Cumberland, Maryland

"West Cumberland" redirects here. For the village in Maine, see Cumberland, Maine.

Cumberland, Maryland
City
Downtown Cumberland
Flag Seal
Nicknames:  "Queen City"
Motto(s):  "Come for a Visit, Stay for Life!"
Location in Allegany County and in Maryland
Cumberland Location in Maryland Cumberland Cumberland (the United States)
Coordinates: 39°38′20″N 78°44′30″W
Country	United States
State	Maryland
County	Allegany
Founded	1787
Incorporated	January 23, 1815
Government
• Type	Council-CEO
Area
• Total	10.12 sq mi (26.22 km2)
• Land	10.06 sq mi (26.04 km2)
• Water	0.07 sq mi (0.18 km2)
Elevation	640 ft (200 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	19,076
• Density	1,897/sq mi (732/km2)
• Demonym	Cumberlander
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	21501–21505
Area code(s)	301, 240
FIPS code	24-21325
GNIS feature ID	2390580
Website	www.cumberlandmd.gov

Cumberland is a city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,075. Located on the Potomac River, Cumberland is a regional business and commercial center for Western Maryland and the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. It is the primary city of the Cumberland metropolitan area, which had 95,044 residents in 2020.

Historically, Cumberland was known as the "Queen City" as it was once the second largest in the state. Because of its strategic location on what became known as the Cumberland Road through the Appalachians, after the American Revolution it served as a historical outfitting and staging point for westward emigrant trail migrations throughout the first half of the 1800s. In this role, it supported the settlement of the Ohio Country and the lands in that latitude of the Louisiana Purchase. It also became an industrial center, served by major roads, railroads, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which connected Cumberland to Washington, D.C. and is now a national historical park. Today, Interstate 68 bisects the town.

Industry declined after World War II, leading urban, business, and technological development in the state to be concentrated in eastern coastal cities. Today, the Cumberland metropolitan area is one of the poorest in the United States, ranking 305th out of 318 metropolitan areas in per capita income.

History

Main article: History of Cumberland, Maryland

Cumberland was named by English colonists after the son of King George II, Prince William, the Duke of Cumberland. It is built on the site of the mid-18th century Fort Cumberland, the starting point for British General Edward Braddock's ill-fated attack on the French stronghold of Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh) during the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War between the French and the British. (See Braddock expedition.) This area had been settled for thousands of years by indigenous peoples. The fort was developed along the Great Indian Warpath which tribes used to travel the backcountry.

Cumberland also served as an outpost of Colonel George Washington during the French and Indian War, and his first military headquarters was built here. Washington returned as President of the United States in 1794 to Cumberland to review troops assembled to thwart the Whiskey Rebellion.

Map of Braddock's Military Road

During the 19th century, Cumberland was a key road, railroad and canal junction. It became the second-largest city in Maryland after the port city of Baltimore. It was nicknamed "The Queen City". Cumberland was the terminus, and namesake, of the Cumberland Road (begun in 1811) that extended westward to the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. This was the first portion of what would be constructed as the National Road, which eventually reached Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In the 1850s, many black fugitives reached their final stop on the Underground Railroad beneath the floor of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church. A maze of tunnels beneath and an abolitionist pastor above provided refuge before the final five mile trip to freedom in Pennsylvania.

The surrounding hillsides were mined for coal and iron ore, and harvested for timber that helped supply the Industrial Revolution. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal had its western terminus here; it was built to improve the movement of goods between the Midwest and Washington, DC, the eastern terminus. Construction of railroads superseded use of the canal, as trains were faster and could carry more freight. The city developed as a major manufacturing center, with industries in glass, breweries, fabrics, tires, and tinplate.

With the restructuring of heavy industry in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states following World War II, the city lost many jobs. As a result, its population has declined by nearly half, from 39,483 in the 1940 census to fewer than 20,000 today.

Geography

Cumberland is in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians at the junction of the North Branch Potomac River and Wills Creek. The majority of the land within the city lies in a valley created by the junction of these two streams. Interstate 68 runs through the city in an east–west direction, as does Alternate U.S. 40, the Old National Road. U.S. Highway 220 runs north–south. Parts of Wills Mountain, Haystack Mountain, and Shriver Ridge are also within the city limits. Opposite Cumberland along the Potomac River is Ridgeley, West Virginia.

Terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Cumberland. Highway bridge is Interstate 68. Canal Place Museum is the brick building behind bridge.

