Benjamin Robert Hicks

By Trustees of Embry AME Church

Benjamin Robert Hicks was employed for years on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He was a member of a crew that built, maintained and repaired hundreds of miles of railroad track. He is pictured in the middle, the tall man in the dark jacket. Several of Lakeland's earliest African American settlers came to the community through their work on the railroad, including Benjamin Hicks, John C. Johnson, and Joseph Brooks.

The home of Benjamin Hicks and his wife, Annie L. Terry Hicks, was located on Washington Street (now Lakeland Road) next to the old Lakeland High School. The Hickses rented rooms to those in the community and welcomed visiting ministers. The house was demolished during the early 1960s.

Benjamin Robert Hicks, born in Calvert County, Maryland in 1873. He moved to Lakeland in 1900 and married Annie L. Terry. They raised three children--Ethel, Madeline, and Maurice. Hicks was a founder and deacon of Embry AME Church. He was employed as a member of the maintenance and repair crew for the nearby B&O Railroad.