PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY
Transcribed by Denise Wells
Prince George's is one of the leading counties of the State. It [sic] area is 480 square miles. According to the census of 1890, the population was 26,080, divided as follows: Whites, 14,832; colored, 11,245. Its proximity to the national Capital, which it joins on the south, and to one of the largest seaports on the Atlantic coast; its manufacturing industries; its picturesque scenery; its undulating surface; its numerous and abundant springs of clear, cold water; its running streams, tributary to its two grand, historic boundary rivers, make it one of the favored spots in Maryland. Then, add to this its ores and furnaces; its fisheries and oyster beds; its commercial facilities, by its numerous railroads and rivers; its educational institutions, and its prominence as a tobacco-growing country-and any one can see how blessed it is. Its people are hospitable, and its lands are cheap enough to make it a most desirable location for the investment of money for persons desiring a home, and it offers special inducements to people who wish to live in a place which affords such unusual advantages.
Prince George's county is bounded on the north by Howard, on the east by Anne Arundel and Calvert counties, from which three counties it is separated by the Patuxent river, on the south by Charles, and on the west by the Potomac river and the District of Columbia and Montgomery county. Its soil is varied, mostly of loam and sand, mixed with clay, with underlying strata of marl and cemented sand, resembling sandstone.
The people are warm-hearted and genial, and many of them are descendants of the Lord Baltimore party that settled in Southern Maryland. The principal industry of the county is tobacco raising, which is grown in large quantities in the "Forest," just above Upper Marlboro, and in the "tobacco belt," in the lower part of the county. Near the borders of the District of Columbia and on the railroad the large tobacco plantations have been divided up into small truck farms.
The other staples are wheat, corn, rye and grapes. Owing to the decrease in prices of tobacco many of the farmers have given up tobacco growing and are trying fruit raising and dairy farming, in which their efforts have met with great success.
There has been a considerable boom in real estate for some time. That part of the county around Washington by persons desiring suburban residences; and, since the projected railway from the Chesapeake to Washington has started, quite a flurry has been felt in the real estate market in regard to land. This railroad, if built, will add materially to the value of land in the lower part of the county which it traverses, and will open up a portion of the county which is somewhat backward, owing to the lack of railroad facilities. It is great scheme, and should meet with the approbation of every citizen of the county. By actual count, nearly three hundred houses were erected from Washington to and including Laurel, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in two years, ending July, 1891. That's a record which goes far to establish the prediction made that in time there will be a continuous city connecting the two cities of Baltimore and Washington.
Much has been said recently about Scandinavian immigration to Maryland, and we are pleased to note that these people find our State offers many inducements. A party of them who have resided in Michigan for the past few years, recently removed to Prince George's county and purchased land near Laurel, only eighteen miles from Washington. We were favored with a call from them lately, and one of the gentlemen remarked: "We are pleased with our new home, and have purchased improved farms, and will soon be established. I can recommend this country to my people, and expect many of my old neighbors will follow me to Maryland." The tax rate is gradually decreasing, owing to the improvements being erected on the lands. The tax rate is now only eighty cents on $100, a decrease of ten per cent. since 1888, although the county was at a heavy expense for repairing bridges and roads destroyed by the storms during the year, 1891.
The lands are cheap in the lower part of the county, averaging from $85 to $20 per acre. Those in the upper part are much higher, owing to the close proximity to the national capital. They can be bought from $20 to $100 per acre.
The county is traversed by these railroads-the Baltimore and Potomac, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Washington City and Point Lookout Railroad. This last has not been completed, but hands are at work upon it now, under charge of its president. It runs from Brandywine to Mechanicsville.
The school facilities are as good as those of any county in the State. Prince George's has in its limits the Maryland Agricultural College, an academy at Upper Marlboro, under the charge of two efficient teachers; and the public school system throughout the county is considered to be equal to that of any other in the State.
While agriculture is the chief pursuit, the county also has something of a reputation as a manufacturing district. It has a large smelting furnace at Muirkirk, and one of the larges hosiery establishments in the United States, is conducted by Mr. Henry W. Clagett, at the House of Reformation, at Cheltenham, by the labor of the inmates of that institution. He recently made one of the larges shipments of hose that has ever been made in the United States. During the summer, there are a great many canning factories in operation throughout the county.
The Maryland Agricultural College, at College Park, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, is located in this county, and is now one of the best and most successful institutions in the State. The farm is a model one and the College has a full corps of ten professors, besides special instructors and lecturers, and is prepared to give thorough instructions in all "those branches of learning relating to agriculture." Every department is in charge of a competent specialist, secured by a fair salary, and supplied with the latest and best appliances to facilitate instruction. Within a year several thousand dollars have been expended for models and apparatus of the most approved patterns. The last report of the College shows that the institution is gaining in number of students, and in many ways is substantially improved, and better prepared than ever before, to do well the work for which it was established.
SOURCE: Scharf, J. Thomas, "The natural & industrial resources and advantages of Maryland: being a complete description of all counties of the state and the city of Baltimore: together with an accurate statement of their soil, climate, antiquities, raw and manufactured products, agricultural and horticultural products, textile fabrics, alimentary products, manufacturing industries, minerals and ores, mines and mining, native woods, means of transportation, price of land, cheap living, ready markets, excellent homes, and the material and social advantages and unequaled opportunities Maryland possesses for those seeking homes, and for capitalists who wish to invest in industries that are sure to pay big dividends," C.H. Baughman & Co., Publisher, 1892; pps. 140-143.