| Frederick Town, as it was
originally known, was laid out by Daniel Dulany (a land speculator)
in 1745, and settled by a German immigrant party led by Johann
Thomas Schley, a young German Reformed schoolmaster, who came
to the Maryland colony with his wife, Maria Winz. They built
the first house of the new town which into the 20th century
stood at the corner of Middle Alley and East Patrick Street.
The settlement was founded upon a tract of land on the banks
of Carroll Creek. Within three years the settlement had become
the county seat of Frederick County. The community was named
after the sixth Lord Baltimore, Frederick Calvert. Many of
the Pennsylvania Dutch settled in Frederick as they migrated
westward in the late 18th Century. Frederick was a stop along
the German migration route.
The city served as a major crossroads from colonial times.
British General Braddock marched west through Frederick on
the way to the fateful ambush near Fort Pitt during the French
and Indian War. To control this crossroads during the American
Revolution, the British garrisoned a Hessian regiment in the
town during the war (the barracks still stand). During the
Civil War both Union and Confederate troops marched through
the city. General Stonewall Jackson led his light infantry
division through Frederick on his way to the battles of Crampton's,
Fox's and Turner's Gaps and Antietam in September 1862.
Frederick was the site of a Civil War speech given by President
Abraham Lincoln, which took place at what was then a train
depot at the current intersection of South and Market Streets.
A plaque commemorates the speech. Frederick is also the resting
place of Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Star-Spangled
Banner."
Frederick grew to be an important market town, but by the
first third of the 19th century, the town had also become
one of the leading mining counties of the United States, producing
gold, copper, limestone, marble, iron and other minerals.
When the first wave of Irish refugees from the potato famine
settled in the city in 1846, one of the leading members of
the Schley family married into the Wilson family from Ireland.
Consequently, many of the Schleys converted to Catholicism
and residents of Frederick began to speak English for the
first time in the town's history--up until then, the language
had been German. Frederick was known during the nineteenth
century for its religious pluralism, with one of its main
thoroughfares, Church Street, hosting half-a-dozen major churches.
The main Catholic Church, St. John's, was built in 1800, then
rebuilt in 1837 one block north of Church Street on East Second
Street, where it still stands.
Frederick also had Jewish residents as early as the 1740s,
when pioneers Henry Lazarus and Levy Cohan settled there as
merchants. An organized Jewish community, comprised mainly
of German Jewish immigrants, took shape in the mid-19th Century
and the Frederick Hebrew Congregation was organized in 1858.
Later the congregation lapsed, but was reorganized in 1919
as a cooperative effort between the older settlers and more
recently arrived Eastern European Jews under the name Beth
Sholom. In 1905, Rev. E.B. Hatcher started the First Baptist
Church of Frederick.
In 1921, the first high school for African-Americans was
founded at 170 West All Saints Street. Later it moved to 250
Madison Street, where it eventually became South Frederick
Elementary. The building still stands and presently houses
the Lincoln Elementary School.
From 1896 to 1961, Frederick was served by the Hagerstown
& Frederick Railway, an interurban trolley service that
was among the last surviving systems of its kind in the United
States.
During World War II, Fort Detrick was established in Frederick
for research in biological warfare. Fort Detrick is the largest
employer in the county. Frederick is also home to BP Solar,
which is the second largest employer in the county and one
of the largest solar panel factories in the country.
According to the 2004 report of the United States Census
Bureau, the city has a total area of 20.4 square miles (52.9
km²), with an elevation of 285 feet. The latitude of
Frederick is 39.414N, and it's longitude is -77.41W. The city's
area is predominantly land, with the only water being the
Monocacy River, which runs to the east of the city, Carroll
Creek, and Culler Lake, a man-made small body in the downtown
area.
Frederick has a Board of Aldermen of six members (one of
whom is the Mayor) which serves as its legislative body. Elections
are held every 4 years. The estimated population, in 2003,
was 56,128.
Additional historic information on surrounding areas:
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