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The BDC will be holding an open meeting on Monday January 26 at 5:30 PM at Town Hall in Port Deposit. Any member of the public is welcomed to attend. Refreshments will be provided. For agenda, click here

BY: Lisa Tome, Rising Sun Herald "There will be no changes on the board of the Bainbridge Development Corporation in the coming year..." CLICK FOR FULL STORY

BY: Cheryl Mattix, Cecil Whig (click for full story) "PORT DEPOSIT — Bainbridge Development Corporation Chairman Michael R. Pugh said his board expects to see a final report on the damages and recommendations for the future of Memorial Hall in January or February. Pugh called the Sept. 21 blaze that gutted the three-story historical building a “tragedy” during a BDC meeting on Monday night. “It has complicated an already complicated issue,” Pugh said. BDC members and Executive Director Donna Tapley were kept off the grounds until the Maryland State Fire Marshall’s Office completed their investigation in October, in which they ruled the fire an arson. “The fire investigation delayed the assessment process for the BDC,” Pugh said, “But some progress has been made.” One question they are trying to answer is whether the remaining building is salvageable, Pugh said. A structural assessment of Memorial Hall has been completed, but Tapley still has to meet with the Maryland Historical Trust to determine short-term recommendations and they will need cost estimates. “The cupola is gone, the roof collapsed, masonry walls are damaged and braced now and will get worse without some stop-gap measures,” Tapley said. A draft report determined the building is at-risk by any unauthorized entrance and those who enter could be subject to injuries. The report recommends closing the building off. Tapley said the entire 1,200 acre site has been fenced off for years, but people continue to get in without authorization. “We plan to reveal all the findings and recommended next steps as soon as we get the final report,” Tapley said on Monday night. Meanwhile, the turtle pace of the BDC’s negotiations with the U.S. Navy over the cleanup costs of current soil contamination found at Bainbridge in 2008 may be reaching a turning point in the next three months. The Navy signed a deed of trust transferring the 1,200 acres to the BDC in February of 2000, deeming it suitable for transfer without development restrictions. “We remain open to find another way to solve our problems,” Pugh said, indicating the BDC and the Navy are in the middle of a process right now that may yield some results in the first quarter of 2015. “We expect a resolution of value of the site and damage to it,” he said, adding, “Then we’ll decide what direction to go,” leaving the door open to future litigation with the Navy. In other business, by acclamation, the board re-elected Pugh to serve as chairman, Lisa Webb as vice chairman, Raymond “Chick” Hamm as treasurer and Cynthia Rossetti as assistant secretary. Erin Maloney, a federal lobbyist who lives in Harford County, attended the BDC meeting Monday night. She suggested the BDC might be eligible for an EPA exemption because the property was once owned by the federal government. “It could help you negotiate for a state exemption,” Maloney said. Pugh said there remain other concerns. “Even though this could be a loop hole, we also have the issue of public health concerns,” Pugh said. In response, Maloney said: “I still think there is a possibility.”

BY: Jane Bellmyer, Cecil Whig (click for full story) "PORT DEPOSIT — The fire that destroyed Memorial Hall at the Tome School for Boys could be a wake-up call to secure unoccupied properties in town. The September fire ripped through what was left of the historic structure on the hill above Port Deposit. It’s on the mind of Donald Hancock, the town code enforcement officer. The September fire ripped through what was left of the historic structure on the hill above Port Deposit. It’s on the mind of Donald Hancock, the town code enforcement officer. “In light of the events at Memorial Hall, I am interested in the houses with large amounts of scrap materials and flammable materials,” Hancock recently told the mayor and town council. Hancock expressed his fears to the elected body that a fire in the compact waterfront community would be tragic. “The damage would be worse,” he said, comparing a potential downtown fire to what happened at the former military site. “Restricting access to these properties is important. Vacant properties with all the doors and windows open is rife with possibility,” he said. He fears they could be targets of vandalism, so Hancock is ramping up his efforts to get these property owners to respond. “I’ve had a lot of promises, but few have been acted upon,” he said of the owners, many of which don’t live in town. “We want these closed up immediately.” Port Deposit’s elected body has struggled for a number of years to come up with a way to manage apathetic property owners. Since being hired, Hancock has developed an inventory of all structures in town limits, identifying those that have issues, are historic and are simply old. Hancock said that since being nice hasn’t helped his cause, his next step will be to issue citations and levy fines. “How do we pursue that?” Councilman Tom Knight asked. A meeting with Joe Herring, town attorney, will be the first step, Hancock said. “I’ll be talking with Mr. Herring about pursuing a few of these in court,” he said. Vicki Rinkerman, town administrator, added this was the perfect opportunity for Port Deposit to update its uniform citations, which hadn’t been done in more than 30 years. “We’re looking at the codification revision,” Rinkerman said. “In the meantime, we can pursue it civilly.”

