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JOPPATOWNE, MARYLAND-
Old "Gunpowder Town"
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To get
to Joppatowne from I-95, John F Kennedy Memorial Hwy, Take
the MD-152 exit, (Exit # 74) on the right, towards FALLSTON/JOPPATOWNE.
Keep left at the fork in the ramp. Drive 0.2 miles. Turn hard
left onto MOUNTAIN RD/MD-152 S. Drive 1.0 miles. Turn right
onto PULASKI HWY/US-40 W. Drive 2.0 miles. Turn left onto
JOPPA FARM RD. Drive 0.3 miles to your destination at Joppatowne.
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History
Joppa was located on the east side of the Little Gunpowder where
Joppatowne now stands. It is referred to in Baltimore County Court
Records of March 1709, as "Gunpowder Town." It had a serious
struggle in coming into existence and infancy was the victim of
misfortune.
The land, which constituted Taylor’s Choice was contiguous
with Foster’s Neck and was situated to the northeast of that
tract. Taylor’s Choice was an original grant made to John Taylor
on July 28, 1661, and entered in the Rent Roll Books of the province
on that date. The grant passed from the hands of Taylor during the
next half century, for by 1707 Taylor’s Choice was referred
to as the property of Ann Felks.
In 1709 a courthouse
was built for the sum of 4,500 pounds of tobacco and 600 pounds
of tobacco for the lot on which it was to be built. From the specifications
it appears that the new structure was 35 x 24 feet with two stories
and rooms for the grand jury, petite jury, and the clerk on the
second floor. It was to be completed "with all expedition."
In the June court of 1709 a prison was ordered to be built.
It was not until 1712
that an act was passed setting the county court at the "house
built on Taylor’s Choice in the town of Joppa." In this
act the name of Joppa first appears. The date on which the court
was moved from the fork of the Gunpowder to Joppa was between the
years 1709 and 1712.
In it's early days Joppa
encountered numerous difficulties. The commissioners laid out the
town and had the courthouse partly built when news came that Queen
Anne had refused to give her assent to the Act of 1707, which provided
for the location of the county seat at Taylor’s Choice. Indeed,
the Queen seemed reluctant to approve the erection of any so-called
"paper towns" provided for by the Assembly.
The courthouse had first
been built without legal authority, and now it was found that the
commissioners had built it on land belonging to a minor who could
not convey a valid title. The land was bequeathed by Ann Felks to
Asaele Maxwell, young son of James and Ann Maxwell.
The stumbling block of
land ownership hindered Joppa’s progress for twelve years,
as a courthouse and prison were built but not a single dwelling
house. Finally in October 1724, the Assembly legalized the conveyance
of the land by special act, but reduced the area of the town from
fifty to twenty-one acres.
By the Act of 1724, Thomas
Tolley, Captain John Taylor, Daniel Scott, Lancelott Todd, and John
Stokes were appointed town commissioners. On April 20, 1725 twenty-one
acres of land and was divided into forty lots for the building of
homes. One acre, almost in the center of the town and adjoining
the courthouse, was for the use of St. John's Church.
In another year the survey
was completed and the town was laid out by the county surveyor.
The plat was divided by Court Street and Church Street, running
east and west, and Low Street and High Street, running nearly north
and south. The lots were of unequal area, some less than one-half
acre, some more. They were carefully numbered and offered for sale,
the smallest selling for one pound, seven shillings.
The lots were sold subject
to building restrictions, which were probably the first zoning and
building codes of Harford County. Owners of lots were each bound
to build a dwelling house covering not less than 400 square feet
and to have a good brick or stone chimneys.
The town soon became
a unique spot. In addition to the forty or fifty dwellings of influential
citizens, there were two prisons, a courthouse, St. John's Parish
Church, several large warehouse, wharves, and stores, and shops.
It could be truthfully
said that "all roads lead to Joppa." It became a booming
seaport, a port of entry, where ships from Europe and the West Indies
brought cargoes of Manufactured goods to be distributed far and
wide throughout Maryland and adjoining colonies. The ships returned
to their own lands, laden with corn, tobacco, and other products.
The large shipments of
tobacco gave rise to the famous "rolling roads," which
extended to the rich tobacco fields of northern Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The large hogsheads of tobacco were rolled over those roads by a
simple but practical contrivance, which made each hogshead it's
own vehicle. A gudgeon or pin was inserted in each end, to which
hoop pole shafts were attached to the collar of the horses and mules
used as beasts of burden. The long lines of hogsheads proceeded
to the wharves and were ready for shipment.
Though the population
of Joppa was not large, it was no doubt a busy one. In addition
to the thriving local business in tobacco, flour, and other products,
it was made port of entry years before Baltimore on the Patapsco
and served business houses as well as industrial plants to the north
and west. In the 1750’s an Ohio company was operating extensively
beyond the Alleghenies, and its said some of the company's commerce
went through the port of Joppa.
Old Joppa was a lively
town, and while comforts of today were lacking, the records show
that sports and horse racing were popular pastimes.
Celebrations of various
types were held. Public morals were well preserved but liquor was
in abundance and the whipping post and the gallows were used as
a deterrent of crime.
Little is recorded regarding
education in the early town. As many of the inhabitants were fairly
well –to-do it is presumed that private tutors were employed
for at least the elementary education and some went to church schools.
