished in black

with large ornamental lamps (coach lamps)

on each side and beveled windows. The

coachmen wore high, black, flat-topped silk

hats and drove a matched pair of black hors-

es with fine livery. The undertaker was Mr.

Lassahn. A good friend of our family, W.

Howard Milling, gave Father his family

burial plot at Zion Church to use as a

gravesite for Herbert. As the funeral trav-

eled along the roads to the churchyard, it

was the custom for men to stop and remove

their hats as the procession was passing. At

Herbert's burial service, the Zion Lutheran

Sunday School children surrounded the

grave and sang hymns.

For this sad occasion my parents pur-

chased my first store-bought suit. They did

not take me with them to the store to try it

on, and it was an ill-fitting affair of coarse

and scratchy wool. I cannot ever remember

wearing it again. The day of Herbert's

funeral was one of the lowest points of my

life. After that, Christmas was never the

same at our house.

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THE FISCHER FAMILY

___________

MISCELLANEOUS REMINICENCES

OYSTER SHELL ROADS

Every few years, the county roads near the

rivers would be spread with oyster shells.

Bird River Road was among them. It was

almost impossible to walk or ride a bike on

them until they were crushed to a powder by

passing horses and wagons. After the shells

were crushed, the roads would have a beau-

tiful white appearance. The oyster shells

were brought from Baltimore oyster pack-

ing houses by sailboat to landings on the

Seneca, Middle and Back Rivers.

Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, ca. 1920

—24—

__________________FISCHER

GUDGEON FISHING

Around May 1, we would watch the stream

running through the woods near our home

for the annual gudgeon run. Every day after

school we would walk to the stream to look

for them. When the first schools of fish

appeared we would go running home shout-

ing "gudgeons are up." Gudgeons were

small fish about four inches long and shaped

like sardines. In the springtime they would

come into the stream in enormous schools to

spawn. They would jump and crawl up the

smallest trickle of water-almost to our

house. We would use our hands or small

nets to catch them by the bucketful. In deep-

er water, we used a tiny hook and worm to

catch them. Fishing for gudgeons was a big

thing for the city people who came by train

to the Gunpowder River to fish for them.

HERRING FISHING

At the time of the gudgeon run the herring

came up also, but they stayed in the deeper

streams. We fished for them at night along

White Marsh Run, between Ebenezer and

Bird River Roads. As a small boy, I went

with Father and Uncle Paul. Using an oil

lantern, we walked down the stream and lis-

tened for jumping herring. If the moon was

right, and they were jumping, it would mean

that a school of fish was moving up the

stream. It was very scary for me to walk in

those woods at night with owls hooting all

around. The men fished with a dip net and it

was my job to bag the herring after they

threw them on the bank. I have seen as

many as twenty-five herring caught in one

dip. We smoked the herring in a smoke-

house to eat during the winter months, but

other people pickled them in brine by the

barrelful. In the 1920s, a local company pol-

luted the stream and the fishing gradually

died out.

HUCKLEBERRIES

During huckleberry season, we would go

with Mother to the woods to pick huckle-

berries (blueberries). We always dusted our

arms and legs with sulfur first to discourage

Right side of original Fischer family home, ca. 1890

(c.f. cover photo)

—25—

THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

chiggers. However, when we got home

there would still be little red chiggers left to

cause itching and swelling. We tied tin

buckets around our waists to put the berries

in while we were picking. Mother would

bake pies with the huckleberries.

BALLOONS

On the evening of the Fourth of July, people

would send up hot air paper balloons. Each

balloon was about four feet in diameter and

had a straw wick which was lit to supply the

hot air. The balloon was held by four people

until the hot air caused the balloon to float

away. The next morning we were always up

early to look for balloons that had come

down during the night. One time I actually

found one. These balloons were later out-

lawed because of the fire hazard.

LAWN PARTIES

Some evenings during the summer, Uncle

Paul's daughters would have their friends in

to a lawn party. They would hang paper

Japanese lanterns on lines which were

strung between the trees. Each lantern had a

candle inside. My brother and I were too

small to be invited, but we enjoyed the

excitement.

WHIPPOORWILLS

During summer evenings at dusk, the whip-

poorwills would start calling their "whip-

poor-will" call. The low note of the call was

the "poor". They were very shy birds, but

occasionally one would call at the edge of

the lawn. They came out only in the

evening. The whippoorwills disappeared in

the 1930s.

FARMING

In the area from Patapsco Neck to Belair

Road were farms which we called "truck

farms." These were farms which grew the

fruits and vegetables which were supplied

fresh to the city on a daily basis. This pro-

duce was called "garden truck". At sundown

each day, long lines of wagons, loaded with

produce, would head for the commission

merchants in the city. The merchants were

located at Marsh (Mash) Market, now called

Market Place. The wagons were pulled by

two horses and had a high driver's seat so

that produce could be stored under it. The

more prosperous farmers had fine painted

wagons with scrollwork and their names

painted on the side in gold leaf. Farmers

who lived farther from the city grew sugar

corn, tomatoes and beans. This produce was

hauled to local canneries. Wheat and field

corn was taken to local grist mills. Dairy

herds supplied milk which was shipped to

the cities by train.

