Mayor Ireton's Inauguration Speech Last Night

On May 29, 1909 – one hundred years ago next month, at 2:30 PM on a typical spring day “the dam at South Division Street crumpled with a loud roar” and the millions of gallons of water in the 40 acre Lake Humphreys and the 60 acres of wetlands beyond the present Snow Hill Road carried away everything in its path. Since 1741 – almost 170 years – the dam built by William Venables, with a special grant from the Colonial Assembly in Annapolis, had been an important landmark and Salisbury’s first claim to an industrial operation. The county road crossing the dam was the dividing line since 1742 between Somerset and Worcester Counties until Wicomico County was formed in 1867. Lake Humphreys was at the headwaters of the east prong of the Wicomico River, extending from the South Division Street dam by the library, eastward to the railroad bridge and continued into the present day city park and zoo and ended near the Elks Club golf course. And now it was gone.

When the Humphreys family decided to not rebuild the dam the future of Salisbury underwent momentous change. There followed the expected debate between the city and county boards over whose responsibility it was to rebuild and repair the damages. After a prolonged delay (almost 2 years) it was decided that the county commissioners would take the burden and would enter into their first incursion into public works.

That event 100 years ago changed the face of our city, eventually creating the downtown as we know it today. Increasingly I reach back into history to find clues to the current condition that we find Salisbury in today. I believe that we have reached a critical moment in our history, much like 2:30 PM on May 29, 1909. We have reached a critical moment like in Spring 1888 when the legislature created our form of government “The Mayor and Council of Salisbury.” Then on April 16, 1888, the first Mayor of Salisbury, the Hon. A.G. Toadvine was sworn into office. Historian Cooper notes that “no accounts or opposition to this change in civil life were to be found – which was rather unusual for a town that has been noted at times for its highly vocal discord on most any issue.”

As I embark on this journey, one that started for me on February 14, 1970 here in Salisbury I will take what I have learned from history, what I have learned from you, the citizens, and what I know to be true and right into work every day here at City Hall. Looking back on the campaign of 2008/2009, I set a remarkably high bar for myself and for those who volunteered for me. Pledging to take on the special interests and make our neighborhoods pristine again, admitting we have a crime problem and pledging to begin to make Salisbury the Safest City in Maryland, and pledging to clean up our Wicomico River and make it swimmable and fishable in 10 years did not appear in some play book that we adopted. These plans and promises were engineered on the back porches and living rooms of homes right here in Salisbury, written and rewritten by neighbors and friends with expert science and statistics. These solutions came from us, for us and by us. I didn’t just prevail on April 7th, Salisbury did.

I sit here tonight with the 5 member city council, the council I pledged during the campaign, and I pledge to tonight – to run our city with…equally. Our municipal revitalization depends on our ability to govern together. I say that again…Our municipal revitalization depends on our ability to govern together.
So thank you Salisbury for this opportunity, for this chance to see a vision through that you have been building in me since that 1970 birth at the corner of Hazel and Camden Avenues.

I will take these words from Lincoln’s second inaugural address as I become the 26th Mayor of Salisbury as I move from this place this evening… “With malice toward none, with charity for all, ...let us strive on to finish the work we are in, ...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves.” Thank you