Harney, Maryland
Harney is an unincorporated community in Carroll County, Maryland, United States. Harney is also the home of the 'World's Best Carnival'. It has been the home of the Harney Volunteer Fire Company since 1951.
Geography
Harney is located near the head of the Monocacy River to the northwest and is the site of the following crossroads: east/west Conover Road and north/south Harney Road. Additional intersections at the ball field are Bowers Road, off Conover Road, and Baptist Road heads southwest from just south of the crossroads. Communities near Harney are Longville to the south, Emmitsburg and in Pennsylvania, Natural Dam, Mt. Joy Township, Barlow 3.1 mi north, Two Taverns, Littlestown, and Kingsdale.| Date | Topic | Event | Coordinates |
| 1763 | The Mason-Dixon survey placed a marker north of the later 1825 crossroads which was later taken—it was replaced during a ceremony. | ||
| 1808 | road | A Pennsylvania court approved a road between Gettysburg and Maryland via a fording through Rock Creek near the Black's Mill dam to allow travel to Taneytown | |
| 1815 | business | Nicholas Eckes built the first home in the vicinity at a site near the Monocacy River, west of the area that would become the town. Eckes performed shoemaking at the farm—his son Enoch Eckes continued shoemaking there & the property transferred to 4 shoemakers: Peter Reigle, John Reindollar, Harry Rineman, and Samuel Eline. | - |
| 1824 | business | The 1st store was opened by Jesse at what became the town of Monocacyville, and the crossroads community eventually had 3 hotels. | |
| 1825 | road | The west/east "Emmitsburg and road was opened up" to become the crossroad with the north/south Gettysburg-Taneytown road. By 1895 the street names were Gettysburg Street (northward), Littlestown Street, Taneytown Street, and Emmitsburg Street. | - |
| business | Elijah Eckenrode "opened up a small store" on the "old Lichtenwalter property" In 1843 Jacob Kreglo subsequently bought the small store property which transferred to Philip Shriner who "started wagon making." | - | |
| Civil War | General Hancock was sent north from near Taneytown and passed through Monocacyville to command at Gettysburg ~3-6 pm. | - | |
| 1863-07-01 | Civil War | Hancock's II Corps (Union Army) traveled through Monocacyville to bivouac for the night near Horner's Mill | - |
| 1863-07-01 | Civil War | Ames Battery G established an overnight camp near Monocacyville en route from Taneytown to their Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day, engagement at The Peach Orchard during the afternoon Hood's Assault. | - |
| 1863-07-01 | Civil War | George G. Meade from Taneytown passed through Monocacyville en route to Gettysburg, where he arrived at night after Hancock had returned via Horner's Mill and Monocacyville to brief Meade at Taneytown. | - |
| 1864 | business | "E. D. Hess sold his property to J. Worthington Jones, and the James Angel…property on Littlestown Street…built an addition to the house small shop started the cabinetmaking business". | - |
| 1866 | organization | The Evangelical United Brethren Church, Harney, Md was established—the 1st burial in the United Brethren Cemetery, was tbd—the church was rededicated in 1931, but closed after Rev. Garvin was the pastor in 1955. | - |
| 1878 | business | George Fream's blacksmith shop closed, which had been the shop of his father until 1876 after the latter built on the Soloman Snider property | - |
| 1879 | Bids were solicited for carrying weekly mail via Horner's Mill between Gettysburg and Harney. | - | |
| 1886 | business | James H. Reaver sold his Harney property to surgeon | - |
| 1887 | school | The Harney "public school started in a room above S. S. Shoemaker's Store, and Mr. J. A. Angell was appointed its teacher". The school was later moved to a 2nd story of a new Shoemaker "agricultural warehouse" where H.O. Harner was a teacher. | - |
| 1890 | organization | St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Harney, which was using Shoemaker Hall, laid the church cornerstone with a list of charter members on land sold by Daniel Hesson. and which The 1st trustees were Dr. John Bush, John Ohler, Martin Slagle, Abraham Waybright, Blanch Yingling and Katherine Hall, and the "first baby baptized in the church was Earlington Shriver" who had been born April 24, 1890. | |
| 1892 | business | John Myers moved to Harney to take over Centennial Mill and "William Myers 1893…had a full set of rolls put in". | - |
| 1893 | organization | The Lutheran church acquired land for their Mountainview Cemetery northwest of Harney | - |