The abandoned Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is now part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. The canal's towpath is maintained, allowing travel by foot, horse or bicycle between Cumberland and Washington, D.C., a distance of approximately 185 miles (298 km). In recent years, a separate trail/path extension, called the Great Allegheny Passage, has been developed that leads to Pittsburgh as its western terminus. Cumberland is the only city of at least 20,000 residents, outside of the Pittsburgh and DC metro areas, that lies on this combined 300+ mile stretch.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.15 square miles (26.29 km²), of which 10.08 square miles (26.11 km²) is land and 0.07 square miles (0.18 km²) is water.

Climate

Cumberland lies at the beginning of the transition from a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa) to a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), although bearing far more characteristics of the former, with a range of temperatures significantly lower than those in the central and eastern part of Maryland, mostly in the form of depressed nighttime lows.

The region has four distinct seasons, with hot, humid summers, and moderate winters (compared to surrounding communities, Cumberland receives milder winters and less snow). Monthly daily mean temperatures range from 31.9 °F (−0.1 °C) in January to 76.8 °F (24.9 °C) in July, with temperatures exceeding 90 °F (32 °C) on 34.5 days of the year and dipping to 10 °F (−12 °C) or below on 7 nights per winter. Average seasonal snowfall totals 30.3 inches (77 cm). The record high is 109 °F (43 °C) set in July 1936 and August 1918, both of which are state record highs, while the record low is −14 °F (−26 °C) set at the current site on January 18–19 1994 and January 20–21, 1985.

Climate data for Cumberland 2, Maryland (1991−2020 normals, extremes 1974−present)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	75 (24)	83 (28)	90 (32)	96 (36)	98 (37)	103 (39)	105 (41)	105 (41)	102 (39)	94 (34)	87 (31)	80 (27)	105 (41)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C)	39.2 (4.0)	43.4 (6.3)	53.0 (11.7)	66.3 (19.1)	74.6 (23.7)	82.5 (28.1)	87.1 (30.6)	85.4 (29.7)	78.5 (25.8)	66.8 (19.3)	53.9 (12.2)	42.9 (6.1)	64.5 (18.1)
Daily mean °F (°C)	30.8 (−0.7)	33.7 (0.9)	42.1 (5.6)	53.6 (12.0)	62.9 (17.2)	71.3 (21.8)	75.8 (24.3)	74.0 (23.3)	66.8 (19.3)	55.0 (12.8)	43.7 (6.5)	35.0 (1.7)	53.7 (12.1)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C)	22.5 (−5.3)	23.9 (−4.5)	31.2 (−0.4)	40.9 (4.9)	51.2 (10.7)	60.1 (15.6)	64.4 (18.0)	62.7 (17.1)	55.0 (12.8)	43.2 (6.2)	33.5 (0.8)	27.1 (−2.7)	43.0 (6.1)
Record low °F (°C)	−14 (−26)	−3 (−19)	3 (−16)	20 (−7)	25 (−4)	39 (4)	46 (8)	38 (3)	31 (−1)	20 (−7)	10 (−12)	−8 (−22)	−14 (−26)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	2.79 (71)	2.38 (60)	3.42 (87)	3.41 (87)	4.22 (107)	3.87 (98)	3.73 (95)	3.40 (86)	3.55 (90)	2.82 (72)	2.58 (66)	3.05 (77)	39.22 (996)
Average snowfall inches (cm)	8.2 (21)	7.7 (20)	6.8 (17)	0.1 (0.25)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.5 (1.3)	5.4 (14)	28.7 (73)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in)	12.6	10.9	12.1	12.6	14.4	12.4	10.9	10.7	10.0	9.4	9.1	11.3	136.4
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in)	3.5	3.4	2.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	2.1	11.5
Source: NOAA

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1840	2,428		—
1850	6,073		150.1%
1860	4,078		−32.9%
1870	8,056		97.5%
1880	10,693		32.7%
1890	12,729		19.0%
1900	17,128		34.6%
1910	21,839		27.5%
1920	29,837		36.6%
1930	37,747		26.5%
1940	39,483		4.6%
1950	37,679		−4.6%
1960	33,415		−11.3%
1970	29,724		−11.0%
1980	25,933		−12.8%
1990	23,706		−8.6%
2000	21,518		−9.2%
2010	20,859		−3.1%
2020	19,076		−8.5%
2022 (est.)	18,769		−1.6%
U.S. Decennial Census

A graph showing the population in Cumberland and Allegany County

The median household income $25,142, and the median family income was $34,500. Males had a median income of $29,484 versus $20,004 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,813. About 15.3% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.4% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over. The Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area ranked 305th out of 318 metropolitan areas in per capita income.

