Germantown, Montgomery County, Maryland

Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland in the United States. It is the sixth most populous CDP in Maryland with an estimated population of 85,000 as of 2005. If it were to incorporate, it would be the second largest incorporated city in Maryland .

It is the only "Germantown, Maryland" recognized by the United States Postal Service, although there are technically three others, one each in Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, and Worcester County. It has the assigned ZIP Codes of 20874 and 20876 for delivery and 20875 for post office boxes only..

History

In the 1830s and 1840s, the central business area was focused around the intersection of Liberty Mill Road and Clopper Road. Many of the business owners seemed to be German. Despite the fact that most of the local landowners and farmers were English, travelers remembering the accents of the shop-owners called the area Germantown, and the name stuck.

On April 20, 1865, George Atzerodt, a co-conspirator in the Abraham Lincoln assassination was captured in Germantown. He was assigned by John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson, but lost his nerve and fled Washington, D.C., on the night of the Lincoln assassination. He was captured at his cousin Hartman Richter's farm in Germantown. Atzerodt was hanged on July 7, 1865 along with Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, and David Herold in Washington, D.C. Since about 1980, Germantown has experienced great growth, both in townhomes and single-family dwellings, and an urbanized towncenter has been built.

Geography

Germantown is located at .

According to the United States Census Bureau, the community has a total area of 10.8 square miles (28.0 km²), of which, 10.8 square miles (27.9 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.46%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 55,419 people, 20,893 households, and 14,123 families residing in the area. The population density was 5,144.0 people per square mile (1,986.8/km²). There were 21,568 housing units at an average density of 2,001.9/sq mi (773.2/km²). The racial makeup of the area was 62.20% White, 19.13% African American, 0.34% Native American, 9.84% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 4.22% from other races, and 4.20% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.21% of the population.

There were 20,893 households out of which 41.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 23.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 1.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the area, the population was spread out with 28.9% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 43.0% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 3.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.

The median income for a household in the area was $62,431, and the median income for a family was $67,204. Males had a median income of $46,039 versus $37,237 for females. The per capita income for the area was $26,709. 4.6% of the population and 3.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 5.9% are under the age of 18 and 9.9% are 65 or older. The largest families range from 8-12 people.

Education

• Public schools in Germantown are part of the Montgomery County Public Schools system.
• Elementary schools: Cedar Grove Elementary School, Clopper Mill Elementary School, Fox Chapel Elementary School, Germantown Elementary School, Great Seneca Creek Elementary School, Captain James E. Daly Jr. Elementary School, Lake Seneca Elementary School, Ronald McNair Elementary School, Sally K. Ride Elementary School, Spark Matsunaga Elementary School, S. Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, and Waters Landing Elementary School.
• Middle schools: Kingsview Middle School, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, Neelsville Middle School, and Roberto Clemente Middle School
• High schools: Northwest High School, and Seneca Valley High School .
• Montgomery College, the county's largest higher education institution, has a campus in Germantown.

Transportation

Germantown sits a short distance from Interstate 270 and has a station on the MARC train commuter service's Brunswick Line, which operates over CSX's Metropolitan Subdivision. The station building itself, at the corner of Liberty Mill Road and Mateny Hill Road, is a copy of the original 1891 structure designed by E. Francis Baldwin for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The current building was rebuilt after it was burned down by arson in 1978.

The Montgomery County public bus system Ride On, serves Germantown with approximately 20 bus routes, and operates a major transit hub at Germantown Transit Center. Also, the Corridor Cities Transitway, a proposed light rail system which will, when completed, connect the terminal of the Washington Metro Red Line at Shady Grove Station near Gaithersburg to Germantown and continue on to Clarksburg, further north.

Notable business and government headquarters

• United States Department of Energy
• Hughes Network Systems
• AWS Convergence Technologies/WeatherBug
• JDSU
• Qiagen
• Charles River Laboratories
• Availink Inc.

Persons of note

• Gina Schock, of the Go-Go's
• Mark Bryan and Dean Felber of the pop rock band Hootie and the Blowfish
• Rufus Buck, renowned folk singer
• Clutch, hard rock band
• Walter Johnson, pitcher, Washington Senators
• Frank Warren, founder of PostSecret
• Danny Heater, high school basketball single game scoring record holder
• Michelle Malkin, conservative political pundit

References

External links

• History of Germantown from Germantown Historical Society
• Hybrid satellite image/street map from WikiMapia