| 1895-01 | business | "Andrew Degroft's large machine shed, just back of the U. B. Church, caught fire one evening about 9 o'clock". | - |
| 1895 | business | A summer newspaper identified Harney businesses: Daniel J. Hesson's store, W. A. Snider's store, Mr. T. H. Eckenrode's Union Hotel, John J. Hess's blacksmith shop, and the nearby William Myers mill. Other notable 1895 Harney structures were Miss Perry Eyler's place that had been C. F. Reindoller's drug store, D. T. Shoemaker's "most beautiful" home, and W. A. Snider's "most perfectly built" house on Littlestown Street. | - |
| business | After a local storekeeper agreed to keep mail for customers to pick up, Monocacyville was renamed when Emmitsburg's 1893-7 postmaster, James Elder, dubbed the post office "Harney" for General William S. Harney of the American Indian Wars. First postmaster was Jeremiah Reinhart, and Daniel Hess was the 1898 postmaster. | "unknown" | |
| 1898 | business | Myers Mill* near Harney and the "adjoining" Stonesifer Mill claimed the Gettysburg Water Works had decreased the Marsh Creek/Monocacy River water supply and made the mills inoperable. In 1920, Myers' "three story roller mill below the juncture of Marsh and Rock creeks near Harney the dam made to furnish water power from the Monocacy a favorite spot for boating and swimming parties" ** | - |
| 1900 | A direct postal route between Gettysburg and Taneytown was planned to replace the Pennsylvania circuitous mail route to Harney: | - | |
| 1900 | organization | Mason and Dixon Lodge, No. 69 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was founded and had a 1907 anniversary banquet catered by fraternal Brothers Harry E. Rothhaupt and John Thompson. In February 1942 the Lutheran "church bought the Odd Fellows Lodge Hall to be used as a parish house." | |
| 1915 | Community recreation areas at " Shriver's grove, near this place" had a Lutheran church "base ball game" and at "the F. C. Null grove, near town" had the "United Brethren…annual picnic". | - | |
| 1921 | business | Estee Ray Kiser owned a Harney automobile business shop | |
| tbd | school | A schoolhouse was built | |
| 1933 | road | A "Memorial Boulevard" proposed [as the] Lincoln Memorial road in 1908, "Washington-to-Gettysburg road" in 1911, & "Lincoln Highway to Gettysburg" in 1913 was planned through Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, New Lisbon, Taneytown, and the Harney area to connect the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC to the Lincoln Address Memorial in the Gettysburg National Cemetery. | - |
| organization | The Harney Baseball Club built a baseball field with grandstand east of the Lutheran church. After playing in the Adams County Baseball league, the team lost two players to the 1947 Gettysburg Legion team and joined the South Penn Baseball League in 1953 Taneytown, Harney and the Emmitsburg Legion Barlow, Hanover and Granite—Barlow's Chester Shriver was Harney's 1954 manager In the 1980s the field was converted for slowpitch softball, and it is now owned by the Lutheran church. | ||
| 1947-10-04 | organization | The Monocacy Valley Memorial Post 6918 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars was chartered with 30 members | |
| 1951 | fire co. | The Harney Volunteer Fire Company was established. The "Luther Ridinger Hall"/"Luther Ridinger building" had the initial siren and the building held meetings and recreation events. | |
| 1951 | organization | Harney had a 4-H club. | - |
| 1954 | store | Miller's General Store was open in Harney | - |
| 1955-06 | fire co. | The Maryland governor spoke at the dedication for the new $23,000 Carroll County Fire Department Station 11 | |
| 1955 | The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey placed an azimuth marker on the east side of the Lutheran church. | - | |
| 1976 | organization | The Harney Lions Club had formed, | - |
| 1979-09-12 | The USGS designated Harney in the GNIS—the "Harney Post Office " was designated in 1996 with "unknown" coordinates. | ||
| 1986 | business | Luther Ridinger's store on the "5000 Block of Harney Road" had a fire. | |
| 1992-04 | business | The Harney General Store, the community's last general store, closed. | - |
| 2008-08-04 | fire co. | The Harney "first call" service area was increased to include an area of the defunct Kingsdale Fire Company | - |
| 1992 | business | Harney Woodworking was established for cabinet manufacturing. | |
| business | A fire at 5036 Harney Road burned the former hotel that was the 2nd house north from the crossroads on the west side |