The "Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick, Maryland" Story

Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick, Maryland.
Click on photos to enalrge.

It was an ordinary day.  Walking around the grounds of the Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick, Maryland with my daughter Brynn.  A few years ago I posted a story telling about a girls basketball game between my granddaughter's Urbana Middle School team and a team from the Maryland School for the Deaf.  

The main building of the Maryland School for the Deaf.

Seems the only people who were noisily cheering and yelling were the people from Urbana, since the young girls on the other team could not hear the cheering had their patrons been yelling and cheering.  I recently was reading about the Hessian Barracks when I realized they were located on the campus of the Maryland School for the Deaf at 242 South Market Street in Frederick, Maryland.  

Bjorlee Museum on the campus of Maryland School for the Deaf.

So, during a recent visit to my daughter's home in Urbana, we made a visit to the school to see the historical barracks as well as scout for a potential spot to take photos of my grand- daughters and their friends wearing their Homecoming attire in the near future.  As Brynn snapped photos of possible spots, I grabbed a few shots of the immaculate barracks that were authorized to be built by the Maryland General Assembly in 1777 as the American Revolutionary War unfolded.  

A portion of the Hessian Barracks.

The Hessian Barracks were erected by British and Hessian soldiers who had been captured during the Revolutionary War.  Hessians were German soldiers who most notably served as auxiliaries to the British Army during the American Revolutionary War.  The giant twin towered limestone buildings towered above most structures in North America at the time.  

Many soldiers preferred to live in tents rather than live in
the barracks.  This held true also for soldiers during the
War of 1812 and the Civil War.

The property where the barracks were built was known as Locust Level and owned by Daniel Dulany who was a loyalist and fled to England as the war began.  Maryland erected the barracks on his property, but did buy the land from him in later years.  From 1782-1783, German prisoners of war that were captured by the Americans were quartered at what became known as the "Hessian Barracks."  

Another beautiful view of the campus of Maryland School for the Deaf.

In 1799 the barracks housed French sailors captured in the undeclared war with France while in 1802, after the war was over, the barracks were used by Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark as a depot for supplies gathered to outfit their Corps of Discovery expedition into the American West.  

Recent photograph of the Barracks in Maryland.

In April of 1812 the 6th U.S. Infantry, as well as militia from Maryland and Virginia were housed in the barracks.  In 1827 it became known as The Bingham Military Academy which used the property to educate aspiring officers as an alternative to the social and geographic remoteness of West Point.  

The the wall of the barracks was this plaque.  It is extremely
weathered and hard to read as I stood in front of it.  I tried
to make it readable on my computer, but wasn't very successful.

1838 had the Lewis Ramsburg and William Jenks silk worm cocooners take over the site.  In the 1850s the Agricultural Society of Frederick County held their annual exposition at the barracks.  This eventually evolved into what is now the Great Frederick Fair.  Then the Civil War began and doctors, nurses and volunteers cared for over 30,000 soldiers wounded at South Mountain, Antietam, Gettysburg, Momocacy and other Civil War battles from 1861 to 1865.  

In the corner of the previous photo showing the
barracks is this cannon.  Please read the info
that is on the plaque under the cannon which
can be seen in the final photograph.

Then, finally, in 1867 the Maryland School for the Deaf was welcomed to the property where they occupied the barracks and surrounding property.  During the first five years of educational service, the buildings housed teachers, students, classrooms and workshops.  Eventually the west wing of the barracks were dismantled to make way for the school's Main Building.  As stated on one of the many educational boards I saw today: Today the Frederick Town Barracks represent a unique architectural type surviving in North America from the time of the Revolution.  Its ongoing conservation will ensure it remains the first and finest wonder in the rich historical legacy called Maryland.  It may also prove to be a fantastic site for taking Homecoming photographs by my daughter!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.