Perry Hall in the Early Twentieth Century
by David Marks
Historian, Perry Hall Improvement Association
As in all communities during the early Twentieth Century, Perry Hall was visited by
traveling salesmen who roamed dusty back roads selling their wares. These hucksters would
move up and down Belair Road, selling lightning rods, stoves, fruit trees, umbrellas, and
other items to the country folk. One visitor, "Old Mose," carried a backpack
full of tin cups, plates, and lunch pails. During the First World War, a frequent traveler
was a peddler with a long beard. When some residents thought he was too young for his age,
they contacted the authorities, who confirmed their suspicions. He was a young draft
dodger.
Those travelers discovered a Perry Hall which was very much a frontier place, with
large family farms and dense forests, dirt roads and scattered shops. Our community, in
fact, would change very little until after the Second World War.
The Perry Hall post office was established on August 1st, 1877, when George Penn was
appointed postmaster for the village. In those days, the postmaster's home or store served
as the post office for the community, which meant that George Penn's general store at
Belair Road and Schroeder Avenue processed mail for Perry Hall. The post office changed
four times, eventually moving to William Beall's general store near Belair and Chapel
Roads. Perry Hall's post office was discontinued in 1906, moved to Fullerton, then
reestablished in 1961 when a branch opened in the new Perry Hall Shopping Center on
Ebenezer Road. Thanks to the untiring efforts of Genevieve Buettner, who did not want
Perry Hall to lose its identity and become a substation of Baltimore, the post office has
continued, and today it is the only Perry Hall post office in the United States.
Mail delivery was done on horseback, and it was the only real way for one village to
communicate with another. Telephone service was slow to come to the area. The 1902 Perry
Hall telephone directory listed only twenty-six numbers. Five saloon owners, seven
storekeepers, four farmers, the justice of the peace, an undertaker, and the community
schoolteacher were among those with telephones.
Perry Hall was small but self-sufficient. Three blacksmith shops were located within
sight of one another between Kahlston Road and Horn Avenue. Blacksmith shops were
essential in the community. They built wagons, made horseshoes, and repaired farm
machinery. Pillhofer's shop was located across from the present-day Valu Food supermarket.
It was at Pillhofer's that a young German immigrant, Benedict Huber, learned his trade and
later opened his own shop at Belair and Chapel Roads. Another blacksmith shop was
DeGruchy's. This building still stands, it is now J.R.'s Mechanical Services, across from
St. Michael's Lutheran Church.
The community had its share of taverns and inns. At the end of a long day in the
fields, a trip to the local saloon was a nightly tradition for many. Local patrons were
often joined by travelers on their way along Belair Road. In Perry Hall, popular hangouts
included the present day Perry Inn and Pub, the Dengler hotel at Klausmeier Road, Magnolia
Inn at Kahlston Road, and Waldman's Seven Mile House, a thirteen-room building since
demolished for the Olde Forge development near St. Joseph's Church. There was also
Bishop's Inn, which was located next to a tollgate at Belair and Joppa Roads. This later
became Frank Goettner's butcher shop, and it has since been razed for a Kentucky Fried
Chicken outlet.
![[ Photograph of Bishops Inn, now the site of a Kentucky Fried Chicken
restaurant ]](hist_pe_bishops.jpg)
Photograph of Bishops Inn, on Belair Road near
Joppa Road. This is now a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.
(Courtesy William Dunn, Perry Hall, Maryland)
|
Perry Hall's general stores sold groceries, dry goods, yeast, and
kerosene oil for lamps and stoves. When they were good, children were given a penny to buy
an ice cream cone or some candy at the store. Perhaps the most popular general store in
Perry Hall was the little house built in 1883 by Henry Walter at Belair and Chapel Roads.
It was affectionately known as "the little house by the side of the road," and
was a merchandise store for almost ninety years. From 1900 to 1906, this was the Perry
Hall post office. The store was demolished in 1979 when Mercantile Bank and Trust
purchased the property and built their Perry Hall branch.
Although it was growing slowly, Perry Hall retained a rustic, small-town charm, its
families mindful of the affairs of the community. Entertainment meant gathering together
on the front porches of the farmhouses, where families would hold dances and young men
would romance the girls from down the street. In 1928, though, Perry Hall's quiet
character was changed by a nightclub which opened on Belair Road, right next to the
general store at Chapel Road. Clarence Hassanger called his ballroom the "Crystal
Palace" because of the many large crystal chandeliers hung from the ornate ceiling.
The nightclub burned down in 1933.
Families regularly attended church, and when someone in the community died, almost all
of the local families would come to the funeral. Local undertaker Frederick Lassahn would
pack the body with ice, move it to a cemetery, and prepare for a funeral attended by most
of Perry Hall.
Every New Year's Eve, the bells at St. Michael's Lutheran Church would welcome Perry
Hall to the coming year. It was this way in 1901, when our community entered its third
century of peaceful living.
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