Historic City ParkHagerstown Neighborhoods 1st Community

Join us for our February 13th Valentines Day meeting Love our Neighborhood where will will be viewing the our town DVD!

Hagerstown Our Town

7PM at the Emmanuel Methodist Church on the corner of Summit & Howard!

Meeting at the circle on Sunset Avenue at 10am for the 1st of 3 community clean ups. Please bring yard tools & be ready to work!

Google Doc version of the Historic City Park Neighborhood’s 1st Meeting Minutes 2010-11-08

Meeting Reminder for Monday the 8th @ 7:00PM at the Emmanuel Methodist Church. We will have a guest speaker with presentation on Historic Homes.

Special thanks to Mary Mallery, Laurel Kahn, Joan Selby, Joe Marschner, Laura Menard and Allen Holman for their help with recruiting on voting day! We passed out 100 fliers and recieved over 50 signatures for our Summit Avenue Petition! Thanks again guys!

-Heather Holman

^{Image by Chad Trovinger}

1. Start by heading over to the Jonathan Hager House Museum. German immigrant Jonathan Hager bought 200 acres of cheap land in Western Maryland and built a story-and-a-half stone house with a basement; he presented it to his new wife, Elizabeth, in 1740. Later, another story was built on top.Hager’s house was purchased in 1944 by the Washington County Historical Society after it fell into disrepair. The refurbished Hager House is now a museum.
2. Follow the wide, winding asphalt path past Hager House and through the park. The path crosses a footbridge and meets a sidewalk along South Walnut Street. Bear left to the nearby stoplight at West Antietam Street. Turn right and cross the street. Walk eastward along Antietam and follow the sidewalk uphill, walking alongside St. John’s  Episcopal Church. Built in the Gothic Revival style popular in the 1870s, St. John’s steeple is made completely of stone, one of only five stone steeples in the United States,   according to a plaque in front of the church.
3. In the early 1800s, South Prospect Street was a one-block street from West Washington Street to the West Antietam Street gully. Just before the the Civil War, two landowners constructed a stone bridge over Antietam Street, extending Prospect southward through a forested hilltop.The bridge became known as the Dry Bridge; the current bridge is iron.
4. Now turn right and walk southward along Prospect Street. This is one of the most densely interesting neighborhoods in Hagerstown, architecturally speaking. In two  blocks, you’ll see examples of Italianate, Second Empire, Beaux Arts, stick-style and shingle-style Victorian houses.
5. Walk downhill to Park Circle. Look down at the sidewalk. Set into the concrete around the traffic circle are a series of millstones, which inspired the traffic circle’s original  name, Mill Stone Circle. Tags date the stones to specific mills active in the area from 1790 to 1830. Turn right and cross Walnut Street toward City Park and follow  the sidewalk around to see four more millstones.Look at the bronze fountain in the center of the traffic circle. It was installed in 2009 and features a mythological motif, with four women and four bearded satyr heads above them. Hagerstown Garden Club established a garden around the fountain.

   Now carefully cross Virginia Avenue toward Park Circle Animal Hospital – there are three more millstones in the sidewalk in front of the hospital – and walk eastward on  Memorial Boulevard.

   At the next intersection, turn right onto Summit Avenue.

6. Cross Surrey Avenue and you’ll see a stucco-clad apartment building. This building was originally built by Hagerstown bicycle manufacturer Robert S. Crawford in about  1903 to produce automobiles. Pipe organ-maker Mathias Moller took over the company in about 1908 and built cars there for about 15 years. The building is still known as Moller Apartments.
7. Continue walking uphill on Summit and check out the turn-of-the-century architecture. There’s a terrific, three-story brick house with a square tower at No. 429, and next to it a beautifully restored, colorful Victorian with a lovely garden.Walk up the hill and cross Reynolds to see No. 506, a stellar example of Beaux Arts architecture, which uses classical columns and heavy molding to present an air of aristocracy.
8. Our walk is a little more than half done. It’s time for a break. Backtrack a few steps to Reynolds to turn right, heading east. Walk downhill for two blocks to Chestnut Street and turn right. Across the street is Superior Ice Cream and Snack Bar, known locally as Superior Dairy.
9. Continue on down Chestnut to the next street, Garlinger Avenue, turn right and walk west toward City Park. In two blocks, you’ll come to Summit Avenue again. Cross Summit, jog to the left about 20 feet and you’ll come to a very narrow street, Dunn Irvin Drive.Dunn Irvin is a wishbone-shaped street with two “legs,” each so narrow it has no sidewalk. Proceed west on Dunn Irvin to Virginia Avenue.
10. Across Virginia is the south entrance to City Park, Hagerstown’s answer to New York City’s Central Park. The park was built in the 1920s from unused industrial land  and swampland.Cross the street and enter the park by the wide asphalt path. The path comes to Upper Lake and splits; take the right fork and enjoy a pleasant lakeside stroll. In about 100 yards, you’ll come to one of the park’s official entrances. Stairs climb to Virginia Avenue on the right. But turn left and cross the stone bridge to the heart of the park’s features. Here you’ll find a fountain, gardens and a playground for children.

