A Visit To Cumberland
I have visited or passed through Cumberland, Maryland several times in my years in Washington, D.C. I remember best walking through downtown Cumberland and stopping for lunch at the city's famous hot dog restaurant. There were in fact two hot dog restaurants in Cumberland: Curtis' and Coney Island hot dogs which have since merged. Hot dogs have been part of Cumberland life since 1918. The other part of Cumberland I remember is the railroad. I have passed through Cumberland from Washington, D.C. on Amtrak during occasional trips to and from Chicago.
Railroads and trains are ever-present in this 2003 photographic history, "Cumberland", published in the Images of America series of local American histories; but the hot dog restaurant unfortunately goes unmentioned. The book's author, Amanda Paul, is a local historian who wrote the work on behalf of the Allegany County Historical Society, the Allegany County Museum, and the City of Cumberland. Paul has also written a book on Mount Savage, Maryland, another town in Allegany County for Images of America. In its short space, Paul's book offers a moving and up-beat portrayal of Cumberland and its history that shows the author's love of the community.
Cumberland was established in pre-Revolutionary War days. It is indeed true of Cumberland that "George Washington slept here". The city has always been a transportation hub. It is the western terminus of the C&O Canal which originates in Georgetown. In 1842, the railroad came to Cumberland. The city became a departure point for Western settlement. Industry followed the path of the railroads and canal, and Cumberland became an industrial center and the second largest city in Maryland. With the Depression and the end of WW II, the city entered an economic decline but has bounced back in recent years.
Paul offers a portrayal of Cumberland from its earliest days. She begins with pre-Revolution sites, including George Washington's headquarters. But the book picks up steam with the coming of the railroads. Trains, train stations, bridges, and rail yards and -- steam -- are fully and lovingly portrayed as is the streetcar which began to serve Cumberland in 1891. Paul also includes many photographs of Cumberland's industrial base which included glass factories, breweries, a tire company, the Celanese Fiber Company, a large dry cleaning plant, and much more. The industrial base has long departed from the city.
The book chronicles Cumberland's thriving downtown and the city streets from about 1860 to 1960. It is always fascinating to see storefronts and people in an old American city. Residential areas also receive attention, including the large mansions that wealthy people built in Cumberland during the Gilded Age. Paul shows churches and schools together with the ever-present saloons and other places where city residents went for fun. She describes the many floods and fires that plagued Cumberland from its earliest days through approximately the mid-1940s when effective preventive measures were instituted. City residents bounced back from a great deal of natural adversity over the years. The most moving part of the book was the little poem at the end, "Cumberland, My Queen City" written in 1957 by a local poet, Lawrence Lease. He writes:
"She's the queen of my heart in the summertime;
The cool autumn breeze in the fall--
She's the one place on this earth I want to be, sir,
Queen City, I love you most of all."
It is heartening to see the love and devotion to community that Lease shows in his poem and that Paul shows in her book. In a troubled time, I find it valuable to reflect on the varied histories and people that are part of local American life. I enjoyed visiting Cumberland with Paul as a guide and hope to be able to see the city including its hot dog restaurant again. It is rewarding to learn about American communities in the Images of America series, regardless of whether one is or isn't familiar with the particular community described in the book.
