Walter Hyatt Davis

Here lies another successful and

philanthropic businessman who wasn’t born in Westminster but came to the city and

left a tremendous impact on his adopted community.

Davis was forced to quit school at age 12 and get a job. He arrived in Westminster in

1889 and found work as a journeyman trimmer in the highly respected Herr Brothers

carriage shop. That “transportation” experience may have inspired him to open a car

dealership in 1910 selling the Stevens-Duryea brand, then E-M-F autos (which went

out of business in 1912), and finally Buicks in 1920. His dealership and gas station appear

here on Westminster’s West Main Street near the railroad. Community service played a big

role in Walter’s life. He was a member of many service clubs including the Westminster

Rotary; he spent a short time as Westminster’s mayor, and a long time on the Board of Trustees of

Western Maryland College. The Westminster Chamber of Commerce once honored

him as “Citizen of the Year.”

Today, Davis is best remembered for his gift of the Davis Library. After years of being

inadequately housed around town, Westminster’s tiny public library moved into the

former Methodist Protestant Church which became the Davis Library, forerunner of

the Carroll County Public Library system. At the Library’s dedication in 1951, Lowell

Ensor, President of Western Maryland College, said, “The constant use of the Davis

Library will demonstrate for decades to come a grateful community’s living

appreciation to a great man and to his gracious wife.” Sadly, Davis died just three

weeks before the dedication ceremony. The library continued in the converted church

until the early 1980s when it moved into a brand new building at 50 East Main Street.