City Hall - Frederick, MD
Posted by: bluesnote
N 39° 24.950 W 077° 24.766
18S E 292290 N 4365701
The former Frederick County Courthouse is now used as city hall.
Waymark Code: WM15X76
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 03/14/2022
Views: 1
The plaque says, "Connections with the Civil War abound around this Courthouse Square, where the first official act of defiance against the British crown - the 1765 Stamp Act Repudiation - occurred almost a century earlier. In 1857, Roger Brooke Taney, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court and a former resident who is buried in Frederick, wrote in the Dread Scott Decision that the Constitution's freedoms did not extend to African-Americans, one of the steps on the road to war. Taney and his brother-in-law, Francis Scott Key, both practiced law here. A bust here honors the Chief Justice who administered the Oath of Office to seven presidents, including Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
Governor Thomas Hicks called a special session of the Maryland Legislature in 1861 to address the question of secession. Because of the large number of US troops in the capital city of Annapolis, the legislature met here at the site of the former Frederick County courthouse. Finding the space inadequate, the lawmakers convened a block away in Kemp Hall. Under orders from President Lincoln, legislators likely to favor the South were detained in route. With no quorum, Maryland's legislature could not vote to secede. The courthouse burned during the session, and the legislature promptly authorized financing to construct the present building, now City Hall."
Type of Structure: Public building
Fire Date: 01/01/1861
Structure status: Plaque
Cause of Fire: Unknown
Documentation of the fire: [Web Link]
Other: Not listed
Construction Date: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Give a narrative of your experience. Did you learn anything after reading about the fire in the waymark? Photos are always welcome too. Please no virtual visits.