Annapolis Junction 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 ...
in
Howard
Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...
and
Anne Arundel counties,
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.
Demographics
The
ZIP Code for Annapolis Junction is 20701.
The following information is based on the 2000 Census for 20701:
*Population: 40
*Median age: 31.5 years
*Single family homes: 6
History
The lands of Annapolis Junction were first settled around 1650. Provincial Assembly of Maryland member and Anne Arundel County Justice Colonel
Henry Ridgely (1645–1710) surveyed the land around Annapolis Junction and nearby
Savage Mill in 1685 naming the tract "Ridgely's Forrest".
Annapolis Junction was established as a
rail junction on the north-south mainline of 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 ...
(B&O) when the tracks of the
Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad terminated here in 1840. Since this provided a rail route to Annapolis from
Washington and
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 ...
via the B&O, it was, therefore, a junction to Annapolis. On August 26, 1844 the Annapolis Junction
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
opened.
On May 1, 1844, in a small wooden building along the railroad tracks, the first practical news
telegram
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
was sent from Annapolis Junction. The message, from
Alfred Vail
Alfred Lewis Vail (September 25, 1807 – January 18, 1859) was an American machinist and inventor. Along with Samuel Morse, Vail was central in developing and commercializing American electrical telegraphy between 1837 and 1844.
Vail and Morse ...
to
Samuel F. B. Morse, announced that the
Whig Party candidate would be
Henry Clay
Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...
, and his running mate would be
Theodore Frelinghuysen
Theodore Frelinghuysen (March 28, 1787April 12, 1862) was an American politician who represented New Jersey in the United States Senate. He was the Whig vice presidential nominee in the election of 1844, running on a ticket with Henry Clay.
...
. The candidates left Annapolis Junction by train, and arrived in Washington to find the news was already being announced in the city by the local papers.
Annapolis Junction is the site of
William Bowie's home
Grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...
, built in 1853.
Annapolis Junction in the Civil War
Located along the B&O Railroad, the main
East Coast thoroughfare for North-South freight railroad traffic and the only rail line into Washington, Annapolis Junction was witness to the comings and goings of 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 ...
.
Traveling in secret to avoid an assassination plot in Baltimore,
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
passed through Annapolis Junction en route to Washington for his 1861 inauguration.
During the war, George G. Latchford owned and operated a large hotel, known as the Howard House, along the B&O Railroad tracks.
General Butler recounts: "In route to Washington D.C. we could not sail into the Potomac, and the rail line from Annapolis to Annapolis Junction was the only route in. Troops were unwelcome in Annapolis, finding reluctance to provide provisions, and locomotives disabled to prevent their travel."
The
7th New York Militia, and the Fifth German Regiment under Col Schwartzwaelder, arrived in May 1861. The soldiers slept on wet ground, were lacking equipment and even boots. Their meals consisted of hard biscuits, tough meat, and "salt beyond description." Monthly pay was $11, but the paymaster did not have any money to give out. Col.
Zadock Pratt
Zadock Pratt Jr. (October 30, 1790 – April 5, 1871) was a tanner, banker, soldier, and member of the United States House of Representatives for two non-consecutive terms in the mid-19th century.
Pratt served in the New York militia from ...
delivered 6 firkins of his own butter, and his wife gave $250 of her own money to the troops.
In August, 1861, $4975 in goods were seized at Annapolis Junction from southern sympathizers in Baltimore.
Brig.-Gen. John C. Robinson commanded troops guarding the B&O railroad in 1862. The First Michigan Regiment was assigned to the sections south of Annapolis Junction, and the Tenth Maine Regiment was posted for points north.
In 1863, Annapolis Junction formed the northern boundary of coverage for the
XXII Corps (Union Army)
XXII Corps was a corps in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was created on February 2, 1863, to consist of all troops garrisoned in Washington, D.C., and included three infantry divisions and one of cavalry (under Judson Kilpat ...
Department of Washington, and became the rendezvous point for drafted men from Maryland. In July, 1863, a large force of
Fitzhugh Lee's Cavalry was thought to have struck the rail lines.
The tracks were guarded from June to July 1864 by the
144th Ohio Infantry. The guard of 100 troops reportedly fled when a small band of rebels were within of the vicinity. In a letter to the editor, on July 24, 1864, the writer complains that the 65 troops did not run off, but instead were following orders of
Mag Gen. Ord to leave the area before the arrival of the entire rebel army.
