(for the history buffs amongst us)
1634–Captain Henry Fleet, British ship captain, voyaged up the Potomac River to Great Falls, sent parties up Potomac Valley and the Catoctin Mountain and South Mountain prospecting for gold.
1717-A trading post was opened by the Cartlidge Brothers, Edward and John, from the Susquehanna River (Pennsylvania) Trading Company. Same year a series of trading posts opened at Monocacy River, Point of Rocks, Berlin, Williamsport, Hancock, by the same people.
1728-First permanent settler at Berlin-Brunswick–trader Abraham Pennington from Cecil County, Maryland.
1753-John Hawkins granted 3100 acres of land on the Potomac river, named "Merrypeep- O-day" (Looking eastward over Catoctin Mountain, the sun peeps to the Potomac Valley below, hence "Merry-peep O-Day". Brunswick stands on part of this land.
1762-Col. George Washington, Mt. Vernon, proposed making the Potomac River navigable for small boats. River traffic was already active, Williamsport-Great Falls, by flatboats.
1780-First religious services held in Brunswick.
1781-October 20, 1781, John Ross Key, father of Francis Scott Key, carried the message to Frederick from Yorktown that Washington's troops had won the Battle of Yorktown, and the war was over.
1787-Leonard Smith surveyed 92 lots for sale in Berlin. This was the true beginning of Brunswick.
1821-The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Committee formed.
1828-A banner year for Potomac Valley (and Brunswick); the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal began. John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, turned the first shovel of soil.
1828-Construction on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road began on July 4, 1828; the first shovel of soil was turned by Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
1832-April 26, name of town (now Brunswick) changed to "Barry", by the U.S. Postal Service.
1834-First canal boat arrived at Barry (Brunswick).
1834-First B&O R.R. tracks arrived at Barry (same day as C&O Canal).
1854-1858-building of covered bridge across the Potomac River, at Barry (Brunswick).
1861-May 1, General Robert E. Lee, Commander Army Northern Virginia, Confederate States of America, gave orders to Col. Thomas J. Jackson CSA to burn the covered bridge at Harpers Ferry. It was burned June 9, 1861.
1861-June 9, Col. Jacksons men saturated the wooden bridge with "coal oil" (kerosene), and packed black powder around piers. With a thunderous road the covered bridge went up in fire and smoke. The citizens rushed to the scene, but the CSA riflemen fired upon the road leading up to the bridge. All that they could do was watch their three-year-old beautiful bridge burn and fall into the Potomac River.
Edit – Suffice to say that Brunswick played a crucial role in the Civil War, not only as a rail center crucial at the times of both the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, but as a major re-supply area for the entire Army of the Potomac, first under General McClellan and later under General Meade. Every Union General of note bivouacked his army at Brunswick for re-supply or re-fit at one time or another.
1889-Plans made for building the B&O Round House.
1890-Great flood destroys C&O Canal, B&O RR property (known as the Johnstown Flood).
1890-April 8: Brunswick incorporated-name changed from Berlin (because there was another Berlin on the Eastern Shore in Maryland). A B&O Railroad official gave it the name because so many Germans lived there whose ancestors came from Brunswick, Germany (they had worked on building the Canal and railroad).
1890-B&O RR yards moved to Brunswick from Martinsburg, West Virginia.
1891-First link and couple pin used on B&O trains.
1893-Iron bridge built across Potomac River, replaced ferry (original covered bridge burned by CSA in 1861), built by Loudoun Berlin Bridge Company. Opened November 3, 1893. Huge parade with over 500 participants from Virginia and Maryland marched between 3,000 who lined both sides of bridge. Two boys fell off railing into the Potomac River (unhurt).
1906-1910-General hiring of railroad employees by largest employer in County.
1907-Brunswick declared a "boom town" by area newspapers.
1913-B&O RR classification yard completed.
1922-The year of the Great Railroad Strike.
1924-Chesapeake and Ohio Canal officially ceased to function.
1929-B&O Railroad largest employer in Frederick County, with over 1,200 workers.
1930-Town census taken-4,000 citizens.
1959-Baltimore & Ohio Railroad fright yards moved to Cumberland, Maryland.
Historical chronology compiled by Dr. Raymond Granville Barger and The Rev. H. Austin Cooper.
The City of Brunswick Thanks You for visiting.
Thanks to Sircurly for helping with this hide!
Thanks to the Calvertcachers, Snurt, and the Maryland Geocaching Society for assisting with this project!