Glennwood Manor
Known Name(s)
Glennwood Manor
Address
927 Glenwood Street Cumberland, MD
Establishment Type(s)
Tourist Home, YMCA
Physical Status
Extant
Description
Although the house has been demolished, based on information from the Allegany County Tax Database, other dwellings on Glenwood Street date from 1896 to 1920 that are two stories tall, and typically are four bays wide with either a front gable or a side gable roof. Some houses are single family while others are duplexes. Glenwood Manor was likely a two-story single family dwelling.
Detailed History
Glennwood Manor was a single-family dwelling owned by Florietta F. Gales (1897-1956), who purchased the house from Clyde M. and Edith I. James in 1929, and lived there with her three children (Colbert B. Jr., Dorothy F., and David E.) after she and her husband Colbert B. were divorced. The deed (ACLR L161 F28) indicates that she assumed two mortgages as part of the purchase. Based on the information contained in the land records, it appears that the house was built in 1919 or 1920.
Gales worked at the Idle Hour Tea Room in 1927, but by 1939 she worked as a nurse at an undisclosed location. Besides her three children, the 1940 census shows that one lodger, Louise Taylor, a cook in a private home, resided in the house, which Gales owned. Staying together as a family unit and taking in boarders was a typical way to bolster the family’s income. The income from each job along with the lodger’s provided support. The Green Book listing for Glenwood Manor started in 1955, but it is likely that one of the Gales children was using the house as a tourist home, since Gales passed away in 1956.
Glenwood Street is on the southeast side of Cumberland that was an addition to the city in the late nineteenth century. Gales owned the house until her death in 1956, and members of the Gales family continued to own the property until 1981. A fire was the cause of the house’s demolition in 1999 or 2000.
