Margaret Greenawalt Park

Margaret Greenawalt Park. . Born in Pennsylvania in 1824, Margaret Greenawalt was raised in the Greencastle area. By the Civil War, she lived with her sister and brother-in-law, George and Catharine Bowman, in Hagerstown. The Bowmans operated a confectionary (bakery and candy story) on West Washington Street between Public Square and the Courthouse. , [picture and captions] Margaret Greenawalt, ca. 1900 Catharine Bowman, ca. 1900, In 2009, these portraits of Margaret and Catharine were found in the archives of the Washington County Historical Society. They were donated to the Society in 1955 by Myra McDade. Myra knew Margaret and Catharine when she was a child. Before donating the photos she wrote the following story on the back of Margaret's portrait:, "Miss Margaret Greenawalt waived the flag over retreating Confederate soldiers and was roundly cursed as they sped up West Washington Street while her sister Mrs. Bowman pulled at her skirt and begged her to come in saying "They'll shoot you Maggie! They'll shoot you!" Miss Margaret was standing on the iron balcony...waiving the flag to the soldiers in blue just coming through the square below.", She added the following to the back of Catharine's photo: "Mrs. George Bowman- told me the story of her sister several times when I was 12 year old- Myra L. McDade.", Based on the description, it appears that this event occurred during the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg in July, 1863. Without this small donation to the Historical Society, the heroic act of one Hagerstown woman in our Nation's time of greatest peril would have been lot to history. , Margaret and the Bowmans retired to a home on Broadway (just north of here). After Catharine died in 1902, Margaret lived with a nephew in Lowerre (Yonkers), Westchester County, New York. Margaret passed away in 1911. Her funeral was held at Otterbein Church (one block south of here). She was interred in the Bowman family plot at Rose Hill Cemetery., In 2012, the Mayor and the City Council of Hagerstown named this park in honor of Hagerstown's unsung Civil War heroine. , Fascinating Fact, Who was Myra McDade? , Myra Lillian McDade (1877-1955) was a heroine in her own right. She was born in Hagerstown and grew up on Broadway where her family came to know Margaret and the Bowmans for many years. Myra graduated from Goucher College in Baltimore and became a prominent missionary teacher in the Methodist Church. She served 20 years in China between 1919 and her retirement in 1939. Guerillas raided the town here she was stationed and she showed great courage in protecting her students, one of whom was the daughter if a high government official. Publicly called before the local royal court, she was presented with several gifts and officially recognized for her heroism. , [picture and caption] , The Bowman Confectionery (far right) as it appeared when taken by Hagerstown photographer Elias Recher in 1862. , Courtesy of the Washington County Historical Society