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What’s New With The Laurel History Boys


Donna Schneider, president of the Prince George’s County Historical Society, presents (left to right) Jeff Krulik, Richard Friend, and Kevin Leonard the St. George’s Day Award at the 2024 Prince George’s County Historic Preservation Reception for their work producing the book Capital Centre: A Retrospective. (Photo: Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission)

Board of Directors News

We were saddened by the resignation of Board member Carl DeWalt. He’s been a good friend to The Laurel History Boys and always encouraged our efforts to educate the community about local history and report the news truthfully. We wish him well. He will be missed.


Board member Diane Mezzanotte submitted the winning entry for the City of Laurel’s Laurel Pride logo contest. The L incorporates a rotating series of colorful lines that represent the diverse makeup of the Laurel LGBTQ+ community and allies. The Lambda symbol also resembles a high-heeled shoe often worn by drag performers, and the heart jewel on the “toe” symbolizes our community leading with love.


Grants and Donations

Thank you to Jane Abshire, James Bowman, Fran Fliss, Connie Lucas, and Kathie Peterson for their monetary donations to Voices of Laurel. We are grateful. We were thrilled to receive scanned pages from an original Maryland City realtor pamphlet from Melody Carnell. Original model homes were featured on the pages, which we posted as a Saturday photo of the week on our Facebook page.


Capital Centre: A Retrospective Receives Award/Recognition

The Prince George’s County Historical Society recognized our book, Capital Centre: A Retrospective, with a St. George’s Day Award! We very much enjoyed attending the 2024 Prince George’s County Historic Preservation Reception at the beautiful Newton White Mansion, just a stone’s throw from where the Capital Centre itself once stood. Rich, Kevin, and Board member Jeff Krulik received awards.


Also, the May issue of the Business Monthly featured an article by Mark Smith about the production of the book. And on radio station 106.7 The Fan, the Sports Junkies discussed the book, raving about it.


The book can be ordered at www.laurelhistory.com. Click “Shop.”


Spring Book Fair Celebrated LHS Graduate Authors

The Laurel History Boys sponsored a Spring Book Fair in April, which featured the first-ever collection of Laurel published authors, some of whom are Laurel High School graduates. One of our guest authors, Jim Clash, wrote an article about it for Forbes magazine.


Voices of Laurel now in the Howard County Historical Society’s Collection

Our friends with the Howard County Historical Society have added a complete collection of past issues of Voices of Laurel to their archives. Executive Director Mark Stout said, “We would gladly accession the Voices of Laurel collection. We actually have a fairly extensive newspaper collection, which includes some rare papers such as the Ellicott City Times and the Howard Gazette from the mid-1800s. It makes sense to add this to our collections.” The Howard County Historical Society has contributed articles to most of the past issues of Voices of Laurel and is one of our most valued collaborators.


Main Street Festival

We were at our traditional spot in front of Oliver’s Old Towne Tavern for the Main Street Festival on May 11. We always enjoy meeting new people and talking to many who are familiar with our work. Thank you to all who stopped by!


Presentations

Upcoming presentations by The Laurel History Boys:

  • On September 6, as part of the Howard County Historical Society’s “Lunch Date with History” Lecture Series, Kevin will present “Capital Centre Stories.” He will describe how the arena came to be and tell backstage stories from sports to concerts by virtually every major performer in every genre, as told by the dozens of former employees interviewed for the book Capital Centre: A Retrospective. The Museum of Howard County History, 8328 Court Avenue, Ellicott City, MD 21043. FREE; 11:00 AM. Please register in advance at www.hchsmd.org/lunch-lectures-2024/.

  • On September 10, Kevin will present “Laurel’s Housing Boom,” focusing on West Laurel, the Fairlawn district, the Route 197 corridor, and Maryland City, from the mid-1950s to the mid-60s. North Laurel Community Center, 9411 Whiskey Bottom Road, Laurel, MD 20723. FREE; 10:30 AM.

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