Funded in part by the Mary K. Bowman Fund for Historical and Fine Arts administered by the Community Foundation of Washington County MD, Inc., and the Riggs-Conard Trust Fund.
The Historic Newspaper Indexing Project began in 1980 as an aid to patrons researching Washington County
history and genealogy. An Index to Hagerstown Newspapers is a multi-volume subject and personal name index to local and regional
news published in weekly and semi-weekly newspapers in Hagerstown, Maryland between 1790 and 1890. The printed volumes covering
the period from 1790 to 1849 and 1860 to 1865 are already completed and are on the open shelves at The Washington County Free
Library (WCFL) in Hagerstown and in the Reference sections of the county branches. Microfilms of the original newspapers are
available for the public's use at the WCFL Information Desk in Hagerstown.
Search Articles online from
* * * * 1845
to 1849 and 1860 to 1865 * * * * 1845-1849 Index
now available in hardcover!
Although improvements and new businesses were appearing in Washington County as the canal began to become an important transportation route to the region, the second half of the 1840s was a time of slow growth for the canal and businesses associated with it due to three floods and continual difficulties in completing the canal to Cumberland.
The novelty of war, unknown in the United States since 1815, and the improved communication of the telegraph and rapid transit of steam boats and trains combined with the cheap and abundant newspapers made the war with Mexico a public sensation.
