Colonel William Norris

Historical marker location:

Reisterstown, Maryland

( Marker is at the intersection of Cockey's Mill Road and Reisterstown Road (Route 140), on the right when traveling east on Cockey's Mill Road.)

(1820-1896).

Maryland was home to the first African American woman to hold a patent: In 1885, Sarah E. Goode, an African American woman from Baltimore, became the first African American woman to hold a U.S. patent. Her invention was a folding cabinet bed, which was designed to save space in small apartments.