The 20-mile North Central Railroad Trail stretching from Hunt Valley to the Pennsylvania border was renamed Wednesday for Dr. Torrey Brown, a Baltimore City physician and delegate who became an ardent environmentalist and the state?s longest-serving secretary of Natural Resources.
“I?m glad I wore a suit today,” Brown told the Board of Public Works about the surprise move. “I?m absolutely shocked.”
Brown, who had chaired the House Environmental Matters Committee, was initially named secretary by Gov. Harry Hughes in 1983 and was reappointed by Gov. William Donald Schaefer, serving through both of his terms until 1995. “Two governors made the same mistake three times,” Brown quipped.
Brown?s successor as secretary, John Griffin, said he first raised the idea with Schaefer, who has several buildings named after him. “We?ve got to do something bigger for Torrey,” Schaefer told Griffin.