In 2007, Forbes ranked the Cumberland Metro as having the 6th-lowest cost of living in the US, based on an index of cost of housing, utilities, transportation and other expenditures.

In 2007, The Baltimore Sun newspaper, citing the National Association of Realtors figures on home prices, stated that while most areas were stagnant, Cumberland home prices were rising by more than 17%, the highest in the country. In July 2007, The Washington Post writer Stephanie Cavanaugh wrote that the great quality of living in Cumberland had attracted many urbanites to the area.

Population trends

Population decline from 1950 to 1990 was due to a string of industrial plant closures. Plants such as Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Allegany Munitions and Celanese closed down and relocated as part of widespread industrial restructuring after WWII. The 1987 closure of the Kelly Springfield Tire Plant marked a turning point, as it was the last major manufacturing plant in the city limits to close its doors.

The population of the city has continued to decline since 1990, with the 2010 census population of 20,859 the lowest since the 1900 census.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 20,859 people, 9,223 households, and 4,982 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,069.3 inhabitants per square mile (799.0/km²). There were 10,914 housing units at an average density of 1,082.7 per square mile (418.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 89.4% White, 6.4% African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.3% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.2% of the population.

There were 9,223 households, of which 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.0% were married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 46.0% were non-families. 38.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.89.

The median age in the city was 41.4 years. 20.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.1% were from 25 to 44; 26.2% were from 45 to 64; and 19.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.0% male and 53.0% female.

Economy

The top employers in Cumberland are as follows.

Employer	Employees (2021)	Employees (2012)
Western Maryland Regional Medical	2,200	2,290
Frostburg State University	1,005	NR
CSX Transportation	635	1,396
Western Correctional Institution	588	NR
North Branch Correctional Institution	574	NR
WebstaurantStore	438	NR
Conduent	380	NR
Rocky Gap Casino Resort	337	NR
ASPIRA Association	325	NR
Columbia Gas of Maryland	NR	900
Allegany College of Maryland	NR	559
Friends Aware	NR	227
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield of Maryland	NR	180
Human Resources Development Commission	NR	160
YMCA–Riverside	NR	151
PharmaCare	NR	150
CBIZ	NR	125

Arts and culture

Downtown Cumberland, Maryland

Attractions

Western Maryland Railway Station

Located at the Western Maryland Railway Station is the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.

Arts and entertainment district

Located in Cumberland's arts and entertainment district is Saville Gallery, the Allegany Museum, the Cumberland Theatre, the Arts at Canal Place Cooperative Gallery, the New Embassy Theatre, the Cumberland Music Academy, MettleArts Studio and Foundry, the Arteco Gallery and Institute for Creative Enterprise, Windsor Hall, the Gilchrist Museum of the Arts, the Gordon-Roberts House, the Graphicus Atelier print-making studio, and a variety of retail and specialty stores. Seasonal events include the Cumberland Comes Alive music series, Saturday Arts Walks, and the annual Mountain Maryland Artists' Studio Tour.

Canal Place Heritage Area

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Swain's Lock

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is located at Canal Place, the western terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and intersection of the railroad, canal, and Allegheny Highlands Trail of Maryland.

Allegany Museum

Allegany Museum

Allegany Museum exhibits include local prehistoric life, the Cumberland glassware industry, Kelly Springfield Tire Company, MeadWestvaco, the Cumberland brewing industry, and folk art on the building's second floor.

The Narrows and Lovers Leap

The Narrows is a compact notched valley that Wills Creek has carved into Wills Mountain. Inventor Frederick John Bahr bought Wills Mountain and built his log cabin on top.

The National Road (U.S. Route 40) and a number of railroad lines pass through this steep, narrow, and rocky river valley on the edge of Cumberland. On the northeast side of Wills Mountain, sits a rocky outcropping known as Lover's Leap. The name comes from a Native American Romeo and Juliet legend. The tale tells how a jilted lover met his end by jumping off this ledge. Today, the rocks high above the water provide extensive views of the Allegheny Mountains. Lover's Leap has been frequently romanticized by postcard pictures of this valley, including those taken by George Steward in 1950 and published in the 1953 book U.S. 40.

