HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 10-19-13

BELL STREET SCHOOL

(A picture surfaced in an old Daily Times issue of Nov. 27, 1977 that includes the following students. It is believed to be from around 1900. My apologies for the quality of the picture.)

First row, left to right, Carl Brewington, George Strattner, Thomas Foster, Gordon Adams, Oscar Benjamin, Leon Ulman, Wallace Smith, Harry Parker, George Parker, and W. B. Tilghman, Jr.

Second row, Claude Dorman, Benjamin Calloway, Raymond Doward, Wm. Slemons, Charles Bailey, Ralph Duffy, Calvin Morris, Samuel Hitch, Wm. Records, Ernest Lucas, and unknown.

Third row, William Killiam, Warren Titlow, Garley Brittingham, Wm. Layfield, Miss Stella Dorman, Clarence Parsons, Fred Grier, unknown, and Emmett Moore.

Fourth row, unknown, Harry Bethke.


Those grim-faced kids glaring at what now is a valuable antique camera bring to mind what one might think a group photograph of all the characters who used to appear in the old “Our Gang” film series would look like.

Actually, the photo shows what is believed to be the third or fourth grade class perched on the front porch of the old Bell Street School, built in 1894. Torn down in 1939, the two-story, four-room frame school was located across from W. Chestnut Street, near the old standpipe behind the John B. Parsons Home on Lemmon Hill Lane. Along with the Chestnut Street Grammar School, the school was replaced by the newly built North Salisbury Elementary on Emerson Ave.

As near as anyone can figure out, the picture appears to have been taken around 1900 or so. The photograph, framed and accompanied by an almost complete list of names, surfaced a couple of years ago when a Laurel, Del. Man, Olan O’Neal bought it for $8 at an auction in Delmar. O’Neal attends auctions fairly regularly, but he doesn’t consider himself a professional collector.

“I have no idea where the picture came from”, he commented. “I’ve never come across a picture like this before. I hated to see some antique dealer buy it and away it goes. So, I stopped in to see Harold Fulton (superintendent of Wicomico County schools) and showed it to him. He was very interested, and I thought it would be nice for the school people to keep it,” O’Neal explained. He then presented it to Fulton. The photograph will become part of a dozen such historical photos that will be on display at the Board of Education office.

But what about those kids, attired in knickers? Who is a better repository of facts and figures, and who has a greater wealth of knowledge of names, places, family histories and the like than Walter R. Holloway, at the funeral home bearing his name? Himself a graduate of the Bell Street School, Holloway chuckled when shown the photo. “I remember many of these kids, some of them quite well. But these kids were a bit older than I am (78) and some of them I can only recall being familiar with the family name,” he mused. “When I was there it was called a grammar school. The girls and the boys were separated, the girls upstairs, and the boys downstairs. The street was named for Miss Daisy Bell and her brother George Bell, who was a state’s attorney at one time here. They lived together right there near where the school was in a lovely big old white house. When we were finished there, we were sent about 50 feet across the street to the Chestnut Street School. From there, we attended class at the Upton Street High School, where your building (the Times Building) is now,” Holloway continued.



Because the photograph appears to have been taken several years before Holloway attended Bell Street, what follows is not necessarily a complete history of each and every name, only what the long and sometimes vivid Holloway memory can provide.


Carl Brewington – “He lived in Bivalve when he died. His father, Clarence Brewington, used to have a grocery store in front of the old Jackson House (now gone.) When I used to live on Smith Street, I used to go across a lot full of sandburs where Light Street is now, and go in the back door of the store to spend my penny on candy.”


George Strattner – “I know his father was a power man with the BC&A Railroad, but beyond that I can’t recall much else.”


Gordon Adams – “Used to work in the Jackson Shirt factory (where Lowe’s is now).”


Leon Ulman – “His father, I think, was Charley Ulman, or maybe Ike Ulman. Anyway, I know they used to live where the C & P Telephone Co. building is now in a big rambling house. I also think it is the same family that was connected with the Old Ulman Theater (which burned to the ground in 1963).”


W. B. Tilghman, Jr. – “His father was Col. W. E. Tilghman. His nephew, Nash Strudwick, now runs the Tilghman Company (one of Salisbury’s most famous commercial landmarks).”


Claude Dorman – “A very proper fellow. His father was Will Dorman. He used to direct nearly all the weddings around. He made curtains, draperies and did a little needlework. He used to always lead the Grand March at annual dances. They used to live where City Hall is now.”


Benjamin Calloway – “Used to work at R.D. Grier’s machine shop. His son, Roland, works at the Grier Tire Co. now. Ben was a member of the Salisbury Fire Company.”


William Slemons – “He was with T. L. Ruark grocery store.”


Charles Bailey – “Worked in a shirt factory, I believe.”


Ralph Duffy – “Was a sheriff here in the county. He was a blacksmith by trade, and used to shoe many a horse.”


Calvin Morris – “Was an auto mechanic for a time.”


Samuel Hitch – “Worked for the C & P Telephone Co. His Dad, Herbert H. Hitch, had a grocery store at the corner of W. Main Street and Delaware Avenue. Sam used to drive around in a horse and buggy, carting a huge piece of telephone equipment that was battery operated.”


Ernest Lucas – “Was the son of Martin Lucas, who used to run Uncle Mart’s Sandwich shop on Market St., featuring oyster fritter sandwiches. I think he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad for a while.


William Killiam – “He was a chief of the fire department. They lived in a house which is now at the corner of Cherry Street and Route 13. I remember when he used to ride about on a big bicycle wearing a white raincoat.”


Miss Stella Dorman – “Miss Dorman. She was strict. Never married. I never had her for a teacher but I heard she would whip the devil out of you.”


Fred Grier – “Another fire chief. I believe his brother was R. D. Grier.”


Harry Bethke – “His father was a fine tailor whose shop was over the old Twilley-Hearn Barber Shop downtown. They lived at the corner of Elizabeth Street and North Division Street.”