Here’s your weekly dose of Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula, by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. In the 1930s, area families rallied around churches and schools. Pasadena parents were well-known for their loyalty to local schools. "Churches and schools remained the centers of community life," Cunningham wrote. "Families looked forward to annual Sunday School picnics and events like Mt. Carmel's church suppers held on William L. Cook's wide beach. "A church founded at Pasadena in 1934 as the J. Shelby George Memorial Church survives today, but it has been called Pasadena Assembly of…

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula, by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. During the Great Depression, area residents learned to make the best of what they had. They enjoyed days near the water, softball games and fresh fruit. "Despite hard times, during the Great Depression people enjoyed many inexpensive pleasures. For an admission fee of 25 cents each, a family could go to a waterfront resort with a picnic lunch, claim a table under the shade of trees and spend the whole day on the wide beach," Cunningham wrote. "Softball games between Pinehurst and …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. Many people in Pasadena during the 1920s made a living by farming, but a few took to the water. John Dreyer used his entire family to help catch crabs and earn their living. "Though Mr. Dreyer often had a hired a man or two living in a bunk house, his son and the five Dreyer daughters helped with all the work," Cunningham wrote."The girls hauled the seine net to shore, while their father or brother swam underwater to unhook it from a submerged log or other obstruction. "Each girl …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. "Though farming was still the main employment on the Pasadena peninsula, a few men worked as watermen. They could catch crabs with a dip net and sell them for two dollars a barrel," Cunningham wrote. "Milton Fick, Robert Gray, Buck Kaiser and Tom and Vince Bailey supplemented their income by fishing and crabbing, selling locally or shipping to Baltimore from Cook's wharf. "Most watermen had winter jobs, but John Dreyer and John Gumpman made a living from water throughout the year, …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. When local farmers had trouble supplying certain fruits and vegetables, trucks from southern states traveled to Pasadena to offer an additional supply. This began to hurt the profits of local farmers. "Farming has been the lifeblood of the Pasadena peninsula for 150 years, but the thirties were a difficult time time for farmers," wrote Cunningham. "People did not have money to buy luxuries like strawberries, melons and peaches. "Anne Arundel farmers always had received their highest…

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. Residents of Bayside Beach visited the Hancock store to purchase candy bars, which they often took to the lighthouse keeper. "At the eastern end of the peninsula, local residents and men from the oyster fleet patronized the little store at the home of Harry and Mamie Hancock," Cunningham wrote. "Young people who lived in summer homes at Bayside Beach remember walking to the Hancock store to buy candy bars from Miss Mamie, who always wore a sunbonnet and ankle-length dresses with …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. In the 1930s, you could stop by the Amoco service station on Mountain Road for gas and chicken. Other stores delivered groceries to your home by horse and wagon. "John Wilson, Senior, opened his Amoco service station on Mountain Road in 1934 and moved a short distance down the road to its present location in 1937," Cunningham wrote. "John and May Wilson offered home-grown vegetables, fruit, flowers, and fancy frying chickens in addition to gasoline. Their business became a gathering…

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. Girl Scouts who used to host camps along the Magothy River had to take three different forms of transportation to get there. They slept in tents and wore blouses, bloomers and black ties. "Not only the Grachur Club and Camp Milbur brought young people to camps on the Magothy River; in 1928 the Girl Scouts of Baltimore established Camp Wippoorwill on nineteen acres on the Cockey Creek that had been part of Captain Robinson's farm," Cunningham wrote. "His three-story former home with …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. In the 1900s, a man filled Lake Waterford with plants because he wanted to ensure a healthy home for his exotic goldfish. "At Lake Waterford, William Wolle and his sister Henrietta Wolle Windsor, operated a business on the property that their father had bought in 1912," Cunningham wrote. "The elder William Wolle, director of Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, had searched for a home in the country where he could raise rare goldfish. "He chose Lake Waterford, built his home there, and …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula, by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. During the first few years of the park's existence, visitors took a steamer to Fort Smallwood Park. "In the mid-'20s, the War Department dismounted the guns at Fort Smallwood and sold the land to Baltimore City," Cunningham wrote. "At that time the city employed the Olmstead Brothers, America's foremost landscape planners, who recommended Fort Smallwood's development as a recreational facility. "The city appropriated $50,000 for the purpose in 1927 and provided a steamer for access…

