Becoming Reisterstown

Becoming Reisterstown. . , This modest roadside way station grew into a town center for the farms and estates of northwest Baltinore County and Carroll County. By 1900, Reisterstown was home to some 1,000 people. Descendants of early residents shaped town life as owners of businesses, property, and undeveloped land -- none more so than the Reister extended family. , The face of Main Street changed as business owners found new oppotunities. Along with the traditional mix of feed stores, blacksmithing, and saddle makers came ice cream parlors, theatres, and antiques stores., Same shape, different faces , Reisterstown, by 1915, was a jumble of frame (yellow) and brick (pink) homes and businesses. An electric street railway ran up Main Street, dramatically shortening travel time to and from Baltimore. (Detail of 1915 Atlas of Baltimore County, courtesy of Baltimore County Public Library, Reisterstown History Room) , Automobile age , Gies Service Station at the juncture of Reisterstown Road and Westminster and Hanover pikes, photographed during the early years of the automobile age. Few people could foresee the car's impact on everyday life. (Courtesy of Baltimore County Public Library, Reisterstown History Room), Jane Stocksdale's boarding house , Rebecca Jane Stocksdale (on right) ran a boarding house at 234 Main Street with the help of Minnie Baker (on left). The property had been in her family's hands for generations. Baker followed the path of many African American women who were denied opportunities opened to white residents by working as a servant. She later purchased a home on Bond Avenue. (Circa 1905 photograph courtesy of Baltimore County Public Library, Reisterstown History Room), Pointed arches and pitched roofs , Gothic Revival style houses are rare in Reisterstown. 230 Main Street was built between 1865 and 1875 for Ann Whalen, a John Reister descendant, and Rebecca Jane Stocksdale, Whalen's niece. They later donated it to Grace M.E. Church South for use as a parsonage. It's shown here in the 1960s. (Courtesy of Baltimore County Public Library, Reisterstown History Room), "Antique furniture, as everybody knows, is always in demand and when offered for sale usually commands a good price." , , -Maryland Monthly, August 1906, Antiques Mecca , Reisterstown became an antiques mecca beginning in the late 1960s, but those roots stretched back to the early 1900s. Newcomer Eve Stephens pioneered the reinterest in antiques, opening a business at 234 Main Street in 1936. From 1956 to 1985, Virginia "Ginny" Isaacs' White Horse Antiques became a fixture , helping attract other businesses. By the early 1980s, the 200 block of Main Street boasted 11 shops., Old homes, new uses , Right: White Horse Antiques, 238 Main Street, 1980s. Built around 1820, it likely incorporated elements of an earlier log dwelling built by John Reister. Left: Wooden Era Antiques, 234 Main Street, 1990s. Underneath its facade is a log structure with a rear kitchen wing believed to have been built in 1777., Below: Historic Reisterstown Antiques Shop Directory, 1982. (Courtesy of Baltimore County Public Library, Reisterstown History Room), These signs highlight the Reisterstown Heritage Trail which was paid for by a grant through the MD Department of Housing and Community Development. For more Reisterstown history and information about community events, scan the QR Code.