THRESHING WHEAT

The fall was threshing season for the farm-

ers who grew wheat. When the grain was

ripe in the fields, it would be cut with a

binder. The binder was a machine with a

large wooden spool which laid over the

stalks in one direction, tied them into bun-

dles with binder twine, and threw them on

the ground. The bundles would then be

gathered in horse-drawn wagons and stored

in the hayloft of the barn until the threshers

arrived. Mr. Milling was the wheat farmer in

our area; none of the Fischers grew it.

The threshing machinery consisted of a

large, steam-powered engine with large

steel wheels. This engine pulled a wooden

threshing machine about twenty feet long

with all sorts of pulleys and belts on the

side. When the threshers were about one-

half mile away, they would blow their steam

whistle to let the farmers know they were

coming. This was also the signal for the

boys in the neighborhood to gather and

watch the work. My wife Marie's uncle,

—26—

___________________________FISCHER

George Schuler, owned one of the threshing

machines.

The steam engine was set up about

fifty feet outside the barn so that its chimney

sparks would not start a fire. The threshing

machine itself was set up inside the barn and

hooked up to the engine by a long belt. A

long spout projected out of the rear of the

barn to blow out the threshed straw. The

men would throw the bundles of wheat that

had been stored in the hayloft into the

machine with pitchforks. One man would

stand at the side of the threshing machine to

bag the wheat. We boys helped out by car-

rying water for the steam engine. It was the

job of the farm wives to provide a hearty

meal for the threshers.

The steam engine was also used to

operate the many sawmills that were in the

area. The mills sawed lumber to order for

houses, barns, etc. Waste wood powered the

boiler of the steam engine.

DAHLIA SHOW

During the fall of the year in the early

1900s, the big neighborhood event was

Vincent's Dahlia Show. The Vincents were

probably the largest growers of dahlia roots

in the nation. Their farm extended from Bird

River Road to Ebenezer Road, and north

and south from Vincent Farm Road. Mr.

Vincent was a large man with a long white

beard. He was very severe and strict and he

carried a cane. My cousin, Lena, worked in

the office at the farm. Mr. Vincent's grand-

son, Steve, was very much interested in

Lena and he would call on her on Sunday

nights in his little red Willys-Oldsmobile.

However, nothing ever came of this ro-

mance. I believe it was because Steve was a

Methodist and Lena was a Lutheran. Steve

later married Albert Edwards' sister, Myrtle.

Lena never married.

Professional flower arrangers from

New York were brought in to arrange the

flowers for the dahlia show. The cut dahlias

were placed in panels about six feet square.

These panels were on both sides of the aisle

in a long exhibition building. During the

show, school would be dismissed for one

day so that our teachers could take us to see

the flowers.

Mother told me that when I was a baby

she entered me in the baby contest. I won a

prize for being a healthy baby. When I was

older, we were at the show, and Governor

Ritchie was there. My mother was standing

well in the background, as usual, and for

some unknown reason, the Governor

pushed through the crowd and shook her

hand. The shows were discontinued about

the time of World War I.

RABBIT HUNTING

When I was about ten years of age, I would

set wooden traps for rabbits during rabbit

hunting season. Every morning before

going to school I would check the traps. We

usually caught three or four rabbits in a sea-

son. When I was around twelve years old

my father allowed me to use a shotgun, so I

managed to get a few more. The rabbits that

we did not eat I gave to Uncle Paul to sell on

his street route in East Baltimore. I would

receive from twenty-five to fifty cents each

for them, depending on the demand. All of

the meat and grocery stores would have

bunches of dead rabbits, which were for

sale, hanging out front. Later on, the sale of

wild rabbits was outlawed.

CROW FLYWAY

During the winter season and up to about

1930, there was a crow fly-way located

back of Bird River Road about where the

electric transmission line is now located.

Every winter evening, just before dusk, a

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THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

continuous procession of thousands of

crows would fly towards their roost in the

woods behind City Hospital. The hospital

was formerly called Bay View Hospital; it is

now the Key Medical Center. They had

probably roosted there for hundreds of

years. The procession would last about one

hour, and I am sure that they came from as

far north as Pennsylvania. When they were

flying into a strong headwind they would

soar up high and then dive almost to the

ground. As their roosting area became built

up, the flyway gradually died out.

SNOWSTORMS

Before 1912 roads were seldom cleared of

snow except in deeply drifted places. People

often had to rely on sleighs for transporta-

tion. Usually straps, with sleigh bells

attached, were laid across the horses' back

and the bells jingled merrily as the horse

trotted along. After a snowstorm there

would be absolute quiet in the country

except for clucking chickens, barking dogs,

and occasional train whistles. There were no

airplane or motor vehicle noises, so the

sleigh bells could be heard a long distance

away.

Some winters the roads would drift

shut. The County had no way to plow them

so the local farmers would hitch up as many

as eight horses to a wooden plow to open

the roads again. Where the drifts were too

deep to plow, someone would get authoriza-

tion from the local County Commissioner to

gather a group of people to shovel them out

by hand for a small wage.

