Keymar

Keymar lies along route 77 between Middleburg and Detour and is a crossing center for the Maryland Midland railroad, as this is where the east-west branch of the railroad meets the north-south branch. An appropriately-named Y Road, just outside of town off of Middleburg Road, marks the spot where the trains can switch from one line to the other. It is entirely possible that Keymar would not exist as a town at all had the railroad not come through the area, and in its earliest days, it was actually called York Road. But the railroad did come through, and the Pennsylvania Railroad sought a convergence with the Western Maryland and so the interchange at Keymar was created.

 

Keymar is about 6 miles south of Taneytown along route 194 and about 15 miles outside of Frederick, very close to the Frederick County line. The Pipe Creek splits into two branches just to the west of Keymar, with the Big Pipe Creek running closest to Keymar, creating the need for a pair of rather distinctive trestle bridges to carry the railroad over the creeks. Today, those bridges carry the Maryland Midland freight trains.

 

With a pair of railroads serving the area in the latter part of the 1800's, it would have been expected to see Keymar grow rapidly, but the local landowners kept their lot prices high, keeping bigger businesses from getting a foothold in the area, though there was a fair amount of growth inthe earliest days after the railroads arrived. It is possible now that business may be picking up again a bit, as the Maryland Midland runs several freight trains a day through the area.