Set squarely between the nation’s capital and Baltimore, Howard County is a well-blended mix of the bucolic, the urban and the suburban.
Spread out over 160,640 acres are sights as diverse as a quaint historic district in Ellicott City, high-tech research parks, an indoor mall with more than 190 stores, rivers and forests of two state parks, a lakefront city center, horse farms and fields dotted with sheep and cattle, an antiques and art center at Historic Savage Mill, and two 14-screen movie theaters.
The county can boast of such accomplishments as the first national railroad terminus, one of the largest planned cities in the country and a reputation as America’s heartland of soccer.
Demographically, the county is considered both affluent and well-educated. With a population of 270,201, Howard County has a median family income of $88,555 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Almost 53 percent of residents over 25 years old have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
THE WAY WE WERE
The county’s first colonial settler, a Puritan named Adam Shipley, was granted a home near the Patapsco River in what is now Elkridge by Lord Baltimore in 1687.
Farms, many planted with tobacco, sprouted along the rivers, and the county’s farmers became its leaders. The family of Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, acquired 10,000 acres of fertile forest and fields in the early 1700s.
Once farms were established, mills for cotton, lumber and corn, and furnaces for the iron dredged from the river banks were built. The Ellicott brothers, Quakers from Pennsylvania, arrived in 1772 with a mission to convert farmers from tobacco to wheat. They settled in a hollow on the Patapsco River and sparked a vast number of changes in the county.
Through their leadership, a road from Baltimore to Frederick was started —appropriately named Frederick Road. The Ellicott brothers also aided the beginning of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, with its first terminus in Ellicott City.
And in 1791, when one of the Ellicotts, Andrew Ellicott, was granted a commission to survey Washington, D.C., he turned to Benjamin Banneker, a family friend. Banneker, a free black with a penchant for astronomy, mathematics and weather, worked through the winter on the capital city project.
During the Civil War, Howard County sent its sons to both Confederate and Union armies —-splitting families and communities. A section of the underground railroad runs through Howard County, along Route 1 to Baltimore.
In the 19th century, the county became a haven for wealthy Baltimore and Washington residents who built summer homes, searching for relief in the fresh country air during the hot summer months.
THE NEW CITY AND BEYOND
Until the 1950s, the county didn’t change much from its established agrarian lifestyle. It was then that suburban development —-restaurants, motels and shops — began to appear in the main arteries of the county, attracting more residents.
In 1965, the county accepted the ambitious plans of developer James Rouse to buy 14,000 acres to build a planned city of 110,000 people. Rouse’s vision included the human values of racial, religious and economic diversity and harmony, as well as a convenient and aesthetically pleasing place to live and work.
His plan included 10 villages, each with its own shopping area, pool and elementary school.
Business parks would fringe the city, and a commercial downtown area would center around an indoor shopping mall and lakefront entertainment center.
Today, Columbia’s population hovers around 97,500, and The Mall in Columbia is home to more than 190 stores. The Kittamaqundi lakefront is a popular spot for residents who dine at the several restaurants with lake views, watch summer movies or outdoor concerts, or celebrate with the dazzling annual Fourth of July fireworks display.
All in all, the city has more than 120 eating establishments. It boasts 23 outdoor pools and an indoor swim center run by the Columbia Association, the city’s quasi-government organization.
There are 14 business parks, and a total of 21,816,000 square feet is devoted to office, research and development, and industrial space.
As Columbia has grown and developed, so has the rest of the county, from Elkridge to Glenelg, Ilchester to Lisbon —- providing residents with housing, jobs, places of worship, schools, parks, shopping centers and recreational areas —-all of which make Howard County a top-notch place to live and work.
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