The sidewalks are paved with brick, and the streets are substantial turnpike-roads. The site of the old court-house, which stood at the intersection of Potomac and Washington Streets, is now need as a public square. It is a great rendezvous for market people. The finest private residences are situated on Prospect, and at the head of West Washington and North Potomac Streets, but there are also a number of others scattered about in different localities. The houses are mostly of brick, but some graystone is also used with handsome effect.
Hagerstown was laid out as a town in 1762 by Capt. Jonathan Hager, and its site is said to have been in the main a dreary, uneven swamp. Capt. Hager came from Germany about 1730 and settled in what is now Washington County, about two miles west of the present site of Hagerstown, on a tract of land which was known as " Hager's Delight," and which was owned recently by the late Samuel Zeller. The earliest information of Jonathan Hager, Sr., is found in the statement that he received a patent of certain land on which a portion of the city of Philadelphia now stands. He was a man of much independence and force of character, and pushed on to Maryland. Having obtained patents for extensive tracts of land in Washington County, he settled, as stated above, in the vicinity of Antietam Creek. On this farm was built the first two-story log house, with an arched stone cellar so constructed that if the family were attacked by the Indians they could take refuge there. Capt. Hager was frequently assailed by the savages, and his family found the cellar a most useful asylum. It was often necessary to protect the dairy-maids with armed men while engaged in milking the cows. As a rule, however, Capt. Hager generally managed to keep on pretty friendly terms with the Indians of the vicinity.
Jonathan Hager was not, however, the first settler in the neighborhood of Hagerstown. He was no doubt preceded several years by Capt. Thomas Cresap, the famous Indian-fighter, and other fearless settlers. Capt. Cresap at a very early period built an Indian fort of stone and logs over a spring at " Long Meadows," on the farm now owned by George W. Harris, about three miles from Hagerstown, which was known for many years as " Old Castle Cresap." During the Indian wars Cresap's fort was an important point, as it afforded protection to those who fled to it for safety. It was also a general rendezvous for the rangers established in the county for the protection of the back settlements. When the inhabitants increased and the Indians were driven farther into the interior, Cresap abandoned his castle near Hagerstown and erected a more formidable one at his new home at Skipton, or Old Town, in Allegany County. Some of the ruins of his old fort are yet visible; indeed, the old stone barn, on the farm of Mr. Harris which was purchased by him in 1868 from the executors of the late Richard Ragan, was built out of the stone of Castle Cresap, which stood on that farm. " Long Meadows" was the favorite abode of the early settlers of Washington County, and within the memory of many living the farms in that locality were owned by the Harts, Spriggs, Thomas B. Hall, and other names once familiar, but now extinct.
Jonathan Hager was attracted to Washington County by the fertility of its soil and the great abundance of pure and wholesome water, and was not disappointed in the hope of speedily accumulating a comfortable maintenance.
About 1740 he married Elizabeth Kershner, who lived in the same neighborhood. They had two children, Rosanna and Jonathan. Rosanna married Gen. Daniel Heister, and Jonathan married Mary Madeline, daughter of Maj. Christian Orndorff, who lived near Sharpsburg. Maj. Orndorff's house was the headquarters of the Revolutionary officers who passed that way to or from the scene of military operations in the North or South. Mrs. Jonathan Hager, Jr. (Mary Orndorff), was a great belle and beauty in her day, one of her suitors being the famous Gen. Horatio Gates. She rejected him, however, and when fifteen years of age accepted Jonathan Hager, Jr., and was married to him. They had one daughter, Elizabeth, who married Upton Lawrence. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, and their descendants are very numerous. Among them are the two Misses Lawrence, who reside in the Lawrence mansion, and who have many interesting relics of the Hagers in their possession. Among them is the original plat of the town, as shown in the cut. They also have Jonathan Hager, Sr.'s, old-fashioned silver watch of the " turnip" pattern, the massively engraved silver shoe-buckles worn by Jonathan Hager, Jr., and the latter's suspender-buckles of silver, with his initials engraved on them. Among the other articles in their collection is a handsome silver stock-buckle set with brilliants and attached to a stock of black lace and blue satin, a brooch of brilliants for the shirt, a gold ring set with a ruby and diamonds, and a full-dress suit with lace and ruffles. This costume consists of two vests, — one of them of white satin embroidered with spangles and colored silks, and the other of apple-green silk embroidered with spangles, gold thread, and colored silks. The spangles and embroidery are still as bright, probably, as when they were first put on. They also have Mr. Hager, Jr.'s, silver shoe-buckles, magnificently set with brilliants, and retain possession of all the old silver and plate.
The elder Jonathan Hager named the new village Elizabeth Town in honor of his wife, Elizabeth, but in after-years it came to be written Elizabeth (Hager's) Town, and gradually the Elizabeth was discarded and it was denominated solely Hagerstown. Capt. Hager laid off the town in about 520 lots of 82 feet front and 240 feet deep, making half an acre each, which were leased for £5 consideration money, $1, or 7 shillings and 6 pence, per annum as a perpetual ground-rent. He reserved all the lots outside the town which were not numbered in the original, but these were afterwards sold by his heirs. There are still in the possession of his descendants about 300 ground-rents of the original town lots. A large square was laid out, and a market-house was erected in the center, at the intersection of what is now Washington and Potomac Streets. Afterwards a courthouse and market-house combined was built, the market-house being below and the court-house above. When Washington County was created out of Frederick in 1776, Mr. Hager, we are told, " rode down to Annapolis and had his town made the county town." This must have been Jonathan Hager, Jr., as the date of his father's death is given as being 1775. In the previous year (1773) Jonathan Hager, Sr., had been returned as a delegate to the General Assembly of Maryland from Frederick County, but not being a native subject of the English crown nor descended from one, but naturalized in 1747, was declared ineligible by the House. The act created a considerable stir., and the Governor and Council declared it unprecedented. He was also a member of the House of Delegates in 1771. The course of the Assembly in 1773 was predicated on a petition from Samuel Beall setting forth that a number of voters in Frederick County had not produced certificates of their naturalization, and on account of their religious tenets had refused to take the oaths required by law. The old Hager residence, a massive stone building on the eastern side of the public square and fronting on Washington Street, was torn down a few years ago in order to make room for a store. In this ancient structure the Hagers resided for a number of years, and after them Col. Henry Lewis, who married Mrs. Mary Hager, widow of Col. Jonathan Hager, Jr. Mrs. Mary Hager was still a very beautiful woman, and still young when Col. Hager died. At one time Luther Martin, the great lawyer, was an ardent suitor for her hand, but she rejected him and married Col. Lewis. Both the Jonathan Hagers, father and son, were very popular with the citizens of Hagerstown, and enjoyed almost unbounded influence. The elder Hager was accidentally killed on Nov. 6, 1775, in his sixty-first year, at a saw-mill near the site of Hager's mill, by a large piece of timber rolling upon and crushing him. The timber was being sawed for the German Reformed church, which Mr. Hager was very active in building. Jonathan Hager, Jr., entered the Revolutionary army, and served through the war. After his marriage he resided in Hagerstown, and died in December, 1798. In its issue of the 20th of that month the Hagerstown Herald paid him a warm tribute as a worthy citizen and an affectionate husband and father. His daughter, Elizabeth, married Upton Lawrence, a distinguished lawyer of Hagerstown.
In 1791, Henry Shryock, Matthias Need, and Martin Harry were appointed commissioners, with power and authority to lay out a portion of ground in Elizabeth Town for the purpose of building a market-house