Abingdon is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

Harford County Harford County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 260,924. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is al ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, United States. It lies northeast of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Route 7 Maryland Route 7 (MD 7) is a collection of state highways in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for much of their length as Philadelphia Road, there are five disjoint mainline sections of the highway totaling that parallel U.S.&nb ...

, near the Bush River, between Exits 77 ( MD 24) and 80 ( MD 543) of Interstate 95.

Demographics

History

Abingdon was named after Abingdon,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The town was founded by and is the birthplace of

William Paca William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, a signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

and the third

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

. Abingdon was the site of

Cokesbury College Cokesbury College was a college in Abingdon, Maryland and later Baltimore, Maryland that existed from 1787 until 1796. Cokesbury College was founded as the first Methodist college in the United States. Its name was a combination of the names of ...

, the first Methodist college in the United States. Woodside was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979. The

Nelson-Reardon-Kennard House The Nelson-Reardon-Kennard House, also known as the Methodist Parsonage, is a historic home located at Abingdon, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It is a two-part frame house, with a five-bay, two-story front section built about 1785 an ...

was listed in 1991. Abingdon changed from an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

to a

for the 2020 census.

Schools

Since it is located in Harford County, the community of Abingdon is served by the Harford County Board of Education, which consists of an elected-appointed Board of six elected members and three members appointed by the Governor of the State of Maryland. Most students in the Abingdon area who enter kindergarten and progress to the fifth grade attend William S. James Elementary School or Abingdon Elementary School. Upon the opening of Patterson Mill High School in 2007, a majority of students attending William S. James Elementary School began to attend this new facility. Additionally, all of the students at Abingdon Elementary School subsequently attend Edgewood High School. A third primary school, William Paca/Old Post Road Elementary School, is located on the border of Abingdon and Edgewood. These students also attend the Edgewood or Joppatowne secondary schools. The older Deerfield Elementary and Edgewood High school buildings were replaced by newer, updated facilities by the same name in 2010. Prior to Kindergarten, children can attend various child care and preschool programs such as Kiddie Academy whose headquarters are also located in the community of Abingdon. At a Board of Education meeting on the July 13, 2020, it was discussed to change the name of the William S. Paca elementary school as many families protest attending a school named after a slave holder.

References

External links

Abingdon, Maryland
Census-designated places in Harford County, Maryland Census-designated places in Maryland {{HarfordCountyMD-geo-stub