Is Arnold Losing Its Identity?

Editorial note: This is the second in a series covering Arnold's identity crisis and what is being done about it. 

 “It’s not a town—don’t call it a town. It’s a zip code.”

That’s how Alberta Stornetta started our interview on Arnold’s identity when I asked her what makes it unique as a town.

“It’s mostly a place where people live,” she added.

Stornetta has lived in Arnold with her husband since 1965, nestled in a neighborhood between Chase and Cool Spring creeks. For the past few years, she’s been putting together a history of Arnold—the first of its kind—based on documented records, photos and personal accounts.

Acting as its historian, Stornetta has become one of the key members of the Arnold Preservation Council. Since 2006 the council has been working on a visioning plan for the area as a way to preserve Arnold and its heritage as something more than a stop on the path of Ritchie Highway.

What they want to prevent, Stornetta said, was Arnold losing its identity as time marches on.

“What we’re going to accomplish, I don’t know,” she said. “Will Arnold diminish and go away? I don’t know.”

The rise in popularity of the automobile and the subsequent development of Ritchie Highway and US Route 50 fundamentally changed the character of the area, she said. It became a home for thousands who didn’t necessarily work in the area.

“If you didn’t want to live in Baltimore, suddenly you could move down Ritchie Highway and find this wonderful life out in the country that everyone talks about,” she said. “And so, Arnold became a bedroom community.”

At the start of every council meeting, APC secretary Sage Mumma reads a list of all the communities in Arnold who are members of the board. The list numbers more than 50, and goes on for more than two full minutes, all the communities’ names are read aloud.

Those communities are part of what makes Arnold special, Stornetta said.

“It’s developed into a group of cooperating communities, and those communities are self-centered, so to speak, in that their planning and activities all revolve around the families that live there,” she said.

While Stornetta is working on the history of Arnold, she’s also looking into the present. She’s assembling the stories of those who live and work in Arnold, which she said is something that’s become increasingly rare. Soon members of the public can share their memories and stories of Arnold.

These people and their personalities are what make Arnold special for Stornetta. When I asked her to think of an Arnold landmark, she mentioned the post office. When I asked her to close her eyes, think about Arnold, and say what comes to mind, she said it was the people.

“My image of Arnold is people. It’s not a building or a thing. It’s all the people in Arnold that I know,” she said.