BY: Carl Hamilton, Cecil Whig PORT DEPOSIT — Fire investigators have concluded that arson is the cause of a blaze that ripped through the vacant Old Tome School Building last month, engulfing all three stories of the historic structure that, with its clock tower and other ornate features, served as a landmark on that Bainbridge property. The Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office released the cause of the Sept. 21 blaze late Wednesday afternoon. “Investigators determined a person or persons gained entry and intentionally ignited the interior of the school. An estimated damage in loss could not be determined, due to the structure being a historic landmark,” Senior Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliv
BY: Jacob Owens, Cecil Whig PORT DEPOSIT — Erika Quesenbery-Sturgill woke up on Sept. 21 to a cell phone buzzing with text messages, voicemails and emails waiting for her reply. While the noted local historian knew immediately that something was amiss so early on a Sunday morning, she had no idea the extent of the bad news. For more than two decades, Quesenbery-Sturgill has studied and shared the history of Bainbridge, a tract of land atop the granite cliffs above Port Deposit that served as home to the Tome School for Boys and a U.S. Naval Training Center, even publishing a book on it. What all of her colleagues were trying to tell her was that Memorial Hall, the prized Tome School structur
Editorial from The Record "Jacob Tome was a key figure in northern Maryland and south central Pennsylvania a century ago, but what has become of his legacy in Cecil County is a real shame. A fire last month that gutted what had once been the stately Memorial Hall of the Tome School for Boys was but the latest insult to an important part of the heritage of western Cecil County. As Donna Tapley, head of the Bainbridge Development Corporation's board, put it: "This is a detrimental loss to all of us, especially the Town of Port Deposit, Cecil County, BDC and the redevelopment efforts... Memorial Hall is the central focus of the Tome Campus and holds a significant place in national, architectura
