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Prince Frederick is an unincorporated community and
census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a 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 counterparts of incorporated places, such ...
(CDP) in
Calvert County Calvert County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of t ...
,
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 it ...
, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Prince Frederick was 3,226, up from 2,538 in 2010. It is the county seat of Calvert County.


Geography

Prince Frederick is located in the center of Calvert County at (38.548720, −76.588748). According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.11%, is water.


Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Prince Frederick has a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.


Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,432 people, 583 households, and 303 families residing in the CDP. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPop ...
was 439.9 people per square mile (169.6/km). There were 616 housing units at an average density of 189.2/sq mi (73.0/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 62.22%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 33.80%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...
, 0.07% Native American, 2.51% Asian, 0.56% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 0.84% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties form ...
or Latino of any race were 1.82% of the population. There were 583 households, out of which 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.2% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 17.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.0% were non-families. 43.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.96. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 21.9% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 16.8% from 45 to 64, and 26.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 72.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 64.4 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $22,321, and the median income for a family was $44,625. Males had a median income of $38,393 versus $19,700 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...
for the CDP was $21,868. About 14.0% of families and 19.5% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 25.7% of those under age 18 and 21.5% of those age 65 or over.


History

Prince Frederick has served as the county seat of Calvert County since 1722, when officials chose a plot of land known as "Williams' Old Field" as the spot for the new county courthouse. (Contemporary references to the piece of land include an upscale dining restaurant named Old Field Inn, and a street in Prince Frederick named "Old Field Lane.") The original courthouse was finally completed in 1732. The town was most likely named for
George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...
's son Frederick, who was
Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the ruler ...
during the time of the town's original conception. In the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, Commodore Joshua Barney's Chesapeake Bay Flotilla found refuge from the advancing British in St. Leonard's Creek, several miles south of Prince Frederick, in June 1814. While laying siege to Barney's force, the British under the command of Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane plundered and destroyed the area nearby, including burning the town of Prince Frederick. In 1882, Prince Frederick burned a second time, when a massive fire destroyed virtually the entire town and its courthouse. A new courthouse was erected on the same spot, and remains the center of Calvert County's government to this day. In the 1960s, Albert Irvin Cassell, a prominent mid-twentieth-century African-American architect in Washington, D.C., sought to develop Chesapeake Heights on the Bay, a summer resort community for African-Americans. The project was to feature houses, a motel, shopping centers, a pier, a marina, beaches, and a clubhouse fronting the Chesapeake Bay. Roads and a few homes were built by 1969, but the project ended with Cassell's death in that same year. In 1984, Prince Frederick was named one of seven "town centers" by Calvert County's government. The town center designation meant that while Prince Frederick was still not formally incorporated, special
zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
regulations would be enacted and boundaries would be established so new growth would be centered around the existing commercial and residential districts. This was done in order to take advantage of existing infrastructure and discourage poorly planned urban sprawl. Prince Frederick's town center status also meant the creation of special architectural review boards who would encourage theme and unity of new buildings built within the town center. Linden was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. On April 28, 2002, an F4
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, althou ...
passed just south of Prince Frederick, killing one person. The same tornado had also devastated the downtown business district of
La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...
in neighboring
Charles County Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. Charles County is part of the Washi ...
.


Transportation

Solomons Island Road is the major north–south artery through Prince Frederick and carries two Maryland Route designations:
Maryland Route 2 Maryland Route 2 (MD 2) is the longest state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs from Solomons Island in Calvert County north to an intersection with U.S. Route 1 (US 1)/ US 40 Truck ( North Avenue) in Baltimore. The route r ...
, which runs from
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
to Solomons, and
Maryland Route 4 Maryland Route 4 (MD 4) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs from MD 5 in Leonardtown north to Southern Avenue in Suitland at the District of Columbia boundary, beyond which the highway continues into Washing ...
, an extension of
Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland, that connects the White House and the United States Capitol and then crosses the city to Maryland. In Maryland it is also Maryland Route 4 (MD 4 ...
from
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
, which continues past Solomons over the
Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge The Governor Thomas Johnson Memorial Bridge (also referred to as the Thomas Johnson Bridge and the Solomons Bridge) is a bridge in Maryland over the lower Patuxent River joining Calvert and St. Mary's counties. The bridge, named for the first ...
across the
Patuxent River The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast ...
to St. Mary's County. Route 4 was dualized in the mid-1970s, and commuter buses run on it to Washington. Routes 2 and 4 join north of Prince Frederick near
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the historic county of Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on the River Wear's mouth to the North Sea. The ri ...
. Route 2 from there north is only a two-lane road to
Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...
. In 2009, a portion of Route 2–4 in Prince Frederick was widened to three lanes in each direction. Maryland Route 231 (Hallowing Point Road) intersects Solomons Island Road and runs west, ultimately crossing the Patuxent River and continuing into
Charles County Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. Charles County is part of the Washi ...
.
Maryland Route 402 Maryland Route 402 (MD 402) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Dares Beach Road, the state highway runs from MD 2/ MD 4 in Prince Frederick east to Chesapeake Avenue in Dares Beach. MD 402 was ...
(Dares Beach Road) leads east to Dares Beach on Chesapeake Bay.
Maryland Route 765 Maryland Route 765 (MD 765) is a collection of state highways in the U.S. state of Maryland. These 26 highways are service roads constructed or old alignments maintained to provide access to private property or county highways whose access was com ...
serves as Prince Frederick's Main Street and provides access to the courthouse and government center. In the mid-1990s, a series of new loop roads and side streets were approved in Prince Frederick in order to divert local traffic off Route 2-4 and alleviate thru-traffic congestion. The first of these roads, Prince Frederick Boulevard, has been completed between Maryland Route 231 and Stoakley Road. A second portion of the road, Chesapeake Boulevard, opened in 2010 on the eastern side of Route 2-4 and provides access to the new Calvert Middle School. Additional roads are planned around the southern portions of town.