Lover's Leap is 1,652 feet (504 m) above sea level and made up of oddly squared projections of rock, from its top, all the way down to the National Highway (U.S. Rte. 40) below. The City of Cumberland and the neighboring states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia may be seen from this point.

Other attractions

• Constitution Park
• Cumberland Theatre Company, located on N. Johnson St., offering year-round performances
• Gene Mason Sports Complex
• New Embassy Theater

Nearby attractions and points of interest

• The Thrasher Carriage Museum, in Frostburg, Maryland, has one of the nation's top collections of horse-drawn vehicles, representing every walk of life, from the milkman to the wealthy. Pleasure vehicles, funeral wagons, sleighs, carts, and more are on display in the renovated 19th-century warehouse. Housed in a renovated warehouse opposite the steam train depot in Frostburg, this museum houses an extensive collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century horse-drawn carriages, featuring more than 50 vehicles from the collection of the late James R. Thrasher. Highlights include the inaugural coach used by Teddy Roosevelt, several Vanderbilt sleighs, elaborately decorated funeral wagons, formal closed vehicles, surreys, and open sleighs.
• The Paw Paw Tunnel is one of the world's longest canal tunnels and was one of the greatest engineering feats of its day.
• The Sideling Hill road cut is a 340-foot (100 m) deep road cut where Interstate 68 cuts through Sideling Hill. It is notable as an impressive man-made mountain pass, visible from miles away and one of the best rock exposures in Maryland and indeed in the entire northeastern United States. Almost 810 feet (250 m) of strata in a tightly folded syncline are exposed in this road cut.
• Dan's Mountain State Park

Notable landmarks

Wills Creek

Downtown Cumberland

Some of Cumberland's most architecturally significant homes are located in the Washington Street Historic District. Considered the elite residential area when the city was at its economic peak, Washington Street was home to the region's leading citizens including the president of the C&O Canal. Significant public buildings include the Allegany County Courthouse, Allegany County Library, and Emmanuel Episcopal Church, located on the site of Fort Cumberland. It features Gothic Revival architecture with three large Tiffany windows, fort tunnels, and ammunition magazine cellars.

The 1850 Emmanuel Episcopal Church, standing at the eastern end of the Washington Street Historic District, is one of Maryland's most outstanding examples of early Gothic Revival architecture. The Allegany County Courthouse dominates the city's skyline. It was designed in 1893 by local architect Wright Butler. The Queen City Hotel was built by the B&O during the 1870s. The battle to preserve it was lost when the building was demolished in 1972. Temple B'er Chayim's 1865 Gothic Revival building is one of the oldest surviving synagogue buildings in the United States.

Also of note are the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park Terminus at Canal Place, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, the Allegheny Highlands Trail of Maryland, the Cumberland Masonic Temple, the Allegany Arts Council, Rocky Gap State Park, Cumberland Narrows along Wills Creek, on Alternate U.S. 40.

Government

Cumberland's has Council–manager government composed of an elected mayor, four elected city council members, and an appointed city administrator. Cumberland's current mayor is Ray Morriss, who was elected in 2018 after defeating two-term incumbent Brian Grim. The current city council members are Eugene T. Frazier, Richard J. "Rock" Cioni, Laurie P. Marchini, and James Furstenberg. The city council holds public meetings twice per month.

In fiscal year 2021, the city government recognized $46.4 million in revenue, and it incurred $42.2 million of expenses. During that period, the city government employed 234 people.

In the Maryland Senate, Cumberland is represented by Republican Mike McKay of District 1. In the Maryland House of Delegates, the entirety of the city of Cumberland, plus much of northwestern Allegany County, is represented by Republican and House Minority Leader Jason Buckel of District 1B.

Cumberland is located in Maryland's 6th congressional district, and is represented in the House of Representatives by Democrat David Trone, and is represented by Maryland's two Senators, Democrats Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, the former of which operates a field office in Downtown Cumberland.

Education

Main article: List of schools and libraries in Cumberland, Maryland

In 1864 the state legislature provided funds, and a structure for obtaining local funds from taxes and private donations for the purpose of funding schools for Negroes. The first public school for African-Americans in Cumberland operated in a colored YMCA on Independence Street, and was named the Mary Hoye school. In 1923 a new school for blacks was built on Frederick Street. In 1941 an election was held of students and faculty, and the school was renamed George Washington Carver School. In addition to serving the local population, many black people from surrounding areas in West Virginia sent their children to Carver because of the inadequate local facilities. The schools were integrated in 1955, when 54 African American children attended the white schools. In 1956, 3 black students became the first to graduate from Allegany County's newly integrated schools.

