Existing comment:
Dennis Memorial
This boulder, taken from the bed of the improved Rt. 355 (formerly US Rte. 240) previously stood approximately 50 ft to the south at a point where the old Urbana Road/Georgetown Pike (now Araby Church Road) intersects the relocated improved highway. The stone monument and plaques were dedicated on April 30, 1923 to the honor of Col. George R. Dennis, George Washington, and Marquise de Lafayette.
The plaque which faced on Maryland 355 had the following inscription:
This boulder Erected to the Memory of Colonel George R. Dennis
who more than forty years ago on this spot pointed out and looked with longing eyes for a road to be built over this route to lessen the distance, the grade, the curves, and the danger.
Colonel Dennis' wish has been realized through the efforts of Frank H. Zouk, Chairman, and John N. Mackall, Chief Engineer, of the State Roads Commission.
William J. Grove, President and Charles T. Brosius, Jr. Superintendent of Construction of the M. J. Grove Lime Company.
On the plaque which faced on Araby Road was the inscription:
On the thirtieth day of June, 1791,
George Washington
ascended this hill and looked over the beautiful Monocacy Valley. This farm was the owned by John Scholl. The Mansion House is on the property of Mrs. Fanny McPherson Dennis.
George Washington
was met here by a cavalcade of horsemen from Frederick, Major Mountjoy Bayley, Chief Marshal. Colonel John McPherson was one of the Committee.
In 1824 Lafayette
was accompanied from Frederick this far by Dr. John Tyler and others on his way to Washington, D. C.
Here General Lafayette bid adieu and took his last look on South Mountain and Frederick Valley.
Upon occasion of his visit to Frederick, George Washington was treated with every mark of respect and affection by the people of that town. At night the town was illuminated and every citizen sought to do honor to its distinguished guest. Upon the occasion of his leaving Frederick for Philadelphia, General Washington made a brief address in the following words. "My Countrymen, I am about to leave your good land, your beautiful valleys, your refreshing streams and the blue hills of Maryland which stretch out before me. I cannot leave you, fellow citizens, without thanking you again and again for your kind greeting, for the true and devoted friendship you have shown me. When in the darkest hours of the Revolution, of doubt and gloom, the succor and support I received from the people of Frederick County always cheered me. It always awoke a responsive echo in my breast. I feel the emotion of gratitude beating in my heart-my heart is too full to say more -- God bless you all."
Col. George R. Dennis.
Colonel George R. Dennis, a native of the Eastern Shore was a resident of Urbana District for about 50 years.
Dennis, after attending Dickinson College, settled in Frederick County in 1853 at the age of 22. At the outbreak of the Civil War he volunteered for service in the First Regiment of the Potomac Home Brigade and was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel.
After the Civil War Colonel Dennis took active interest in business and civic affairs. He served as president of the Central National Bank of Frederick, a director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, member of the board of managers of the Frederick County Agricultural Society, and member of the board of visitors of the Maryland School for the Deaf.
Mr. William T. Grove, who was president of the M. J. Grove Lime Company, arranged for the installation of the Dennis Memorial and for its unveiling on April 20, 1923.
Mr. Grove, presiding at the ceremony, introduced as the speakers Chief Judge Hammond Urner, Judge Glenn H. Worthington, Congressman Frederick N. Zihlman of the Sixth Maryland District, and John N. Mackall, chairman and chief engineer of the State Roads Commission.
Judge Worthington, a native of Urbana District, who published a History of the Battle of Monocacy in 1932, predicted at the dedicatory ceremony that the Georgetown Pike would become increasingly important in future years as "the main thoroughfare between the Nation's Capital, the Monocacy Battlefield, Frederick City, and the great Battlefield of Gettysburg."
Among those attending the ceremony were John M. Dennis, of Baltimore, State Treasurer in the administration of Governor Ritchie, and George R. Dennis, Jr. an attorney of Frederick, sons of Colonel Dennis. The memorial was unveiled by Miss Barbara Dennis.
This monument was rededicated on July 18, 2004 by the Sgt. Lawrence Everhart Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. With sincere appreciation, this rededication was sponsored by Maryland Department of Transportation – State Highway Administration, Sgt. Lawrence Everhart Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, LaFarge Corporation, Maryland Historical Trust, Miles and Stockbridge, Lavelle and Associates and special thanks to the Steven W. Wilcom Family. |