LOGGING

In the period shortly before World War I,

there was a logging operation in the neigh-

borhood. Entire long tree trunks would be

hauled from the surrounding woods by

heavy wagons. The wagons were pulled by

six mule teams. The tobacco-chewing driv-

er, holding a long bullwhip, would sit

astride a rear mule. We children called them

blacksnake whips. Using the bullwhip,

along with some profanity, he urged the

mules along.

The logs were taken to the Poplar

Railroad Station and loaded on flat cars for

transportation to Baltimore. We understood

that there, in some manner, they would be

burned in a copper-refining operation.

PAINTING HOUSES

In the early 1900s, ready-mixed paints

were barely available. Professional painters

mixed their own lead paste, linseed oil, tur-

pentine, Japan dryers, and tinting colors.

Homeowners had their paint mixed to order

in paint stores.

My father ordered his ready-mixed

paint from out-of-town. It was shipped in

drums to Poplar Station. After school, it was

my job to go to the station to see if any

freight had arrived for him. He made

arrangements to have painting done by

housepainters who traveled through the

rural areas doing this type of work. During

the week they boarded at the places where

they were working and returned to the city

by train on the weekends.

One widely-used white lead paste was

Dutch Boy, which was manufactured in

Philadelphia and shipped to Baltimore by

the Erricson Line Steamers. One of the

steamers was the Anthony Groves, Jr. These

steamers docked at Pier 1 at the corner of

Pratt and Light Streets.² I have gone there to

pick up freight and found that their sched-

ules were very uncertain. The steamers

stopped at Betterton where they maintained

a warehouse at the end of a long pier. They

probably also stopped, on demand, at

Tolchester and Rock Hall.

—28—

___________________________FISCHER

Later, the use of lead paint for interior

work was outlawed because it was proven

that children were poisoned by chewing on

the paint.

W. HOWARD MILLING

Mr. Milling was a good friend of our

family. He had a grade school education, but

he was a man with a great deal of common

sense and a fine gentleman. From listening

to the conversations of older members of the

family, I learned that Howard's father,

James Milling, formerly managed the com-

pany store at the Howard family's Locust

Grove iron furnace on Race Road. I suppose

that Howard Milling was named after the

Howard family. As a young boy, I remember

going with my father to the Stemmer House,

which was located at Locust Grove. There

he discussed with Miss Sallie Hayes some

repair work that needed to be done to the

house. Miss Hayes was related to the

Howard family. The Stemmer House was

later taken apart and re-erected on Caves

Road where it now houses a publishing

company.

Mr. Milling was a trustee of Poplar

School and was later elected to the State

Legislature. Around 1933, he was elected

president of the County Commissioners of

Baltimore County. I believe that the

Cromwell Bridge Road bridge over the

Gunpowder River and the Race Road bridge

over Stemmers Run both have plaques bear-

ing his name as County Commissioner. He

had two daughters, and his brother Walter

had no children, so the family name has now

died out. There is a picture of him at the

house-warming and oyster roast at our new

house on Bird River Road.

MY MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR I

World War I started in Europe in 1914 and

ended in 1918. Almost eight million soldiers

lost their lives. Things were going badly for

the Allies before President Wilson declared

war on Germany on April 6, 1917. I was ten

years old at the time and did not fully com-

prehend the meaning of this. Right up until

our entry into the war there was a strong

anti-war feeling in the country. When

Germany started an all-out submarine offen-

sive against our ships carrying munitions to

the Allies, the country slowly drifted toward

involvement.

Our family was of German extraction

and attended German church and Sunday

School services. We looked upon these

developments (i.e. possible American

involvement in the war) with apprehension

and dismay. There was strong anti-German

feeling among some people. However,

except for a few isolated incidents, there

were no strong feelings against us among

our friends and neighbors. We learned to

keep a low profile. Our family friends, the

Millings, who were a leading family in our

community, at no time changed their friend-

ly attitude towards us.

However, there were several incidents

which deeply impressed me. On one occa-

sion, my father was talking to the post-

mistress at Middle River. When he made

some remark about the war that she did not

like, she told him, "you ought to be locked

up for the duration of the war, and I will

report you to the authorities". That night I

could not sleep because I was sure that the

authorities would come and take him away.

Another time there was an evening war

bond rally at Poplar School. There was an

address by Congressman Cole, during

which he referred to Germans as "Huns."

My father walked out of the room. The next

day the principal, Miss Gilbert, apologized

to us for the Congressman's remarks.

—29—

THE FISCHER FAMILY

___________

My cousin Frederick worked at

Sparrows Point.³ He signed up during an

enlistment rally there and, without a word to

his family, he was immediately shipped off

to camp. It took several days for his family

to find out what happened to him. He was

sent off to help guard the Panama Canal and

lived through the war in comparative luxu-

ry. My cousin Martha married her husband

while he was a member of the 313th

Infantry. On the afternoon of his wedding

day he had to leave for France. There he

fought in some of the biggest battles of the

war without receiving an injury. Families

having members in the service would dis-

play a service flag in their window with a

star for each member serving. A gold star

was displayed for members who had lost

their lives in the war.