The offices of Allegany County Public Schools are located in Cumberland. Two public high schools serving grades 9-12 are located in the city: Allegany High School, located on Seton Drive atop Haystack Mountain, and Fort Hill High School, located on Greenway Avenue in the eastern part of the city. These schools are fed into by two middle schools, serving grades 6-8, also located in the city. Due to zoning, students attending Braddock Middle School, located on Holland Street on the city's North End, will generally attend Allegany, while students attending Washington Middle School, located on Massachusetts Avenue in the southeastern corner of the city, will generally attend Fort Hill. Public elementary schools serving students from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade located in the city of Cumberland include John Humbird Elementary, South Penn Elementary, and West Side Elementary. Some students residing in the North End of Cumberland may attend Northeast Elementary School, which sits just outside city limits in the neighborhood of Bowmans Addition.

Cumberland is home to two parochial schools. Bishop Walsh School is a K-12 Catholic school, located atop Haystack Mountain. The school is under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and is partially run by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Lighthouse Christian Academy is a K-12 Christian school, co-located with the Central Assembly of God church on Bedford Street on the north edge of the city's limits.

Approximately 39,000 people hold library cards in Allegany County, with libraries such as Washington Street Library and Lavale Public Library and several others.

Media

Main article: Media in Cumberland, Maryland

Cumberland has several media outlets; most carry some form of satellite programming. WCBC-AM and WFRB-FM have some local news content, but do not have reporters collecting it. The closest public radio station is WFWM, at Frostburg, Maryland. Allegany Magazine is a recent media addition. The Cumberland Times-News is the area's daily newspaper.

Infrastructure

Utilities

Water and sewer service is supplied by the City of Cumberland. The municipal watershed is located to the north within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Water is drawn from two lakes on city land, Gordon and Koon. Electricity service is supplied by the Potomac Edison Company, which is a unit of FirstEnergy, while natural gas service is supplied by Columbia Gas of Maryland. There was once a working oil well that pumped crude oil from a location near the Fruit Bowl in the Cumberland Narrows. Hospitals include UPMC Western Maryland and Thomas B. Finan Center.

Transportation

Air

The Greater Cumberland Regional Airport (Airport-ID: CBE) provides local air transportation to the Cumberland area, located in Wiley Ford, West Virginia, to the south of the Potomac River. Mexico Farms Airport (Airport-ID: 1W3) is also in Cumberland.

I-68/US 40 at its southwestern junction with US 220 in Cumberland

Roads and highways

Several primary highways serve Cumberland. The most prominent of these is Interstate 68, which runs concurrent with U.S. Route 40 through the city. I-68 and US 40 head eastward to Hancock, where they junction with Interstate 70 and U.S. Route 522. To the west, I-68 and US 40 separate in Keysers Ridge, with I-68 continuing west to Morgantown, West Virginia and a junction with Interstate 79. US 40 heads northwestward into southern Pennsylvania.

U.S. Route 220 also passes through Cumberland, mostly concurrent with I-68 and US 40. However, near the city limits on either end of its route through the city, US 220 diverges north and south from I-68 and US 40. To the north, US 220 heads for Bedford, Pennsylvania, while southwards, it reaches Keyser.

Other significant roads serving Cumberland include U.S. Route 40 Alternate, Maryland Route 51, Maryland Route 61, Maryland Route 639 and Maryland Route 807.

Public transportation

The primary public transportation in the City of Cumberland is bus service provided by Allegany County Transit. This service consists of five scheduled routes that reach most areas of the city and provide access to most public facilities. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides intercity service to Cumberland via the Capitol Limited, which runs between Washington Union Station, and Union Station Chicago. The Cumberland Amtrak Station is located downtown at Queen City Drive and East Harrison Street. The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad operates steam and diesel excursion trains from Cumberland to Frostburg and back. CSX had a large hump yard for full service to Pittsburgh over Sand patch grade to the west, the Grafton, West Virginia, line to the south, & the Baltimore, Maryland, line to the east.

