"AnteLebanus"

Half the deeds in Owensville trace their titles back to “AnteLebanus”, a 685-acre tract purchased in 1793 by Dr Wm Murray.  He and his wife Harriet settled there in 1800.

DrWmMurray 1752-1842 (ARandall photo)

At the northwest edge of AnteLebanus was a small crossroad.  As Dr Murray began selling land around the crossroad, Owensville was born.  

Isaac Owens bought the N corner for his store & blacksmith shop.

The S corner was Isaac’s too, where his house doubled as a place for preaching and funerals. 

The E corner was John Hopkins' - his shops produced wagons, carriages, farm implements, harnesses, saddles, boots, brogans, and cloth. 

Wm Murray, the benevolent village doctor, lived to age 90.  His secret to long life?  “A happy mind”.  

His wife wrote in 1840:  “I have never heard him express anything like discontent...  His health is very good, and but for the loss of his sight, he enjoys life as much as he has for many years; he can scarcely discern one colour from another, yet he watches the monthly rose bushes and regularly brings me his morning offering of a

1860 Martenet Map - "West River Country"

Rose.”

After Murray's death in 1842, Owensville grew some more.          

A Methodist Chapel was built in 1849, and a Masonic Hall.

In 1850, a Classical Institute whose catalog boasted:  

“Owensville’s citizens breathe a pure atmosphere and enjoy most excellent health.

Maryland can present no village more favorable to mental and moral improvement.”   

                 

In 1852, an Episcopal chapel and a public school.  In 1866 a Catholic Church.  
In 1867 a larger Episcopal Church.

Owensville was on a roll!

But alas, the automobile was the undoing of Owensville's commerce.  Villagers began driving to Annapolis to shop.

Isaac Owens’ store closed after 150 years. 

By 1952 Owensville consisted of fifteen residences, two churches, a school, and a post office.

Kate Chew in her 1970's memoir wrote, “Perhaps Owensville will be an historic district someday.  It should be.”  

5 years after her death, in 2003, it happened: 

   

  ->  The Owensville National Register Historic District  <-    Ta-Da ! 

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