St. Mary's College (Ilchester)

Last updated
St. Mary's College
Other name
Mount St. Clemons College
Type Seminary
Active1868 (1868)–1972 (1972)
Religious affiliation
 Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Catholic Church)
Location
Ilchester
,
Maryland
,
United States

39°15′03″N76°45′57″W / 39.25083°N 76.76583°W / 39.25083; -76.76583

St. Marys College was a Roman Catholic school in Ilchester, Maryland (Illchester Mills) near modern Ellicott City, Maryland in Howard County. [1] The ruins are near Ilchester and Bonnie Branch roads. [2] The upper college building was built in 1868 consisting of a cupola-topped eighteen-bay-by-five-bay building with a five-bay-by-five-bay projection. A three-bay-by-three-bay, five-story L-shaped addition is included, with all of the structure on a stone foundation. A three-story chapel was attached to the building in 1882. In 1934 a fifth floor was added throughout. A statue of Madonna with Child was situated in a niche. [3]

History

The college was situated on the land of the former Ellicott brothers hotel and a tavern, adjacent to a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station along the Patapsco River. The site was anchored by a twin of the Savage, Maryland Bollman Truss Iron Railroad Bridge built in 1869; the bridge was replaced in 1900. [4] In 1866, after years of neglect, the buildings and 110 acres (0.45 km2) site were sold by George Ellicott to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) for $15,000.

Mount St. Clemons College was built in 1868 and the studentate moved from Annapolis. In 1872 the juventate settled into the expanded lower house (the former Ellicott Tavern); however, it relocated to Pennsylvania in 1881. The name was changed to St. Mary's College in 1882. A student would spend six years at the college before ordination as a priest. In 1893 a congregation named Our Lady of Perpetual Help was formed to assist poor in the area, and it still exists. The novitiate moved from Annapolis, to be situated at the Ilchester site from 1907 to 1972. In 1907 the studentate moved from Ilchester to New York. The Ellicott hotel became the lower house of the college; it was destroyed by fire on 14 June 1968. [5] In 1972 the Redemptorists shut down the college, with only 10 students in its graduating class. The Novitate was moved to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where it was combined with another Novitiate. [6]

In 1982 Micheal Nibali, a developer, purchased a 33 acres (0.13 km2) portion of the site for $250,000 including the college building, with the intent of converting the building into 96 apartments. Nibali had won a controversial bid from executive J. Hugh Nichols to convert the recently burned Ellicott City Elementary school to apartments. [7] [8] After approval failed, the building was abandoned and allowed to be vandalized. During this time, residents and media gave the college building the moniker, "Hell House". [9] In 1987 the Maryland Department of Natural Resources acquired a 77 acres (0.31 km2) portion of the site and annexed the land to Patapsco Valley State Park. [10]

The Kamakoti & Tirupati Foundation had previously leased the site launched an effort to purchase it. However, in 1988 the site was purchased by Sateesh Kumar Singh of BCS Limited Partnership for $375,000. A caretaker, Alan Rufus Hudson defended the property from vandals with repeated arrests for assault. On Halloween night, 1997, the building was burned by arsonists. [10] The caretaker's building was condemned shortly afterward. The building was completely demolished in 2006. [11]

The college was one of many historical buildings in the region with valuable real estate that was lost to arson, including The Volkmann Manor (1965), Troy Hill (1990), Avondale Mill (1991), Ammendale Normal Institute (1998), Phelps Log Cabin - Moved from North Laurel to Elkridge (2001), Thistle Manufacturing Company, located directly across the river from St. Mary's (2003), [12] and Henryton State Hospital (2007 and 2011) [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elkridge, Maryland</span> Census-designated place in Maryland, United States of America

Elkridge is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,593 at the 2010 census. Founded early in the 18th century, Elkridge is adjacent to two other counties, Anne Arundel and Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellicott City, Maryland</span> Census-designated place in Maryland, United States

Ellicott City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in, and the county seat of, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, its population was 75,947 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous unincorporated county seat in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patapsco River</span> River in Maryland, United States

The Patapsco River mainstem is a 39-mile (63 km) river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore. With its South Branch, the Patapsco forms the northern border of Howard County, Maryland. The name "Patapsco" is derived from the Algonquian pota-psk-ut, which translates to "backwater" or "tide covered with froth."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oella, Maryland</span> Historic district in Maryland, United States

Oella is a mill town on the Patapsco River in western Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, located between Catonsville and Ellicott City. It is a 19th-century village of millworkers' homes.

Robert Cary Long Jr. (1810–1849) was the son of a late 18th Century - early 19th Century famous architect Robert Cary Long Sr. of Baltimore, Maryland and was himself a well-known 19th Century architect. Like his father, Cary was based in Baltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Charles College (Maryland)</span> Historic district in Maryland, United States

St. Charles College was a minor seminary in Catonsville, Maryland, originally located in Ellicott City, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patterson Viaduct</span> Bridge in Ilchester, Maryland

The Patterson Viaduct was built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) as part of its Old Main Line during May to December 1829. The viaduct spanned the Patapsco River at Ilchester, Maryland. It was heavily damaged by a flood in 1868 and subsequently replaced with other structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Route 99</span> State highway in Howard County, Maryland, US, known as Old Frederick Rd