    Straight ahead and up the hill is the Mansion House, the 160-year-old home of John Heyser, who once owned the land; Mansion House is now an art gallery.

    For this tour, turn right and head north. Just ahead are the park’s public restrooms. Past the restrooms, the path splits. Take the center path and walk about 50 yards to Rock Springs, a picturesque, shady, sunken pool. Walk over the two wooden bridges overlooking the pool, pass another playground and continue along the path to our final stop.

    Up ahead, you’ll see an iron fence. Walk through the gate and enter the garden between the park’s Lower Lake and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.

11. The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1924 by American impressionist painter William Singer Jr. and his Hagerstown-born wife, Anna Brugh Singer. The museum specializes in 19th and 20th-century American art.Admission to the museum is free. There are restrooms for patrons.

And now we’re back to the parking area of the museum.  If you have time, consider a walk to path along the Lower Lake or even around the entire lake.

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Meeting tonight(Wednesday) @ 7:00PM at the Emmanuel Methodist Church. As a reminder we will be accepting nominations for office for the 2010-2011 year.

We are formally inviting you to our Historic City Park Neighborhoods 1st Potluck in the Park this Wednesday August 4th at 6:00 PM! This will be a chance for you to get to know your neighbors and share great food & music with friends and family!

The Potluck in the Park will be held at the North Pavilion located between the bandstand and the museum, right next to the Wooden Staircase and Rock Springs. Please bring a dish or desert of your choice. Hope to see you there!

The Hagerstown Suns 6th Annual Beer and Wine Tasting Festival is just around the corner. And for 2010, the Suns have made an awesome night even better with a Dueling Pianos Night Out following the tasting festival. All the action is on July 22nd, starting at 5:00 PM.

The tasting event will start at 5:00 PM and last until 8:00 PM, and all attendees will receive ten coupons good for five ounce samples. Extra sample coupons will also be available for purchase for just $1.00.

Those sample coupons can be used on any of the over 75 types of beers from around the country and/or any of the over 15 types of wine being offered.

At 8:00 PM, the Beer and Wine Tasting Festival will come to a close, and the Dueling Pianos Out will get rocking. Tony T. and Wildman Joe are back for their second tour of Municipal Stadium after delighting the crowd in 2009.

Playing a wide variety of classic songs, interacting with the crowd and putting on a fantastic show, The Dueling Pianos are sure to provide a good time for all.

Tickets for the amazing event can be purchased in a number of ways, and all are good for both portions of the evening.

Purchased in advance, tickets are $22.00 and can be ordered online., over the phone at (301) 791-6266 or at the Hagerstown Suns ticket office. Walk-up tickets, which still come with the ten free five-ounce samples, are $25.00.

Fans also have the opportunity to purchase a VIP table in the Weiss Picnic area for up to six people. Along with admission to the events, VIP tables include catered all-you-eat food, great drink specials and more. All tables come with a great view of the Dueling Pianos show as well, and can be reserved for $200.00.

The Beer and Wine Tasting/Dueling Pianos Night out is a 21-and-over event.

For more information, contact the Suns at (301) 791-6266 or stop by Municipal stadium during normal office hours.

The Hagerstown Suns play at Municipal Stadium in Hagerstown, MD and are a Class “A” affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Ticket packages and sponsorships are available by calling the Suns at 301-791-6266. Visit the Suns on the web at www.hagerstownsuns.com. The Suns are owned by Los Angeles based Mandalay Baseball Properties.