Ernest Franklin Hall, the seventh of twelve siblings, was born March 19, 1933, in St. Mary’s County.  He was born at home on St. James Church Road and attended first through eighth grades at St. Peter Claver School and ninth grade at Cardinal Gibbons Institute. His favorite subject was arithmetic. His great grandfather came from Virginia across the Potomac River, possibly to escape slavery.  Mr. Hall worked during his school and teenage years at jobs that were typical at that time—in the farm fields, stripping tobacco, and oystering. At the encouragement of his uncle, Aloysius Butler, at age twenty he got involved repairing McKenna Hall where he had attended St. Peter Claver School. [00:50:54]

​

Mr. Hall was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and served two years stateside where he learn to operate heavy machinery.  Returning to St. Mary’s, he took a job working in food service for St. Mary's Female Seminary, where he met his wife Emma Milburn, who served as the college's housekeeper.  They were married in 1953 and remained together until she died 65 years later in 2017. They raise five children.  Soon after, Mr. Hall took a job in construction with Mervell Dean construction company—the largest builder in the county at that time. He worked for Dean for seven years as an employee and then formed his own business and subcontracted for Mervell M. Dean Incorporated and others. [00:08:57 and 01:12:39] He took on many different jobs from home-building to building and remodeling large commercial buildings such as schools including Spring Ridge, Leonardtown, Banneker, Esperanza, and others. [01:17:10]  He assisted as a subcontractor to build a dormitory on the campus of St. Mary’s College and had to re-engineer the architects foundation design in order to deal with a ground water spring, which threatened the whole project. [01:22:53]

Mr. Hall worked on St. Ignatius Church at Webster Field replacing the cedar shingle roof—a rare skill at that time in St. Mary’s. [00:47:56]

​

Mr. Hall claimed that “Angels” might be credited for his ability to solve problems and be successful.  Regardless of his limited formal training, he was able to solve any problem that he encountered doing the engineering and drafting work himself, many times without additional pay, as he wanted to please people, keep the project moving, and maintain work hours for his four or more employees.

​

Mr. Hall describes conditions of work and employment in St. Mary’s. His connections with White employers and contractors enabled him to lines of credit when most White-owned banks were not extending credit to Black people. Unfortunately, UCAC’s 2026 interview does not capture this part of his story. Georgetown University doctoral student Andrew Davenport interviewed Ernest Hall in 2017 for the African American Museum St. Inigoes Mission: Oral History Project. That interview is informative in ways that add to Mr. Hall’s story.

​

 Ernest Hall was a gifted builder, an entrepreneur, and he was still working each day at the time of this interview (July 2026).  He and his wife Emma purchased several acres for themselves and their family.

​

Volunteer Alma Jordon interviewed Ernest Franklin Hall on July 15, 2026 at the U.S.C.T. Interpretive Center in Lexington Park. The interview runs one hour and forty-seven minutes. A verbatim transcript is available and the interview recording is published on UCAC's website and YouTube Channel.