I remember the long, long troop trains

filled with soldiers on their way to the front.

They would wave to us children standing by

the tracks. One time a soldier threw out a

small box of candy with his name and

address on it and the request that we please

write to him. I gave the box to an older sis-

ter of one of my friends, but I do not know

what came of it.

This was also the time of the great flu

epidemic, which killed both soldiers and

civilians in unprecedented numbers. I have

heard that it killed more soldiers than bullets

did. Strange to say, I can recall no member

of my family having it, but it did kill many

friends and neighbors.

When our soldiers and supplies

reached France in large numbers, the tide of

the war turned. After some hard-fought bat-

tles, the armistice was signed on November

11, 1918. I distinctly remember walking

home from school one day and hearing the

bells and whistles in Baltimore, which was

ten miles away. There was no radio to give

us the news, but we soon found out about it

by word of mouth.

One other memory is of my mother

receiving her first letter from her family in

Germany after the war. Her father, brothers

and sisters were still alive, but a brother-in-

law had been lost on the Russian front. His

body was never found.

PROHIBITION

The Volstead Act, passed in 1920, prohibit-

ed the manufacture and possession of any

alcoholic beverage, beer, wine, or liquor

which could lead to intoxication. This effec-

tively closed most breweries and saloons.

Beer of very low alcoholic content was

legally sold and was called "near beer".

Needless to say, the law was not very

popular, and people found all kinds of ways

to get around it. Many people, including my

father, bought malt and hops in canned form

and made their own beer. All the necessary

materials for brewing and bottling beer were

freely available. This "home brew" fre-

quently exploded in the bottles and it did not

taste like brewery beer. A lawyer in

Baltimore bought new unfermented wine

and allowed it to ferment to a high alcoholic

content in his home, "Alan Hill." He chal-

lenged the revenue people to arrest him, but

nothing ever came of it.

There were many bootlegging opera-

tions making booze, but most people who

knew about them did not report them.

Liquor was smuggled in from Canada or by

way of the ocean. At social affairs, men car-

ried thin hip flasks filled with liquor or what

was called "bathtub gin." This was the era

of Al Capone, who built his empire on boot-

legging.

Everyone realized that the law was not

working, and it was finally repealed during

the big depression of 1933. It was felt that

—30—

_____________________________FISCHER

repealing the law would help to stimulate

business.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

The Great Depression began with the stock

market crash of 1929. However, the years

1931-1934 were the worst period of the

depression. Formerly successful business-

men could be seen selling apples and pen-

cils on street corners. People in the financial

business were destroyed both financially

and physically, and there were many sui-

cides. There were a great number of bank

failures, and I saw many men in the banking

community broken completely because

their friends had entrusted their savings with

them. All of the banks in the nation were

closed for a period of time in 1933. The best

skilled craftsmen were grateful for work at

seventy-five cents per hour. An unskilled

worker's pay went as low as fifteen cents

per hour.

During the 1920s, my father was an

agent for the Baltimore County Mutual Fire

Insurance Company. During the depression

they went bankrupt. The court assessed all

of the policy holders on record approxi-

mately $75.00 in order to pay the debts of

the company. In those times, most people

did not have this rather large sum to spare.

This put Father in a rather difficult position

with them.

I started my home-building business in

December of 1931 in the midst of the Great

Depression. My friends told me that it was

foolish to start a business at such a finan-

cially unstable time. However, the business

survived until I retired in 1979. My son then

took over the business, and it is still active

in Glen Arm, Maryland.

TRANSPORTATION IN MY LIFETIME

We lived in the country about ten miles from

Baltimore. Our only methods of transporta-

tion when I was a boy were to walk, to ride

a bicycle, or to travel by a buggy pulled by

our old plow horse, whose name was

"Schimmel." If we wanted to go to

Baltimore, we would walk one mile to

Poplar Station on the B & O railroad line or

walk two miles to the electric trolley at

Middle River.

RAILROADS DURING THE TIME OF STEAM

ENGINES

As a small boy, I remember lying in bed at

night listening to train whistles. Each engi-

neer had his own distinctive whistle. It was

a fascinating and haunting sound, and I

often wondered to what faraway places the

trains were bound.

Poplar Station, on the B & O Railroad,

was a small passenger and freight station

and an important switching point. There was

a two-story switching tower. On the first

floor was a small passenger waiting room,

and on the second floor a signal room. The

signal room was manned twenty-four hours

a day by an operator who also was an expert

telegrapher. The telegraph key chattered

continuously with messages being relayed

along the line. The operator reported the

time of passing trains to the dispatching

office, operated the switches, and relayed

traffic orders to passing train crews. There

was a white panel hanging on the track side

of the tower on which he posted certain sig-

nals for the passing train crews. More

detailed orders were hung on a large loop

which the operator would hold up at track

side. The fireman would hang out of the cab

of the train, with his arm extended, and

catch the loop with the traffic orders at full

speed. There was also a bank of levers about

six feet tall in the signal tower to operate the

switches. The switches were operated over a

distance of several hundred feet through a

system of rods and levers. Across the tracks

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THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

was a small building, open on the track side,

for passengers and freight.

