Gaithersburg, Maryland

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Gaithersburg, Maryland
settlement_type = City
nickname =
motto =
image_



imagesize = 250px
image_caption =


imagesize = 250px
image_caption =

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mapsize = 250x200px
map_caption = Location in the State of Maryland


mapsize1 =
map_caption1 =
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_name1 = Maryland
subdivision_name2 = Montgomery
government_type =
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Sidney A. Katz
established_title = Founded
established_title2 = Incorporated
established_date = 1802
established_date2 = April 5, 1878
area_magnitude = 1 E7
area_total_sq_mi = 10.2
area_total_km2 = 26.3
area_land_sq_mi = 10.1
area_land_km2 = 26.1
area_water_sq_mi = 0.1
area_water_km2 = 0.2
population_as_of = 2004
population_total = 58091
population_metro = 5139549
population_density_km2 = 2225.7
population_density_sq_mi = 5751.2
timezone = EST
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
utc_offset_DST = -4
latd = 39 |latm = 7 |lats = 55 |latNS = N
longd = 77 |longm = 13 |longs = 35 |longEW = W
elevation_m = 106
elevation_ft = 350
postal_code_type =
postal_code =
area_code = 301
blank_name = FIPS code
blank_info = 24-31175
blank1_name = GNIS feature ID
blank1_info = 0593389
footnotes =
website = http://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/

Gaithersburg is a city ["Gaithersburg", as place name, is used for more than just the City of Gaithersburg. Many unincorporated parts of Montgomery County near Gaithersburg have mailing addresses of "Gaithersburg". At the extreme, there are some properties on the south side of Damascus — several miles north of Gaithersburg, and north even of Montgomery Village, Germantown, Laytonsville and Clarksburg — which have Gaithersburg mailing addresses. For example, the intersection of Log House Road and Woodfield Road (Maryland Route 124) is more than five miles outside the Gaithersburg city limits. This article is, however, about the City of Gaithersburg.] in Montgomery County, Maryland. As of 2005, the city had an estimated total population of 57,698 [ [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFPopulation?_event=Search&geo_id=16000US2430325&_geoContext=01000US%7C04000US24%7C16000US2430325&_street=&_county=gaithersburg&_cityTown=gaithersburg&_state=04000US24&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=geoSelect&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=160&_submenuId=population_0&ds_name=null&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null&reg=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry= Census Factfinder for Gaithersburg] ] , making it the fourth largest in the state behind Baltimore, Frederick, and Rockville. This city is located at 39°8' North, 77°13' West, to the northwest of Rockville, the county seat of Montgomery County. Gaithersburg was incorporated in 1878.

Gaithersburg is urbanistically diverse, encompassing a historic Old Town, multiple new urban communities, high-rise apartments, and many suburban subdivisions.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is headquartered in Gaithersburg [Technically, although NIST's mailing address is in Gaithersburg, and the City of Gaithersburg surrounds NIST's property, the land where NIST is situated is not incorporated into the City of Gaithersburg. Instead, it is in an unincorporated part of Montgomery County. Owing to the piecemeal manner land has been added to Gaithersburg over the years, there are multiple such unincorporated enclaves within the perimeter; see the [http://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/documents/zoning_3_2005.pdf City's Zoning Map] for details (3MB PDF)] . Other major employers in the city include IBM, ACE*COMM, Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services business area headquarters, MedImmune (recently purchased by AstraZeneca), and Sodexo.

The city is also the location of the 220th Military Police Brigade of the United States Army Reserve.

History

Gaithersburg began in 1765 as a small agricultural settlement known as Log Town, gaining the name Gaithersburg a few years later. [According to [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0738523720&id=FJq8-fkWijoC Gaithersburg: History of a City] (Arcadia Publishing, 2002), the first settlements at Logtown, near the present-day Summit Hall, occurred in the 1750s, while Benjamin Gaither, later known as "The Hanging Judge of Montgomery County"Fact|date=April 2008, settled near the present-day Diamond and Frederick avenues "prior to 1800". This latter settlement became informally known as "Gaithersburg" sometime after that. The Forest Oak Post Office was located in Gaither's store. These two modern reference locations — Summit Hall and Diamond and Frederick Aves — are separated by about a half a mile.] In 1850, the post office was named "Forest Oak". In 1873 the B&O Railroad constructed a station at Gaithersburg, designed by Ephraim Francis Baldwin as part of his well-known series of Victorian stations in Maryland. Rapid growth occurred shortly thereafter, and on April 5, 1878 the town was officially incorporated as the City of Gaithersburg.