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula, by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. Do you think you could identify every car that went by on Mountain Road? In the 1930s, that's how some locals entertained themselves. "Fort Smallwood Road was completed in 1932 and electricity reached the area the same year, but these changes had little effect on people's lives," Cunningham wrote. "Elections continued to be held at the local polling house on Mountain Road between Catherine Avenue and Old Mill Road, now Armiger Drive. "Few cars were on the road, even Mountain Road, …

  Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula, by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. Riviera Beach Volunteer Fire Company got its start in the 1930s with just one fire engine and one ambulance, which both had trouble on unpaved roads. "Despite hard times, the Riviera Beach Volunteer Fire Company, founded by Mac Eschenbach in 1930, became an important part of the community," Cunningham wrote. "In September 1931, the company bought a new fire engine with many special features. "On a demonstration run on Fort Smallwood Road, which was being graded in preparation for…

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. Imagine seeing a monkey or even a bear at Angel's on your way down Mountain Road—in 1928 you may have seen just that. "When Mountain Road was paved and relocated in 1928, the Angels were forced to buy more land and rebuild," Cunningham wrote. "Their store became a landmark for people traveling to their summer homes. "The Angel family enjoyed meeting many professional people who stopped at their store on their way to homes on Gibson Island. Children especially looked forward to …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. In the 1920s and 1930s residents could pay $5 to go on a daring plane ride over Pasadena. "An airport at this time meant a flying field like the one that existed from 1927 until the late thirties on Charles Pumphrey's farm (now Sunny Village, east of Sun Village Shopping Center) near Lipin's Corner," Cunningham wrote. "There daring young pilots, who had learned to fly in the service during World War I, rented and graded a field and offered paying customers a brief flight. Flying in …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. Imagine not being able to pass a car turning on Mountain Road? It would cause a lot of traffic problems. In the 1920's the heavily traveled Pasadena road didn't have any passing lanes. "The paving of Mountain Road, a major advance, was a project done in four segments, first as far as Solley Road, then Klug's Store, then to the Schmidt farm, and finally Gibson Island in 1928," Cunningham wrote. "The road was wide enough for two cars to pass, but had no shoulders. Workmen used shovels…

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. Brown's Grove was a resort for African American that featured waterfront, refreshments and rides. A fire broke out at the resort in 1938 and destroyed everything. "Brown's Grove, on Rock Creek near the end of Colony Road, was the only black resort to have its own steamer," Cunningham wrote. "Beginning with refreshment stands, a picnic grove and bathhouses, Captain George Brown added a merry-go-round, a racerdip (roller coaster) ride, a midway, and eventually a dancing pavilion with …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. Kurtz Beach, which is now known as a popular wedding venue, was opened by two brothers during the Great Depression. "In 1933 Gustav and Samuel Kurtz opened Kurtz Pleasure Beach and built an octagonal screened dance pavilion, later enclosed, near the waterfront," Cunningham wrote. "They were bakers like their father, who had emigrated from Austria. They had baker stalls in six markets in Baltimore and had saved enough money to buy 65 acres on the water during the depression. "So many…

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. PTA moms in the 1920s were responsible for landscaping and student's dental care. "At the consolidated Jacobsville school in 1926, Madeline Gibson (principal), Mildred Johnson, Alice Armiger, and Agnes Howie taught 130 children in four rooms, each heated by a large stove," Cunningham wrote. "Older pupils pumped water from a well with a hand pump. The Jacobsville Parents and Teachers Association cleared the stumps and bushes from the playground and sponsored a series of dental …

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. In 1923, Angels started as a roadside stand that had to use straw, burlap and tin to keep its ice cream cold. However, no other local stores sold ice cream, which made Angels an instant local favorite. “In 1923 Samuel and Marie Angel opened a summertime refreshment stand on Mountain Road at Lake Shore,” Cunningham wrote. “Samuel Angel wanted to try farming, but he soon realized that farming was not his calling and returned to Baltimore. However, as people began to build homes in the…

Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. In the '20s, during the era of prohibition, local whiskey makers battled the government, who tried to blow up their stills with dynamite. “The decade of the twenties was the era of prohibition and bootleggers,” Cunningham wrote. “Some residents of the peninsula operated stills and speakeasies, while others were runners who delivered to customers. “Stills along the Magothy, on Bodkin Neck, and near Lake Waterford produced the whiskey that moonshiners took to Baltimore or Washington, …