Lincoln Park is an

African-American neighborhood African-American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. Generally, an African American neighborhood is one where the majority of the people who live there are African American. ...

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...

, east of the

B&O Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

tracks. Most high-school-aged residents of the Lincoln Park attend

Richard Montgomery High School Richard Montgomery High School (RMHS) (#201) is a secondary public school located in Rockville, Maryland. Academics The school houses Montgomery County's first International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB). This competitive-entry magnet pro ...

. Its local community center has aimed to help those in the area.

Background

Lincoln Park was established in the late 1890s, one of the first real estate ventures in Montgomery County intended for sale to

Black people Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...

. Other African American communities in the county generally traced their origins to a gift, perhaps from a former slave owner, or purchase of land by

freed slaves A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

after the

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. About 40 communities in Montgomery County were settled by freed slaves in the 19th century. Today, these historic African American enclaves include Ken-Gar in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and Tobytown in Potomac, Stewartown and Emory Grove in

Gaithersburg Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the ninth-largest location in the state. Ga ...

, and

Lyttonsville Lyttonsville is a mostly residential neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland. Established in the 1850s, it is among the oldest neighborhoods in Montgomery County, Maryland, Montgomery County and is a notable example of a community created by free ...

in Silver Spring. Unity Pedestrian Bridge

Lincoln Park’s origins differ from those of earlier African American communities in the county. Many of the initial homebuyers were related to one another either by blood or by marriage. Residents like the Sheltons, the Summerours, Hills and Prathers have maintained strong kinship and community ties for three, four and five generations. Descendants of many original homeowners still live there. Today, Lincoln Park is a low-to-moderate income community of about 320 households. It retains the ambience of a small town within Rockville and the Legacy development represents an important ingredient in its revitalization and transformation. Rockville Housing Enterprises (the city's public housing agency) owned sixty units of "affordable housing" in Lincoln Park, and had sold fifty-six of them by 2009. A homeowners association was expected to be formed and if an owner wants to sell in less than 30 years, Rockville Housing Enterprises has the right to buy the unit and then re-sell it at a below-market rate.

References

External links

Lincoln Park History Project

The Architecture of Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park's Social InstitutionsAfrican American Heritage Preservation Conference of Maryland
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