Melrose, Carroll County, Maryland

Date: 1872 [unknown]
Location: Carroll, Maryland, United States

Today (Wikipedia):

Melrose is an unincorporated community in Carroll County, Maryland, United States, on Maryland Route 30, 2.1 miles north-northwest of Manchester. It ... used to be a small town, with a train track running in its center. The town also had its own post office and zip code. The community still has a small gas station, liquor store and general store called Piper's, and another gas station. The community contains a Used Car Station and mini storage called Melrose Mini Storage.

According to the Democratic Advocate, the first house in Melrose was built by Leonard H Smith (see below), about the time the railroad was built. By 1914 Jacob Geisey was living in it.

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From the Democratic Advocate, Westminster Maryland, November 1874:

Melrose is a flourishing town, situated along the Baltimore turnpike, at the intersection of the Bachman Valley Railroad. The first building was erected in 1872; it now contains twenty dwelling houses, two carpenter shops, two saddler shops, one backsmith shop and one cigar manufactory. The business carried on is as follows:

• Dry goods, hardware and grocery store, C. R. Wentz & Son
• Lumber and coal, Lippy & Rohrbaugh - I think this was Adam Rohrbach, who had wood lots in addition to his main gig of being a rye whiskey distiller. As for the Lippy, it must have been Benjamin Lippy or a member of his family.
• Cigar store, Peterman & Straevig (Henry B Strevig or one of his sons - and the Peterman was possibly Benjamin Peterman, who married Mary Ann Strevig
• Medical doctor and surgeon, J. D. Keller (Dr John D Keller lived in York County, not Melrose)
• Hotel, Levi B. Hoff
• Carpenters, Daniel Hahn, Jacob Reigle, William Reigle
• Saddlers, James Jones, Leonard Smith
• Stone cutter and mason, Henry Zumbrum
• Farrier, Eli Myers
• Blacksmith, George Bixler

In April next two more stores will be opened by L. B. Hoff and William Snyder, and several more buildings will be erected by spring.

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From the 1877 Atlas of Carroll County.

Melrose, in the Manchester district of Carroll County, is on land that was part of a large farm owned by Reuben Shaffer. Reuben sold switch privileges to the Bachman Valley Railroad Co. for $1.00 in 1871 and Melrose was founded in 1872 after the construction of the railroad. He sold many lots from 1872 to 1874 that resulted in 20 dwelling houses, 2 carpenter shops, 2 saddler shops, 1 blacksmith shop and 1 cigar factory.

The 13 mile line ran from Valley Junction, Pennsylvania to Ebbvale, Maryland (slightly north of Manchester). The railroad was built to transport iron ore from Bachman Valley to blast furnaces in Black Rock where it was processed. It became part of the Western Maryland Railway in 1917. The establishment and growth of Melrose is directly linked to the founding of the railroad. Mines in the Ebbvale area closed in the early 20th century and the section of track from Black Rock to Ebbvale was abandoned around 1922.

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