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Emmitsburg

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a town in Frederick county, Maryland, U.S.A., 61 m. by .rail W. by N. of Baltimore, and 12 m. S. of the northern boundary of the state. Pop. (1890) 844; (1900) 849. It is served by the Emmitsburg railway (7 m. long) to Rocky Ridge on the Western Maryland railway. The town is in a picturesque region on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Two miles S. W. is Mount St. Mary's College (Roman Catholic), founded in 1808 by the Rev. John du Bois (1764-1842) - its president until 1826, when he became bishop of New York - and chartered by the state in 1830. The Ecclesiastical Seminary of the college has been a great training school, and has been called the "Nursery of Bishops"; among its graduates have been Bishop Hughes, Cardinal McCloskey and Archbishop Corrigan. In 1908 the college had 25 instructors and 350 students, of whom 57 were in the Ecclesiastical Seminary, and 61 in the Minim Department. Half a mile S. of the town is St Joseph's College and Academy (incorporated in 1816), for young women, which is conducted by the Sisters of Charity - this order was introduced into the United States at Emmitsburg by Mrs Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1809. The first settlement at Emmitsburg was made about 1773. It was at first called "Silver Fancy," and then for a time was known as "Poplar Fields"; but in 1786 the present name was adopted in honour of William Emmitt, one of the original settlers. The town was incorporated in 1824.