There were two main tracks, north- and

southbound with two sidings-one in each

direction-branching off at the tower. The

sidings were about one mile long in order to

accommodate the long freight trains which

needed to clear the track for express trains.

When these side-tracked trains were to be

stopped beyond a certain amount of time,

the train was supposed to be taken off the

main line at private crossings. I remember a

train which was separated for traffic at the

Baltimore Brick Company crossing. Omar

Petts, the timekeeper, attempted to cross

over the main track in his car but was hit by

an express train. Petts' car was rolled up into

a ball, but he managed to jump clear in time.

Whenever a train was stopped on the main

line, the brakeman had to walk back a cer-

tain distance to flag oncoming trains. He

also placed an explosive package called a

torpedo on the track as an additional warn-

ing. The tower operator controlled the

switches for each siding, for switching

trains on the main line and for a small siding

for Poplar Station. This siding accomodated

coal and lumber cars, etc. The switches also

operated semaphore towers which showed

engineers the condition of the tracks ahead.

At night, they showed green, amber, and red

lights. It was my understanding that the

engineer and the fireman were required to

call out the signal conditions to each other.

Located nearby was a tool room for the

track maintenance crews. Henry Mohr was

section foreman; later his brother Ernest

took over. Each crew had a track walker

whose job it was to walk along the tracks

looking for defects. The track superinten-

dent for the railroad would frequently check

the condition of the track by riding as a pas-

senger in a train passing over the track he

wanted to investigate. One of the tests that

he would use was a glass of water in his rail-

road car. The movement of the water in the

glass would indicate the degree of levelness

and smoothness of the track.

Bordering the tracks were telegraph

lines, bare wires mounted on poles with

cross arms and large glass insulators. The

poles carried the railroad signal wires and

Western Union telegraph wires. The tele-

graph wires were the principal means of

communication between the cities on the

east coast. The telephone was not yet in

common use. These wires would make a

humming sound in any kind of wind which

we believed by the messages passing over

the wires. We would place our ears to the

poles and attempt to listen to the messages.

When Bob Wilde's airplane fell on the

tracks near Poplar Station, the local Western

Union man, Mr. Allman, rushed over and

spliced certain wires. He said that they were

most important for railroad and Western

Union traffic. Passenger service was provid-

ed by passenger "locals," and freight service

by freight "locals." I remember one occa-

sion around 1912 when I rode out from

town with my father on the local. We had to

walk down a long stair in order to board the

train. We must have been in the Mount

Royal Station. The B & O Railroad's finest

train was the "Royal Blue."

The bridge which carried Middle River

Road over the B & O tracks at Poplar Sta-

tion was of wrought iron construction. In

the almost eighty years that I used the

bridge, I can't recall that it was ever paint-

ed. It was also reported to be one of the last

bridges in the nation made of wrought iron.

The bridge was demolished in 1990.

Mail was carried on the Pennsylvania

Railroad. There were special mail cars

which were manned by railway postal clerks

--32--

___________________________FISCHER

who sorted the mail during the trip. These

were much-sought-after jobs, and they were

probably under civil service. The mail

would be put aboard the train marked for

various cities-Philadelphia, New York,

Boston, etc.-and would be sorted for local

distribution along the way. Mail was carried

in heavy canvas sacks about four feet long.

The mail for small local stations was thrown

off the train onto the station platform as the

train traveled through the station at full

speed. The outgoing mail was hung on

strong supports alongside the track. The

postal clerks would swing a strong steel arm

out of the baggage door of the train which

would pick up the sack as the train passed

by. Express shipments were carried in spe-

cial cars marked "Railway Express Agen-

cy."

I remember Pennsylvania Railroad sig-

nal towers located at the Gunpowder River

and at Bengies Station. The Bengies tower

was manned by Ralph and Willard

Schenkel. They lived near us and repaired

watches in their spare time. The train cross-

ings at Chase and Middle River were guard-

ed by gates and watchmen, but others were

unguarded; and there were numerous fatali-

ties. Marie's Grandfather Schuler was hit by

a train and killed at his private track cross-

ing. The "Congressional Limited" was one

of the Pennsylvania Railroad's best trains.

AUTOMOBILES:

PEOPLE CALLED THEM "MA-

CHINES

We got our first car in 1916. It was a used

1914 Model T Ford touring car. It had a

folding cloth top with isinglass windows on

the sides which were kept rolled up in good

weather. The car had two seats, and there

was no door on the driver's side. There were

oil lamps on the dash and a rubber bulb

horn. Three floor pedals were used to drive

the car in forward and reverse and to brake

it. The car was hand cranked with a choke

button through the lower part of the radiator.

