Heritage Frederick’s exhibit Stitches Through Time: Women’s Work from Farm to Fashion explores the history of textile production in Frederick County. One facet of this story is the local garment industry which emerged in the late-nineteenth century and grew to include factories producing menswear, dresses, shirts, hosiery, and other articles of clothing. While many of these factories were concentrated in Frederick City, garment factories were found in communities across the county as well, such as the town of Thurmont.

Employees of the Thurmont Branch Factory of Union Manufacturing Company in 1911 (Courtesy of Thurmont Images).

The Union Manufacturing Company of Frederick opened a branch factory in Thurmont in the fall of 1911. Twenty knitting machines were installed in a space on the first floor of the Odd Fellow’s Hall on Main Street. Union Manufacturing Company produced hosiery from silk, wool, cotton, rayon, and eventually, nylon. The Thurmont Branch Factory quickly outgrew its space in the Odd Fellows Hall and was moved to an old school building in town. During World War I, Union Manufacturing Company employees produced woolen stockings for the United States Army at its Thurmont Branch as well as a second branch factory in Emmitsburg and the main knitting mills in Frederick City.

Claire Frock Company’s first factory building on East Main Street (Courtesy of Thurmont Images)

A second garment factory in Thurmont was established in 1935 by A. Jules Bernstein of York, Pennsylvania. The Claire Frock Company began operations in a factory on East Main Street producing cotton dresses. By 1950, the plant employed 125 people and added spaces for sewing, packaging, and shipping to its facility. In the 1960s, the company constructed a second manufacturing facility on the northeast side of Thurmont. By this time, Claire Frock was producing women’s casual and athletic clothing that was distributed across the United States through department store chains like J.C. Penney and Sears and Roebuck. The company was one of Frederick County’s largest employers.

Claire Frock Company employees on strike in April 1950 (Courtesy of Thurmont Images)

While employees of Claire Frock held the factory and its owners in high regard, there were challenges to that harmony throughout the company’s history. In 1949, the employees organized with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). A year later, several employees approached the management with complaints that wages and benefits were not in accordance with the agreement between the union and Claire Frock. When one of these employees was fired, the factory workers went on strike in April 1950. A picket line formed along East Main Street in front of the original Claire Frock factory building. After a week of picketing, attorneys for the Claire Frock Company and the ILGWU reached an agreement and work resumed. 

Claire Frock Company’s East Poplar Street facility in 1972.

In 1974, Claire Frock founder A. Jules Bernstein retired and Calvin E. Sayler succeeded him as president of the company. Sayler began working at Claire Frock Company as a shipping clerk in 1958. Garment production, like many other forms of manufacturing industry in the United States, became increasingly globalized in the latter half of the twentieth century. In an effort to keep Claire Frock operating as part of a larger chain of factories, Sayler sold the company to I. A. Appel Company of New York in December 1986.

Workers inside the Claire Frock Factory in the mid-1970s.

Soon after the acquisition of Claire Frock by I.A. Appel, employees’ hours and wages were cut back and the company ceased pension payments. On April 6, 1987, Claire Frock employees went on strike. A federal mediator was appointed three weeks later to begin negotiating an agreement, by which time the strike had grown to I.A. Appel factories in Tennessee and New York. The strike continued for six months until the union leaders acquiesced and accepted an agreement following short of the workers’ original demands that their wages and benefits be restored to the levels they were prior to the I.A. Appel’s acquisition of Claire Frock. Within two years, I.A. Appel announced that the Thurmont factory would cease operations. There were 175 employees of the former Claire Frock Company who were left unemployed when the factory closed in June 1990.

The closure of Claire Frock Company brought an end to over 80 years of industrial garment production in the town of Thurmont.

October 2, 2023 by Jody Brumage, Heritage Frederick Archivist

Super-sleuth Nancy Drew, Creative problem solver Angus MacGyver, Hero Librarian Nancy Pearl—just a few of the real and fictional characters that I, as a museum curator, frequently try to emulate.  Recently while knee-deep in a complete inventory of the object collections of Heritage Frederick, I came face-to-face with 7 boxes that I have been trying to avoid for months.  They contained the findings from an archaeological excavation that took place on the Heritage Frederick property at 24 East Church Street in 2000.

With the exception of those marked metal, glass and miscellaneous, the majority of the boxes are labeled stoneware, redware and ceramic sherds.  While confident that I knew what a shard was, I at first assumed the word was misspelled on the boxes. A quick online search cleared things up, revealing that while a shard is a broken fragment of something, usually glass which typically has sharp edges, a sherd is a broken piece of pottery that was once part of a vessel or container.  There are 604 of these individually catalogued items, many smaller than a dime and a few that are fully intact glass bottles.  Through the process of inventory, photography and then research, I have come to really appreciate what a unique and marvelous window these items have been able to reveal about Heritage Frederick’s personal history as the fifth occupant of this beautiful home.

