Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities
BETA

Newspaper The Baltimore County Union (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909 County union

View All Front Pages

About The Baltimore County Union (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909

The Baltimore County Union commenced publication in Towson, the seat of government for Baltimore County, on January 7, 1865. The paper traces its origins to the merger of the Baltimore County American, a pro-Union sheet published since 1858 by W. Bouldin and The American in 1862 by John H. Longnecker, and the Baltimore County Advocate, a newspaper started in 1850 promoting African American emancipation and published by E.F. Church. Hency C. Longnecker and John B. Longnecker, sons of the American’s publisher, were the editors and proprietors of the new weekly. In its inaugural issue, the Union claimed the largest circulation of any county paper in Maryland. Its main competitor in Towson was the Maryland Journal, published by William H. Ruby.

The closing months of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln dominated news in the Union, which was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party and its candidates for local, state and national elections. In 1870, the paper closely followed the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which established voting rights for African Americans. This interest in progress for black citizens reflected the presence of a significant segment of the local population located in the African American community of East Towson. East Towson was noteworthy for the high rate of home ownership, due to the efforts of the Relief Association of Baltimore County, which was founded in 1872 to provide financing for African American home buyers.

As Towson settled into the post-war era, more prosaic concerns came to the fore. In 1882, a narrow-gauge railroad that eventually became known as the MA & PA reached the town, and by 1889 this line had made the connection to York, Pennsylvania. Later in the early 20th century, an electric, interurban rail line connected Towson to the towns of Cockeysville and Timoninum in Baltimore County. Towson became the home to several major institutions during this time. In 1896, a bequest from the philanthropist Enoch Pratt led to the renaming of the Sheppard Asylum, and the new Sheppard Pratt Hospital gained a wide reputation for both the quality of its mental health care services and the distinctiveness of the architecture on its expansive campus. In 1913, the State Normal School for educating teachers moved to Towson. This institution ultimately became Towson University, and it was joined later in the century by the private Goucher College, which also moved from downtown Baltimore City.

The Baltimore County Union, like many county weeklies, featured literary excerpts, news of personal comings and goings, and agricultural advice on the latest farming techniques from groups such as the local Gunpowder Agriculture Club. The Union merged in 1909 with the Towson News becoming the Baltimore County Union, the Towson News, and later the Union News.

Provided By: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Baltimore County Union (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909

Other Title

  • County union

Dates of Publication

  • 1865-1909

Created / Published

  • Towsontown, Md. : H.C. Longnecker, 1865-1909.

Headings

  • -  Towson (Md.)--Newspapers
  • -  Baltimore County (Md.)--Newspapers
  • -  Maryland--Baltimore County
  • -  Maryland--Towson
  • -  United States--Maryland--Baltimore--Towson

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 7, 1865)-v. 60, no. 2329 (Aug. 28, 1909).
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Towson news (DLC)sn 88065090 (OCoLC)18547552
  • -  Baltimore County union, the Towson news 2643-7678 (DLC)sn 88065091 (OCoLC)18579701

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83016368

OCLC Number

  • 9789512

ISSN Number

  • 2643-7651

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Baltimore County Union Towsontown, Md. -1909. (Towson, MD), Jan. 1 1865. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83016368/.

APA citation style:

(1865, January 1) The Baltimore County Union Towsontown, Md. -1909. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83016368/.

MLA citation style:

The Baltimore County Union Towsontown, Md. -1909. (Towson, MD) 1 Jan. 1865. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83016368/.