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Come join Andrew Sparber for his presentation, Full Steam Ahead: Allegany County's Industrial Revolution, based on his book of the same name!. How did Cumberland become the second-largest city in Maryland? One hears about the history of local industry such as the Kelly Springfield Tire Company, coal mines, railroad, and the mills, but there had been no comprehension as to what maintained them or helped upgrade their capacities to become even more productive. A tremendous increase in Allegany County's population was due to an equally significant rise in industrial productivity because of the invention of the coal-fired steam engine. This new machinery and other parts of the system such as shafts, gears, and pulleys were dependent on the local foundries that could build as well as repair the engines. Nothing had been previously published about these foundries. We have been depending on electricity for nearly 100 years and therefore have no appreciation of how steam technology drove the local industry. Andrew to the Sparber's book is a comprehensive look at this period from 1840 to the 1930s.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
3 Pershing St, Cumberland, MD, United States