Electric ignition was supplied by a magneto

mounted on a fly wheel. The gasoline tank

was under the front seat and it had a dip

stick to measure how much gasoline was

left in the tank. The gasoline was fed by

gravity to the carburetor, and on a long,

steep, uphill pull the carburetor would run

dry. Then the car would have to be turned

around and backed up the hill so that the

gasoline could flow to the carburetor again.

Tires were thin and often blew out because

they were under a very high pressure of

about seventy pounds. When low pressure

tires came out they were called balloon

tires. There were no heaters in the cars, so

we used lap robes and wore long, leather

gauntlets in the winter time. The radiators of

the cars were covered with blankets when

the car was parked in the winter time.

People who lived in the city generally

drained their cars and set them up on blocks

for the duration of the winter. Almost all

cars were black, with polished brass radia-

tor, headlights and trim.

Early automobiles used carbide gas

headlamps. The gas was supplied by a small

gas generator mounted on the running

board. The fuel for these generators was car-

bide, which was in the form of small gray

pebbles. A measure of water was added to

the carbide pebbles, and the mixture gener-

ated the carbide gas. Later models of cars

had electric lights which were supplied by

the magneto and no battery. If one wanted to

make the headlights shine brighter, then you

speeded up the engine. Boys would put sev-

eral carbide pebbles and water in a can with

a tight fitting lid. Then they would put one

foot on the can and ignite the gas through a

pinhole. This produced a loud explosion!

—33—

THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

Carbide gas was also used in the coun-

try for lighting purposes. It was produced by

generators of varying sizes. The gas was

burned in ceramic tips and produced a

strong white light. Cities had public gas sys-

tems from early on.

Up until the 1930s, there was a

Baltimore City ordinance which required

parking lights on vehicles parked on the city

streets overnight. This was a small light

which was usually mounted on the left rear

fender. Whenever a new car was purchased,

the first extra that had to be ordered was a

parking light. After parking the car and

walking to your destination, you would

always worry if you had turned on the park-

ing light. The police enforced this ordinance

strictly. It was the custom for people to take

rides in their automobiles on Sunday after-

noons. Sometimes we would ride out to a

favorite ice cream store which was located

near the Loch Raven reservoir, or just to no

place in particular. Before Marie and I were

married, we would take a ride almost every

Sunday afternoon.

AIRPLANES

In the days before World War I, airplanes

were a rare sight in the skies. Whenever one

appeared overhead, the children would call

"airplane" and point to the sky in wonder.

My first ride in an airplane occurred in

1920 at Chesapeake Beach. It was a two-

passenger wooden Curtiss flying boat with

the engine above and behind the cockpit.

The pilot would stand on the seat of the

plane to start the engine with a hand crank.

Later on in the twenties, I flew with barn-

stormers in World War I Jennies at a cost of

$3.00 per ride. During this time I spent

many Saturday afternoons at Logan Field in

Dundalk watching flying activities. In the

early days at Logan Field I saw several peo-

ple killed in plane crashes. This had a sober-

ing effect on me, and I never really had a

desire to become a pilot.

I was present when the Schneider

International Cup seaplane races were held

at Bay Shore Park in 1925. The races were

won by Jimmy Doolittle. Also I witnessed,

at Harbor Field, the arrival of the first sea-

plane passenger flight from Bermuda.

In the early thirties, I flew in a

Ludingtion Airlines Stinson trimotor plane

from Washington to Philadelphia. I also

flew the same route on P. R. I. Line

(Eastern) in a Curtiss Condor. I still have

copies of their schedules. We flew from the

Washington terminal, called Hoover

Airfield, which was located just south of

Arlington Cemetery. It had one small wood-

en terminal building and a grass field.

Planes flew low and slow in those days, and

I remember on one of my trips to

Philadelphia seeing my mother standing on

the front lawn of our home and waving as

we flew by. During this same period, I also

flew with Clarence Chamberlain in his

Curtiss Condor sightseeing plane. He was

one of the early Trans-Atlantic flyers.

In 1936, I saw James Ray, wearing his

large, black fur flying hat, land one of the

first autogiros at Logan Field. An autogiro

was a helicopter driven by a propeller in the

front. Later, Ray flew on to Washington and

made a much-publicized landing and take-

off on Constitution Avenue.

I have seen the majestic dirigibles, the

Graf Zeppelin, the Macon, and the Shenan-

doah, flying overhead. I also witnessed

Lindbergh and his "Spirit of St. Louis" in

flight over Baltimore.

In 1964 Marie and I flew to Florida on

one of the first Boeing 707's. Later on we

flew in Lockheed Electras and Boeing

—34—

___________________________FISCHER

727's. On one of the trips, the captain invit-

ed me to be seated in the cockpit and took

my picture there.

My lifetime and that of the Wright

brothers overlapped. I have seen transporta-

tion develop from the horse-and-buggy

days, to automobiles, to air flight and final-

ly the space age.

PARKVILLE: HARFORD ROAD ABOUT 1930

My earliest recollection of this area is a trip

by horse and buggy to a church service at St.

John's Lutheran Church. It was on a Sunday

afternoon and we sat on wooden benches in

the wooded grove alongside the church.

