20-40-100 Years Ago -- Dec. 11

Susan Guynn, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·3 min read

Dec. 11—100 Years Ago

Dec. 11, 1922

A two-story frame house, stable, shed and a small outbuilding on the premises of Mrs. B.W. Bowman, undertaker, Mt. Airy, was destroyed by fire Sunday evening shortly before six o'clock. The flames leaped across the street and damaged a stable on the property of Charles Glover. For a while, several houses were in danger and it was feared that a disastrous fire was imminent. The fire started in the shed and quickly spread to the stable and an adjoining frame building known as "the dead house." Hard work on part of a bucket brigade saved the stable after the front had been considerably damaged.

King Winter reigns! The chilly blasts that have prevailed in the past two or three days prove it. A real snowstorm swept across the county over the weekend. The total snowfall in the city amounted to two and one-half inches.

The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarce and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce department. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climatic conditions and hitherto unheard of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Very few seals and no white-fish are being found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts, which never before have ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal-fishing grounds.

40 Years Ago

Dec. 11, 1982

Serious crime in Frederick County decreased 11 percent for the first nine months of 1982, with statewide figures showing a decrease of 10 percent. This is the fifth quarter in a row that serious crime has decreased in Maryland. This downturn coincides with the more stringent sentencing actions being taken by the courts and the get-tough prison policies that have taken place during the same time period, according to police.

Christmas tree sales should peak this weekend in Frederick and surrounding areas. With only 15 days left until Christmas, many participants listed in the Maryland Christmas Tree Association's Choose and Cut Directory predicted this weekend will be their biggest and busiest.

(Editor's Note: The News-Post does not have access to archives from 50 years ago for August 1972 through March 1973. The "50 Years Ago" summary will return April 1, 2023.)

20 Years Ago

Dec. 11, 2002

The president of the state college in West Virginia on Tuesday was named president of Mount St. Mary's College. Thomas H. Powell, of Glenville State College, in Glenville, W.Va., will replace retiring Mount president George Houston in July 2003.

Randy Freed, son of Dorothy Freed of Shookstown Road, recently returned from an international workshop on greenhouse gas issues in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. While there, Mr. Freed presented a briefing on the methods used by the United States to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from the non-energy uses of fossil fuels (such as petrochemical production, asphalt and lubricants). His firm, ICF Consulting, has a contract to provide the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with support in developing a national inventory of greenhouse gases, which contribute to global climate change.