“Any effort to educate our fellow-man should invite favor and support. Nothing is lost to him who helps to better the condition of the unfortunate and helpless.” — The Afro-American Ledger (October 12, 1901) Praise and the promise of support from notable local and national public figures filled the full-page appeal for public financial support for the establishment of the Maryland Industrial and Agricultural Institute for Colored Youths in the Afro-American Ledger . However,

Laurel, once again, will soon lose another part of its rich history. In the near future, horse racing will cease operations here and Laurel Park will be reduced to a training facility only. My feelings are mixed on just how long that and the racing industry itself will exist in Maryland. Laurel, in my opinion, would have been a much better idea than Pimlico. The monies invested here in recent years have now to gone to waste. Laurel Park opened on October 2, 1911 and has serv

Photos by Nick Giumenti The great European mountaineer Reinhold Messner once told me, “Fear is coming and coming when you’re waiting and waiting and going and going when you’re doing and doing.” Messner’s observation is correct. As an adventure writer with Forbes , I’m pretty much afraid just before I do something extreme, but during the experience itself not so much so, whether it’s flying supersonic in an F-16 or to the edge of space in a U-2, or driving 253 mph in a Bugatt

Rick McGill, who wrote a column about his time as an officer with the Laurel Police Department for Voices of Laurel for five years, has released his first novel, Wait For Me: A Granite Ghost Story . The novel is set in the 1890s silver-mining town of Granite, above present-day Philipsburg, Montana. The Laurel History Boys are proud to present this excerpt. The book is available on Amazon. Prologue In a small tourist town of eight hundred residents in western Montana, Steve a

Spring 2026 George Aleksei, 71 George Kuno Aleksei of Laurel passed away peacefully on January 13, 2026, at Oak Manor at Autumn Lake. Born on October 2, 1954, in Fort Meade, he was the son of Kuno Aleksei and Carol Margaret Aleksei. He graduated from Arundel Senior High School in 1972 and worked independently as a construction worker and delivery driver. He was an avid boater and also traveled to various states to attend thoroughbred horse racetracks. George is survived by hi