Drs. J. W. Hering and Ira Zepp, Sacred Places and Westminster City Hall

Drs. J. W. Hering and Ira Zepp, Sacred Places and Westminster City Hall

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/08/drs-j-w-hering-and-ira-zepp-sacred.html

http://tinyurl.com/nfe522

Pictured above is Westminster City Hall MD around 1953. Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/ddez2

The death of Dr. Ira G. Zepp has reminded me of one of my columns which was published in http://www.explorecarroll.com/ on July 25, 2008. Find it here: http://tinyurl.com/6yb23j or find the full story on http://www.explorecarroll.com/ here: http://tinyurl.com/krebky

The column was titled, “Westminster's sacred places are shrines of community life,” and it was about a 1981 book by Dr. Ira Zepp and Marty Lanham, "Sacred Spaces of Westminster."

Concurrently, another local historian and I were recently discussing the work, “Recollections,” by Dr. J. W. Hering, from the mid-1800s; which also brought me back to the same column.

I am working on re-posting the longer, unedited-for-word-length, draft of the July 2008 column, until then; here is an interesting tidbit about Westminster City Hall and Dr. Hering:

Westminster City Hall is considered by many to be one of the many sacred places in Carroll County.

Westminster purchased it from the estate of George W. Albaugh in September of 1939 for $11,000. After extensive renovations and improvements, without impairing the original features of the structure, the City offices were moved there from the old Westminster Fire Department building at 63 West Main Street, during the administration of Mayor Frank A. Myers.

Once, while attending a council meeting I looked around and imagined all the history that room and the building we now know as Westminster City Hall has seen since it was built in 1842 by Colonel John K. Longwell.

I wonder what it was like to have lived there right after it was built by Colonel Longwell...

Or what it would have been like to have been there in August 1863?

That was when, as Frederic Shriver Klein writes in “Just South of Gettysburg” that over forty prominent Westminster citizens were arrested by Union soldiers on the charge of “general disloyalty.”

Those arrested included Dr. Mathias, Dr. Trumbo, Dr. J. W. Hering, Colonel Longwell - and their wives.

According to “Recollections” by Dr. Hering, at Mrs. Longwell’s “trial” on August 27th, 1863, in Westminster, she was told that “among other things, you are charged with feeding the rebel soldiers…”

“Well,” she replied, “I did, I would feed a hungry dog who came to my house. I would even feed you, if you came to my house hungry.” At that, it is reported that Mrs. Longwell’s husband, Colonel Longwell, “nearly collapsed.” Reportedly, Mrs. Longwell subsequently took the oath of allegiance. Others, however, did not and were imprisoned at Ft. McHenry.

Meanwhile: find the column, as published… here: http://explorecarroll.com/community/411/westminsters-sacred-places-are-shrines-community-life/

Or here: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2008/07/westminsters-sacred-places-are-shrines.html

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