Post History
Our Post2 in Hampden is THE oldest in the state and one of the founding AMericn Legions in the entire country since 1919!
On June 23rd, 1919, 3 former servicemen met in the basement of their home and created the 1st American Legion Post in Maryland, Mahool Potts Post #1. Existing at the time in 1919 was an informal community consisting of former World War I Veterans. The decision to organize an American Legion Post resulted from the conclusion of these Veterans that the American Legion was the representative Veterans' organization in this country. That conclusion has been proven true as today the American Legion is the largest wartime Veterans' organization with nearly 13,000 American Legion Posts worldwide. Current national membership is over 2 million and combined with the American Legion Auxiliary and Sons of The American Legion, membership in what is known as The American Legion Family, exceeds 3 million who care about America, Veterans, their families and our nation's youth.
At the first meeting Mr. Mahool was elected temporary Chairman and Mr. Potts temporary Secretary. Decision was made by the attending Veterans to file an application for an American Legion Post.
In December of 1919, a Certificate of Application for a permanent Charter was presented.
A committee was formed to name the Post and the Post was named "American Legion Post 1”. All servicemen who died in the service of their country, as a mark of respect, were honored when the Post was chartered. Over the coming months and years many new posts were created thourhought Maryland and the 2nd post was created for a group of Marines, who asked to switch their number with ours to be the #1 post. Our post honored their request and eventually that post closed, making Mahool Potts in Hampden technically the #1 post but we kept the number to honor that post. Today we are still going and excited for many upcoming renovations to the building and our services to the veterans and community of Hampden
Affiliated Organizations
A Sons of the Legion for American Legion Post 2 was formed and The Legion has every reason to be proud of it's Sons of Legion unit, which gained statewide recognition because of it's programs of service. The SAL unit at our post is the most critical part of the daily operations and bringing the community together. Our officers also support countless charity programs in Hampden and abroad from youth baseball, food and services for seniors and hosting events and fundraisers for our great community! If you have a parent or grandparent who served at least one day in the military, you are qualified to become a member and we welcome you to visit us to see the wonderfil ways we give back and serve our veterans!
Patriotic Days
MEMORIAL DAY has always been an outstanding occasion in this community. In addition to memorial events throughout the Hampden community, the goal of every Veteran to it's last man is to keep MEMORIAL DAY sacred to the memory of our war dead of all of the wars of the country; and all graves are decorated on this National Holiday.
ARMISTICE DAY, now called VETERANS' DAY, originally marked the end of fighting in World War I. It is an important holiday on the calendar of Legionnaires everywhere and in the hearts of all Veterans. Annually the Post sponsored the Armistice Day Parade. An important tradition was established when the Post led in the memorial exercises at 11 o'clock on the morning of November 11, marking the exact hour of the cessation of hostility on the war fronts.
Registration Of Graves
Since it's inception American Legion Post 2 has been a leader in this community in the area of graves registration; which has been incorporated by all the American Legion Posts in Baltimore City. Grave Registration enables all interested parties to locate the site of the grave of each Veteran.
Scholarships and Community Projects
American LegionPost 2 sponsors various scholarships for the further education of our children. We also sponsor and financially assist many worthy community projects and programs initiated by the National American Legion.
Join Us and Keep this History Alive