Green Ridge was the site of the Old Green Ridge Station of the WM. The station was wood with tin covering the sides of the station. It is also known that Stickpile Tunnel got it's name from a hobo that was killed and was buried by covering him with a pile of sticks. Green Ridge Station was once a major transportation terminal of people and goods. Read below about the happenings that went on here.
In the early 1800's Richard Caton and William Carroll owned much of the land that today is part of Maryland's Green Ridge Forest. The two operated a business at Green Ridge, which involved iron ore and timber, that later failed. The Carroll Chimney, a part of a steam-powered sawmill built in the 1830's, is now the only surviving structure from there business. After The timber business failed, the Mertens family from Cumberland acquired the property from the Carroll's. The Mertens logged all remaining timber in the area. There next obsticale was what to do now with the land now that all the timber was gone.
The Mertens developed a plan to convert the 32,000 acres into a large apple orchard. During the late 1800's and early 1900's, the Mertens converted the surronding land into an apple orchard. The Mertens inticied the Western Maryland Railroad to cross the penisula by means of two large bridges and a tunnel to give the small village of Green Ridge Station an outside connection to the world. At the time Green Ridge was only accesible by the C&O Canal as may of the residents were lock keepers. The RR was built in 1904 and gave Green Ridge Station a faster way than the C&O Canal to transport products from the village. The town began to grow rapidly, and later a school house arrived by railroad. The school house arrived on railcars in sections. They were assembled at Green Ridge Station directly atop WM's Stickpile Tunnel along Kasecamp Road. This school replaced school that was previously held in a private home. A teacher was employed from Cumberland to taech at the school. Each morning she would take a train from Cumberland on the B&O to its nearest point near Magnolia. The teacher then walked the tracks and crossed the river on WM's 3rd river bridge. In 1908 the Mertens introduced the Green Ridge Valley Orchards. The plan was to divide the land into 10 acre orchard lots and sell of to investors of to investors of the orchard. The selling of the lots began in the fall of 1910. Investors were given the option to purchase an additional 10,000 sq. ft. lot at the growing town of Green Ridge Station. Green Ridge Station was located at the west portal of Stickpile Tunnel. Here the investors could start a store or store produce for storage and shipment. The Mertens brothers promoted their orchard as "the largest apple orchard in the universe." The Mertens transported potential investors in their orchard to Green Ridge Station by a private railroad car named the "Maryland". The private car was added to the end of normal WM passenger trains or added to the WM's high priority passenger train the "Chicago Limited." The trains would stop at the Mertens headquarters at Green Ridge Station. The investors spent their visit in the finest hotels and ate the finest food. Green Ridge was the headquarters of the Mertens and was a stop on the Western Maryland. Green Ridge was once so important that it too was a stop of the "Chicago Limited", a WM passenger train which had a sleeping car. By 1911 over 1,100 orchard lots had been purchased.
The Western Maryland Railway predicted Green Ridge would bring great things for both itself and the Mertens. Many visiting railroad executives were amazed of the Mertens buisness surronding Green Ridge Station, "There is nothing like it in the world." R.C. Caples-general manager of the WM noted that Greenridge would be a great feeder for the Western Maryland. Other railroad men were quoted as saying, "It is a constructive enterprise, one that will for scores of years be an enormous revenue producer and at the same time will give the road a world wide reputation, for it has on its system the greatest apple orchard in the universe." Here at Grteen Ridge Station there was the schoolhouse, a place called the Red House, a jelly factory, a store, post office, railroad ticket office, warehouse, packing shed, blacksmith shop, staples, the Mertens Saloon, and various houses. The Red House was used to house railroad workers until a family later moved in. Green Ridge grew so rapidly it was expected to have public buildings,hotels, stores, and offices fronting on paved streets, lighted with electricity and warmed with steam all within 5 years. President of the WMRY, B.F. Bush admired the Mertens enterprise so much he himself became an investor in the orchards. His plot was located at Point Lookout where he was quoted saying, "This far surpasses in beauty the famous Horseshoe Curve of the Pennsylavania Railroad." The orchards were so popular that more land was needed. Eventually the orchard would cover over 49,000 acres. Almost 70 square miles were sold and converted into orchards, it was indeed the largest single apple orchard in the world. Orchard work was hard and investors lost interest as they had to wait a minimum of five years for the trees to mature and produce fruit. Many of the trees were not "thinned" properly and as a result the tress produced a large number of apples but were too small and of low quality to be sold at resonable prices. Orchard work went on from 1910 until 1931 when the last orchard was abandoned. The weeds would soon retake the land and convert it back into a forest.
Surronding families after the fall of the orchards moved on, few remained as farmers due to the areas very poor land. It was noted that the land land was so poor that flowers would not even grow. The town depended solely on the canal and the railroad, after the orchards disappered. The canal was abandoned after a flood in 1924. The canal had employed many of the remaining residents as look keepers. After the canal and majority of the people were gone, the town died off. School later ended in 1946 and the remaining children were bussed to school at Oldtown. By 1956, nature had reclaimed pratically all of the remaining buildings most of which had fallen down long ago. Green Ridge was transformed into a ghost town. In May 1975, the tracks of the Western Maryland were removed, nothing but a rarely traveled road remained. Firebugs took care of any remaining buildings, as the last to go was the commissary which burned in 1985.
majority of above info from the book "the Land of the Living" by John Mash
|
