East New Market is a town located in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, East New Market had a population of 389. The ZIP code is 21631. Geography East New Market is located at (38.596219, -75.923613).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.
The town is located approximately six miles northeast of Cambridge, the seat for its home County of Dorchester. It is intersected by state highway routes 14 and 16; and may be found along the hypotenuse of a triangle running from Cambridge to Easton and from Easton to Salisbury, putting East New Market some 22 and 26 miles from those county seats of Talbot and Wicomico counties respectively. It also sits somewhat south of Denton, the county seat of Caroline County. [See any standard Md. issue Highway map for verification.]. This puts the town within relatively easy reach of four county seats in the rural areas where these counties join or are close by.
Demographics
2010 census As of the census of 2010, there were 400 people, 169 households, and 99 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 197 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 80.5% White and 19.5% African American. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.0% of the population.
There were 169 households, of which 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.0% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.4% were non-families. 37.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 23.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 3.13.
The median age in the town was 39.6 years. 22.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.4% were from 25 to 44; 22.7% were from 45 to 64; and 19.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.5% male and 50.5% female.
2000 census As of the 2000 census, there were 167 people, 75 households, and 44 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 97 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.41% White, 2.40% African American, 1.20% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.40% of the population.
There were 75 households, out of which 16.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.0% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.3% were non-families. 33.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 16.2% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 30.5% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $50,417, and the median income for a family was $56,429. Males had a median income of $36,250 versus $21,389 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,374. None of the families and 2.3% of the population were living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and 7.1% of those over 64.
History
18th century Long referred to as Newmarket, the town arose from its beginnings in the late 17th and early 18th centuries to be a social and commercial center serving the northern hinterland region of Dorchester County, Maryland into the early 20th century. It was an early locale for education. During the Great Awakening, Methodist preachers generated interest and created a majority of Methodist members in the region. They worked to convince slaveholders to free their slaves, and some did in this region. Changes in agriculture reduced the need for laborers. As a result, this area had one of the state's largest free-black populations per capita. Before the war, Methodists in the North and South split over the issue of slavery. Southern Methodists had come to accept it and believed that Christianity could be applied to a system with paternal values of protection. The church split before the war, as Northern Methodists opposed slavery.
The town was active during the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War. The granaries of Col. James Sulivane (commissary officer during the American Revolutionary War) and a regiment of militia known as the "New Market Blues" were integral to the County's as well as the colony's/State's efforts in the revolution.
The town is notable for an unusually broad span of architectural styles, most dating from the late 18th century through the early 20th century. The town's history spans a period from the pre-Columbian to the modern.
Much of the Native American Indian remains are thought to be lost. The town was developed along the Nanticoke path from the Choptank Indian "Fort". It became a center of commercial crossroads of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, located on the main north-south route. The town had boarding houses, hotels and other such facilities to serve travelers and residents. The "Bramble House," the "Old Brick Hotel," and "The Chesadale" are three that served travelers for more than a century. Construction of a rail line increased travelers to the town, who got off at the depot on the east side.
The construction of the "Governor Emerson C. Harrington Bridge", linking Easton to Cambridge and on to Salisbury, made the routes through East New Market secondary to the main flow of traffic. The opening of the bridge was attended by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who dedicated the structure.
Originally settled by colonists at what had become the juncture of several plantation, the town was named as "New Market", as recorded in a land patent and resurvey granted by patent from the Lord proprietor's land office to James Sulivane in May 1776, just prior to the issuance of the American Declaration of Independence. Some of the older grant names were "York," "Bath," "Westward," "Buckland," "Buckland Regulated," "Debate Enlarged," "Melvill's Meadow," "Sulivane's Meadow," "Hooper's Outlet," and "Anderton's Desire." At this point several of the more prominent families and their homes were located in the midst of what is now the town. Sulivane gained control of some early land grants by purchase, marriage and inheritance over a number of years. With these various parcels, Sulivane created a single tract for which the new survey or re-survey was granted.
