Twin City News December 24, 1947 James Temple Editor (Chicago Man) Still Goes By Name Of "Basil " By Lewis Keith Cook "A Chicago citizen is troubled about the town (Basil) name. He had promised his mother to hold a re-christening ceremony when the name was changed (to Baltimore). 'Blendon' did not sound like a boy's name. 'Baseball' was no more suitable than the 'lost' boy found here some years ago trying to escape 'America Fourth-of-July ' considered his name. Our Chicago

Writer's note: Judge Earl Parker, on September 12, 1947 ruled the name assigned to the annexation of Basil to Baltimore would remain Baltimore though a majority of the two communities favored Baseball. The "Retain Baltimore" committee convinced the judge that the percentage of Baseball supporters did not reach the state law that demanded at least 75% of the merging towns must support a name change. The verified voting in the former Twin Cities did not reach that percentage. H

Writer's note: For newspaper coverage of Judge Earl Parker's much anticipated verdict on whether the merged "Twin Cities" of Baltimore and Basil would be named Baseball or Baltimore, the Lancaster Eagle Gazette provides the best coverage. (The Twin City News, for some unknown reason, did not provide much local coverage.) Also, I need to include the names of some Baltimore/Basil residents who publicly sided with the Baseball supporters. I listed names of the "Retain The Name

Writer’s note: As the November 12, 1947, deadline date imposed by visiting Judge Earl Parker to announce his decision on the merger name for the former Twin Cities of Baltimore and Basil, anticipation rose to a fever pitch. In Part 12 we take a final look at how the community reached this point. March 6, 1947 Twin City News TO THE CITIZENS OF OUR COMMUNITY During the past year there has been a great deal of erroneous and misleading information about a proposed change of name

Originally published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer Magazine Section July 29, 1934 Written by Lewis K. Cook Basil and Baltimore, divided only by an imaginary line in Fairfield County, have warred over joint improvements but now they have to be satisfied with one water works furnished by the U.S. Throughout time there have been rival towns as well as rival rulers, and their rivalries have made history and changed geography. Athens and Sparta warred. Rome bled herself white to c

Baltimore has been blessed with nearly eighty years of local newspaper coverage of the stories of our community. One such story happened sev