HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 2-20-16

East Main Street

The year 1909 can be the year that defines the beginning of a new Salisbury. That was the year the dam broke and let all the water out of Humphreys Lake. Before that year, Main Street was simply Main Street. There was no East or West associated with the name. Main Street started at Division Street and proceeded west. Any reference to a Main Street address before 1909 would later be West Main Street.

The land exposed by the rupture of the dam was purchased by a group of local businessmen that formed the Salisbury Realty Company. They purchased 65 acres from the Humphreys family and dug out a channel to the east as far as the railroad. The dirt they dug out was used to build up the remaining acreage. When this had settled enough to build on, they began to sell lots in the area.

There was a building across what is now East Main Street along Division Street. It had been a prime building site in Salisbury for many years. When it burned down to its foundation in the fire of 1886, there were many that wanted to extend Main Street eastward to the edge of Humphreys Lake.

Now, Salisbury had at that time a form of government consisting of town commissioners. They could have prevented the rebuilding of the structure by simply not allowing the building permit to go through. They didn’t, and a new building was erected on the old foundation, even complying with the new standards of building with brick according to the codes put in place to try to avoid another fire like the one in 1886 that destroyed most of downtown Salisbury.

By 1888, Salisbury had implemented a new form of government consisting of a mayor and city council. This new form of government was more receptive to the idea of extending Main Street to the east. So they used their governmental powers and condemned the Davis House hotel, and it was torn down after the dam broke. Main Street was extended to the east and East Main Street was established.

Buildings began to emerge on land that was once under water. The picture above was taken in 1919 and shows a dirt street about 100 yards east of Division Street before anything had been built. The tallest building in Salisbury, the Wicomico Hotel, was still six years in the future. The biggest boost to the area was the Post Office. It lent a sort of permanence to the street, and other buildings soon followed.

East Main Street was eventually extended across the former lake bottom to its present destination of Old Ocean City Road. This entailed building East Main Street to the present Davis Street, which was formerly the edge of Humphreys Lake. It was not the scenic area we know today as the City Park. The City Park was built in the 1930’s as a project of the WPA, one of President Roosevelt’s ideas to get men working again during the devastating Depression of the 1930’s. The mayor at the time was L. Thomas Parker, and he is known as the father of the Municipal Park. His son is Henry Parker, a former county councilman for many years. Wicomico Middle School was built in 1931 over the area that had been used as a dump. When they built it at a cost of $450,000, it was so large and modern that at the dedication ceremonies it was stated that it would serve the area for at least two generations. In less than five years it was expanded.

Snow Hill Road in the city was built to extend from Lincoln Avenue to East Main Street. Before this change, Snow Hill Road flowed into Lincoln Avenue in the city. The restructuring of the geography of the city was greatly impacted by the new land obtained by the emptying of Humphreys Lake.

East Main Street had become a location to have thriving business entities which continue to this day.