East New Market
Property Reports
38 Main Street
Old Sherman Institute Building (ca. 1845-1914)
Long
before the "old Sherman Institute building" was moved to this property, the
front half of the lot was leased to a local merchant, James Shaw.
He leased part of this lot from John Anderton from 1782 to 1795. Being
described as a merchant, Shaw likely had a store at this site.
The 1910 postcard photo to the left shows the Fletcher Store in the foreground and the "old Sherman Institute building" with a steeple to the rear.
In the 1840s, Thomas B. Sherman founded a school called Sherman's Collegiate Institute and erected a schoolhouse building southwest of East New Market. An 1854 advertisement outlining the course of study lists Mathematics and Languages, with the Sciences for $40 per year. Boarding was $110 per year with washing included. The school had a boarding house and a school house.
In 1871, Sherman purchased a lot on the west side of Main Street in East New Market. Between 1871 and 1877, Sherman moved the old schoolhouse building to East New Market. Shortly after the turn of the century, the building was known as the "Red, White, & Blue" building and was used as a residence and barbershop by Charley Morgan. The "old Sherman Institute building" was destroyed in the 1914 Fire. The Sherman Institute boarding house remains in its original location about 1 mile southwest of East New Market.
In 1904 William J. Payne purchased the old Sherman Institute building and land from Sherman's descendants. In 1906 Payne built the William J. Payne House at 38 Main Street. The house adjoined the Institute to the south. Payne's house survived the 1914 fire due to the valiant efforts of William Murphy. In 1925 Airey and Ethel Brannock purchased the William J. Payne house including the vacant part of the lot where the old Sherman Institute building once stood. Soon thereafter Airey and Ethel Brannock built a service garage next to the house. The garage was first called Brannocks' and was later converted to a Tavern and had several names.
Laskowski Papers
...Waterloo was one of the old estates on Indian Creek, a branch of the Great Choptank River several miles above Cambridge where the river makes a bend towards the north. A hundred years ago it was owned by Captain Thomas Sherman, who also owned considerable property in this neighborhood and whose land lay along the present state road to East New Market.
In those days a thorough education was obtained only by the wealthy as free schools were few and far between. Realizing that his two sons, Walter and William Richardson, would soon reach the age when it would be necessary for them to receive a higher education than they already had, Captain Sherman conceived the Sherman Institute.
About 1825 he erected the building known known by that name and on the grounds built a smaller structure used as a school room. The building now standing was the dwelling and headquarters of the organization. After erecting the buildings Captain Sherman sent to the cities for capable professors. So the private school built for the purpose of educating the two sons of a wealthy man started to function. It was not long, however, before the sons of other prominent families became students here.
The school was in operation for some years and the proposition
finally abandoned. The school room itself was moved to East New Market and
was eventually destroyed by fire...
(sources Mr. & Mrs. Arthur E. Austin, East New Market and Mrs.
E.L. Hooper, Cambridge)
From "Between The Nanticoke and the Choptank, An Architectural History of Dorchester County, Maryland" Edited by Christopher Weeks, with contributions by Michael O. Bourne, Geoffrey Henry, Catherine Moore, Calvin Mowbray, M. Fred Tidwell.
The three story Sherman Institute building that was reason for
the old Sherman Institute building to be moved to East New Market is near
Suicide Bridge. "Sherman Institute is an important, locally unique,
antebellum structure. It is important as an educational rarity as well.
Most schools were single room structures, but Sherman Institute was equipped for
boarding students. An advertisement outlining the course of study at the
institute, dated 1854, is in the possession of the owners of Waterloo Farm".
Cambridge Chronicle - 6 December 1914 - Big Conflagration at East New Market -
The fire seems to have broken out shortly before seven o'clock, in the large store of J. Millenson & Son, which is located on Main Street near the corner, being separated from the Hotel Chesadel by an alley. From the store, the fire swept across the alley to the Chesadel Hotel, and also across Main Street, to the building occupied by Mr. Charles Morgan, as a residence and a barber shop...
The building occupied by Mr. Charles Morgan was said to
have been worth about $1,000, and was owned by Mr. W.J. Payne, who had no
insurance upon it. The building was familiarly known to the residents of
that section as the "Red, White, and Blue" house, and was moved to East New
Market from the Sherman property. Mr. Morgan estimated the loss, including
between $80 and $100 in cash which was burned, at about $500, with insurance of
$300.
[for the complete newspaper article see the
1914 Fire]
Note from Marguerite Holland Uhler (from Mary Carr's papers)
Thomas Benjamin Sherman was her great-great-grandfather. He operated Sherman Institute and was assisted by the Episcopal rector. The school was in existence a short time and was located at Shermantown. He is the only one who operated the school. He owned land in East New Market and had an outbuilding moved from Shermantown to East New Market (or his descendants did). She knows the building was there prior to 1908. Later Charley Morgan operated a barbershop in the building.
Note from Kirk Hurley
Kirk Hurley recalls conversations with Marguerite Holland Uhler and his Grandmother Hurley regarding the Sherman property. These conversations led him to believe that the 1910 postcard may show more than one building on the Sherman property.