Written By Evan Balkan
A visitor to Manchester availing himself of the abundant parking along Main Street might get the sense that something is amiss. As he fumbles for quarters, he will soon realize that there are no parking meters. That is no municipal oversight. It is a sign of welcome, assured by the town council’s dictate, that Manchester is more interested in your presence than your tribute.
The lack of parking meters is a modest touch that helps to define 21st century Manchester, a growing small town trying earnestly to hang on to all the good things that people imagine when they think of a “small town.”
Situated on Maryland Route 30 between Hanover, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore County, Manchester has, so far, been largely resistant to the kind of suburban sprawl that has transformed the main streets of towns like Hampstead, just to the south. In fact, at the entrance to town, the “Welcome to Manchester” sign to the right of Route 30 stands in front of a farmhouse and silo.
At one time, Manchester was all farm and small industry. Because of the vast amounts of tobacco that were grown in and near Manchester, cigar manufacturing was the dominant industry. The town was once host to eight cigar factories, employing more than 400 people. Later, two sewing factories absorbed much of the cigar work force before both industries disappeared altogether by the 20th century.
That is not to say that Manchester’s history has been obliterated. In 2005, a ribbon-cutting ceremony marked an ambitious Main Street revitalization project that saw new lighting, new curbs, plantings, and brickwork at main intersections, preserving the historic thoroughfare where Conestoga wagons and stagecoaches once rattled through town.
A Manchester walking tour (maps available at the Town Office and on the town’s web site) is designed to allow a visitor to visualize things as they once were. The best place to begin is at the Historical Society and Museum, a volunteer-run organization, located in the basement of the Town Office. According to the Society’s mission, the museum “Present[s] displays, collections, and programs by individuals and groups that relate to the history of the Manchester area.”
The museum’s contact is Julia Berwager, a Manchester resident since her birth in 1918. Obviously, she’s seen many changes in her beloved hometown. Ms. Berwager acknowledges that the influx of people in the Ô80s and Ô90s has altered the town she once knew, even though she understands the new arrivals’ reasons for coming in the first place. Relatively inexpensive home and land prices brought the newer arrivals to Manchester; they stayed for what current residents have come to expect: a low crime rate, good schools, and a community full of what Mayor Chris D’Amario calls “a bunch of good people.”
Not long after moving to Manchester 17 years ago, D’Amario attended a town council meeting to inquire about what he viewed as an unusually high water bill. That led to an appointment on the water
committee. Next came the Town Council, and then a stint as mayor, a term that will expire in 2007.
Currently, D’Amario and the Town Council oversee The Manchester Master Plan, which was adopted in 1998 and sets a population cap of 5,000. The plan aims to weigh development pressures against access to such vital elements as water and sewer services. Today, Manchester is closing in on 5,000 people, bringing with it the inevitable pressures on what remains of old Manchester. Evidence of this includes a 500,000-gallon water tank, constructed in 1997, something that would have been completely unnecessary just ten years earlier.
Despite all the changes, one thing that has remained important in Manchester is dedication to faith. No fewer than seven churches serve the town. This isn’t surprising, considering that Manchester can claim to be home to Carroll County’s first place of worship, a Lutheran church founded in 1760, chartered two years earlier by King George III. Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church is today’s link to that first church. At its location on Church Street, Immanuel Lutheran Church is fronted by an enormous white oak, believed to be some 325 years old. The tree has been incorporated on Manchester’s official town seal.
Manchester began as a tribute to homesick Captain Richard Richards’ (his actual name) hometown in England. A 1765 land grant bestowed upon Captain Richards what was previously called New Market. Despite the presence of a high percentage of English descendants in Manchester, the town turned away from its founding father by renaming Castle Street Main Street during the Revolutionary War. As Manchester grew, it became populated mostly with German immigrants. In fact, German and Pennsylvania Dutch were spoken in Manchester well into the 20th century.
During the Civil War, Manchester served as a base of operations for the Union Army’s Sixth Corps, commanded by General John Sedgwick, before it marched to Gettysburg. Legend has it that Sedgwick uttered what are among the most famous last words in American history: “Why, they couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist . . .”
The Manchester Academy (1831) and Irving College (1858) gave Manchester a reputation in the 19th century as a center of higher learning. Although Manchester Academy was dissolved during the Civil War, Irving continued operations until 1893. Today, visitors can view remnants of Irving College at 24 Grafton Street, as well as 3151-53 Main Street, home of the teachers’ boardinghouse, and a girls dormitory at present day 3232-34 Main Street. Manchester Academy grounds are located off York Street, just east of Town Hall.
Charlotte’s Quest Nature Center, named after Town Council person Charlotte Collett, operates as something of a community meeting center, playing host to an annual Spring Fest, Christmas Crafts Workshop, and Youth Fishing event. An Easter Egg Hunt and annual planting of the Memory Grove are other activities at Charlotte’s Quest. Also nearby sits larger Christmas Tree Park, with many recreational facilities. In fact, Manchester enjoys more parkland than any other town in the county.
What Mayor D’Amario considers Manchester’s true meeting place and community anchor, however, is the family-run Miller’s Grocery Store, Manchester residents’ alternative to a chain grocer. There’s always something – bake sales, car washes, Scout activities – going on at Miller’s.
Down the street, at the Dutch Corner Restaurant, the breakfast table is another place where much community business gets hammered out. Of the “old-timers” at those breakfasts, D’Amario jokes: “They probably get more done there than we do at the Town Council.” It’s a throwback to the way things once were, when civic problems were tackled over coffee and eggs.
All the growth Manchester has witnessed over the past decade or so hasn’t changed its spirit of collaboration. The volunteer fire department has served the town since its inception in 1885 as the Manchester Fire Engine and Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1. Its present location at 3209 Main Street has been the same since 1899.
The department holds a week-long carnival every summer, featuring a Miss Manchester pageant that involves young women completing a hefty community service component that runs yearlong and leads up to the crowing of a winner during the first week of July.
In 2005, the department sponsored an Independence Day fireworks celebration, the first of what many hope will become a yearly event.
Service, social, church, and youth organizations, as well as a community swimming pool run by the Lions Club, round out the collective enterprises that make Manchester a special place to live.
True, the factories are gone. And many jobs with them. But Councilman Ryan Warner, who moved from Finksburg with his wife, says of Manchester: “A slightly longer commute is a good tradeoff for a quiet, tranquil, safe place to live.” In other words, although many Manchester residents might have to go elsewhere to work, at the end of the day, they get to return to a place that feels like home.
