Prince George's County, Maryland

Infobox U.S. County
county = Prince George's County
state = Maryland


map size = 225
founded year = 1696
seat wl = Upper Marlboro | leader = Jack B. Johnson
area_total_sq_mi =498
area_land_sq_mi =485
area_water_sq_mi =13
area percentage = 2.61%
census yr = 2000
pop = 801515
density_km2 =638
web = www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/
|

Prince George's County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland located immediately north, east, and south of Washington, D.C. As of 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it has a population of 828,770 [" [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFPopulation?_event=ChangeGeoContext&geo_id=05000US24033&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=prince+george%27s+county&_cityTown=prince+george%27s+county&_state=&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&_submenuId=population_0&ds_name=null&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null&reg=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry= Prince George's County, Maryland] ." U.S. Census Bureau, 2007.] and is the wealthiest county in the nation with an African-American majority. [cite web
last=Howell
first=Tom Jr.
url=http://www.newsline.umd.edu/business/specialreports/census/blackbusiness041806.htm
title=Census 2000 Special Report. "Maryland Newsline", Census: Md. Economy Supports Black-Owned Businesses
publisher=University of Maryland. Philip Merrill College of Journalism
date=2006-04-18] [cite web
last=Chappell
first=Kevin
url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_1_62/ai_n16807718
title=America's Wealthiest Black County]
publisher=Ebony
date=November 2006
accessdate=2007-02-14]

The county was named for Prince George of Denmark (1653-1708), the brother of King Christian V of Denmark and Norway, and husband of Queen Anne of Great Britain. It is frequently referred to as 'P.G. County,' however this abbreviation is viewed as pejorative by some residents. [cite web
title="'P.G.': Insult or Abbreviation?"
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/06/AR2006050601260.html
last1=Parker
first1=Lonnae O'Neal
last2=Wiggins
first2=Ovetta
publisher=Washington Post
date=May 7, 2006
page=C05
accessdate=2008-05-01]

The county is a part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Upper Marlboro.

On June 3, 2008 Prince George's County received Standard & Poor's AAA rating which, according to Prince George's officials, makes it one of 48 counties in the United States to receive such a rating. [cite web
title="Prince George's scores AAA bond rating from Standard & Poor's"
url=http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/06/02/daily22.html
last1=Coombs
first1=Joe
publisher=Washington Business Journal
date=June 3, 2008
accessdate=2008-07-10]

History

Pre-colonial history

Colonial history

Prince George's County was created by the Council of Maryland in 1696 [cite web
title = Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1696/7:1698, Volume 23, Page 23
publisher =Maryland State Archives
url = http://aomol.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000023/html/am23--23.html
accessdate =05/04/2007 ] from portions of Charles and Calvert Counties and a portion was detached in 1748 to form Frederick County. Since Frederick County was subsequently divided to form the present Allegany, Garrett, Montgomery, and Washington counties, all of these counties in addition were derived from what had up to 1748 been Prince George's County.

The Revolution through the Civil War

In 1791, portions of Prince George's County were ceded to form the new District of Columbia, along with portions of Montgomery County, Maryland, as well as the parts of northern Virginia - that were later returned to Virginia.

The Civil War through World War I

In April 1865, John Wilkes Booth made his escape through Prince George's County after shooting President Abraham Lincoln. He was on his way to Virginia.

World War I through present

On July 1, 1997, the Prince George's County section of the city of Takoma Park, Maryland, which straddled the boundary between Prince George's and Montgomery counties, was transferred to Montgomery County. This was done after city residents voted to be under the sole jurisdiction of Montgomery County, and subsequent approval by both counties and the Maryland General Assembly. This was the first change in Prince George's County's boundaries since 1791, and the first alteration of the boundaries of any county in Maryland since the early 1900s.Fact|date=April 2008

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 498 sq mi (1,291 km²). 485 sq mi (1,257 km²) of it is land and 13 sq mi (34 km²) of it (2.61%) is water.

The Patuxent River forms the county's eastern border with Howard, Anne Arundel, and Calvert Counties.

Adjacent jurisdictions

* Anne Arundel County (east)
* Calvert County (southeast)
* Charles County (south)
* Howard County (north)
* Montgomery County (northwest)
** Prince George's and Montgomery Counties share a bi-county planning and parks agency in the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and a public bi-county water and sewer utility in the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission
* Fairfax County, Virginia (southwest)
* Alexandria, Virginia (southwest)
* Washington, DC (west)

National protected areas

* Fort Washington Park
* Greenbelt Park
* Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge (part)
* Piscataway Park

Government

The city of Takoma Park was formerly partly in Prince George's County, but since 1997 has been entirely in Montgomery County. The part of Takoma Park that changed counties is in a single residential neighborhood, Carole Highlands; part of this neighborhood is still in Prince George's County.