In one section of the new resurvey, Sulivane changed the course of the road that constitutes the southern portion of the main street from its current intersection (Md. routes 14 and 16 ) to a subsequent bend and now fork in that road. On either side of this section, he platted a series of numbered lots and sold them off as building lots. The vacant lots ran from just south of what is now the intersection of Md. Routes 16 and 14 to a bend of the main street leading out of town and toward Cambridge. The oldest extant structure of European origins may date to the 1690s; it was added on to in the 1790s and became known as "Temperance House", "The Old Brick Hotel", "Mitchell-Daffin House", or "House of the Hinges".
"Friendship Hall" and "Buckland" have been dated to the mid-18th century. Early histories have erroneously ascribed all of the great early homes to the Sulivane family.
Such works as Jones's History of Dorchester County and "The Laskowski Papers" have errors of attribution.
The greater area was the home of Civil War-era and Union-sympathizer Maryland Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks. Hicks served in several different elected offices before being elected Governor of Maryland. He was one of the last nationally prominent Whig office holders. Later, he became a member of the American Nativist Party (sometimes known as the "Know-Nothing Party"), and served as governor and as a United States Senator during the last years of his life. He is considered integral to Maryland's refusal to secede from the Union.
The town was established as early as 1783, when the State Legislature authorized the payment for a road "... from the main road from Newmarket to Vienna to the grist-mill of Michael Hall Bonwill, and thence till it intersect the main road from Cambridge to Vienna." (Hanson's Laws of Maryland 1763-1784, Volume 203, Page 361, 1783, CHAP. XIV). (By analogy, Dorchester County marks the year of its organization as 1668, not from a formal creation but from the date on a writ to sheriff of the County of Dorset.)
19th century An 1803 state statute authorizes Newmarket to control certain ranging livestock. While this is not granting a town charter, the wording suggests there was a body of incorporated municipal leadership.
In 1805, the state legislature authorized the Levy Court for Dorchester County to appoint a bailiff for "New-Market", specifying qualifications for the office and enumerating powers and jurisdiction.
In 1832, the first formal charter incorporating the town is found, incorporated under the name of "East New Market". This by no means that this was the first incorporation but rather the first that can be found. Boundaries for the town were set at ½ mile as measured from an intersection of what was called LeCompte's Tavern. Later, a reincorporation in 1860 reduced the limits to ⅓ of a mile but still measured from "...the tavern house known as " James Lecompte's" or the " frame tavern" each way;..."
The idea of tracing the town's incorporation date is not dissimilar from Dorchester County itself, which traces its establishment from 1668 and the issuance of a writ from the Governor's council to the Sheriff of Dorsett. The formal setting-aside of the county has been lost.
The appellation "East" had been added in 1803 with the establishment of a post office. The change was made by the United States Postal Service to distinguish it from the town of New Market in Frederick County, and areas of Baltimore, Kent, and Talbot Counties Maryland as well as from several other areas up and down the Atlantic seaboard. Among most longtime residents, the emphasis upon the pronunciation of the town's name is on the word New, perhaps reflecting the pronunciation of the original name.
A committed forward-thinking leadership remained active over the expanse of time. By the outbreak of World War I, the town already had its first bank, electric company, water company, and fire brigade. It had its own sanitary sewer system by the 1930s.
With a congregation dating back to the period prior to the "Christmas Conference of 1784", what is currently believed to have been the first Methodist meeting house in the town was established in 1810 and known as "Union Chapel". Francis Asbury, 1st Bishop of the American Methodist (Episcopal) Church, held quarterly conferences there and noted in his journal enemy activity locally during the War of 1812. The chapel was built with an adjoining graveyard. A Greek revival structure was built circa 1848 at new location in the town and named "Trinity" replacing "Union Chapel" and with a separate cemetery on the town's outskirts established which some have come to believe was inspired by the "Cemetery Movement" of the period.