Worcester County School Building Commission
government · founded 1929
Created by Chapter 175 of the Acts of the Maryland General Assembly of 1929 (approved 11 April 1929) to supervise and direct the spending of the $300,000 Worcester County Public School Bonds (Issue of 1929) on new school buildings at Pocomoke City, Snow Hill, Berlin, Ocean City, Bishopville, Whaleyville and Newark and in the Seventh Election District. Thirteen named members plus the County Superintendent of Schools ex officio, serving without pay but reimbursed for expenses, barred from any interest in a contract they made, electing their own chairman and secretary, keeping minutes open to any taxpayer at all reasonable times and surrendering them to the County Commissioners when the work was done. The members: Allen P. Schoolfield, Dr. Albert A. Parker and Charles L. Mason of Pocomoke City; Dr. John L. Riley and Carson F. Chandler of Snow Hill; Archie H. Hardesty and J. Richard Phillips, Jr., of Berlin; Ralph R. Dennis and John M. Mumford of Ocean City; N. Jerome Wimbrow of Whaleyville; Thomas P. Wharton of Stockton; and William H. Collins and Asher C. Moore of Bishopville. The bond issue was conditional on a county referendum held on the second Tuesday in May 1929. Distinct from org:ocean-city-school-building-commission, the state commission created by Chapter 227 of 1914.
In the record (1)
1929
Worcester County tries the school bond again: $300,000 at referendum in May 1929, Ocean City's share doubled to $30,000, and two Ocean City men on the building commission.
Chapter 175, approved 11 April 1929, directed the County Commissioners to borrow $300,000 and issue 'Worcester County Public School Bonds (Issue of 1929)', dated 1 July 1929, redeemable $5,000 in 1932 rising to $20,000 a year by 1951, to build and equip new schools at Pocomoke City, Snow Hill, Berlin, Ocean City, Bishopville, Whaleyville and Newark and in the Seventh Election District. The cost was to be 'substantially the same' for Pocomoke City, Snow Hill and Berlin, and 'shall not exceed the sum of thirty thousand dollars for Ocean City', $20,000 for Bishopville, $10,000 each for Whaleyville and Newark and $3,500 for the Seventh District. The question went to a special county referendum on the second Tuesday in May 1929, polls 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and if the majority voted 'Against School Bonds' the act was of no effect. A thirteen-man Worcester County School Building Commission was named in the act; its Ocean City members were Ralph R. Dennis and John M. Mumford.
The General Assembly of 1927 had already passed a $300,000 Worcester school bond, also subject to referendum, with 'approximately fifteen thousand dollars each for Ocean City and Bishopville'. Two years later the county is back for the same $300,000 — which is the clearest evidence available that the 1927 bond never issued. Ocean City's ceiling has doubled, and for the first time the town has its own men on the commission spending it.
Board of Education of Worcester CountyRalph R. DennisJohn M. Mumford
Source · checked 2026-08-06