This was about 1912, 1 don't know why this

is so fixed in my mind, except perhaps it

was because it was my first trip to what

seemed to be so far away from home. Also,

perhaps it was the novelty of a church serv-

ice in the woods.

During the 1920s and 1930s, land de-

velopment was a big business. Developers

would buy a tract of land, stake out building

lots, put in a gravel road and start selling

lots without any restrictions from the

County. These developments had to be on or

near a trolley-car line because few people

had automobiles. Mr. Hurst of the Cityco

Realty Company was one of the larger

developers of the time. Among his develop-

ments was a tract of land which he bought

from the estate of Dr. Wegefarth, who oper-

ated the City and Suburban Realty

Company. The tract extended from Harford

Road to what is now the Parkville High

School athletic field, and about four blocks

south from Putty Hill Avenue. This area was

called Parkville Summit. Mr. Hurst was a

graduate of Princeton University and active

in Baltimore society. I worked as a carpen-

ter for him for about five years. We built a

few houses along Putty Hill Avenue; but

then Mr. Hurst died, and his estate sold the

tract to others. Where the Ridge Garden

Apartments are now located was the Miller

Farm. The Miller family was well estab-

lished in the area and I believe most of the

houses along Putty Hill Avenue were built

by them.

Joe Moreland was another developer

active in the area. He developed Moreland

Avenue and called it California Orchards.

This development included the property

which we purchased in 1931. Mr. Moreland

started the Moreland Memorial cemetery on

Taylor Avenue and the Glen Haven ceme-

tery in Glen Burnie. His son died in a boat-

ing accident on the bay.

On July 16, 1932, I married Marie

Lena Scheeler. She lived on the farm with

her family across Bird River Road from us.

On May 23, 1933, we moved into our new

home in Parkville at 8805 Harford Road.

This was the time of the Great Depression

when many banks failed and for a time all of

them were closed. I had withdrawn most of

my savings to pay for building the house;

but Marie lost, in a failed bank, all the

money that she had saved to buy furniture.

These were desperate times, and sometimes

we had almost no food in the house to eat.

We were very grateful that Marie's father

supplied us with fresh vegetables from his

farm.

There was still a trolley line on our side

of the road with small, four-wheeled cars. It

ran from Hamilton, where people trans-

ferred from city cars, to Joppa Road. It was

originally intended that the line would run

to Belair, but it never happened. There were

sidings at Parkville and at Hiss Avenue.

While we were building our house, a trolley

car came by with a fire on the roof. Mr.

Shanklin, the motorman, borrowed a shovel

and some sand to put out the fire. Our neigh-

—35—

THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

bors, the Vaughan boys, would sometimes

grease the tracks coming up the hill from

Hiss Avenue and the car would sit there and

spin its wheels. The terminal was later

moved from Hamilton to Parkville.

The property which extended from our

house to Putty Hill Avenue was owned by

Mr. Clautice. There was an old toll gate

house on the property which was then occu-

pied by the Hiss Building Association. This

land was later sold or given to St. Ursula's

to build their rectory and church on. St.

Ursula's, a mission congregation of St.

Dominic's in Hamilton, was located in a

small frame building on the northwest cor-

ner of Harford Road and Neifeld Avenue. It

was established in 1932. Father Manley was

the priest who founded the church and he

was also the head priest at St. Dominic's. He

was small in stature and very active in the

community. Every Monday morning he

could be seen walking down the street to the

bank carrying a sack of money from the

Sunday collection.

Both sides of Harford Road, north of

Putty Hill Avenue to White Marsh Run

(where the Beltway is now located), were

built up with very nice homes with well-

maintained grounds. There were no com-

mercial establishments located along that

section of the road. The first commercial

activity was the original Barnickel's grocery

store. This was followed by the original

Carney Crab House and the Miller barber

shop. On the east side of the road, where the

Beltway is, was the Rittenhouse Ice Plant,

which was built in 1924. They manufac-

tured their own ice. The plant was operated

by a large, single-cylinder diesel engine,

which we could hear popping whenever the

wind was coming from that direction.

Opposite the ice plant was some sort of

nightclub. Farther out the road was

Manser's General Store at the corner of

Joppa and Harford Roads. The building was

later occupied by the Harrod Printing

Company. It was torn down in 1983, and an

office building was erected in 1984.

At the northwest corner of Putty Hill

Avenue and Harford Road (where the Evans

Funeral Home is now located) was the orig-

inal parsonage of Hiss Methodist Church. It

was a large, stone house owned by Dr.

Geary Long of Hamilton and rented out to

the Amoss family. Dr. Long was the family

doctor for the Scheelers; Marie's youngest

brother, Geary, is named for him. The house

was built around 1860 and torn down in

1981. Next to the house, located directly on

the corner, was a Shell gas station which

was operated by Dave Clugsten. Still later,

the building was occupied by a radio and

television repair shop owned by Mr. Cayce.

Across Putty Hill Avenue, on the

southwest corner, was Walter West's con-

fectionary store. Marie and I would often

stop there before we were married for a sun-

dae on our way home from the movies.