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Cumberland, Maryland

In popular culture

The webcomic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja by Christopher Hastings is set in part in a fictionalized version of Cumberland.

Controversies

In the mid 1990s, Cass Taylor Jr, then speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates took advantage of the recent murder of the mayor of Cumberland, to begin partnering with Baltimore, Maryland to bribe the city of Cumberland and Allegany County of Maryland officials to import 3 Baltimore Prisons into the Cumberland, Maryland area.

The first of these prisons, the Medium Security Prison of Cumberland, Maryland is currently suggested in 2024 by the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, to be the highest security level post conviction federal prison in the entire state of Maryland. The next two prisons, a supermax and maximum security prison, are listed as containing the most dangerous prisoners in the entire State Jurisdiction of Maryland Prison System, and bribes were taken to misname them as Western Correctional Institution (WCI) and North Branch Correctional Institution (NBCI) in violation of Maryland State Business Law. Essentially, these prisons are required to list on their Doing Business As signs that they are State of Maryland run properties, what the security level of the prison is, and other factors. Yet, it being thought that if the signs were accurate votes would be lost both for politicians and for their manager appointments to law enforcement, the signs have remained fraudulent for nearly 30 years to conceal the true nature of these facilities and who owns them and who brought them here.

Immediately upon the opening of the supermax and max prisons, a prisoner escaped, and he murdered the dad of a jesuit school pair of daughters. These orphaned daughters then had to have their tuition paid as the catholic Archdioscese of Baltimore who supported the importation of this prison, would not cover the educational costs of the orphans they had caused.

In a scheme to steal the coal and shale gas land from the local residents, a slow process was started to force close all the local factories using fiat appropriation similacras. Incidentally, when the Celanese plant was forced to close, it was replaced with the supermax prison and the max prison and their thousands of inmates now housed on Celanese Corporations prior lands. The mass production equipment, was most likely stolen by the Army National Guard and Army, and logistics or quartermasters corp most likely shipped it abroad to be manned by slave peon workers outside of USA Jurisdictional law and oversight. While the Kelly Tires complex was forced into closure and its property now taken over by the Allegany County Board of Commissioners and Allegany Sheriff buildings who took the bribes from Baltimore, Maryland to accept the prisons in the first place.

The arrangement between Cumberland, Allegany County, and Baltimore Maryland in terms of prison bribes, was structured similarly to the 3/5ths compromise of slave owning voter counting in the Southern States pre-civil war.

While Baltimore and Allegany County drove the Cumberland area residents off their land by closing the factories, the population numbers of the county would have to be maintained in some way to ensure that State and Federal per capita graduated grants were not lost. Allegany County's part of the bribe was that each of the prisoners brought in, would match the number of free citizens driven out of the county, replacing them with a slave in a cell. These slaves in the cell, would bring State and Federal grant money to the county, yet unlike a free citizen, those grants had no hope of reaching the resident and could be embezzled by the state.

Such that by this point roughly 16,000 residents reside outside the prisons, but roughly 4000 inside - just enough to keep the 'over 20,000 population' city grant qualifiers receiving money from state and federal programs.

Letters to the editor of major and local news outlets of corruption, are swiftly ignored via bribery paid to the news company's editors via their corporate sponsors, having surpressed quite a large amount of simultaneous rico from reaching the light of day.

The murdered mayor in the early 1990s for instance, was followed by his entire family being targeted for extermination. And so his eldest son's land was targeted to be stolen, but the theft was ended by the Supreme Court of Maryland State, only to be followed up with a bioagent being fed to his grandkids to result in them almost dying. The conspirators having failed to steal that tract of land, instead stole it from Rocky Gap State Park where they built a casino whose parking lot has been used endlessly for narcotics trafficking.

The murdered mayor's youngest son was then sold 400 acres of land on the west bank of the Gordon Water Reservoir, directly after which his own kid began exhibiting serious brain seizures proven to be caused by poisoning, yet never resulting in a federal prosecution of the poisoner. Rather it was used to convince the youngest son to have his family eat largely off the land surrounding the western side of the water reservoir, at which time the kid's seizures ended proving seizures were caused by poisoning. They had to get the family to eat off the upwind land of the water reservoir Because Fort Detrick and the NIH and Army were using them as the early warning alert system for any biochemical weapons attack on the water reservoir, and if they didn't eat everything upwind of that reservoir, how would their early death prove an early warning for a biochemical weapons attack?