Maryland Route 99 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Old Frederick Road, the state highway runs 7.57 miles (12.18 km) from MD 32 near West Friendship east to U.S. Route 29 in Ellicott City. MD 99 parallels the north side of Interstate 70 (I-70) through a rural and suburban area in northeastern Howard County. MD 99, which follows the original 18th-century road west from Baltimore, was constructed as part of three state highways: MD 99, the original MD 100, and MD 105. All three highways were constructed between the early 1920s and early 1930s. MD 99 originally turned south along St. Johns Lane to US 40 and MD 144; in 1956, the state highway was rerouted along part of MD 100 and all of MD 105 to downtown Ellicott City. MD 99's eastern terminus was rolled back to US 29 in two steps in the late 1970s and late 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Main Line Subdivision</span>

The Old Main Line Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Maryland. The line runs from Relay west to Point of Rocks, and was once the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, one of the oldest rail lines in the United States. At its east end, it has junctions with the Capital Subdivision and the Baltimore Terminal Subdivision; its west end has a junction with the Metropolitan Subdivision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patapsco Female Institute</span> United States historic place

Patapsco Female Institute (PFI) is a former girls' boarding school, now a partially rebuilt historical site, located on Church Road in Ellicott City, Maryland, United States. The grounds are home to popular outdoor theatrical performances by The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. In the 1930s the Institute was also known as "Warwick".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilchester, Maryland</span> Census-designated place in Maryland

Ilchester is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The population was 23,476 at the 2010 census. It was named after the village of Ilchester in the English county of Somerset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patapsco Valley State Park</span> State park in Maryland, United States

Patapsco Valley State Park is a Maryland state park extending along 32 miles (51 km) of the Patapsco River south and west of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. The park encompasses multiple developed areas on over 14,000 acres (5,700 ha) acres of land, making it Maryland's largest state park. In 2006, it was officially celebrated as Maryland's first state park, its first formation being in 1906. Patapsco Valley State Park is managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Fort Howard is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 303 at the 2010 census. The median age is 47.9. 52.86% are female and 47.14% are male. 58.9% are married and 41.1% are single. The average household size is 2.64.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henryton State Hospital</span> Hospital in Maryland, United States

Henryton State Hospital is a now-demolished hospital complex in Marriottsville, in southern Carroll County, Maryland, just across the Howard County line. The complex was located within Patapsco Valley State Park and along its southern end runs CSX's Old Main Line Subdivision and is very close to the Henryton Tunnel. The Henryton State Hospital center, or the Henryton Tuberculosis Sanatorium as it was called, was erected in 1922 by the Maryland Board of Mental Hygiene. It was established as a facility to treat African Americans suffering from tuberculosis. This was one of the first such facilities in Maryland erected to provide African Americans with the same level of treatment as white people. Other accounts state that this was more of containment Hospital rather than a treatment facility. They contend that Henryton was used more for the exile and quarantine of tuberculosis patients.

Thistle Manufacturing Company factory was a historic factory located along the Patapsco River, which runs through Catonsville, Maryland across from Ilchester, Maryland. The 1800s factory was in continuous operation until 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elkridge Landing</span> Historic seaport, now part of Elkridge, MD, US

Elkridge Landing was a Patapsco River seaport in Maryland, and is now part of Elkridge, Maryland. The historic Elkridge Furnace Inn site resides within the Patapsco Valley State Park.

Montpelier Mansion, sometimes referred to as "Montpelier I", was a house in western Laurel, Maryland, now more closely associated with Fulton, Maryland within Howard County, Maryland, United States. The Georgian style building was built circa 1740 and demolished following a 1994 historic survey with addendum and photos dating as late as August 1995.

Woodlawn or Papillon was amanor home in Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patapsco Valley</span> Valley surrounding the Patapsco River in the U.S. state of Maryland

The Patapsco Valley is a small valley surrounding the Patapsco River in central Maryland. The region is known for its historical significance as a major economic and industrial center in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

References

  1. ↑ The Year-book of Education for 1878 [and 1879], Volumes 1-2. 1878. p. 258.
  2. ↑ The South in the Building of the Nation. Pelican Publishing. p. 318.
  3. ↑ "HO-392" (PDF). Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  4. ↑ Federal Writers' Project. Maryland, a Guide to the Old Line State. p. 309.
  5. ↑ The Howard County Historical Society. Howard County.
  6. ↑ Michael J. Varhola, Michael H. Varhola. Ghosthunting Maryland. p. 66.
  7. ↑ "St. Mary's zoning bid comes under attack". The Baltimore Sun. August 11, 1982.
  8. ↑ "Unknown title". The Baltimore Sun. March 29, 1981.
  9. ↑ Ron Franscell. The Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Washington, DC.
  10. 1 2 Duck, Michael (October 19, 2000). "The Story Beneath The Ruins: A History of St. Mary's College in Ilchester". The View from Ellicott City. Archived from the original on February 14, 2004.
  11. ↑ Michael J. Varhola, Michael H. Varhola. Ghosthunting Maryland. p. 71.
  12. ↑ "Centuries-old log cabin destroyed by fire". The Durant Daily Democrat. December 25, 2001.
  13. ↑ "Holliday Hills Blaze". The Times. March 31, 1965.
  14. ↑ Pearce, Brett (April 28, 2011). "Yet Another Fire at Henryton State Hospital". Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department. Retrieved March 16, 2013.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.