Calvert Hills: A National Register Historic District

Calvert Hills, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2003, exemplifies residential development on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., during the early 20th century. The neighborhood developed on rural land that had been part of the Calvert family’s Rossborough Farm and Riversdale Plantation. George Calvert purchased the 428-acre Rossborough Farm in 1822, and it formed a large part of a family estate that extended south to Bladensburg and included present-day Calvert Hills. Framed by major transportation corridors, with Baltimore Avenue (U.S. Route 1) to the west and the WMATA Metrorail and B&O Railroad to the east, the community grew further with the coming of the automobile and streetcar service that provided direct access to Washington, D.C. The land was subdivided in response to population growth, the nearby Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland at College Park, and the College Park Airport. Calvert Hills became home to aviators and airport employees, and Wilbur Wright is believed to have leased a room in a boarding house on Bowdoin Avenue in the early 1900s. The first part of the neighborhood was subdivided in 1907, re-subdivided in 1921, and enlarged further from 1928 through the 1940s. Its many additions were joined as the neighborhood of Calvert Hills in recognition of the prominent Calvert family, and it was incorporated as part of the City of College Park in 1945. Calvert Hills is characterized by a range of building types from large dwellings to smaller bungalows, with modest examples of Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Craftsman, and Tudor Revival architecture. The community is primarily made up of single-family houses, with apartment buildings, a school, and a post office along its borders.

College Park, Maryland · United States