Post Civil War
In the age of rail, presidential sightings were common in town. In June 1867, President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
met with Maryland Governor
Thomas Swann at Annapolis Junction where he received the resolutions of the
Maryland Constitutional Convention.
In 1867, the First Regiment of the Lincoln Zouaves Corps de Afrique held a political rally at Annapolis Junction with 400 musketmen listening to radical speeches from J.J Stewart, Judge Bond, and others.
On June 12, 1869, a northbound train struck a wandering cow at Annapolis Junction, derailing and injuring 30 passengers. The train was a night express carrying President
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
, his wife, and the Secretary of Treasury
George S. Boutwell, who all escaped uninjured.
On 29 November 1871, the Annapolis Junction post office moved to the Howard County side of the railroad tracks.
In May, 1899, The National Junior Republic was founded as an institution for troubled 15- to 20-year-olds. By 1914, the facility housed 44 inmates. By 1924, the site was abandoned and overgrown.
World War I
In June, 1917, Secretary of War
Newton D. Baker
Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (December 3, 1871 – December 25, 1937) was an American lawyer, Georgist,Noble, Ransom E. "Henry George and the Progressive Movement." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 8, no. 3, 1949, pp. 259–269. w ...
announced that would be bought at Annapolis Junction to accommodate a National Army Cantonment to train 40,000 to 60,000 men for at least one year. The encampment would eventually become
Fort George G. Meade
Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, th ...
. On October 7, 1919, the post office for Annapolis Junction moved back to the Anne Arundel side of the tracks, only to return to Howard County in September 1921.
Post WWI
After the establishment of
Fort Meade
Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States military bands#Army Field Band, United States Army Field Band, and the head ...
, Annapolis Junction was sometime referred to as Fort Meade Junction.
Post WWII
No longer an actual railroad junction, Annapolis Junction has developed into a town with four major features. The historic and still busy
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...
(former B&O) railroad line runs north to south, Maryland Route 32 runs east to west, various office warehouses lie to the west, and facilities relating to Fort Meade lie to the east. Although a historic location, Annapolis Junction is now mostly zoned industrial, and overshadowed by nearby Fort Meade.
The
National Cryptologic Museum
The National Cryptologic Museum (NCM) is an American museum of cryptologic history that is affiliated with the National Security Agency (NSA). The first public museum in the U.S. Intelligence Community, NCM is located in the former Colony Sev ...
's GPS address and physical location are usually referred to as "Annapolis Junction", though its mailing address is maintained by
NSA.
Few residents call Annapolis Junction "home," more frequently associating themselves with adjacent
Savage, its southern neighbor
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 ...
, or
Fort Meade
Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States military bands#Army Field Band, United States Army Field Band, and the head ...
.
Annapolis Junction also serves as the location of the rail transfer facility that moves
Howard County's waste to
King George County, Virginia
King George County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 26,723. Its county seat is the census designated place of King George. The county's largest employer is the U.S. Naval S ...
. Officially named Annapolis Junction Recycling & Transfer Station, it was created in the late 1990s by developer
Blake Van Leer.
The State of Maryland built a park and ride
MARC Train commuter platform near the original Annapolis Junction station, called
Savage MARC. In 2014, Howard County executive
Ken Ulman announced that the park and ride land would be sold to private developers in order to increase the tax base. Howard County provided $17 million to build a 700 unit parking garage onsite. The 416 unit apartment complex project was renamed to Annapolis Junction Town Center. The facility is next to the 200 bus capacity
Regional Transportation Agency of Central Maryland terminal building constructed the same year.
Government and infrastructure
The
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...
operates its Mid-Atlantic Regional Office in Annapolis Junction.
[ "302 SENTINEL DRIVE ANNAPOLIS JUNCT, MD 20701"]
Economy
Colfax Corporation a major welding, air and gas handling equipment, and medical devices manufacturer is based in Annapolis Junction.
Notable person
Stephen Latchford was a United States diplomat and expert in aviation laws.
See also
External links
County Executive Ken Ulman announces the conversion of the Marc Station commuter parking lot to county financed residential development
References
{{authority control
1840 establishments in Maryland
Unincorporated communities in Howard County, Maryland
Rail infrastructure in Maryland
Unincorporated communities in Maryland