James W. Stoddard was a Catonsvillian of the turn of the last century, who ran the Terminal Hotel, located at 1600 Frederick Road, just next to the terminus of the streetcar line that ran from Towson through Baltimore and ended in Catonsville, from 1898 to November, 1963. From about 1898, when he took the venture over from Thomas Litchfield, until about 1925, he owned or managed the hotel, and established an outdoor palm garden in time for the Fourth of July celebration in 1900.
The building itself, with additions, survives as Matthew's 1600. According to info in online version of the Baltimore County Department of Assessments and Taxation, the primary structure was built in 1903 ... but the dates for buildings of this era can be off by years in either direction.
While under Stoddard's care, the Terminal Hotel and Stoddard's Palm Garden hosted jousting tournaments, with a 20-dollar prize for the jouster who lanced the most rings, with $15 for second, $10 for third and $5 for fourth.
Jousting for dangling rings is the Official Maryland State Sport, as you may know, and the ground it takes to run through the arches means the field must currently be over a hundred yards long, though of course jousters in 1904 were probably not adhering to the Official Rules that were laid down in 1950. More information may be had here, at the official site of the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association.
One envisions a jousting field set up on the grassy slope which is now Matthews' paved parking lot. There was certainly a large amount of land between the Hotel and the house next door, where Stoddard lived at the time of the 1920, 1930 and 1940 Federal Census. After the completion of the electric railway between Catonsville and Ellicott City in 1898, an auction of "THIRTY EIGHT HEAD OF FINE YOUNG MULES AND SIX GOOD HORSES" was held on the property on December 14, 1898. That's a lot of livestock!
Ralph Heidelbach's compendium of booklets, held in the Catonsville Room of the Baltimore County Public Library under the title Catonsville, contains a drawing he did in the mid-1980s of the Palm Garden as he remembered it from his youth. I include that drawing here, and will add a version based on a current photograph of the site. Guess I'd better draw that up -- for now, here's Heidelbach's version:
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| H. Ralph Heidelbach's drawing, ca 1984 |
A July 13, 1886 ad:
TERMINUS HOTEL, CATONSVILLE, MD., Is now refitted and ready for the reception of visitors. Catonsville is noted as a Summer Resort and its healthy location and beautiful shady walks. Every accommodation guaranteed. Wines, Liquors and Cigars of the best brands. Meals at all hours at moderate charges. THOS. LITCHFIELD, Proprietor.
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August 20, 1889:
WANTED -- A Young Boy, about 16 years of age to HELP IN A BAR and make himself generally useful. THOMAS LITCHFIELD, Terminus Hotel, Catonsville, Md.
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June 17, 1898:
Sudden Death of Mr. Thomas Litchfield, A Well-Known Catonsville Contractor
Mr. Thomas Litchfield, a well-known contractor of Catonsville, died suddenly of acute diarrhoea yesterday at "Castle Thunder," his home, on Frederick Avenue.
Mr. Litchfield was fifty-seven years of age and was the son of the late H. Litchfield, a well-known Englishman. He was born in England in 1840, came to this country in 1872 and settled in New York, where he was superintendent in the Page Rolling Mills. In 1877 he removed to Baltimore, where he conducted a restaurant. In 1885 he moved to Catonsville, where he opened the old Terminus Hotel, which he conducted until last November, when he engaged in general contracting work.
On July 16, 1872, while in England, he was married to Miss Martha Ann Jenkins, daughter of J. Jenkins, of England, who survives him, with two children, Harry Litchfield and Mrs. Harry Johnson.
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Stoddard took over the Terminus/Terminal Hotel in 1898 and spent over $1,200 refurbishing it, for a reopening in 1899.
In 1907 James Stoddard attending a hearing at the Towson District Court, regarding his "saloon," probably in the Terminus Hotel. My guess is this was a liquor board hearing, wherein Stoddard and about 20 others defended their claims for liquor licenses.
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Things seemed to go well and smoothly for James Stoddard and his Hotel -- usually called the "Old Terminus Hotel" but sometimes "The Terminal Hotel" or "Stoddard's" -- until Prohibition took effect in January 1920.
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In the December 2, 1922 Sun:
Catonsville Hotel Raided by Local Dry Agents
Terminal Hostelry Owner Summoned Before Commissioner Supplee
Raiding the Terminal Hotel and Garden, Frederick and Montrose avenues, Catonsville, yesterday afternoon, prohibition agents from the office of Edmund Budnitz, Maryland director, seized a large quantity of alleged illicit liquors, some of which was said to be of rare vintage.
Sidney J. Reinach, proprietor, and James Bropenberg, bartender, were summoned to appear today before J. Frank Supplee, Jr., United States Commissioner, to answer charges of violation of the dry law.
The seizures, consisting of 75 bottles of alleged rare wines and other liquors, and 1,000 bottles of what is supposed to be homebrew beer, were discovered secreted in trunks and cupboards scattered about the establishment, it was said by John M. Barton, who led the raid. With Barton were Agents R. E. Beall, E. Frank Ely, Jesse H. Bratten, Wilton L. Stevens and Robert Barnes.
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More to come -- this post is a Work In Progress
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