By 1768 Baltimore Town
on the Patapsco, which had its beginnings as a city in 1730, became
a contender for the trade, commerce and social distinction that
for a half-century had belonged to Joppa.
To add to the difficulties
of Joppa, sediment from the hinterland, which had been divested
of its forest, had begun to fill the harbor, thus making it increasingly
difficult to navigate to the port. A smallpox epidemic had also
hindered the growth of the town.
During the next decade
the town that had overcome many obstacles in its founding, and which
our ancestors in their pride had hoped to develop into a great metropolis,
faded before its rival on the Patapsco and finally became what some
writes have called a "lost or vanished town." As mud filled
the harbor, warehouse and wharves fell into decay, population decreased,
and trade dwindled.
Although the removal
of the county seat in 1768 sounded the death knell of the town,
the commercial glory it had gained did not pass at once. Tradition
says that as late as the Revolution war vessels were built here.
The Old Rumsey house,
the one surviving example of the buildings at Joppa two hundred-year
ago, still stands as a reminder of an ancient port. The mansion
was the property of a distinguished Maryland family. The mansion
is thought to have been built by Colonel Maxwell sometime between
1720 and 1724, with brick imported from England. The house is in
fair preservation, with much of the original brick still in place.
Stucco has been place on the lower walls to keep out the moisture.
The outstanding Georgian design, with its peculiarly shaped rood
and chimneys at either end, gives the unique appearance of an eighteenth
century dwelling.
Unlike the Rumsey house,
other landmarks of the once prosperous port have not withstood the
ravages of more than two centuries. Swelling, barns stores, and
inns that were once part of the grandeur of the town all gradually
deteriorated as their owners drifted away to other localities in
search of some means of livelihood. Even the public building, the
county courthouse and prison, which had previously been center of
activity, fell into ruins.
The history of Joppa
would not be complete without an account of St. John's Church, which
served as a religious center of this early community.
St. John's was established
in the Gunpowder Hundred in 1692, and the first church built in
1695 was located at Elk Neck, where the Officer's Club at Edgewood
Arsenal now stands. The original church was a crude log building,
20 x 40 feet, which served the parish only for a short time.
After Joppa became the
county seat, the town became the thriving center of the territory
and many of the members of the parish made their home here. The
Act of General Assembly of 1724, which made provisions for laying
out the new county seat, set aside one acre of land in the center
of the town for St. John's Church. Here the prosperous planters,
merchants, and sea captains on June 15, 1724, made an agreement
with Col. James Maxwell to build a brick church at a cost of 25,000
pounds of tobacco. By 1730 the modest church was competed and replaced
that at Elk Neck.
The decline of the town
of Joppa and the removal of the county seat in 1768 seriously affected
the welfare of the church. As the town fell into decay, by 1814
only four houses and the fast deteriorating church were left. By
1821 the church lay in ruins and the churchyard and burying grounds,
with only one tombstone left, were grown up in weeds. The parishioners
moved to other places, mostly in the fork of the Gunpowder.
But the old St. John's
Church was not to die, for in 1815, Edward Day built at Kingsville,
at his own expense on his own land a stone church and rectory which
he deeded in 1817 to the vestry of St. John's Parish in Baltimore
and Harford Counties.
Many of the mementos
of the earlier church were incorporated in its structure or installed
within.
Joppatowne today, located
on the site of old Joppa, has experienced unprecedented change and
development. Is has evolved into a modern community with attractive
homes, Three schools, a library, numerous churches and Shopping
centers. Available to residents is modern recreational areas including
playground, parks and marinas with launching and docking facilities.
Rumsey Island, a man-made island, is appropriately named in honor
of Benjamin Rumsey.
Echoing its 18TH century
beginnings with its prosperity in commerce and trade, Joppatowne
and the nearby area offer great opportunities for the expansion
of business and industry. The fast growing Joppatowne with its modern
homes and extensive system of waterways, also preserves in name
the historic importance of that early county seat.1 Although the
present Joppatowne Post Office only started operation in 1880, the
area has had postal service between 1816-1829 as Joppa Cross Roads
and from 1829-1880 by Little Gunpowder on the Baltimore County side
of the River. Three discontinued offices, Mountain, Singer and Clayton
are now in the Joppa area The Joppa post office serves the city
of Joppatowne and most rural places with a 5-8 mile radius. Letters
with Joppa postmarks from 1880 to present have been elusive. The
present post office is a new facility located in the town of Joppatowne
1 mile south of US Route 40 along Joppa Farm Road. The old village
of Magnolia is pretty much non-existent with a post office in a
trailer serving the few homes in the area along the Amtrak main
line just off of Maryland Route 152. Between its establishment in
1840 and 1855 the letters were postmarked with manuscript and hand
stamped cancels (1854). The mail delivery to homes in the old Magnolia
region is done by the Joppa and Edgewood post offices.
2
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1 Our Harford Heritage by C. Million Wright, published
1967
2 History of Post Offices of Harford County, Maryland by Frank M.
Stewart 1991
Links
Custom
Occupational Health & Safety Services
PO Box 39, Joppa 21085
(410) 538-4920
The
Church of the Resurrecton
Bridge & Anchor Drives
Joppatowne, MD 21085
(410) 679-8700
Rumsey
Island Residents Association
P O Box 196
Joppatowne, MD 21085
Debbie's
Darling Daycare
1603 Bridewells Court
Joppa,Maryland 21085
410-679-4329
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City & Town Info