The BDC Board of Directors will be holding their annual meeting on Monday December 15, 2014. The meeting will be open to the public, begininng promptly at 5:30PM at Town Hall in Port Deposit (63 South Main Street). Refreshments will be provided. Please contact BDC Project Coodinator Toni Lozzi with any questions or concerns: 410-378-9200 tlozzi@bainbridgedev.org.

The new BDC facebook page is up and running! It is a public non-profit page. Check it out and make sure to "like" us! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bainbridge-Development-Corporation/243983605765052?sk=info&tab=page_info

BY: Carl Hamilton Cecil Whig PORT DEPOSIT — The Bainbridge Development Corporation is offering a reward of up to $10,000 in hopes of identifying and charging the person or people responsible for torching the vacant Tome School Memorial Hall in September, according to officials. The early-morning blaze on Sept. 21 gutted the three-story building, which, with its clock tower and other ornate features, served as a landmark on that Bainbridge property. People with tips can make them anonymously through the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agency (ATF) arson hotline at 1-888-ATF-FIRE, according to Toni Lozzi, the BDC’s project coordinator. Lozzi reported that there is a “quick turnaround” when people with information call the ATF arson hotline. “Someone is manning that line 24 hours a day. It goes directly to someone; you’re not just leaving a message. It’s all confidential,” Lozzi said Monday morning, adding that all tips are then immediately relayed to investigators. The BDC, which oversees development on the Bainbridge property, is offering the reward from its own coffers as part of a continuing multi-agency effort to solve the arson case, Lozzi reported. “The BDC has been working very closely with the (The Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office) on the arson investigation of Memorial Hall. We have decided, through the ATF Fire Investigation Hotline, to offer a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of whoever is responsible for the fire,” Lozzi explained. “The BDC remains strong in our commitment to Tome School and we hope this will bring about pertinent and helpful information to aid in the investigation.” As part of that campaign, the BDC is circulating reward posters bearing photos of the charred building and information on how to place an anonymous tip. Investigators ruled the blaze an arson shortly after the fire. “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 Oliver J. Alkire reported at the time. Deputy State Fire Marshal Derek A. Chapman, lead investigator, said detectives are hopeful that the reward offer will spark tips through the ATF hotline. Wanting to preserve the integrity of the ongoing arson investigation, Chapman declined to discuss leads in the case, commenting, “There’s nothing that I want to put out there right now.” While the ATF arson hotline is an option for tipsters and could lead to a reward, people also can leave information that might help investigators by calling the MSFO’s Northeast Regional Office at 410-838-4844 or the Arson Hotline at 1-800-492-7529. Also, detectives are still seeking photographs of the building before, during and after the fire. Photographs may be emailed to msp.osfmnero@maryland.gov. The first alarm came about 2:45 a.m. on Sept. 21, after a passerby saw the flames and called 9-1-1, fire officials said. Approximately 35 firefighters with volunteer fire companies from Port Deposit, Perryville, Rising Sun and North East, as well as Harford County and southern Pennsylvania, responded to the scene, fire officials added. No one was injured. Crews on numerous tankers drafted water from the Town of Port Deposit water supply and shuttled it to the burning building, which stands on a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna River and the town. It took firefighters about three hours to bring the blaze under control, fire officials said. However, fires continued to burn inside the “extensively damaged” building for about a week after the initial blaze and, as a result, sections of the structure collapsed, according to Alkire. The blaze consumed the vacant, 50-foot-by-100-foot, stone and mortar building, which is rich in history, fire officials reported. That building did not have utilities, which is the case with the other vacant structures on that property, fire officials reported. The building was originally constructed in 1901 as the Tome School for Boys and later the property was operated as the U.S. Naval Training Center Bainbridge, from 1942 to 1976. It was officially closed for Department of the Navy use in 1986. Some of the facilities were then operated by the U.S. Department of Labor as a Job Corps Center until 1990. The property now falls under the Bainbridge Development Corporation for renovations. At one time, the Old Tome School Building was the centerpiece building on the campus of Tome School for Boys — a prep school with a list of distinguished graduates that includes R.J. Reyolds, Jr., son of the cigarette mogul, and members of Mellon and Carnegie families. The school, which became part of the Bainbridge Naval Center, now lays in disrepair. But even so, the dilapidated granite buildings dotting what was once a thriving campus still appear stately, reflecting the bold design of William A. Boring and Edwin L. Tilton, the same New York-based architects whose long list of projects includes the U.S. Immigration Station on Ellis Island.

