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The community that
eventually was incorporated as Perryville in 1882 had been known
as Lower Ferry (and occasionally other names) since 1695 because
of the ferry service that was offered there at the mouth of the
Susquehanna River. When the townspeople chose a new name in the
late 1800s, they reached further back into history—to 1658 when
John Bateman gave his adjacent property the name Perry Point in
honor of his wife, Mary Perry. (That property was purchased by
the federal government in 1918 and is now the home of the
Veterans Administration’s Perry Point Medical Center.)
The Susquehanna ferry crossing was an important link on the
Post Road between Baltimore and Philadelphia and attained
strategic and popular significance during the Revolutionary War.
A continuous stream of travelers, both foreign and American,
crossed the river there and lodged, dined, and drank in the
ferry house and tavern that Colonel John Rodgers opened in 1780.
Rodgers Tavern became a favorite stopping place for such
Revolutionary figures as George Washington, Lafayette, [see
Havre de Grace, Ed.] and Rochambeau. Other distinguished
visitors included Jefferson and Madison. In 1781, Washington
brought officers and troops through the river crossing at
Rodgers Tavern on the way to his victorious campaign against
Cornwallis at Yorktown.
During the latter half of the 1800s, Perryville became a
major railroad depot on the Wilmington to Baltimore line. But
history was reversed when the railroad track between Baltimore
and Perryville was temporarily disabled during the Civil War—the
Union Army resorted to ferrying troops and munitions across the
Susquehanna to get them to Annapolis.
Throughout the 20th century Perryville continued to grow and
change. Once a river town, then a railroad town, now evolved
into a services-oriented town, Perryville will continue to
anchor the southwest part of Cecil County as it adheres to its
successful formula of adapting to changing times.
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