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F.O.E. Ten Commandment Monuments in Maryland (2)
| Cumberland, Maryland |
Allegany County Courthouse
Photo courtesy of Dr. Jeffrey M. Davis (August 2008)
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Photo courtesy of Dr. Jeffrey M. Davis (August 2008) |
Donated by FOE: 1957
Location: Allegany County Courthouse, Washington St. (right side).
Scroll: ”Presented To / The People Of Cumberland / Aerie No. 245 / Fraternal Order Of Eagles / 1957”
Photo by Robert V. Ritter (July 2016)
(The discoloration is due to rain dripping down the center of the monument and does not appear when the monument is dry.)
Note: The Ten Commandments monument was briefly removed in 2004 as a result of a complaint by Dr. Jeffrey M Davis and returned after complaints by the religious community.
Litigation: Dr. Jeffrey M. Davis filed a lawsuit on March 8, 2016 in U.S. District Court seeking an injunction to remove the monument from the courhouse lawn. Davis v. Shade, 16-cv-0689 (D. Md.). On August 15, 2016, Dr. Davis took a voluntary dismissal (meaning that he can refile the case).
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| Frederick, Maryland |
Memorial Park
Photo by Robert V. Ritter (August 2009)
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Photo by Robert V. Ritter (August 2009) |
Donated by FOE: June 29, 1958
Location: Memorial Park (on N. Bentz Street between W. 2nd St. & Calvary Dr.) in 1985. The city sold the a ten-by-fifty foot parcel of land around tombstone to the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Original Location: Frederick County Courthouse (which changed to the Frederick City Hall in 1983).
Scroll: “Presented To / The City Of Frederick / By / Frederick Aerie No. 1067 / Fraternal Order of Eagles”
Base: “Dedicated June 29, 1958”
Litigation: . In 2002, the ACLU sought to remove the monument but dropped its suit after the city sold the monument and a parcel of land to the FOE. In 2003, Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit against the city and the FOE, challenging the transaction. In Chambers v. City of Frederick, 373 F.Supp.2d 567 (D. Md., 2005) the U.S. District Court held that the City of “Frederick’s sale of the commandments monument and the land on which it sits, and its continued display on the Memorial Ground, constitutional.”
Notes:Unlike the fenced carvouts in Hanover, Pennsylvania and La Crosse, Wisconsin, there is no fence in Frederick separating private from public property.
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