Meanwhile the murdered mayors oldest son was manipulated to move into the house that any escaping serial killer from the Supermax and Max prisons, would be predicted most likely to invade to change their appearance before escaping onto the Greater Appalachia GAP hiking trail and Appalachian Trail junction. To cover up the number of prison breakouts, the Maryland Department of Corrections refused to allow residents to view a complete list of the people incarcerated in their supermax/max prisons, nor their images, nor What they were convicted for.

Attempts to initiate federal and state proceedings resulted in no case number, and were ignored by all news outlets BECAUSE of the coal plunder scheme.

It has always been the case in Catholic governments since the Roman Empire, that exconvicts, convicts, and their families have been used to work open pit mines. And as it so happens the region of this prison is not only connected to Fort Detrick bioweapons facility's wirelines to commit experiments on the locals, homeless, and their prisoners, but also this region is near the most important valley for coal mining in the state of Maryland.

Over the last 5 years, the regular 3 to 4 train cars per day of coal shipped from this coal mine, increased to a 100 traincar per day 1.25 mile long monstrosity. That over the past 5 years has plundered an estimated 25 billion dollars and 100 years of reserves from the Camp David continuity of government reserve in the Frostburg Maryland valley, first set apart for the Annapolis Navy to run their coal refueling stations, but after the B&O railroad construction managed in oversight by the Army National Guard of Maryland. These p3 violating coal plunder shipments, are sent to be sold for Freight On Board prices at none other than the docks of Narcotics smuggling port Baltimore, Maryland, the same city that sent the 3 worst prisons in the state to this region.

But Baltimore, Maryland not only received part of this mega transnational rico coal profit for sending the prison labor out here, they also continued for 30 years to embezzle structural investigation funds from the State and Federal Government, whereby in a massive rico violation, Baltimore retained the chief medical examiner of the state of Maryland in Baltimore, though he had shipped his serial killers 5 counties away to Cumberland Maryland prisons and never visited to verify if the murder rate was being covered up following that. Rather what happened was, a gimmick was set up whereby the only deputy medical examiner was left several counties away from Allegany County Supermax and max prisons, in Hagerstown MD near Camp David, and any opinions he has as to murders in the cumberland area, are overturned by none other than the chief medical examiner of Baltimore MD paid to cover it up for that coal and embezzlement of structural investigator state and federal funding.

And so in this same environment none other than the Western Maryland Health System, began forcing doctors and nurses to sign severally autovoid illegal employment contracts, specifying they agreed not to report to the DOJ any malpractice they witnessed in the hospital system. And the doctors who refused to sign were rico attacked with 100 hour per week workweeks, and the labor department of maryland instructed to not investigate these multi decade violations of concentration camp like human rights violations. This then morphed into the local hospital system deliberately hiring nurses only if they had been found to already be addicted to opiods before their hiring, so they could be trusted not to report the opiods being sold from the hospital illegally in narcotics trade.

Meanwhile, the Army National Guard Recruiting Station of Lavale Maryland, made it a matter of systematic planning, to sell the college attending family members of active duty NSA officers and Marines into 40 year old run narcotics selling houses on University of Maryland Frostburg State University campus, such as at 53 Stoyer Street, Frostburg, MD. In the opinion that if the USA Army smuggling the narcotics into the area, could merely incapacitate the marine and nsa families from working with the fbi in antinarcotics divisions, because their families had been compromised, then the narcotics profit and supply could flow uninterrupted.

This too wasn't prosecuted, even when it was found the Army National Guard Recruiting station's windows Face the restaurant that the 40 year old running the narcotics trafficking was the chef of. Nor even after the family members of his past associates began turning up dead. Nor even after the 40 year old found housing next door to the Maryland DMV office that was supplying him the fake IDs to use in his narcotics trafficking operations.

But rather what occurred was, that the Army National Guard partnered with the Western Maryland Health System to replace its ceo with a man with a Japanese name but not ethnically Japanese, to commit all the violations in the local hospital system in an offsite building far from any of his employees or operations, and lie Japan did it. This man's name being Ronin, a Japanese name but not a Japanese man. Later this company was spun off and sold to UPMC.

Simultaneous to this, the food of the county and its pharmacies were constantly sabotaged to cause serial killing of its elderly, as evidenced by the sabotage of nutrition products, the lack of any organic grocery store, the tampering and adulteration of its foods and medicines, when proven leading to no prosecutions of the procurement officers or security or corporate.