A reward up to $10,000 is being offered for the information that leads to the arrest and indictment of the person responsible for the fire that occured at the former Tome School Memorial Hall located on the Bainbridge Development Corporation Property in Port Deposit, MD on Septemebr 21, 2014. Anyone with informattion about this fire is urged to call the ATF. Your identiy will remaind confidentail. You can call 24 hours a day. 1-888-ATF-FIRE

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 Oliver J. Alkire reported. Now, investigators are trying to identify and arrest the person or people responsible for torching the building. Anyone with information that might help investigators is asked to call the MSFO’s Northeast Regional Office at 410-838-4844 or the Arson Hotline at 1-800-492-7529. Also, investigators are seeking photographs of the building before, during and after the fire. Photographs may be emailed to msp.osfmnero@maryland.gov. In the wake of the fire, local officials had reported to the media that they believed other intentionally set fires on that property could be related to the Tome School Building blaze, Alkire noted, before commenting, “Investigators have no evidence this fire or any other incendiary (intentionally set) fires are connected and each fire has been a lone act by separate individuals or remains under investigation.” The first alarm came about 2:45 a.m. on Sept. 21, after a passerby saw the flames and called 9-1-1, fire officials said. Approximately 35 firefighters with volunteer fire companies from Port Deposit, Perryville, Rising Sun and North East, as well as Harford County and southern Pennsylvania, responded to the scene, fire officials added. No one was injured. Crews on numerous tankers drafted water from the Town of Port Deposit water supply and shuttled it to the burning building, which, also known as Memorial Hall, stands on a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna River and the town. It took firefighters about three hours to bring the blaze under control, fire officials said. However, fires continued to burn inside the “extensively damaged” building for about a week after the initial blaze and, as a result, sections of the structure collapsed, according to Alkire. The blaze consumed the vacant, 50-foot-by-100-foot, stone and mortar building, which is rich in history, fire officials reported. That building did not have utilities, which is the case with the other vacant structures on that property, fire officials reported. The building was originally constructed in 1901 as the Tome School for Boys and later the property was operated as the U.S. Naval Training Center Bainbridge, from 1942 to 1976. It was officially closed for Department of the Navy use in 1986. Some of the facilities were then operated by the U.S. Department of Labor as a Job Corps Center until 1990. The property now falls under the Bainbridge Development Corporation for renovations. At one time, the Old Tome School Building was the centerpiece building on the campus of Tome School for Boys — a prep school with a list of distinguished graduates that includes R.J. Reyolds, Jr., son of the cigarette mogul, and members of Mellon and Carnegie families. The school, which became part of the Bainbridge Naval Center, now lays in disrepair. But even so, the dilapidated granite buildings dotting what was once a thriving campus still appear stately, reflecting the bold design of William A. Boring and Edwin L. Tilton, the same New York-based architects whose long list of projects includes the U.S. Immigration Station on Ellis Island. Memorial Hall was the main classroom building for the Tome School for Boys. It housed school offices, all of the classrooms, shop classes in the basement, the school library, 500-seat auditorium and chapel. It had two sweeping curved staircases between the first and second floors with 32-arm chandeliers and columned architecture. The exterior walls were of dressed Port Deposit granite with an interior brick wall then a horse hair plaster interior wall. All of these materials were hauled up the hill to the construction site by horse-drawn wagons and carts. The entire campus cost just under $1 million to build at the turn of the century. The Tome School Clean Up Volunteers began repairing the property in 1997 and continued to do so every weekend from May through October until the year 2000, when the Bainbridge Development Corporation was appointed and the property turned over to the State of Maryland as owners, with the BDC serving as the state’s agents to redevelop the property. At that point, the BDC determined professionals were needed on the property rather than volunteers and amateurs to maintain the historic property and structures and would no longer allow the volunteer group to continue their labor after three years. The Tome School Clean-Up Volunteers consisted of community volunteers from Port Deposit, Navy veterans, Tome alumni, and was spearheaded by the Port Deposit Heritage Corporation. The buildings at Tome School for Boys have long been the victims of vandalism — spray painting, windows knocked out to serve as a massive deer stand for poaching deer, thefts of what little remained within the structure, and even small fires set by poachers and others who broke into the building. Hosts of people have breached the property and buildings to photograph the abandoned condemned structures for upload to abandoned building sites or haunted history websites. Often vandals broke into the building to try to find copper wiring and pipes to resell or architectural elements that could be sold quickly and easily for scrap metal or at antique shops or online. Finding little, if anything of value, they would then resort to smashing porcelain sinks and toilets while they remained, tossing radiators down slate stairs and other senseless destruction.

