Henry Bussard established a store and tavern here in 1837, serving the local community on Parr's Ridge and providing a rest stop for travelers on the Westminster Road. Nearby were a small pond fed by four natural springs and a one-room, one-and-a-half-story log home that had belonged to Gustavus Dorsey. Bussard owned all of the surrounding land and in 1838 sold right of way to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad for a new rail line into what became Mount Airy. As the railway was being completed, he shared plans for a new town with the railroad's Chief Civil Engineer, Benjamin Latrobe, Jr., including a new house on the hill, a wagon yard, a tavern, and a depot. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad blasted through the ridge in June 1839, and Mount Airy was born. For many years, Bussard operated his store as both the post office and the train station, serving as postmaster and station agent by 1856. Absalom Anderson began work as the store clerk in 1854 and opened his own store on the other side of Main Street in 1886. During the Civil War, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry raided Mount Airy station on Monday, June 22, 1863, tore up some track, remained only a short time, and returned up the Turnpike toward Frederick, about thirteen miles away. In 1869 the railroad built a small wooden passenger house where the train station stands, and in 1890 John B. Runkles built a grain mill on the site of Bussard's tavern.