History of Cumberland, Maryland
However, following World War II, it began to lose much of its industrial importance and its population declined from 39,483 residents in the 1940 census to fewer than 22,000 today.
Nestled dramatically at the base of converging mountain ridges and at the confluence of Wills Creek and the Potomac River, Cumberland conforms in its layout to the rugged topography within which it is situated.
[citation needed] Prior to 1730, before the arrival of the first European settlers, a clan of Native Americans lived at the confluence of Wills Creek and the Potomac River on the site of modern-day Cumberland.
Pushing north from Cumberland towards the forks of the Ohio River where Pittsburgh is now located, Washington's force (about 230 men) encountered 600 French and 100 Indian soldiers.
With the loss of the Ohio River Valley, Fort Cumberland became the primary staging and supply point for the British on the colonial frontier.
After British General Edward Braddock led another disastrous foray into the Ohio River Valley, George Washington served as commander of the Virginia troops during the French and Indian War, and spent a considerable amount of time in the Cumberland area.
These improved transportation routes, along with the increase development and trade opportunities they fostered, transformed this small town into the second largest city in Maryland.
[2] The C&O Canal was also an important commercial link between East and West, providing bulk transport of items such as coal, flour, iron, and limestone products.
Coal from the Cumberland area fueled the state's mills and plants, steamships in Baltimore's harbor as well as the US Navy fleet, and was traded to buyers from London, Brazil, Egypt, and beyond.
Still, Cumberland's miners blackened from head to foot when they emerged from a mine at the end of a day knew that the carbon-filled air, which corroded the lungs overtime, would lead to an early death.
Cumberland blossomed as a result, the downtown commercial area thrived, and impressive residences built around the city reflected individual prosperity.
[2] In the early 19th century a 14-foot (4.3 m) thick seam of bituminous coal referred to historically as "The Big Vein" was discovered in the Georges Creek Valley.
This coal region became famous for its clean-burning low sulfur content that made it ideal for powering ocean steamers, river boats, locomotives, and steam mills, and machines shops.
Production fell below 1 million short tons during the 1950s and early 1960s before the trend turned up-wards, due mostly to an increasing use of coal to generate electricity.
The development of the National Road, the country's first federally funded public works project, began in Cumberland in 1811 and reached Wheeling, West Virginia by 1818.
Cumberland's transportation system evolved around the C&O Canal and burgeoning rail lines, shaped by the natural setting of the mountains, Potomac River, and Wills Creek.
)[5][6][7] The completion of Interstate 68 in the late 1960s improved connections to outside regions including the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area to the east, Harrisburg to the northeast, and Pittsburgh to the northwest.
The company later expanded its business by building a recreational complex on 15 acres (61,000 m2) of land in an area formerly known as Seiss’ Picnic Grove, at the western end of the Cumberland Narrows near the present day Starlight Skating Rink.
In summer evenings the park was patronized by large crowds, and the trolley company expanded to meet the demand by adding extra, open sided cars to handle the traffic.
In February, a nationwide independent truckers strike, protesting rising gas prices, cut off supplies for the brewery and prevented beer from being distributed to buyers.
A spokesman for Local 265 explained that "members felt that if the brewery situation had deteriorated to the point of asking workers to take a cut in pay then the problem had gone too far out of hand.
[13] In 1942, the plant briefly switched from making tires to producing munitions for the United States military in support of World War II.
[16] In 1986, in the era of corporate raids, British financier Sir James Goldsmith, with assistance from the investment bank Merrill Lynch, attempted a hostile takeover of Goodyear, buying up company stock.
[17] To ward off the takeover, Goodyear CEO Robert E. Mercer had to raise millions of dollars to buy back the stock at a premium from Goldsmith.
Then-Maryland Governor William Donald Schaeffer criticized the lawsuit for fear it would scare the company away as he scrambled to secure an agreement to keep some part of Kelly-Springfield in Cumberland.
By 1936, after three year’s of intense struggle that included several plant-wide strikes and a number of sit-downs, we forced the company to grudgingly recognize the union and we became Local 1874 of the Textile Workers affiliated with the Committee of Industrial Organizations led by John L.
In 1974, Celanese established a Cytrel Tobacco Supplement plant in Cumberland with a peak capacity of 20 million lbs a year, while maintaining acetate production, shutting down colored yarn operations, and instituting further mass layoffs.
In the early 1980s, one round of layoffs after another swept the plant, as management announced temporary shutdowns, blaming a "depressed marketplace and little demand for acetate and triacetate yarn.
The last of the "Big Four" employers, the NewPage (formerly MeadWestvaco) which operated the paper mill 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Cumberland in Luke, Maryland.
Many service-related industries have emerged over the past 20 years, particularly in the areas of tourism and entertainment, focusing around Cumberland's rich history, natural beauty, and cultural resources.