Glazes, decorations and forms are all traceable clues that can be used to identify pottery fragments.  Even small pieces of a transferware or spatterware saucer reveal information about the time period in which it was made and the people who would have owned such things.  This story is about a fragment of white ironstone that was anxious to reveal its secrets.

At first glance the piece shows itself to be the fragment of something that once had a handle.  The base is intact and octagonal in shape with crisp lines and a smooth white finish.  The underside is stamped with a diamond-shaped English registry mark, a symbol that any good ceramics researcher will immediately recognize.  This mark was used by the English patent office from 1842-1883 to identify pieces of English pottery or porcelain and once you know how to read it, it will tell you the exact day, month and year that the design for the item was registered.  Letters and numbers appearing in the four corners of the diamond allow you to decode the information.  The diamond mark on our piece was used from 1842-1867 (Mark A) while a slightly different mark was used from 1868-1883 (Mark B).  By consulting a table showing the codes for type of material, year and month, our mark can be deciphered as follows: “IV” in the circle at the top of the diamond tells us that the piece is ceramic, rather than wood, metal or cloth; “I” in the top point of the diamond stands for 1846; “B” in the left point of the diamond stands for October; “26” in the right point is for the day of the month and the “5” at the bottom of the diamond tells us that this was part of parcel number 5.  So we know that the design for the English ceramic piece found in our garden was registered with the English patent office on October 26, 1846.

We are also very fortunate that the maker’s mark is also intact on this piece and appears below the patent mark.  While it is very difficult to read, it says “Registered October 26, 1846 by James Edwards.

James Edwards was born in 1805 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire England.  James was the son of a potter in an area of England which continues to this day to be known for its many potteries. He was working with pottery from a young age and at 14 became an apprenticed thrower under a man named Spencer Rogers at Dalehall pottery in Burslem.  Burslem is one of six towns that form the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England.  In the years to come James Edwards worked in several regional potteries as a manager and then in partnership with other potters running his own company.  In 1842, he purchased the Dalehall pottery where he had once apprenticed and over the next 18 years worked to enlarge and extend the potteryworks, installing all the latest machinery until the company’s output was more than 6 times what it had been when he purchased the property.

James Edwards was a pioneer of white ironstone china which he made almost exclusively for export to markets in the US and Canada. In 1851, James brought his son Richard into the operation as a partner and for the next 10 years they ran the pottery together.  James retired in 1861, leaving Richard to manage the company alone.  In 1882, Richard sold the pottery to Knapper & Blackhurst.

Our fragment of James Edwards white ironstone also has a number which reads “37864.”  As luck would have it, James Edwards’ design catalog still exists today and we can see what our small fragment would once have looked like.  Design 37864 is for a Full Panel Gothic shape cream jug.

Dr. Baltzell was a prominent citizen of Frederick and a much respected doctor, a tea service or table settings imported by an English manufacturer would have been the height of luxury at the time and would have found an appropriate home among the Baltzell’s belongings.  Aside from reproductions of portraits of John and Ruth Baltzell, Heritage Frederick has never before had an object that we knew to have belonged to them.  While an inventory of Dr. Baltzell’s property remains, we are left to speculate which objects on the list might be related to our 8” English cream jug.  When and how was it broken and when was it tossed into a garbage midden on the property?

The fragment of Dr. and Mrs. Baltzell’s full panel Gothic cream jug will be on view, along with several additional artifacts uncovered during the 2000 excavations, in a new installation of the house’s history due to open in 2024.

September 1, 2023 by Amy Hunt, Heritage Frederick Curator

The creation of our first museum was inspired by the significant donation of the Tyler-Belt Collection in 1943. The donor, Mary Cecelia Belt of Omaha, Nebraska, made the gift in memory of her husband, William Bradley Tyler Belt, who grew up in Frederick. He was a grandson of prominent Frederick physician and civic leader Dr. William Bradley Tyler. Prior to the reception of the Tyler-Belt Collection, the small archives of the Historical Society were housed in the C. Burr Artz Library and in space provided by Federated Charities. 

Marshall Lingan Etchison, President of the Historical Society of Frederick County from 1944 to 1946, chaired the committee that reviewed potential properties and ultimately selected the Steiner House. In his account of the acquisition of the house, Etchison wrote “not only did we like it, we were enthusiastic, and eager to proclaim our find and escort our committee through the premises.” After sending a description of the property to Mary Cecelia Belt, complete with Etchison’s drawing of the front entry with its elaborate fanlight, she agreed to donate $12,000.00 to cover the cost of purchasing the house. The Society restored the Steiner House and a committee, led by Frederick artist Helen L. Smith, organized and moved the collections into the new headquarters. The Steiner House was dedicated and opened to the public on September 3, 1945 during Frederick’s bicentennial year.

