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In the meantime, enjoy a brief history of Savage, MD.

A Brief History of Savage, Maryland

A rich vein of American industrial history lies in Savage. When the textile industry was in its heyday,
Savage was an important manufacturing center, its mills harnessing the water power on the
falls of the Little and Middle Patuxent Rivers.

The town was named for John Savage, a Philadelphia merchant with interest in a mill on the falls of the Patuxent. In 1822 he and his associates chartered the Savage Manufacturing Company, which made sails for the tall ships, among other cotton duck products.

The cotton milling industry started in Maryland in the 18th century and flourished in the 19th century. Cotton was shipped cheaply from Southern ports and hauled overland by mule and oxen teams to the mills before rail transportation served Savage. In 1835 the Washington branch of the B&O Railroad was completed, and Savage Station was established on the line about a mile southeast of the present mill. A spur of the B&O was laid to the Savage factory in 1887, and it was at this time that the famous Bollman Truss railroad bridge was moved to its present site from another location. Beloved by railroad buffs, the iron truss bridge is the only one of its type in the world, and, along with the mill, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Parts of the Savage Mill are said to date from about 1820, and historians have recorded that the mill once had an iron foundry which made many kinds of machinery, specializing in textile manufacturing. The operation of the mill was greatly expanded in 1880 with the installation of steam power.

A recently completed renovation program has established Savage Mill as a major permanent marketplace. With its new role as a festive showcase for quality arts, crafts, antiques, and specialty items, Savage Mill is more than a "shopping mill." It’s a leisurely place to explore, enjoy, and to appreciate the history of a quiet mill town on the banks of the Little and Middle Patuxent Rivers.

Carroll Baldwin Hall, a lovely old Richardsonian Romanesque building, though privately owned, houses the Savage branch of the Howard County Library. It was built in the early 1920’s as a memorial to Carroll Baldwin, former president of the manufacturing company. The Baldwins managed the company from 1859 to 1911.

West Friendship is located at the 19-mile marker along Frederick turnpike in Howard County. Like
many small communities here, it developed slowly as settlers moved west.

As adventurers set out to survey the area, they established land tracts in the 1700’s -many before
the Revolutionary War. Stein’s history (1972) lists land grants given to families whose descendants live in the area today. The families of Warfield, Ridgely, Selby, Hobbs, Cross, and Cissel helped create what is now West Friendship.

Settlers came from all walks of life. The G.M. Hopkins Atlas of 1878 recorded residents’ names and occupations. The majority were farmers. There were a few farmer-merchants, one farmer-physician, and one farmer-butcher. They grew tobacco, the main crop in Howard County. In the 1780’s, the Ellicott brothers persuaded Howard County farmers to grow wheat, an easily marketed crop.

In the 19th Century, the main road through West Friendship was filled with travelers who could find comfort at mile houses along the route. Some came to settle; others, like the circuit rider ministers, rode on horseback from church to church, making it more convenient for residents to attend the nearest service.

Early travel was rough, but most residents were adept at horseback riding. Many traveled over the Frederick turnpike built in the 1790’s. Empty land soon gave way to a general store and post office in West Friendship. In the 20th Century, paved roads and the automobile replaced country roads and the horse and buggy. The paving of the West Friendship-Sykesville Road (MD 32) by the State in 1910, was an important development for the community.

West Friendship’s one-room school house provided a primary education for many residents in the early 1900’s. By 1925, the town’s high school replaced all nearby one-room schools, and area residents came by school bus to attend one of the first consolidated schools in Howard County.

Social gatherings continued to center around farming in the 1940’s. Before then, the Howard County Grange Competitions were held at Brendel Manor Park and in one resident’s front yard. Later in the 1950’s, residents set up the groundwork for the present Howard County Fair held annually in West
Friendship.

Today, the town retains its rich history. Farms and historic homes cover the land still inhabited by descendants of the earlier aristocratic families. A shopping center stands where farmland once existed. Yet tradition lives on in this small crossroads community

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