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 structure that later served as a central gathering place for the Naval Academy Preparatory School, had been devastatingly damaged by a fire. Lying in disrepair after the Navy officially left in 1986 — and further damaged by a stretch of use by the U.S. Department of Labor Job Corps until 1990 — Memorial Hall was already in poor shape. After the fire, it may be too late to save much of the structure. “Piece-by-piece, year-by-year, we’ve lost parts of the property’s legacy,” Quesenbery-Sturgill said. “With the fire, it’s been put into hyperdrive. It rips your soul out." Tome’s legacy The 50-foot-by-100-foot, stone and mortar building was originally constructed in 1901 at the Tome School for Boys, a prep school with a list of distinguished graduates that includes R.J. Reyolds, Jr., son of the cigarette mogul, and members of Mellon and Carnegie families. Memorial Hall was the main classroom building for the Tome School for Boys. Built entirely of Port Deposit granite with dressed Indiana limestone, it was state-of-the-art when it opened after a rushed and impressive construction phase of only two years. It was one of the first buildings started at the campus on the bluff above Port Deposit — the other two being the headmaster’s house and the Tome Inn, which was also known as the Chesapeake Inn and Van Buren House. Memorial Hall was dedicated in honor of lumber-and-railroad tycoon Jacob Tome as a lasting memory to him, for it was his largesse that allowed the school to be erected after he founded the free school known as Jacob Tome Institute in Port Deposit. Unfortunately, he never personally saw the beautiful building built in his honor as he died in March 1898. Memorial Hall housed school offices, all of the classrooms, shop classes in the basement, the school library, a 500-seat auditorium and a chapel. Franklin D. Roosevelt, then undersecretary of the Navy prior to becoming president, was among those who spoke at the hall as a guest lecturer. The building also boasted two sweeping curved staircases between the first and second floors with 32-arm chandeliers and columned architecture. The exterior walls were of dressed Port Deposit granite with an interior brick wall then a horse hair plaster interior wall. All of these materials were hauled up the hill to the construction site by horse-drawn wagons and carts. The entire campus cost just under $1 million to build at the turn of the century. The decline Following the exodus of the Navy, the Susquehanna Job Corps Center operated inside some of the old Tome School buildings, but the abandoned base became a target for the ill-intentioned. At least six arsons and 12 fires were reported at the property in 1988 alone. By 1990, the job corps moved out too, leaving all of the structures on the property ripe for theft and vandalism. Unfortunately, the stately looking Memorial Hall was a frequent target. Copper was the first element to be stripped from the buildings — presumably for scrap metal sale — and then just about anything else, Quesenbery-Sturgill said. “Door knobs, roof shingles, adornments, toilets … just about anything not nailed down has been stolen through the years,” she said. “When there wasn’t anything left worth stealing, vandals would smash things or thrown radiators down the stairs, damaging our history.” Most of the government-built buildings were demolished during a lengthy cleanup in the late 1990s. Later on, it was discovered that the demolition left contamination of the soil in many areas, and debates over the liability of that work are still continuing. Cecil to help Quesenbery-Sturgill said that she became interested in Bainbridge in 1989, while working as a radio station reporter covering a proposal to build a NASCAR track at the property. Afterwards, she found herself drawn to the property, returning in 1997 with Delegate David Rudolph (D-Cecil) and then Cecil County District Court Judge Walter Buck, Jr., who was a 1940 Tome School graduate. “We were walking the grounds during some event when I asked them why we couldn’t clean it up,” she recalled. “Dave told me that if I could round up a few folks, he’d get me the keys to the gate as a birthday gift. In the end, 50 people came out on my birthday for what would become the Tome School Clean-Up Volunteers.” Every Saturday from May to October, the volunteers worked to clear brush, clean the buildings make small repairs on the property, Quesenbery-Sturgill said. Memorial Hall and its surrounding property were frequent targets of their efforts. In 1999, special legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly created the Bainbridge Development Corporation (BDC), composed of local volunteers, and tasked it with the redevelopment of the site. On Feb. 14, 2000, the federal government turned over ownership of the property to the State of Maryland and the BDC. Volunteers were then not allowed to work on the property under the new ownership. Development plans