Adamstown 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 ...

(CDP) in Frederick 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. It is named for Adam Kohlenberg (March 11, 1819 – January 1, 1868), a station agent and first town merchant who owned much of present-day Adamstown. As of the 2010 census, the Adamstown CDP had a population of 2,372.

History

Adamstown lies in the fertile valley between

Sugarloaf A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, ...

and

Catoctin Mountain Catoctin Mountain, along with the geologically associated Bull Run Mountains, forms the easternmost mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are in turn a part of the Appalachian Mountains range. The ridge runs northeast–southwest for ...

on the former Carrollton Manor, a estate originally owned by

Charles Carroll of Carrollton Charles Carroll (September 19, 1737 – November 14, 1832), known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III, was an American politician, planter, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only Catholic signatory ...

. Until 2000, it was a little-altered representative of mid-19th century linear town planning. It is significant in architecture for its variety of structures, including residential, commercial, industrial, educational, agricultural, and religious buildings. The late 18th century road from Jefferson to Greenfield Mills on the Monocacy River, originally called the Bridal Road, followed the route of the present-day Mountville Road. The 1832 arrival of the railroad to the manor created the economic and transportation impetus for the development of the community. Adamstown was first known as "Davis' Warehouse" because Dr. Meredith Davis, a leading

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

county miller, built a warehouse about 1835 where Mountville Road, by then called Jefferson Road, crossed the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

( southwest of Frederick) to store flour from his Greenfield Mills. The first settler in Adamstown was Robert Palmer, an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

"post and railer" who also ran a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

around 1835. In 1840 when Adam Kohlenburg was appointed the first Baltimore and Ohio railway agent, the community became known as "Adamstown", after his given name. He was also the first postmaster and ran a general store located in the lot between his brick

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

-style home and the railroad. Edward Hebb laid off lots on the north side of the railroad in the 1840s. Daniel Rhodes of Pennsylvania, the first white settler, was so impressed with the location, he bought a tract of land and laid it off into 12 building lots on the south side of the railroad in 1856. With Adamstown located close to the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, its citizens were almost exclusively loyal to the South during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

; however, both Federal and Confederate troops were constantly moving on Carrollton Manor. For several months in the spring of 1861, the Minute Men of Adamstown, a secession militia company composed of three officers (Captain Robert H. E. Boteler, 1st Lieutenant Jacob G. Thomas, and 2nd Lieutenant William Hilleary Johnson, all local doctors) planted a pole and flew the Confederate flag adjacent to their guard post next to the B&O railroad. Many skirmishes in the war were fought here and the town was often raided, most notoriously by the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry, also known as Mosby's Rangers, on July 30 and October 14, 1864. On one of these raids, Adam Kohlenburg's entire stock was taken. Local folklore holds that one family had a son fighting for the North and one fighting for the South. In 1902, Jacob Klein's Addition to Adamstown included the area of Washington, Adams, and Tuscarora streets. The Adamstown Bank was established in 1917, and the building opened in 1919. In 1921, Adamstown had two large grain elevators (Farmers Exchange of Frederick and Thomas & Co.), a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, a carriage works, two garages, a general store, a hardware store, a butcher shop and the bank. Electric lights were first installed in the town in 1921 as well. In the 1960's,

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...

built an aluminum production facility, Eastalco Works, to the north of Adamstown which ran until 2005; at its peak, the site covered and included more than 130 buildings. During its run, the plant produced about 8% of United States aluminum and was among the largest of users of electricity in Maryland. The plant's demise was predicated on a large increase in electricity prices. Several attempts to rebuild or repurpose the site were undertaken until 2011, when structures on the site were razed. By 2025, plans to repurpose the site into a multi-occupant computing

data center A data center is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Since IT operations are crucial for busines ...

campus referred to as Quantum Frederick with at least one early resident conducting a facility ground-breaking in December 2024.

Demographics

Three new developments with a total of 540 homes have been constructed in Adamstown since 2000 (Green Hill Manor, Saddle Ridge and Adamstown Commons). The population in 1880 was 66 and approximately 500 in 1971. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 2,920 people, 1,049 households and 829 families residing in Adamstown. The racial makeup of the county was 92.7%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.9%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 0.2% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.2% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. 1.6% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 1,049 households, out of which 36.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 5.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.0% were non-families. 20.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.12. Adamstown's population was spread out, with 28.8% under the age of 19, 2.9% from 20 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.46 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97 males.

Education

Carroll Manor Elementary School services area children from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade. The school also houses part of Frederick County's Challenges Program, a special program for children with autism and other severe communication disorders, and a special education pre-kindergarten. The school is supported by the Carroll Manor Elementary School PTA. Current school district boundaries designate Ballenger Creek Middle School and Tuscarora High School for continued education.

Geography

Adamstown is located in southern Frederick County southwest of Frederick, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, and northeast of the

at Point of Rocks.

Highways

Maryland Route 85

References

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External links

Adamstown community website
(under construction)
Carroll Manor Fire Company
{{authority control Census-designated places in Maryland Census-designated places in Frederick County, Maryland Railway stations in the United States opened in 1832