Early Chesapeake City School

First photo: Here is the school that my father graduated from in 1925. It was located on Third Street, up close to the street in front of the present elementary school. Walter Cooling told me that one day he got tired of the boring classroom so he jumped out the window of the room at the far right there, and spent the rest of the day fishing in the canal.

Second Photo: This is the back of the old school. It was circa 1930 and was possibly being renovated at this time. The pretty scholars: at left is Francis Spear and next to her is Myrtle Foard. Myrtle was Roy Foard’s wife and the grandmother of Bobby Foard, our current funeral director.

Harriott Hotel

First photo: This is what the Bayard House (Hole in the Wall) looked like in the early 1900s. The building is the oldest one in town and was owned and operated by Bill Harriott with help from his son, Punch. At right is the dance hall with the overhead walkway. Legend has it that Bill hanged himself upstairs, and that sometimes on a dark night, if you listen closely, you can still hear him swaying back and forth. I’ve listened many times for the creaking sound but have not heard it yet. Have you?

Second photo: Yes, this is Bill Harriott, rowing his homemade boat made out of 3,000 newspapers. The photo is from a newspaper article about 1910. Notice the wooden, steam, tugboat moored on the other side. It is most likely the Wister, one of six such tugboats that worked the canal and bay at that time.

American Store Employees

American Store, April, 1946

Here’s a picture of employees posing in front of our American Store on Bohemia Avenue and Second Street. It’s the same building that is now our Town Hall. The people, L to R: Betty Jean Needles, Tillie Blendy, Kathleen DeShane, Olive Spear, Anna Merchant, Dorothy Downs, Wilber Needles (manager) Walter Bennett, Harry Potter, Hazel Hessey. Missing from photo: Frank Bristow and John Dwyer. Photo courtesy of Betty Jean Needles Watson.

Two Old American Stores

Inside Two Old American Stores

First photo: This is a picture of the inside of our first American Store in 1926. It was located across from the Bayard House, right on the corner of where the fountain is today in Pell Gardens. At left is Mark Alcorn and next to him is Lewis Collins, Sr. Mr. Collins would later open a fine grocery store on the North Side’s Biddle Street. We can thank Lewis Collins, Jr. for this very special photo.

Second photo: Here’s a circa 1945 picture of the inside of our American Store on Bohemia Avenue and Second Street. It’s the same building as what is now our Town Hall. I remember running around this store in the late forties. My mother took me and my brother in here when she bought her week’s groceries. At that time, more recently, the meat counter had been moved to the back of the store. The man in the middle is Frank Bristow (a “colorful” town character) and at his left is Nelly Reed.