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February 6, 2006

Maryland Monday: Historic Main Street Ellicott City




Ellicott City, Maryland was founded in 1771 and was know at that time as Ellicott Mills. It is the county seat of Howard County. In 2005 CNN Money and Money magazine ranked Ellicott City as the 20th Best Place to Live on their annual 100 list. Ellicott City is named after the Ellicott brothers from Pennsylvania who moved to the area started a mill in Elkridge in the 1700s. Their mill, unlike many others in the area, processed wheat instead of tobacco. It was a raging success, so much so that a railroad stop was put in at Ellicott Mills in order to carry their cargo. This railroad stop is now the B&O Railroad Museum, although the tracks next to the museum are still active tracks to this day. In 1867 Ellicott City officially became Ellicott City. Up until that point as mentioned above it was actually called Ellicott Mills after the wheat mill. When the city charter was made for Ellicott's Mills the name was changed to Ellicott City. Ellicott City is no longer charted however. It lost its charter in 1935. In 1973 it was given the designation of a historic district by Howard County.

Historic main street itself has been had quite a history! In 1972 it was flooded by Hurricane Agnes. In 1984 and 1999 respectively it suffered massive fires. And if you believe in ghosts historic Ellicott City is apparently jumping with paranormal activity. They even have ghost tour you can go on. I have always wanted to do this, but haven’t as of yet. They have a special tour on Halloween that is supposed to be a lot of fun.

When we first moved to Maryland in the fall of 1999 we lived in Ellicott City and I immediately fell in love with its historic downtown area, which reminded me of pictures I had seen of old European villages. It was just up the road from where we lived, walking distance in fact, and chances are if you’ve come to visit me since we’ve moved to Maryland I’ve taken you to historic Main Street in Ellicott City. From charming antiques shops to the bakeries and cafes to the train museum, there is plenty to do in Ellicott City to fill in your day.

Posted by Daffodil at February 6, 2006 12:51 PM

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Comments

Posted by: martyn-328 at May 28, 2007 6:23 AM

Posted by: martyn-328 at May 28, 2007 6:23 AM

Posted by: martyn-328 at May 28, 2007 6:24 AM

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