Hagerstown Bus Terminal

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Hagerstown Bus Terminal

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Hagerstown Bus Terminals

Bus companies traveled throughout Washington County, Maryland in the early and mid 20th century. Potomac Edison ran the first trolley system in the county and later a bus company traveling the same routes. The company also owned the Blue Ridge Line, which traveled extensively in the eastern states. The Blue Ridge Line is listed in the 1927 City Directory. Potomac Motor Lines served the county – including Keedysville, Sharpsburg and other small towns. L&L traveled to Frederick County and beyond. The 1935 City Directory shows a Brenner Motor Lines, with offices on 125 E. Baltimore. Later Eastern Greyhound served the county.

The Potomac Edison News of 1929 announced that the third bus terminal in the east was opened in Hagerstown, following the lead of New York and Baltimore. The terminal for buses starting in 1929 and in use until the end of World War II was in the basement of the Alexander Hotel on the Square – the entrance was off East Washington Street.

In 1947 a new terminal was in use, off East Antietam Street. That it was a new design is clear from the write up in the Potomac Edison employees’ newsletter which noted:

The new location of the Blue Ridge bus terminal in Hagerstown features a bus stop and passenger accommodation arrangement not present in this form at any other terminal along BR routes. The buses pull into numbered stalls arranged at an angle and load or discharge passengers at a platform which is covered. This method of handling traffic and buses has proved highly satisfactory to the public and to Blue Ridge at Hagerstown (Potomac Edison News, February, 1947).

Hagerstown Bus Terminal

The bus terminal on East Antietam served the population of the county for a number of years, until bus companies reduced routes and eventually stopped running when personal automobiles became more common. The bus terminal was moved closer to Route 70 to improve access for long distance travelers.

Western Maryland Regional Library is grateful to Michael Guessford from Always Ron's for sharing his photographs, Randy Anderson, Maryland Department of the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Western Maryland Room.

Western Maryland Regional Library
101 Tandy Drive
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740

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