Final Expense Whole Life Insurance

A Neighborhood of Many Occupations

     The Cumberland city directories of the period give us a glimpse into the working lives of local residents.

In 1873, common occupations in Cumberland included laborers, carpenters, blacksmiths, boatmen, boatbuilders, canal shippers, shoemakers, barbers, butchers, grocers, plasterers, and paper hangers. Other residents worked as glassmakers, railroad engineers and firemen, teachers, photographers, painters, clerks, bakers, and tinsmiths.

     By 1895, the list had grown even more varied. Cumberland’s glass industry employed blowers, gatherers, molders, etchers, selectors, packers, and shippers. The railroads needed engineers, brakemen, conductors, baggage masters, car inspectors, telegraphers, laborers, and repairmen. Other residents worked as tanners, iron founders, coopers, wagonmakers, cigar makers, dressmakers, milliners, laundresses, boardinghouse operators, and shopkeepers.

​

Real People on Familiar Streets

     The 1895–96 Cumberland directory records several working people living on streets within Dumbhundred.

​

​

​

​

​

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

   

 At 85 Columbia Street lived John G. Heier, an engineer, and John C. Heier, a printer. Jacob Hausman, identified as a laborer, lived at 122 Columbia Street. On Bedford Street lived John S. Hedding, a book canvasser, while a cigar maker was recorded on Valley Street.

     These few entries illustrate the neighborhood’s variety. A person walking along Columbia Street in the 1890s might have passed the home of a factory or railroad worker, a printer, a tradesman, a merchant, or a professional person—all within a short distance of one another.

Not every form of work appeared fully in the directories. Women’s work inside the home was rarely counted as an occupation, although some women were listed as dressmakers, milliners, laundresses, teachers, florists, grocers, and boardinghouse operators. Widows and unmarried women sometimes appeared under their own names.

​

 Tanneries, Breweries, and Nearby Industry

     Dumbhundred was not simply a residential neighborhood. Tanneries and breweries operated in or near the community, and the City of Cumberland’s historic photograph collection includes views of a tannery at Lee and Valley streets and another on Valley Street.

     Beyond the neighborhood, Cumberland’s glass factories, railroad facilities, iron and steel works, mills, and canal basin offered additional employment. By the middle of the 19th century, Cumberland had become Maryland’s second-largest manufacturing center. Glassmaking, brewing, textiles, iron and steel production, and railroad work remained important well into the 20th century.

​

More Than a Collection of Old Houses

     The houses and streets of Dumbhundred are surviving evidence of the people who helped Cumberland prosper during its industrial age. Some residents performed difficult manual labor. Others practiced skilled trades, operated neighborhood businesses, taught school, printed newspapers, or designed and managed the growing city.

     Together, they made Dumbhundred a place where people lived close to their work, raised families, worshipped, attended school, shopped, and built a community whose history can still be read in its streets and buildings today.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

Sources and References

• City of Cumberland and Allegany County Directory, 1895–96⁠ — A searchable historical directory listing Cumberland residents, occupations, addresses, businesses, churches, and organizations. It was digitized by Allegany College of Maryland and made available through Digital Maryland and Western Maryland’s Historical Library. 

• Page 103 of the 1895–96 Cumberland Directory⁠ — This page provides direct evidence of Dumbhundred residents and their occupations. It lists Jacob Hausman, a laborer at 122 Columbia Street; John C. Heier, a printer, and John G. Heier, an engineer, at 85 Columbia Street; John S. Hedding, a book canvasser at 69 Bedford Street; and John Helfrey, a cigar maker at 7 Valley Street. 

• Cumberland City Directory, 1873⁠ — Records the names, occupations, residences, businesses, churches, schools, and organizations of Cumberland during the city’s industrial growth. 

• Cumberland Historic Preservation Plan, adopted January 2, 2024⁠ — The City of Cumberland’s official preservation plan discusses Dumbhundred’s historic character, including its worker housing, larger architect-designed residences, industrial connections, and ties to Cumberland’s German immigrant community. 

• City of Cumberland Historic Photograph Collection⁠ — Provides access to the Herman J. Miller Collection and historical photographs documenting Cumberland’s industries, transportation, businesses, streets, and neighborhoods. 

• Cumberland Comprehensive Plan—Economic Development History⁠ — Explains Cumberland’s development as a major railroad, canal, manufacturing, glassmaking, brewing, textile, iron, and steel center. It reports that Cumberland became Maryland’s second-largest manufacturing center during the mid-19th century. 

 

 

Further Reading

• Occupations in the 1895–96 Allegany County Directory⁠ — Browse the directory for such historical occupations as glass blowers and gatherers, railroad brakemen, car inspectors, telegraphers, coopers, tanners, dressmakers, milliners, laundresses, and boardinghouse operators.

• Cumberland Through the Eyes of Herman J. Miller⁠ — Photographs and recollections concerning Cumberland’s industries, transportation, businesses, neighborhoods, taverns, organizations, and everyday life. The City of Cumberland describes Miller’s work as a valuable collection of recollections, research, scrapbooks, and photographs. 

• The Canal Arrives in Cumberland—National Park Service⁠ — Describes Cumberland’s canal basins, boatyards, warehouses, watermen, industries, and the activity surrounding the western terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. 

• Allegany College of Maryland Oral History Project⁠ — A searchable collection of recorded interviews and transcripts preserving firsthand recollections of work and daily life in Cumberland and Allegany County. The subjects include factories, railroads, local businesses, trades, public service, and community life. 

• Maryland Glass Company Historic Inventory⁠ — A Maryland Historical Trust architectural survey documenting one of Cumberland’s important glassmaking sites and the growth of the local glass industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

• Western Maryland’s Historical Library⁠ — A large digital collection containing historical directories, photographs, newspapers, maps, rare books, oral histories, and other records concerning Cumberland and Western Maryland.