crafted in 2004 heeded the plans that then County Commissioner Mary Maloney developed — mixed use development and job centers. Despite astronomical expense to preserve condemned historic structures at Tome School by Paul Risk Associates and artist renderings of developments, nothing has come to fruition 14 years later on the bricks and mortar side of development. The fire Port Deposit Mayor Wayne Tome was at Water Witch Volunteer Fire Company in the early morning hours of Sept. 21. As EMS chief for the company, he spends many nights on duty or just hanging around the station, but about 2:45 a.m. that morning, he was pressed into action close to home. “A passerby saw flames and called 9-1-1,” Tome said. “The call originally came as a fire behind D’Lorenzo’s Pizza, which is just down the street from the station. We ran outside and could see the smoke rising in the sky. I knew it was something bad at Bainbridge.” Tome got some of his first firefighting experiences battling the arsons of the late 1980s on the property, and was immediately drawn back to those memories when he arrived on scene of the Memorial Hall fire. Approximately 50 firefighters with volunteer fire companies from Perryville, Rising Sun, North East, as well as Harford County and southern Pennsylvania, responded to the scene, and it took three hours to bring the blaze under control. “It was very disheartening to see such needless damage,” Tome said. “There has to be millions of dollars in damage in this fire.” Deputy State Fire Marshal Derek Chapman said that investigators have not yet determined a cause or origin of the fire, because hotspots still cause occasional flare-ups on the property. Until investigators can safely work through the enormous structure, few conclusions will be able to be drawn, he said. “There are collapse zones with several floors, which makes it dangerous to be in the building for very long,” he said. “Its age and make-up makes it a very tricky structure. We’ll need engineers to aid us in the investigation.” While no determination of cause has been made, officials noted that Memorial Hall has no working utilities that could have sparked a fire. The aftermath Mike Pugh, chairman of the Bainbridge Development Corporation, said that Memorial Hall was always intended to be restored in some fashion. Now they are awaiting a chance to enter what is left to assess the structure. “Memorial Hall is the centerpiece of the Tome School campus, it could be seen from a great distance,” he said, declining to note an assessed value for the building. “This is obviously a setback, but we remain committed to finding a path to restore the whole property.” Pugh said that the BDC continues to work toward a multi-faceted development of the property, with industrial/commercial taking root on the old naval training center. While the corporation’s request for proposals last year didn’t bear any fruit, they did receive good feedback, Pugh said. The lack of water and sewer infrastructure continues to hamstring development interest. “The redevelopment of the entire site and the Tome School campus may not be linked,” he said. “We could redevelop in portions.” Quesenbery-Sturgill said that the fire may have had one unintended benefit. “Out of the ashes, it has created a renewed interest in the property and discussion about its future,” she said. “Community participation and interest is an essential part to redevelopment.” History lost While Memorial Hall may still be saved, it could only be a shell of its former self, Quesenbery-Sturgill said. “Most historians, especially preservationists, will tell you that it is never beyond repair,” she said. “It may still be able to be a shell, especially with the strength of the granite, with some adaptive reuse, but the original element is gone. There was very little left before the fire, but now even that is gone.” Quesenbery-Sturgill noted that Jackson Hall, another Tome School property, sustained heavy damage in a fire decades ago, but still stands today without interior walls. The cost of restoring Memorial Hall to its original condition or even a replication of it would be staggering though, she added. Perhaps the biggest loss in her opinion, however, is that Cecil County has no other building of such size, scope and magnitude with such historic importance. “Memorial Hall was designed by William A. Boring and Edwin L. Tilton, the same New York architects that designed the U.S. Immigration Station on Ellis Island. We have no other Boring and Tilton buildings,” she said. “Other areas of the country have societies dedicated to protecting the work of those architects.” Pugh said that he could remember the sailors and students coming through Bainbridge and Port Deposit when he was a child. It was a bustling sea of people and resources constantly coming and going, he recalled. “It was a city unto itself and now to see it come to this, it’s a sad story,” he said. “This fire is just the continuation of the sad Bainbridge story.”

