This archway to seemingly nowhere was once a main entrance into the Jacob Tome School. This is all that remains of Washington Hall. The brick and granite school building opened for admissions of students in 1894. The carvings at the top of the pillars are likenesses of the Institute founder, Jacob Tome and his second wife, Evelyn Nesbitt Tome.
In 1833, Jacob Tome arrived in Port Deposit as a penniless young man, working on an ark coming down the Susquehanna Canal. He worked hard and through many industries became wealthy. In 1850 he built a mansion of Port Deposit Granite directly across the street from where this archway stands. It backed to the cliff but had beautifully sculpted gardens among the terraces. He later started the Cecil Bank in the tower of this mansion. The mansion no longer stands but it was the largest house in town.
At his death in March 1898, he was one of the richest men in the United States. It is a comment on the character of Port Deposit that he rose to become Cecil County’s first millionaire.
