Elkridge Landing was a Patapsco River seaport in Maryland, and is now part of

Elkridge, Maryland Elkridge is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,593 at the 2010 census. Founded early in the 18th century, Elkridge is adjacent to two other counties, A ...

. The historic Elkridge Furnace Inn site resides within the

Patapsco Valley State Park Patapsco Valley State Park is a Maryland state park extending along of the Patapsco River south and west of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. The park encompasses multiple developed areas on over acres of land, making it Maryland's largest st ...

Geography

Elkridge is located in present-day Howard County, Maryland, west of the Patapsco River, south of Route 1, and with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B and O Railroad) running through the middle of the historic district. The historic roads are the old Washington Turnpike, now Main Street, Railroad Avenue, Paradise Avenue, Elkridge Heights Road and Furnace Avenue.

History

The Elkridge site

Pottery has been found dating back to 1800 B.C.E. and there is evidence of settlement along the Patapsco River until 1500 C.E.Elizabeth Janney.
Elkridge
'. Arcadia Publishing; 8 July 2013. . p. 12.

Seaport

In 1690 the town and seaport of Elkridge Landing was settled in the

Patapsco Valley The Patapsco Valley is a small valley surrounding the Patapsco River in central Maryland. The region is known for its historical significance as a major economic and industrial center in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Geography The Pa ...

of the

Colony of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryla ...

. It was a deep-water port, with a channel about 10 to 14 feet deep, that brought ships inland from the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

. Tobacco casks, or

hogsheads A hogshead (abbreviated "hhd", plural "hhds") is a large cask of liquid (or, less often, of a food commodity). More specifically, it refers to a specified volume, measured in either imperial or US customary measures, primarily applied to alcoho ...

, were rolled down Rolling Hill to the port by "long strings of slaves" and boarded ships. Manufactured iron was also shipped out of the port. Native Americans lived north of the Elkridge Landing site in 1692 and rangers were appointed among the settlers to keep watch. Around 1725 a 28 by 16 foot "Rowling House" with clapboard siding was built on the landing to store tobacco rolled in hogsheads to market. In 1727, the state ended the practice of having ship sailors personally retrieve hogsheads of tobacco themselves. Inland tobacco farms were able to increase productivity by rolling their own hogsheads to ports of Baltimore, Annapolis and Elkridge. Six acres around the Rowling house were surveyed by William Cromwell on 7 February 1743. The site was purchased by Caleb and Edward Dorsey and named "Calebs and Edwards Friendship". The banks of the Patapsco River had been unearthed to mine for iron stone, which resulted in the displaced sand and earth being dumped into the river, affecting its navigability. In 1753 a law was enacted to prevent the further filling in of the Patapsco River's shipping channel at Elkridge Landing and up to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Ships were unable to sail to Elkridge Landing after the first half of the 1700s.Inventory of Historic Properties.
Maryland Historical Trust. p. 3. Retrieved January 25, 2014. By 1763, 50 percent of Anne Arundel's tobacco production was processed at the landing totaling 1,695 hogsheads.

Christ Church Guilford The Christ Church Guilford, historically known as the "Old Brick Church," is an historic Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal church located about one mile from Guilford, Maryland, Guilford, now part of Columbia, Maryland, Columbia, in How ...

would tax the tobacco to pay for the local sheriff and church expenses.

Jansen-Town

On April 12, 1733 an act was passed by the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber ...

making Elkridge Landing the town of Jansen-Town in what was then the County of Ann-Arundel. At that time 40 lots were created on 30 acres of land purchased near or on the Patapasco River.

Iron manufacturing

Caleb Dorsey, an

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

aware of iron ore found in the Patapsco River valley, established Dorsey's Forge in 1761. It ran on water power from the river and made nails and horseshoes. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

he made

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

s and bayonets. As of 1787 there were 9 or more slaves that worked his operation. In 1822 the business was purchased by Thomas, James and Benjamin Ellicott from Pennsylvania. It was first named Avalon Iron Works, but then became a nail factory and rolling mill. More than 100 people worked at the complex by the 1850s. The forge, factory and mill were destroyed in a flood in 1868. Two structures that remained are in the

.Elizabeth Janney.
Elkridge
'. Arcadia Publishing; 8 July 2013. . p. 16. By 1880, the town was described as "A sorry village on the Patapsco, which once hoped to be the rival of Baltimore."

Transportation

The town became more prosperous when the Washington Turnpike and the railroad traversed through the town, resulting in new residential and commercial construction. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

Union troops were deployed to protect both bridges. In the 1930s when Route 1 skirted the city, many commercial buildings moved alongside the highway.

Historic district

An application was submitted in 2003 to make it a historic district and is now on the Inventory of Historic Properties with the

Maryland Historical Trust The Maryland Historical Trust is an agency of Maryland Department of Planning and serves as the Maryland State Historic Preservation Office. The agency serves to assist in research, conservation, and education, of Maryland's historical and cultural ...

. There are business and residential properties built between the 1820s and 1920s within the district. It is one of the oldest settlements in Howard County, Maryland. Elkridge Landing is significant for its historic iron and shipping industries, role in development of the railroads in the 19th century, architecture and its archaeological potential.Inventory of Historic Properties.
Maryland Historical Trust. p. 1. Retrieved January 25, 2014.

Present

In 2015, the Howard County Council approved a payment-in-lieu of taxes agreement for Riverwatch, a middle-income townhouse and apartment development built by the KB Companies in coordination with the

Howard County Housing and Community Development Howard County Housing is the umbrella organization for the Howard County Department of Housing and Community Development and the Howard County Housing Commission. The Department is Howard County Government’s housing agency, and the Commission ...

on Furnace Avenue replacing a series of small historic single family homes in the neighborhood.

Notable people

* Andrew Ellicott * John Ellicott * George Poe

Notes

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Map of Elkridge Landing, 1860
Elkridge, Maryland Populated places established in 1690 1690 establishments in Maryland