Hancock over the years

January 28, 2007|by JULIE E. GREENE

Current photos by Ric Dugan

Hancock, nestled in western Washington County, has seen changes big and small during the last century.

Beyond what's visible in the archival and modern-day photos on this page, the downtown business district has taken a hit over the years as bigger stores came to the region, said Don Corbett, Hancock Historical Society president.

Interstate 70 makes it easy to get to big box stores like Wal-Mart in Hagerstown within 20 minutes, so there aren't as many mom-and-pop stores in downtown Hancock as there used to be, Corbett said.

Some long-standing businesses remain that attract customers from the Tri-State area, Corbett said.

Courtesy of the Washington County Historical Society

Hancock's Jim Stahle plays in an early-1970s Hancock High School basketball game, ABOVE. The fashion for uniforms in the Seventies included short shorts, tube socks, sweatbands and Puma sneakers, such as those Stahle is wearing. It appears the opposing player in this photo is wearing low-top Converse Chuck Taylors, a popular sneaker of the time.

By the 1990s, basketball's short shorts gave way to longer styles which remain popular today. BELOW, Hancock forward Josh Unger, a junior, plays at a Jan. 18, 2007, home game against Broadfording Christian Academy.

File photo by Kevin G. Gilbert/Staff Photographer

This Herald-Mail file photo of Hancock's Main Street, ABOVE, was taken on Nov. 6, 1986.

Here is today's Main Street in Hancock, LEFT, as seen from the U.S. 522 bridge on Jan. 23, 2007. A Save-A-Lot and a Dollar General Store are now where the A&P grocery store once was, said Don Corbett, president of the Hancock Historical Society. The A&P sign is visible in the older photo. The Sheetz is still there but expanded in recent years.

Courtesy of the Washington County Historical Society

Horses and buggies used to cross this old bridge, BELOW, over the Potomac River at Hancock, said Don Corbett. The smaller structure by the bridge entrance is a toll house while the larger one was probably where the tollgate keeper lived. Corbett estimates this photo was taken in the 1910s. The bridge washed out in the 1936 flood. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal is in the foreground.

Trees have grown, RIGHT, blocking much of the view of the Potomac River today. The portion of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal that would normally be visible in this view has been filled with dirt and stone temporarily while work is done to repair Berm Road, Corbett said. The canal today would be much narrower and shallower than in the older photo. The Western Maryland Rail Trail, a paved path for bikers, joggers and strollers, was built north of the canal within the last two decades. The snow-covered path between the river and canal is the C&O towpath.

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