Col. L. L. Dirickson

In the record (5)

1. 1883 · 1883-07-10

   The Maryland State Teachers' Association holds its annual convention at Ocean City, July 10–12, and Worcester County's State's Attorney welcomes it in the Governor's place.

   Circulars went out in May: the Association would meet at Ocean City on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, July 10, 11 and 12, 1883, with reduced rates arranged on every railroad and steamboat line and at the hotels. County school boards balloted for delegates — Charles County sent Thomas T. Hancock of Port Tobacco, John T. Barber of Cox's Station and L. M. Monroe of Waldorf, all expenses paid; Allegany County's teachers chose four at their Frostburg institute; Harford County's went through the school commissioners' office at Bel Air. Between 175 and 200 teachers came, "representing nearly every county in the State." The officers present were Prof. Geo. S. Grape of Grammar School No. 15, Baltimore (president), Prof. A. F. Wilkerson of No. 17 (secretary), Prof. Charles G. Edwards, assistant superintendent of Baltimore's public schools (treasurer), and executive committeemen G. L. Smith of the State Normal School and J. S. Whittington of Waverly High School. After prayer by Rev. W. C. Butler of Prince George's County, the visitors were welcomed by **Colonel L. L. Dirickson, State's Attorney of Worcester County**, standing in for Governor Hamilton, who could not attend; Edwards replied for the Association. The Port Tobacco Times, sending its teachers off, called Ocean City "one of the most pleasant watering places on the Atlantic coast and the 'Long Branch of Maryland.'"

   Ocean City has been a convention town since it had fifty residents. In 1880 it hosted the teachers; by 1883 it was the default. The state's schoolteachers were its most reliable July crowd for a generation.

   State Teachers' Association of Maryland

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

2. 1887 · 1887-09-23

   Worcester County's State's Attorney is clubbed insensible at his own gate, and fifty Berlin men charter a train to run down the suspect.

   On the night of Friday, September 23, 1887, Col. Levin L. Dirickson, State's Attorney for Worcester County, was beaten with a club near the gate of his home on the outskirts of Berlin. E. F. Furbush found him lying unconscious about ten o'clock, where he appeared to have crawled. A severe scalp wound was the only injury; nothing was taken but a $2.50 gold piece, and the supposition was revenge for his vigor in prosecuting. He was still unconscious the following day and his condition was called critical. Suspicion fell on Handy Rayne, a Black man said to hold a grudge; when the town found he had bought a ticket from Berlin to Salisbury, fifty Berlin citizens chartered a special train on the Wicomico and Pocomoke Railroad — the superintendent himself in charge — and took him there. He confessed. A Snow Hill special to the Philadelphia Press wrote that had he been caught first "there is but little doubt that he would be summarily" dealt with. He was sentenced at Snow Hill in late October to ten years in the penitentiary.

   Two years earlier the same L. L. Dirickson had stood on the beach and welcomed the state's schoolteachers to Ocean City in the Governor's place. This is the other half of the county he spoke for.

   Wicomico and Pocomoke Railroad

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

3. 1905 · 1905-05-12

   A crowded meeting at the railroad depot organises the Ocean City Pier and Improvement Company to build an ocean pier — the third such company since 1896, and the first to build one.

   "A New Pier for Ocean City. A company was organized last Friday to erect an ocean pier out from the beach at Ocean City — a project long contemplated. A largely attended meeting was held at the railroad depot." R. Lee Purnell of Snow Hill chaired and J. E. Ijams of Baltimore was secretary. Officers of the Ocean City Pier and Improvement Company of Ocean City, Maryland: president Christopher Ludlam of Ocean City (the town's mayor); vice-president L. L. Dirickson, Jr., of Berlin; treasurer D. J. Adkins of Berlin; secretary R. L. Purnell of Snow Hill; assistant secretary J. E. Ijams of Baltimore. A board of directors was elected to serve one year, and it was proposed "to erect the pier at once and to capitalize the company at $20,000." By 8 July R. Lee Purnell reported plans to build "just below the Atlantic Hotel, extending [900] feet into the Ocean."

   capitalised at $10,000–$20,000 — the two Messenger reports disagree

   Ocean City Pier and Improvement CompanySteel Pier and Railway Company of Ocean CityOcean City Steel Pier Railway and Amusement CompanyChristopher LudlamDavid J. AdkinsRobert Lee PurnellJ. Edgar Ijams

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

4. 1905 · 1905-10-16

   Pile-driving for the Ocean City pier starts on 16 October 1905 — 900 feet of hickory piles, a 120-by-70-foot convention and dancing hall at the shore end, and a pavilion at the far end.

   "Building Ocean City Pier. Active operations began Monday, the 16th instant, on the construction of the pier at Ocean City, giving employment to a great number of workmen. The beach in the neighborhood of the [locality] where the pier is being constructed is strewn with stout timbers, including hickory piles for the structure. The builders claim that hickory trees cut at the season of the year when the bark will remain are more durable than iron or steel in salt water. The building of the pier will be continued throughout the winter … The plans call for a pier 900 feet long and 130 feet wide. At the shore end there will be a hall for conventions and dancing, 120 feet long by 70 feet wide. At the other end of the pier will be another pavilion. From the shore the pier will extend over the outer bar into deep water." Robert Lee Purnell was promoter and general manager. At the company's annual stockholders' meeting, reported 16 December, Capt. Christopher Ludlam was re-elected president, Calvin B. Taylor treasurer and R. Lee Purnell secretary, with Taylor and John W. Staton as counsel, and "the pier will be completed for the opening of the coming season."

   Ocean City Pier and Improvement CompanyRobert Lee PurnellChristopher LudlamCalvin B. TaylorWilliam T. TaberThomas J. CropperJohn L. JohnsonJoseph SchaeferCapt. Joshua J. DuntonDavid J. Adkins

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

5. 1906 · 1906-06-02

   Ocean City builds its first ocean pier: 800 feet out, a "spacious auditorium" at the beach end, and upward of 5,000 coloured electric lights.

   Work was under way in the first week of February — "Considerable progress was made on the ocean pier this week, but nothing further will be done for some time owing to the great difficulty of the work during the severe weather" — and resumed in late May. The Messenger of 2 June 1906: "Work has at last been resumed on the ocean pier, with prospects for an early completion, but not in time for the regular opening of the season here, which will be on June 16. It is proposed to extend the pier out 800 feet, and at the beach end will be erected a spacious auditorium. At night the whole will be brilliantly illuminated by upward of 5,000 incandescent electric lights of various color." The company's stockholders had met at Ocean City in late January, a special car carrying H. F. Harmonson, L. L. Dirickson and Henry J. Anderson down from Berlin; R. Lee Purnell of Ocean City was secretary. The pier did not open in 1906 — the registry dates the pier building to 1907.

   Two seasons of work and a winter of bad weather stand between the charter and the first pier — which is why 1907, not 1906, is the year on the plaque.

   Pier Ballroom & Bandshell SiteOcean City Pier and Improvement CompanyHenry J. Anderson

   Source · checked 2026-08-06