An illegal organ harvesting program has also been occurring in the town at least since the 2000s. Whereby people who come down with fluoridosis poisoning calcified stones, such as in the salivary glands, are told to pay surgeons to cut out all their salivary glands rather than to drink distilled water. Likewise all the people with mycotoxin infections causing gall stones, are told to pay surgeons to cut out their gall bladers rather than remove mycotoxins. But unlike in international illegal organ harvesting, the price of the surgery in the usa is so high, that it is effective for surgeons to simply throw out the intentionally sabotaged organs after illegally harvesting them.

When people begin vomiting from black mold, or similar mycotoxin in their homes, and reluctantly develop headaches, they are informed that there is no known cause to the migraines, and are given pain killers rather than their homes cleaned of deadly biological hazards. Bribes keep all these incidents from staying on wikipedia very long, or ever making it into the Cumberland Times Newspaper.

Cases of illegal methods of eminent domain seizures, such as tricking people to use their own money to build a structure, then tax and local rules being dynamically changed to attack that specific person so they may never use the structure they built, but must let others use it for their own purposes, while the owner still has to pay the property taxes though he's lost the fruits of his ownership - proliferate here.

Sister cities

• Tapa, Lääne-Viru County, Estonia
• Viljandi, Estonia

See also

• Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland

Further reading

• Will H. Lowdermilk, History of Cumberland, first published 1878, reprinted by Clearfield Co., October 1997, Paperback, ISBN 0-8063-7983-9.Full Text Online
• Amanda Paul, Tom Robertson, Joe Weaver, Cumberland, Arcadia Publishing, Copyright Oct 1, 2003, Paperback, ISBN 0-7385-1498-5
• Joseph H Weaver, Cumberland, 1787-1987: A Bicentennial History, Published by the City of Cumberland and the Cumberland Bicentennial Committee, January 1, 1987, ASIN B0007165K6
• Mike High, The C&O Canal Companion, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8018-6602-2
• Mark D. Sabatke, Discovering The C&O Canal, Schreiber Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1-887563-67-9
• Allan Powell, Fort Cumberland, Publisher Allan R Powell, 1989, ISBN 0-9619995-2-7
• Albert L Feldstein, Feldstein's Historic postcard album of Allegany County, Commercial Press Print. Co, 1984, ASIN B0006YQW5C
• Albert L. Feldstein, Feldstein's Historic Coal Mining and Railroads of Allegany County, Maryland, Publisher Albert L Feldstein, 2000, ISBN 0-9701605-0-X (This book consists of 135 historic Allegany County, Maryland coal mining and railroad-related photographs. These are primarily from the early 20th century. Accompanying each depiction is a historical narrative with facts, figures, dates and other information. Included within this number are 23 biographies of individuals associated with the history of coal mining in the region.)
• Albert L. Feldstein, Allegany County (Images of America: Maryland), Arcadia Publishing, 2006, ISBN 0-7385-4381-0 (features Allegany's towns and communities, downtown business scenes, residential areas, industries, historic buildings, churches, schools, hospitals, floods, parades, coal mining, railroad stations, and historic and natural landmarks. In some cases, the personal messages sent on the back of the postcards are included.)
• Census of population and housing (2000): Maryland Summary Social, Economic, and Housing Summary, DIANE Publishing, ISBN 1-4289-8582-4
• Patrick H. Stakem, Cumberland, Then and Now, Arcadia Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-0738586984
• James W. Bishop, The Glass Industry of Allegany County, Maryland, 1968, Commercial Press Printing, Cumberland, Maryland.
• Cumberland, A Hometown History, Allegany County High School, Social Studies Department, 2008, Cumberland, Maryland
• J. Thomas Scharf, History of Western Maryland, Vol. 1 & 2, ISBN 0832838764.
• Albert L. Feldstein, Downtown Cumberland 1950–1980. 1994, Cumberland, MD: Commercial Press, ASIN: B000JVCJAO
• Albert Feldstein, The Great Cumberland Floods: Disaster in the Queen City, 2009, The History Press, ISBN 1596296887
• J. William Hunt, The Story of Cumberland, Maryland, 1965, Allegany County Historical Society, Cumberland, MD

External links

• Official website
• Downtown Cumberland Business Association
• "Cumberland, Md." . The New Student's Reference Work . 1914.
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cumberland US Geological Survey
• History of Cumberland, Maryland