Category: Community Service

Dixon Receives Historic Preservation Award from DAR

At the Harbor of Grace Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) meeting in Havre de Grace on May 11, 2019, I was pleased to be the recipient of the DAR Historic Preservation Recognition Award. I had been invited to speak about the history of the Mason-Dixon Line, and following the presentation, Chapter Regent Barbara J. Park presented the award to me.

The DAR “Historic Preservation Recognition Award recognizes and honors an individual or group that has done recent remarkable volunteer work at the community level. The award recognizes achievements in all areas of historic preservation.”

Thank you the members and officers for this special recognition. It was a pleasant surprise.

PRESERVATION AWARD NOMINATION

Candidate for DAR Historic Preservation Recognition Award
Reasons for Application

Mike Dixon has spent 40 years as a researcher, historian, writer, public speaker, and archivist who has dedicated himself to preserving the social, regional and local history primarily of Northeastern Maryland, and more recently, of Delaware. His goal has been to keep the knowledge of the past alive by constantly exploring areas long gone, some covered by weeds or water. As he tells you about these places and people, he makes you appreciate what came before and the sacrifices people made in the name of progress.

This past year, I personally sat for his college presentation,”Susquehanna Tales,”which chronicled the geography and settling of the lower Susquehanna River Valley in Maryland and the building of the Conowingo Hydroelectric Dam. This short course involved 2 hours of classroom lecture followed by two hours touring the visitor sites, both above and below the dam. Since historians are constantly on the lookout for items of historic value that have been discarded or hidden away, Mike was able to rescue 8 large photograph albums of hundreds of photos taken before, during, and after the building of the dam. Viewing these photos made Mike’s lecture and tour come alive, showing the work and sacrifices made towards the completion of the dam in 1928.

With the internet, the explosion of data has become available for Mike to use for researching genealogy to help eager students and adults to connect with their family trees. We are lucky that the internet has become a household tool during Mike’s lifetime, making him much more productive.

For further testimony on the worthiness of Mike for our award, I direct you to the letters of support for Mike by Paula Newton, President of The Historical Society of Cecil County, and Dot Schwemmer, a member of our DAR Chapter, who volunteers at the Cecil Society. They both have many decades of personal experience with Mike. Their letters explain why Mike is truly worthy of DAR Historic Preservation Recognition. Also attached are references about Mike from newspapers, newsletters, the internet, and college catalogs; some data from Mike’s own website is included, which lists his lectures available at this time. In summary, Mike Dixon, who has dedicated his life to Historic preservation, is a local treasure and deserves our recognition.

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Mike Dixon doing some work at Fort McHenry in the summer of 2017

Recipient of NAACP 2013 Community Service Award

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Caroline Thompson, Mike Dixon, and President Ezzie Murray of the Cecil County Chapter. Photo Credit: Cecil County Chapter

Each year, the Cecil County Branch of the NAACP recognizes the dedicated work of individuals who go above and beyond, providing “selfless and community-oriented service.”  At the 51st Annual Freedom Fund Banquet this year, the Branch named me as the recipient of the “2013 Community Service Award” in recognition of my “commitment to research, the preservation of history, and the pursuit of excellence in Community Services to the Branch and the public.”  I was pleased to receive the NAACP award, especially in this historic year for the Civil Rights movement.  Thank you, President Murray, officers, and members, for this special recognition and honor.

mike dixon naacp award

Serving on Board of Historic Hosanna School Museum

Several months ago, the Executive Director of the Historic Hosanna School Museum, Iris Barnes, invited me to serve on the board of the nonprofit.  I had worked with the group on a Smithsonian oral history project as a pubic historian, so I was pleased to join this visionary organization.

Its mission is to share the rich heritage of our diverse society and foster an awareness that deepens understanding and appreciation of that diversity.  Hosanna sponsors exhibits, speakers, displays and other events that portray the contributions made by African-Americans and a variety of ethnic groups, throughout the year.

The first public educational facility for African-Americans in Harford County, the Freedmen’s Bureau funded construction of the two-story frame building in 1867-68.  It was used as a schoolhouse, a community meeting place, and a church.  In 1879, the operation of the school was assumed by the Harford County School Commissioners.  The Board of Education closed the doors in 1946, but two years later the Hosanna Community House, Inc. was created to a support a new use, an African-American community center.  Hosanna was placed on the National Register in 1991.

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Hosanna School outside of Darlington

Making Sure Fallen Officers from Long Ago are not Forgotten in Delaware and Maryland

An officer makes a call from a Wilmington police call box.
Wilmington Police call box.

Occasionally while doing a study on some subject related to criminal justice history, I’ll find some hint in the old records related to a long forgotten, undocumented fallen police officer. When that happens, I pick up the evidentiary traces and follow the trail back through the old sources, to make sure the officer’s ultimate sacrifice isn’t forgotten in the mist of time.

Over the decades, I have found officers in Wilmington, Clayton, and Crisfield who fell in the line of duty, but were never listed on national, state, or local memorials or remembered in their community. Usually when the tragic occurrence is pointed out and the facts around the incident have been sorted out, an officer or retiree from the department picks it up from there, making sure that the individual’s ultimate sacrifice is honored and recognized by the agency and the community the officer served.

Right now a Wilmington Police Department retiree is working to get Officer Charles Schultz listed on the official record. The patrolman gave his life while serving the citizens of Wilmington more than a century ago.  The tragic death in 1891 caused a sensation at the time but once he was lowered into his grave memory faded as generations passed and the lawman was largely forgotten except for headlines in old yellowing newspapers at the Delaware Public Archives.

It’s important not to forget those who gave everything to the communities they served.  So it is good to see them finally honored and remembered, as their names are formally added to the department’s roll and etched on the memorials.  Now it’s going to happen in Wilmington as this retired patrolman takes on that task of remembering this fallen police officer.