Luke, Maryland
| Luke, Maryland | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
City Building in January 2014
|
|
 Location of Luke, Maryland |
|
| Coordinates: 39°28′32″N 79°3′28″W / 39.47556°N 79.05778°WCoordinates: 39°28′32″N 79°3′28″W / 39.47556°N 79.05778°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Maryland |
| County | Allegany |
| Incorporated | 1922 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Edward E. Clemons, Jr. (Republican) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.31 sq mi (0.80 km2) |
| • Land | 0.27 sq mi (0.70 km2) |
| • Water | 0.04 sq mi (0.10 km2) |
| Elevation | 961 ft (293 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 65 |
| • Estimate (2012) | 64 |
| • Density | 240.7/sq mi (92.9/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 21540 |
| Area code(s) | 301 |
| FIPS code | 24-48775 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0590707 |
Luke is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, along the Potomac River just upstream of Westernport. Known originally as West Piedmont, the town is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 65 at the 2010 census.
The town of Luke was settled in the early 1770s. Among the first settlers to arrive were the Davis brothers, who established a saw mill where the town of Luke now stands. The mill provided cross-ties to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as it pushed its rails westward through the Piedmont area of what is now West Virginia. When the railroad suspended building in the 1880s, the Davis brothers disbanded and sold their property to the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, which built a paper mill in 1888.
About that same time, William Luke and two of his sons arrived. They assiduously applied themselves to developing the place they had adopted. When the railroad needed a name for the stop it established there, it happily accepted "Luke".
Over the next several decades, Luke prospered with the operation of the paper mill, the influx of other "heavy" industrial concerns, and the establishment of the usual supporting Mom and Pop businesses. Nearby, along the Savage River, there was a gun factory that provided muskets with bayonets for the United States Army at Harpers Ferry. Luke was also home of an automobile manufacturing plant where the Maryland Steamer was produced as well as a post card factory.
With Luke's growth came citizens' concerns about educational and social issues. Schooling in private homes and business buildings was relocated to a two-room schoolhouse. Growing enrollment in the first through eighth grades brought about construction of a fine new school that opened in September, 1913. It served the town well for forty-six years, sending well educated students off to Bruce High School in Westernport. When the school closed in 1959, the building was converted for use as the town's administrative offices—the City Building.
...
Wikipedia