HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 6-16-12

A Short History of Salisbury, Maryland

It was in a colonial atmosphere that Salisbury Town was “erected” by act of the Provincial Assembly on August 8, 1732 – some 276 years ago. The site of the present Main St. bridge was where the shipping business of Col. Isaac Handy was established in 1665. For the following six decades, it was known as Handy’s Landing. When the Provincial Assembly decided to erect a town on this site, it was named Salisbury after Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. Many of the large land owners of the section at that time had emigrated from the vicinity of the ancient English city, some for religious reasons that they might have absolute freedom of worship, others to enlarge their fortunes in this new land.

At the time of its founding, Salisbury was a part of Somerset County and remained that way until 1867, when parts of Worcester and Somerset counties were set aside to form the new county of Wicomico. Prior to the formation of the new Wicomico County, residents had to go to either Snow Hill in Worcester County or Princess Anne in Somerset County to conduct official business. By 1867, there was enough business conducted in Salisbury to apply to the legislature for the formation of a new county. This also gave the Eastern Shore another vote in the legislature in Annapolis.

Salisbury was the center for a large farming community and the town grew along with it. The first major blow to the growth of Salisbury came in 1860, when a fire that started in the Daniel Davis building, located on the northwest corner of Main (then known as Bridge St.) and St. Peter’s streets, spread throughout what was then the “downtown” area and left Salisbury in smoldering ruins.

Slowly they rebuilt, until the area was bustling with business activity again. The railroad had started to come down through Delaware, but the Civil War interrupted the progress through Salisbury. After the war, the railroad was extended to Salisbury and that greatly enhanced the ability to move goods both to and from Salisbury. They were expanding at a rapid pace until the second major fire in 1886 destroyed 22 acres in the heart of Salisbury. After this fire, an ordinance was passed that all subsequent buildings be of either brick or stone to prevent another disaster like the fires of 1860 and 1886. The streets were also made wider to prevent fire from spreading as it had previously.

The form of government changed in 1888 from a three commissioner form of rule to a mayor and council elected by the citizens.

For the next 20 years, Salisbury experienced tremendous growth. In keeping up with the rest of the country, Salisbury acquired electricity and telephone service. The harbor was dredged to a navigable depth by 1906. Automobiles started to appear on city streets. In 1909, the dam holding back Humphreys Lake broke, exposing the land east of Division St. At one time Humphreys Lake extended from Division St. on the west to about Davis St. on the east end. The southern shore extended from where the Daily Times building is now to along S. Park Dr. The northern shore ran approximately along what is now Rt. 50- a rather large body of water to be sure. When it emptied, a group of businessmen bought the land from the Humphreys family and formed the Salisbury Realty Co. Many of today’s structures east of Division St. are built on land that was once under water.

On the southern side of Humphreys Lake, a new high school was built in 1905. Prior to this, the previous school was named Salisbury High School and was available only to residents of Salisbury. When the new school opened, it was named Wicomico High School, to reflect the fact that they served all of Wicomico County. Another new High School was opened in 1932. This is now Wicomico Middle School. The present Wicomico High School was opened in 1954. Since that time both James M. Bennett (named after a former superintendent of Wicomico County schools) and Parkside High Schools have been built.

Two other occurrences contributed to Salisbury’s growth. Route 13 was built through the city in the late 1930’s and Route 50 was built in the early 1960’s. Both of these improvements made traveling in either direction much more desirable and added to the traffic flow both to and from Salisbury. Both of these routes have been superceded by the new by-passes that have recently been completed. While this relieves the traffic flow through downtown, fewer people see Salisbury’s business district.