Alberton, Maryland

Alberton is an unincorporated community in Howard County, Maryland, United States. A postal office operated in the community from 3 February 1854 to 1 March 1943.[1]

It was the site of a large cotton mill along the Patapsco River founded by James S. Gary after moving from Connecticut in 1839. A store and seventy company buildings for workers were built on 820 acres around the factory. The mill used adult and child labor including Gary's son James Albert Gary. In 1866 and 1868 the mill was damaged by flooding which Gary survived by floating with his daughter on a log. In 1870, James Albert Gary inherited the mill and the town named after him "Alberton".[2] In 1885 his son, E. Stanley Gary took over which operated 228 looms and 8-9 thousand spindles.[3]

In 1879, the stone Victorian Gary Memorial church was built and in 1893, St. Alban's chapel was built as an Episcopal church for the mill town.[4] In 1938, the mill and town was sold to the C.R. Daniels company and renamed Daniels, Maryland.

See also

References

  1. "Checklist of Maryland Post Offices" (PDF). Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  2. Laura Rice. Maryland History in Prints 1743-1900. p. 202.
  3. Henry Elliot Shepherd. History of Baltimore, Maryland, from Its Founding as a Town to the Current. p. 623.
  4. Howard County Historical Society. Images of America Howard County. p. 52.

Coordinates: 33°19′2″N 76°47′47″W / 33.31722°N 76.79639°W / 33.31722; -76.79639

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