100 years ago

In the Special Notices section of the Times:

"Estray: One light Jersey cow, no horns, short tail, good size, came to my place July 4th 1910. Owner please call, pay damages and take her away. Thos. F. Justice, Glenwood, Md."

Other notices: "A Bargain: House and lot on Hill Street, Ellicott City. One acre. Edw. B. Powell, Ellicott city.

Wanted: Ten Weavers. Address R. Gambrill, Havre de Grace, Md.

Wanted: 1000 farmers to insure their farm property in the Grangers Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Frederick County. Money saved, risks secure.

Farm for rent: At Loreley, Baltimore County, Md. on the B & O. R.R. 14 miles from Baltimore. 90 acres of land and good buildings, Apply to J. Lee Myerly, Eutaw Savings Bank of Maryland. or 30 N. Gilmore street after 6 p.m."

75 Years Ago

In rural parts of county, light 'em, if you got 'em

From the national news section: "Applications for rural power and light projects to be built with loans from the Rural Electrification Administration had been received by the REA from 46 states up to July 22. About 54 percent were from municipalities, states, public power or utility districts and 40 per cent were filed by rural cooperatives."

The REA was set up by President Franklin Roosevelt's administration during the Depression. Along with water coming from the tap, lights flashing on at the flick of the switch probably top the list of modern-day necessities we all take for granted. Among the more serious hardships of running farms with no electricity in the 20th century, having to light several lamps every night doesn't sound like heaps of fun either.

50 Years Ago

Odd couple, of cows; Normandy Center on the way

"Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Peddicord of Route 99 are proud of a grade Guernsey cow they own, mother of twin heifer calves, born two weeks apart and alive. The unique thing about these calves is that one is a Holstein and the other a Guernsey. Many dairy cows have twins born at different times but the second is usually dead due to suffocation, drowning, or lessening of the blood supply two weeks after the first and to be alive is truly a miracle."

This artificially bred cow had Holstein blood.

Suburbia shops - "Shop Center Completion Due in '61"

"Completion of the first half of the 36 stores Normandy Shopping Center is scheduled for next June following ground breaking ceremonies Monday at the site on Route 40, 1,600 feet east of Rogers avenue. .. Robert E. Moxley, manager, said tenants already include Safeway, Reads, McCrory-McLellan, High's Elite, Riee's, Security Realty, White Coffee Pot. Also listed are a package goods store, hardware, barber shop, beauty salon, women's apparel, men's store, children's' clothing, family shoes, gifts and jewelry, and offices. Owner of the 24-acre shopping center site is the Normandy Development Company, Inc. The architect is J. Eldridge Moxley & Son, and the contractor is Charles R. Scrivener company. Inc.

As now planned the center will eventually have 280,000 square feet of store area and parking for 3,000 cars. The second phase also calls for a department store of 100,000 square feet."

There weren't many shopping centers then. One which opened four years earlier was built by James Rouse, which was Mondawmin Mall in west Baltimore. In 1958, Westview Shopping Center on Route 40 was built.

But back in 1947, Edmonson Village Shopping Center was built and it was one of the first suburban centers in the nation. What kids seem to remember most about the place is that they had live monkeys in the barber shop window as entertainment. I recall my sister and I watching the monkeys as my brother got that strange, but in vogue, wiffle hair cut.

And then at Christmas time at Edmonson, they'd light up thousands of clear white lights which were draped on trees lining the street. It was a beautiful sight and inspirited my mom, and probably thousands of others, to give up on the fat, multi-colored lights and go to the smaller lights for the holidays.

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