Continuing south on Harford Road was the

parsonage for Hiss Church and next to that

was the original Hiss Church building. This

building was very similar in construction to

the original St. John's Lutheran Church

building. At the northwest corner of Harford

Road and Hiss Avenue was the original

wooden Parkville School. The Hiss Church

parking lot now occupies the space. The

"new" three-story Parkville School was

built across Harford Road and is still stand-

ing, although it is no longer a school. It now

houses a Senior Citizens' Center and vari-

ous other County agencies.

Putty Hill Avenue ended at Old

Harford Road. If we wanted to travel to

Towson, we had to use Joppa Road.

—36—

__________________FISCHER

Where the Parkville Shopping Center

is now located was the residence of Mr.

Mann who owned Mann's Seed Company.

It was a beautiful white stucco home with

well-kept grounds. At that time, it was prob-

ably the finest house on Harford Road.

Across the street from Mann's was

Linganore Avenue, where I built the first

and second houses of my new business in

1931. The houses were located at 2907 and

2909 Linganore Avenue. On Harford Road,

where a fast-food place stands now, was

Hartje's Hardware Store. On the southwest

corner of Harford Road and Taylor Avenue

was Kilchenstein's Store and on the south-

east corner was the Parkville Bank.

Approximately one-half block west of

Harford Road, on the north side of Taylor

Avenue, was the Volunteer Fire Company (a

dance school now occupies the site). In a

steeple on the roof of the building was a fire

bell. The original bell is now displayed on

Rudolph & Marie Fischer in the rear garden of his parents'

home on Bird River Road, 1937

--37--

THE FISCHER FAMILY

____________

the grounds of the Baltimore County Fire

department at Putty Hill and Old Harford

roads. Where the County public parking lot

is now was Gesswein's store, and across the

street was an ice house which was also

owned by the Gessweins. All one had to do

to purchase ice was put the money in a slot

and the ice came tumbling out. The old,

wooden Parkville Hotel was at the south-

west corner of Harford Road and Linwood

Avenue; a gas station is there now.

Tradespeople were friendly and they

let you know that they appreciated your

business. For years, Mrs. Louise Gettier (we

called her "Miss Louise"), the daughter of

the owner of Vollmer's Market on Harford

Road, would call Marie on the telephone

every Thursday afternoon to take her gro-

cery order for the week. After a long social

conversation, sometimes lasting one-half

hour, Miss Louise would list for Marie the

fresh vegetables, meats, new products, etc.

that were available for her selection. Then,

on Friday, her order would be delivered to

our house. The produce and meat were

always of a high quality. We almost never

went to a regular grocery store. When you

did go to a grocery store, you gave your

order to the clerk and he assembled the

order for you. Milk was delivered to the

house by the Western Maryland Dairy. A

breadman from Rice's Bakery brought

bread and other baked goods to the house

several times a week. Foerkolb's truck

delivered fresh fish once a week, and the

drycleaners stopped by each week to pick

up clothes that needed to be cleaned. The

Fuller Brush man called regularly and the

Jewel Tea Company delivered to the house

monthly. We are still using some of their

chinaware premiums. We had a small wood-

en icebox on the back porch. When we

needed ice, a card was placed in the front

window showing the amount needed and

then the iceman would deliver it. We

received our mail by carrier from the

Fullerton Post Office. Our mailbox was

across Harford Road. The box is still in use

at the office of the family business in Glen

Arm. One of the Miller boys cut the lawn,

and after about 1950 we had a domestic

come out from the city to help with the

housework.

All drug stores had marble-topped soda

fountains with chairs. When ladies went into

downtown Baltimore to shop, they would

always wear hats and gloves. Purchases

were never hand carried. All the large,

downtown department stores such as

Hutzlers, Hochschild Kohn, etc. had fancy

delivery trucks with uniformed drivers.

Anything that was purchased, even if it was

only a box of handkerchiefs, was delivered

to your home the same day or, at the very

latest, the next day.

The older generations fade away and

succeeding generations take their place in

the family history. They have been taught by

advice and, more importantly, by example

the importance of good morals and dili-

gence in the daily affairs of life. As the past

comes more into focus, I reflect upon the

good times and the bad and the joys and sor-

rows of daily living. I know that after life's

darkest moments, the sun will always shine

again.

And so, after ninety-four years in

America, the family goes on into the future.

Hopefully, they will learn from, and not for-

get, the lessons learned by generations past.

Rudolph F. Fischer, Sr., ca. 1980 (facing page)

—38—

One rood is forty square rods or one-quarter

acre; a perch is one square rod. "One rood and

eight perches" is thus three-tenths of an acre.

c.f., Robert H. Burgess, This was Chesapeake

Bay (Cambridge, MD: Cornell Maritime Press,

1963, p. 69)

Until recently to say that someone worked at

Sparrows Point would have meant that the

individual worked for Bethlehem Steel.

Notes

View of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church (original frame building)

from Fischer home at 8805 Harford Road, Winter 1936

View of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church (original frame

building) from Fischer home at 8805 Harford Road, 1940s