Institutions and organizations

Prince Frederick has its own volunteer fire department and rescue squad. Prince Frederick is served by one
hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency ...
, Calvert Memorial Hospital, which moved into its current facility in 1978. There is one public
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper second ...
in Prince Frederick, Calvert High School, with the mascot being the Cavaliers. In 2000, the Cavaliers won the Maryland Division 3A high school football championship. Prince Frederick also has a public middle school and public elementary school. In 2005, the Calvert County branch of the College of Southern Maryland opened its new Prince Frederick campus, replacing the earlier campus at Port Republic. Several churches and other religious institutions call Prince Frederick home. These include St. John Vianney
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Church, St. Paul's
Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...
Church, Trinity
United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...
, First
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul com ...
Church of Calvert County, Full Gospel
Assembly of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...
, and the Southern Maryland
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
ic Center. Prince Frederick is Calvert County's main commercial and retail hub, as it contains at least five major shopping centers, numerous chain and independent restaurants, three hotels, and Calvert County's only movie theater. While many in the Prince Frederick area commute to jobs all over the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, there are several small companies based in Prince Frederick itself. On the western side of Prince Frederick, there is a large
industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...
which attracted numerous businesses and places of commerce after offering free land sites. One such business is
Recorded Books Recorded Books is an audiobook imprint of RBMedia, a publishing company with operations in countries globally. Recorded Books was formerly an independent audiobook company before being purchased and re-organized under RBMedia, where it is now an ...
, L.L.C., the largest independent publisher of unabridged audio books in the world. There are two newspapers circulated in Calvert County - ''The Calvert Recorder'', published every Wednesday and Friday, and ''The Calvert Gazette'', published every Thursday. A third newspaper, ''The Calvert Independent'', went out of business in 2010. In 2006, the main branch of the Calvert Library moved from its original downtown Prince Frederick location to a new larger facility on Costley Way, named after Russell Costley, a prominent man who was a longtime advocate and trustee of the library. In June 2010, the Edward T. Hall Aquatics Center opened its doors to the public. The center features an indoor ten-lane, 50-meter pool with a diving well as therapy and leisure pools. Hallowing Point Park is a county-owned recreational area west of Prince Frederick which features tennis courts, athletic fields for
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
,
softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Han ...
, and
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...
, and hiking and jogging trails. Notable places in the Prince Frederick area include Battle Creek Cypress Swamp—a local nature preserve—and the Arthur Storer
Planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariu ...
, which is located on the grounds of Calvert High School. The Calvert County Fair is held every fall at the Calvert County Fairgrounds just outside Prince Frederick. The fair moved from its original location in downtown Prince Frederick in 1994. Located on the southeastern side of town, there is a very large, triangular retention pond at the site of the Prince Frederick
wastewater Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industrial ...
treatment plant. Final approval for the plant was obtained in December 2000. The plant's strange UFO-like appearance—approximately long per side and location in a secluded and heavily wooded area—in satellite imagery on
Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users ...
has evoked the curiosity of many locals, who have nicknamed the site the "Giant Triangle" and speculated on its purpose.


Notable people

* Louis L. Goldstein, Comptroller of the Maryland Treasury 1959–1998; born in Prince Frederick in 1913. Known for his phrase, "God Bless Y'all Real Good". * Earl F. Hance, Calvert County Commissioner and Secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture from May 2009 to January, 2015 * Augustus Rhodes Sollers,
congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
* Roger Brooke Taney, the Chief Justice of the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
in the
Dred Scott Dred Scott (c. 1799 – September 17, 1858) was an enslaved African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for freedom for themselves and their two daughters in the ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'' case of 1857, popular ...
decision, was born and raised on a farm near Prince Frederick. Best-selling author
Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have b ...
operated an insurance business in Prince Frederick prior to his literary career and was an active parishioner of St. John Vianney Catholic Church, and still owned a home near Prince Frederick on
Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / E ...
until his death in 2013. While on the faculty of Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in nearby Solomons, noted
theoretical ecologist Theoretical ecology is the scientific discipline devoted to the study of ecological systems using theoretical methods such as simple conceptual models, mathematical models, computational simulations, and advanced data analysis. Effective models ...
Dr.
Robert Ulanowicz Robert Edward Ulanowicz ( ) is an American theoretical ecologist and philosopher of Polish descent who in his search for a ''unified theory of ecology'' has formulated a paradigm he calls ''Process Ecology''. He was born September 17, 1943 in Bal ...
resided near Prince Frederick prior to his retirement in 2008.


Notes and references


External links


Calvert County Fair

Calvert High School

Calvert Library
{{authority control Census-designated places in Calvert County, Maryland Census-designated places in Maryland County seats in Maryland