Littlestown, Pa. 17340
The machine was built in 1875 at Westminster, Maryland by the
Taylor Manufacturing Company, and was a prize winner at the Paris
Exposition in 1878. It is a horse-drawn model Dry Steam Portable
engine. Records from the Carroll County Historical Society reveal
that the ‘Taylor Manufacturing Company’ was established at
‘The Union Agricultural Works’ which was organized in 1852.
The firms were located across from the Westminster City Jail on
Court Street in the general location of the present County Office
Building.
Excerpts from clippings in the Carroll County Historical Society
state, ‘The firm is largely engaged in manufacturing stationary
and portable steam powered engines and agricultural machinery and
employs one-hundred and fifty hands’. In the early 1880’s
the Taylor family moved the operation to Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania. Another newspaper clipping from the Fayetteville
Observer, in possession of the Historical Society states that,
‘The North Carolina Millstone Company was started by George and
Edward Taylor of Westminster, Maryland and enjoyed its greatest
prosperity between 1880 and 1890’.
George and Edward Taylor Mfg. Co. made the only Dry Steam engine
in the USA and a patent was issued April 13, 1875. They have all
been junked except the one of Mr. Byers’. Geo. Washington
Lancaster, junked the last one 40 years ago. His sons, James and
William, have built a perfect working model of the Taylor dry steam
engine at Mount Savage, Maryland.
Last October, Jesse S. Byers of Littlestown, Pennsylvania 17340,
owner of the Taylor Dry Steam engine displayed the engine for two
days at the Carroll County Farm Museum at Westminster. He
personally operated the engine which in turn supplied the traction
power to operate another of Mr. Byers collection, a hominy mill
built in 1865 at New Windsor, Maryland.
The museum is located at Westminster, Maryland and visitors
should follow the signs from Green & Bishop Streets at the east
end of town. Visiting hours are Saturday 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
and Sundays 1:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M.