When the gardening season comes back around, do your thoughts turn to compost? And where the heck can I get a good supply? These days we can get it bagged, picked up from local purveyors in our trailers or have it delivered. But, there’s nothing better than having your own farmyard supply aging in piles for later use. Where did our old time Westminster town dwellers get supplies for gardens on their narrow lots?
Once upon a time in Westminster, there was a service called a livery stable which could be multistory or multiple buildings on a lot. These were necessary places where citizens could hire out horses, wagons and coaches or board horses for short periods. They also provided accommodations for visiting relatives or businessmen to leave their horses. Next to hotels was a popular place for stables. Liveries were also places where large stocks of coal and wood, hay and straw would be stored.
According to an 1870’s map, Westminster had stables in several places along Main Street within one or two lots of:
- W. Main and Bond St
- Court St. and E. Main, next to the Westminster Hotel
- Anchor St. and W. Main
- Bishop Alley and E. Main
- E. Main and Longwell, near Central Hotel
- John St. and W. Main
Keep in mind that nobody in a residential area would want to live close to a livery, important as they were. Stables were considered a detrimental nuisance structure, like having a saloon next door. This would result in restrictive covenants. Consider the stench from manure, noise, rats and mice and lights at night in an otherwise peacefully dark street. And, liveries were considered to be a bulls eye for vice–gambling, carousing and cockfights. At least two large fires in Westminster that destroyed nearby homes and businesses began in stables. So, residential property owners that caught wind of a stable coming to their street might proactively purchase lots adjacent to their house to prevent the nuisance. The services of stables ended with the age of the automobile.
So, dear gardeners, where did all the manure from these Westminster stables go? Did villagers come with carts and take what they needed? City of Baltimore had so much stable manure that they dumped huge piles of it outside the city. I do miss my horse-owning neighbor who brought his front loader filled with raw material for me to compost!
Example of a large livery stable interior