Visitors to the Historical Society’s first museum in the Steiner House were able to view the extensive Tyler-Belt Collection of antique furniture, silver, and artwork in addition to local Frederick artifacts collected by Marshall Etchison (many of which were later donated to the Historical Society in 1960). The library on the second floor contained a set of the published papers of the Archives of Maryland, correspondence and genealogical research materials from local families, and handwritten copies of papers presented to the Historical Society on various topics of Frederick County history.

Stephen Steiner [1767-1829] built the residence and is the architect to whom its elegant Federal design is attributed. Steiner is also credited with designing the steeple of Trinity Chapel (the old German Reformed Church) which is the oldest of Frederick’s famed “Clustered Spires.” The Steiner House features finely-carved neoclassical mantel pieces and moldings, a dramatic staircase which ascends from the first floor to the attic, and the celebrated front door with sidelights and a fanlight constructed with intricate tracery and applied decorative motifs of leaves and pineapples.

In describing the Steiner House, Marshall Etchison wrote “through the magnificent generosity of Mrs. Belt, we now own one of the finest houses in the city. Its front door, with leaded side and fan lights, is without equal in our community. With spacious hall and rooms, fine woodwork and beautiful winding stairway, it is not only a joy to all who see it now, but we hope and trust will be a lasting pleasure to the people of Frederick for generations to come.” Etchison’s sentiment has become reality, owing to the dedication of the Frederick Women’s Civic Club, who extend a gracious welcome to visitors to explore the history and architecture of this Frederick landmark. 

The staff at Heritage Frederick wish to express our gratitude to the Frederick Women’s Civic Club for their hospitality in welcoming us to the Steiner House and giving us the opportunity to revisit a significant chapter in our institution’s story.

August 1, 2023 by Jody Brumage, Heritage Frederick Archivist

With the story of the RMS Titanic back in the public eye, many are continuing to reflect on this historic event over 110 years later. The global impact of the sinking of the Titanic is captured in the travel journal kept by one Frederick Countian and now preserved in the archives of Heritage Frederick. 

Mary White Worthington was born on February 22, 1880, in Ijamsville to Nicholas and Alice Worthington. She lived in Adamstown for many years and spent the last years of her life in downtown Frederick before her death in 1972. In April 1912, Mary embarked on a nine-month tour of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, crossing the Atlantic at the same time as the Titanic disaster. Her journal recorded in real time her own perspective and emotions as well as those of others who were traveling abroad (and by ship!) in the days after the tragic sinking of the famous ocean liner.

On board a train traveling to Naples, Mary met two Catholic priests from Pennsylvania. She played cards and conversed with the two men who shared their experience of being passengers aboard the RMS Carpathia the night of the sinking of the Titanic. One month after the disaster, Mary wrote “had luncheon on the train and met two Pennsylvania men, Mr. Burke and Mr. McCarthy. They had crossed on Carpathia, which rescued the Titanic survivors. We were interested to hear all the details.”

Rev. Henry P. Burke and Rev. Daniel McCarthy were aboard the Carpathia on a visit to Rome and the Holy Land. The Scranton Times reported that both men comforted traumatized survivors, even giving up their shared first-class state room to Titanic passengers. Burke and McCarthy slept on the floor of the Carpathia’s saloon while the ship returned to New York with the survivors. 

Mary’s travel journal goes on to describe her visits to Italy – where she saw works of art from the Renaissance – ancient cities in Egypt, Greece, and Israel, pre-revolution Russia, the Olympic Games in Stockholm, and the metropolitan cities of London and Paris. Her trip concluded with a visit with her brothers, Nicholas, Arthur, and Charles, who lived in South Africa where they owned an ice factory. Mary’s travel diary preserves the unique perspective of one Frederick County resident as she experienced one of the most famous historical events of the twentieth century. 

July 10, 2023 by Kayleigh Trischman, Heritage Frederick Intern

Flag Day is an annual observance marking the anniversary of the adoption of the first resolution creating a standard design for the flag of the United States of America, which the Continental Congress adopted on June 14, 1777. Communities across the United States held public observances of Flag Day as early as the Civil War. Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge each made proclamations celebrating Flag Day in 1916 and 1927, respectively. Pennsylvania became the first state to make Flag Day an official holiday in 1937, and the United States Congress passed legislation in 1949 to make Flag Day an annual national observance. 

This photograph shows members of the Frederick Elks Lodge on the stage with invited guests and musicians. Major General Milton Reckord delivered the keynote address; Reckord was a Maryland native who commanded the National Guard and authored the 1933 legislation that made the guard a component of the United States Army. The lodge displayed nine flags at the front of the stage, representing the official flags that have flown over North America beginning with English colonization in the early-seventeenth century. 

The traditional Flag Day ceremony continues to be observed each June by Frederick Elks. Frederick City replaced the original Baker Park bandshell seen in this photograph with the present structure in 1990. 

June 1, 2023 by Jody Brumage, Heritage Frederick Archivist