Savage is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

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 counte ...

located in Howard County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, United States, approximately south of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

and north of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

It is situated close to the city of

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

and to the

planned community A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

of Columbia. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 7,542. The former

mill town A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more List of types of mill#Manufacturing facilities, mills or factories, often cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe ...

is a registered historic place, and has several original buildings preserved within and around the Savage Mill Historic District.

History

17th century

The lands of present-day Savage were first settled in approximately 1650.

Colonel Henry Ridgley Henry Ridgley (1635–1710) was an early settler of Maryland. Early life Ridgley arrived in the colonies in 1659 and demanded 6,000 acres of land for himself, his wife and four servants: John Hall, Stephen Gill, Richard and Jane Ravens. H ...

surveyed the land around Savage Mill and nearby

Annapolis Junction, Maryland Annapolis Junction is an unincorporated community in Howard and Anne Arundel counties, Maryland, United States. Demographics The ZIP Code for Annapolis Junction is 20701. The following information is based on the 2000 Census for 20701: *Popu ...

in 1685, naming the tract "Ridgely's Forrest". Joseph White was the grandson of

Peregrine White Peregrine White ( ) was the first boy born on the Pilgrim ship the ''Mayflower'' in the harbour of Massachusetts, the second baby born on the ''Mayflower''s historic voyage, and the first known English child born to the Pilgrims in America. ...

, the first child born of the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

'' expedition.

18th century

In 1734, he opened a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

on land patented as "Whites Fortune" and "Mill Land". The parcels were consolidated to become "Whites Contrivance". A rich vein of American industrial history lies in Savage. When the textile industry was in its heyday, Savage was an important manufacturing center, its mills harnessing the water power on the falls of the Little and Middle Patuxent rivers. The town was named for John Savage, a

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

merchant with interest in a mill on the falls of the Little Patuxent. In 1822, he and his associates, the Williams brothers, chartered the Savage Manufacturing Company, purchasing of the White property for $6,666.67. The company produced sails for the

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...

ships that sailed out of

Baltimore Harbor The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland, on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's largest port facil ...

, in addition to a wide variety of other cotton products.

19th century

The cotton milling industry started in Maryland in the 18th century and flourished in the 19th century. Cotton was shipped cheaply from Southern ports and hauled overland by mule and oxen teams to the mills before rail transportation served Savage. In 1835 the Washington branch of the

B&O Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 until 1987, when it was merged into the Chessie ...

was completed, and Savage Station was established on the line about a mile southeast of the present mill. A spur of the B&O was laid to the Savage factory in 1887, and it was at this time that the famous Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge was moved to its present site from another location. Originally built in 1852, it was one of about 100 on the B&O line. Beloved by railroad buffs, the iron truss bridge is the only one of its type in the world, and, along with the Savage Mill, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Savage post office opened on January 13, 1836, on "Yankee Hill" at the corner of Washington and Foundry streets with Amos Adams Williams as postmaster. It would later become a branch of the Patuxent Bank of Laurel. Parts of the Savage Mill are said to date from about 1820, and historians have recorded that the mill once had an iron foundry that made many kinds of machinery, specializing in textile manufacturing. The operation of the mill was greatly expanded in 1880 with the installation of steam power. Army uniforms, field tents, and vehicle covers were made.

20th century

A renovation program began in 1984 that established Savage Mill as a major permanent marketplace. The Savage Mill Manor House is down the street from the mill and has also been completely renovated. It is now used to host weddings, parties, and special events. Carroll Baldwin Hall once housed the Savage branch of the Howard County Library. It was built in the early 1920s as a memorial to Carroll Baldwin, former president of the manufacturing company. The Baldwins managed the company from 1859 to 1911. In 1880, the population reached 2,617 residents, and increased to 2,930 in 1890. In 1929, Dr. Wolman issued a recommendation that did not pass, to dam and flood the Patuxent River Valley around Savage for a dedicated water source. Savage remained a mostly segregated town for most of its early history until the Civil rights movement of the 1950s. Factory work at the mill was almost exclusively for white workers with exceptions of black apprentices at the forges in the antebellum era. The community slowly integrated in the latter half of the 20th century. The Savage Volunteer Fire Company was founded in 1937 with a station at Savage-Guilford Road. The station relocated to Lincoln Street in 1957, and Corridor Road in 2013. In June 1972,

Hurricane Agnes Hurricane Agnes was the List of costliest Atlantic hurricanes, costliest hurricane to hit the United States at the time, causing an estimated $2.1 billion in damage. The hurricane's death toll was 128. The effects of Agnes were widespread, ...

flooded the local rivers, raising 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 northeas ...

25.4 feet, and washing out the road bridge. A replacement opened on September 10, 1975. In 1976, county executive Edward L. Cochran convened a waste task force that reviewed submissions for a 538-acre landfill at route One and 32 owned by Realty Trust and Chase Manhattan Mortgage, with commercial dumping sites at the Savage quarry.

Alpha Ridge Landfill The Alpha Ridge Landfill (Alpha Ridge Sanitary Landfill) is a municipal solid waste landfill located in Marriottsville, Maryland, once known as the postal town of Alpha, Maryland. Alpha Ridge is the third official landfill built in Howard Coun ...

was selected instead, but a new quarry would eventually take its place. A new $7 million elementary school was built in Savage in 1988, named Bollman Bridge Elementary.

Geography

Savage is located in southeastern Howard County, bordered by Columbia to the north and North Laurel to the southwest.

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

(Washington Boulevard) forms the southeast edge of the CDP. The historic Savage mill village is located in the southern part of the CDP, while a major freeway interchange between

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

and

Maryland Route 32 Maryland Route 32 (MD 32) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The road runs from Interstate 97 (I-97) and Maryland Route 3, MD 3 in Millersville, Maryland, Millersville west and north to Washington Road in ...

sits on the northern edge of the CDP. The Middle Patuxent and Little Patuxent rivers join to the west of the mill village. The Middle Patuxent (above the confluence) and the Little Patuxent (below the confluence) form the southwest edge of the CDP. The river drops about in to form the falls that powered the early mills. The Little Patuxent continues southeast to join the

at Crofton.

Demographics

References

External links

Savage-Guilford, Maryland Detailed ProfileSavage Mill
{{authority control Census-designated places in Howard County, Maryland Census-designated places in Maryland