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, architectural and educational history." Originally from Hanover, Pa., Jacob Tome ascended from modest beginnings to earn a fortune in the burgeoning railroad industry. Born in 1810, by 1833 he had established his home in Port Deposit and is regarded as being Cecil County's first millionaire, according to a short biographical sketch put together by Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. Dickinson College was one of many organizations to benefit from Tome's philanthropy. A college trustee, Tome gave $25,000 in 1883 toward the construction of a science building (still in use) at Dickinson and the following year he announced plans to establish The Jacob Tome Institute in Port Deposit and, eventually, would bequeath $3 million to the school he founded. Memorial Hall, made of granite quarried in Port Deposit, was built shortly after the turn of the century, a few years after Tome's death in 1898. It was one of many grand buildings associated with the Tome Institute (later known as the Tome School for Boys). While the Tome School remains a vibrant institution more than a century after its founding, it has long since moved to a newer, more modern campus in North East, where a key building bears more than a passing resemblance to Memorial Hall. As for the old school properties in and around Port Deposit, they have been divided among many owners. On Main Street in Port Deposit, one has served for years as Town Hall. Another, a few blocks to the north, has been converted into apartments. Yet another, across the street from Town Hall, was torn down years ago to make way for a gravel parking lot in the days when the Wiley's Ship Manufacturing operation was a major employer. Just to the east of downtown Port Deposit, and up the cliff that helps define the town, is where Memorial Hall was constructed, and it was part of a campus as fine as any in the Ivy League. In 1942, the property in that vicinity was taken over by the U.S. Navy, and the campus became part of the much larger Bainbridge Naval Training Center, a function for which the buildings were well-suited. Unfortunately, after the Naval Training Center ceased operation in the 1970s, the Tome school campus – along with the balance of the 1,200-acre property – became underutilized. Some of the Tome buildings, as well as some Navy era military construction structures, were taken over for use by Chesapeake Job Corps, a federal program to provide job training to disadvantaged young people. During the Job Corps era, deliberate fires in any number of the vacant buildings of former Navy site became all too commonplace. Some were in nondescript military structures; others destroyed or damaged meticulously designed and constructed Tome buildings. For at least a decade, the Bainbridge Development Corp. has seemed on the verge of being able to turn the former Navy property into a mixed residential and business planned community, with revitalized Tome Institute buildings serving as an anchor. Relatively little has materialized, least of all any preservation of the old Tome Institute. It would be nice if the recent fire that gutted Memorial Hall would inspire a renewed effort at revitalizing the remaining structures, and maybe even jump-start the larger, but stalled, Bainbridge project. Given what's happened over the years, however, there's just as much of a chance that there will be a lot of talk, and the ravages of time will continue to wear away at Jacob Tome's legacy."

The Bainbridge Development Corporation (BDC) regretfully confirms that the news of a fire in Memorial Hall of the National Historic Tome School for Boys is true. An initial 9-1-1 report was made at roughly 2:45 AM by a passerby who saw smoke and flames and became concerned. Through the efforts of many of our local firefighters the fire was contained and no one was injured in the process. We would like to thank all of the volunteer firefighters for their hard work and bravery in handling such a dangerous occurrence. In response to comments about the condition of the building, we cannot produce specific details as to the damage but we can report that the building is still standing. 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, architectural and educational history. In 1901, Architects William Boring and Edward Lippincott designed Memorial Hall, and all of Tome, with a Beaux-Arts Georgian Revival style, seen through the monumental scale of the building, its symmetrical facades and elaborate ornamentations. The BDC remains dedicated to preserving, maintaining, protecting and restoring the Historic Tome School. The BDC has been in contact with local, county and state officials. The Tome School Campus remains private property and any trespassers caught on the property will be turned over to the police. The fire is an ongoing investigation and no further details can be released at this time. We encourage anyone with any information to contact Derek A. Chapman, Senior Deputy State Fire Marshall, at 410-996-2794.