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brick structure built in 1904 for the Improved Order

of the Red Men. The down payment of $8,000 came from Festival profits, three loans, a $1,000 contribution and membership fees. The museum began with an empty building and a $22,000 mortgage. Gifts and displays poured in from the community, and in 1978, the Foundation's president, Donald Darr, died leaving an inheritance. With this money, the Foundation hired a professional model railroad engineer from Ellicott City; his services hastened the completion of the third floor layout. The Railroad Museum, owned by the Brunswick-Potomac Foundation, has become a big attraction for railroad buffs and history lovers. It is meeting a challenge presented to the town over twenty years ago to become a tourism center and attract visitors.

dally dedicated on Sunday April 9, 1989. Brunswick Public Library Inc., the support group which had succeeded the Brunswick Library Association, raised $10,000 for additional books, audio-visual equipment, and landscaping. The new facility, boasting almost 13,000 titles, electronic checkout and return, plus a computer for public use, is well patronized and fully enjoyed by the citizens of Brunswick and the surrounding area. Mrs. Patricia Cage Hortman was Brunswick's librarian from 1963 until her retirement in April 1989. She was succeeded by Betty Moser who had been a Branch Assistant at Brunswick. Sources - Rev. Leonard Carmack - Mrs. Patricia Cage Hortman W-BRH

S - M M M, and the Museum W - Eleanor Milligan, Museum Curator

YMCA LIBRARY

The Young Mens Christian Association Y.M.C.A., or "Y"has long been an important element in Brunswick's social and economic life. This organization extended the use of its facilities to many different purposes. Brunswick's "Y" was promoted by the B&O Railroad to provide a place for train crews to eat, sleep, and rest while layingover between road trips. But aside from furnishing those necessary services for the railroad, the "Y" opened its doors to the community, offering the use of its restaurant, meeting rooms, chapel, and other facilities. One could get a meal there, or a haircut, bowl tenpins, attend Lions, Rotary or religious meetings, or just sit in an easy chair exchanging gossip, all the while watching and listening to busy railroad activities just a few feet out the back door. The first "Y" measured 90 by 45 feet, cost $16,000, and opened on April 5, 1907. It contained dormitories with a total of 46 beds. First officer, were W. E. Shannon, Chairman; H. M. Jones, Treasurer; and Mr. McNeally, Secretary. Directors wer ~Dr.Levin West,J.J. Haskett, T. A. Sigafoose, LE. McBride. Z. T. Brantner, Oscar Merriman and Mr. Radley. Improvements were made steadily over the years including electric laundry equipment costing $1657. installed in ti,_ oasement of the Annex Building in 1927, and a $2300 electric refrigerati :.n system completed in 1928 to provide cold stm- ge facilities as well as kitchen and dining roo-, refrigeration. The Y.M.C.A. planned activ; ;es that were beneficial to the B&O RR as well as to Brunswick. The athletic field on New York Hill was developed in 1928-29. The active support and cooperation of the

Sensing a long-held public need for a library in Brunswick, a group of sixteen persons representing the community and the Rotary and Lions Clubs met at the Brunswick YMCA on March 1, 1962 and formed the Brunswick Library Association. After continuing local meetings gathered support, an arrangement was made to lease one room on the southest corner of the old West Brunswick Elementary School building at 317 Brunswick Street. That property had been purchased by Brunswick Lodge No 191, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in 1953. The Brunswick Public Library, containing some 3500 books, was dedicated on April 20, 1963 and opened to the public on Tuesday, April 23, 1963. The size of the library was doubled when an adjoining room was dedicated as the Doctor J. G. F. Smith Memorial RoomonNovemberl4, 1970. About5000 books were then available to library users. The Frederick County Library was supportive of the local undertaking from its inception, and eventually the Brunswick Public Library officially became a part of the County Library system. Continuing good use and support led town and library officials and backers to seek a more modern facility with improved parking and better access for the handicapped. On March 17, 1988, the Frederick County Commissioners accepted from the Town of Brunswick the 1.5-acre site at 915 North Maple Avenue and approved construction of a new library building there. Construction got underway in 1988 and the new 2,500 square-foot building was offi-

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