Unincorporated places

Unincorporated areas are also considered as towns by many people and listed in many collections of towns, but they lack local government. Various organizations, such as the United States Census Bureau, the United States Postal Service, and local chambers of commerce, define the communities they wish to recognize differently, and since they are not incorporated, their boundaries have no official status outside the organizations in question. The Census Bureau recognizes the following census-designated places in the county:

Other unincorporated places not listed as Census-Designated Places but known in the area include:

And two localities: Muirkirk (near Montpelier) and Chapel Oaks (near Fairmount Heights)

ister cities

*flagicon|South Africa Royal Bafokeng Nation, South Africa
*flagicon|Israel Rishon LeZion, Israel
*flagicon|Senegal Ziguinchor, Senegal

Notable residents

*Chris Adler, American film actor, grew up in Greenbelt and attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt.Fact|date=December 2007
*Dr. John Bayne, 19th-century founder of the University of Maryland, superintendent of county schools, Union Army physician, and one of the first Americans to grow and eat a tomato, proving they were not poisonous as had been thought, lived on Oxon Hill Road in Oxon Hill.
*Michael Beasley, freshman on the Kansas State basketball team.
*Len Bias, All-American Basketball star at the University of Maryland in the 1980s, grew up in Landover Hills and attended Northwestern High School in Hyattsville
*Riddick Bowe, former world heavyweight boxing champion, and family lived in Sero Estates, Fort Washington.
*Sergey Brin, founder of Google, grew up in Adelphi and attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt.
*John Carroll, S.J. (1735-1815), first Roman Catholic Bishop and Archbishop in the United States, and founder of Georgetown University, was born in Upper Marlboro.
*Frank Cho, award-winning cartoonist, grew up in Beltsville and attended community college and university in the county.
*Thomas John Claggett (1742 - 1816), first Episcopal Bishop consecrated in the United States and third Chaplain of the United States Senate, was from Upper Marlboro.
*Leonard Covington (1768-1813), born in Aquasco, United States Congressman from Marylandcite book | title = Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896 | publisher = Marquis Who's Who | location=Chicago | date= 1963]
*Roger Easton, Sr., Naval scientist, the chief inventor of GPS (Global Positioning System through satellite tracking) and winner of the 2004 National Medal of Technology, lived on Oxon Hill Road in Oxon Hill.
*Francis B. Francois, lawyer and engineer, lived in Bowie, Maryland for over 40 years. In 1999, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in recognition of his achievements in the field of engineering and policy leadership in surface transportation infrastructure and research. He served on the Prince George's County council as an elected official for 10 years.
*Kathie Lee Gifford, network television personality, grew up in Bowie.
*Mya Harrison, pop musician, known simply as Mya.
*Goldie Hawn, actress, director, and producer, grew up in Takoma Park before it was transferred to Montgomery County.
*Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets later used on Sesame Street, grew up in University Park, Maryland.
*Steny Hoyer, current Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, lived as a teenager in Suitland and Mitchellville, attended Suitland High School and Univ. Maryland - College Park, and later lived in Friendly before moving to St. Mary's County.
*Cathy Hughes, founder and manager of Radio One, the nation's largest African American broadcasting company.
*Martin Lawrence, actor and comedian, lived in Landover and attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt.
*Sugar Ray Leonard, boxing champion, grew up in Palmer Park.
*G. Gordon Liddy, Presidential aide convicted in the Watergate scandal, later an author and radio personality, lives in Fort Foote, Fort Washington.
*Jan Scruggs, who conceived the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, grew up in Bowie.
*Sumner Welles, U.S. Undersecretary of State to Franklin Roosevelt, built and lived in Oxon Hill Manor, which is now a public facility.
*Morgan Wootten coached at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland from 1956 to 2002. The coach with the most wins in high school basketball history, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, the only high school basketball coach ever so honored. He currently resides in University Park, Maryland.
* Wale, a hip-hop artist, who often notes in his songs how he is from "PG County," and the "DMV" region (D.C, Maryland, Virginia).
* Isis Tsunami, First transgender contestant in America's Next Top Model (in cycle 11).

References

External links

* [http://www.goprincegeorgescounty.com/ Prince George's County Government] , official site
* [http://www.pghistory.org Prince George's County Historical Society]
* [http://www.mncppc.org/ The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission]
* [http://www.wsscwater.com/ The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission]
* [http://www.americancity.org/article.php?id_article=135 The Dilemma of the Black Middle Class] , includes analysis of the county.
* [http://www.thebarbershopshow.com/ The Barbershop] , live Internet podcast for Prince George’s County social issues
* [http://www.pgcares.com/ Prince Georgians Care site] , for and about county residents
* [http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385508308 P.G. County by Connie Briscoe] , a novel set in Prince George's County
* [http://www.crimeblotter.org/ Crimes in Maryland ]
* [http://www.planning.org/economic/pdf/Brandly.pdf Prince George's County: Looking at the Past, Planning for the Future] , a look at the history of development in Prince George's County
* [http://pgcrime.info/ Prince George’s County crime maps]
* [http://www.pgcmls.info/ Prince George's County Memorial Library System]