In 1899, Gaithersburg was selected as one of six global locations for the construction of an International Latitude Observatory as part of a project to measure the earth's wobble on its polar axis. The Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory is (as of 2007) the only National Historic Landmark in the City of Gaithersburg. The observatory and five others in Japan, Italy, Russia, and the United States gathered information that is still used by scientists today, along with information from satellites, to determine polar motion; the size, shape, and physical properties of the earth; and to aid the space program through the precise navigational patterns of orbiting satellites. The Gaithersburg station operated until 1982 when computerization rendered the manual observation obsolete.

Geography

Gaithersburg is located at 39°7'55" North, 77°13'35" West (39.131974, -77.226428)GR|1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.2 square miles (26.3 km²), of which, 10.1 square miles (26.1 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it is water. The total area is 0.69% water.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 52,613 people, 19,621 households, and 12,577 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,216.2 people per square mile (2,013.3/km²). There were 20,674 housing units at an average density of 2,049.7/sq mi (791.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 58.2% White, 15% Black or African American, 0.4% Native American, 13.8% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 8.6 from other races, and 4.4% from two or more races. 19.8% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 34.3% of Gaithersburg's population was foreign-born.

There were 19,621 households out of which 34.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.6% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.14the population was spread out with 25.0% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 37.7% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 8.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $59,879, and the median income for a family was $66,669. Males had a median income of $44,331 versus $35,861 for females. The per capita income for the city was $27,323. 7.1% of the population and 4.9% of families were below the poverty line. 7.2% of those under the age of 18 and 11.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Government

Gaithersburg has an elected, five-member City Council, which serves as the legislative body of the city. The Mayor, who is also elected, serves as president of the council. The day-to-day administration of the City is overseen by a career City Manager, currently Jim Arnoult.

Its current mayor is Sidney A. Katz. (1998-). Previous Mayors include:

# George W. Meem 1898–1904
# Carson Ward 1904–1906
# John W. Walker 1906–1908
# E. D. Kingsley 1908–1912
# Richard H. Miles 1912–1918
# John W. Walker 1918–1924
# Walter M. Magruder 1924–1926
# William McBain 1926–1948
# Harry C. Perry, Sr. 1948–1954
# Merton F. Duvall 1954–1966
# John W. Griffith 1966–1967
# Harold C. Morris 1967–1974
# Susan E. Nicholson, May-September 1974
# Milton M. Walker 1974–1976
# B. Daniel Walder 1976–1978
# Bruce A. Goldensohn 1978–1986
# W. Edward Bohrer, Jr. 1986–1998
# Sidney A. Katz 1998 -

The departments of the city of Gaithersburg and their directors include:

* Office of the City Manager, Angel Jones
** Assistant City Manager, Frederick J. Felton
** Assistant City Manager, Tony Tomasello.
* Planning and Code Administration, Gregory Ossont
** Neighborhood Services, Kevin Roman
** Animal Control, Lisa Holland
** Planning Department, Lauren Pruss
** Permits and Inspections, Wesley Burnette
* Information Technology, Peter Cottrell
* Parks, Recreation, and Culture, Michele McGleish
* Police, John A. King
* Public Works, Jim Arnoult

Transportation

Roads

The primary spine of Gaithersburg's road network is Frederick Avenue, which runs generally north-south through the middle of the city and connects Gaithersburg to Frederick, Rockville and Washington, DC. The most important east-west cross streets are Diamond Avenue and Quince Orchard Road.

Interstate 270, runs approximately parallel to Frederick Avenue and connects Gaithersburg with the Capital Beltway. Interstate 370 begins in Gaithersburg and is the western terminus of the currently-under-construction Intercounty Connector, which when complete will provide a direct link to Interstate 95 near Laurel.

Transit

Gaithersburg is connected to the Washington Metro via Shady Grove station, which is located just outside the city limits and is the north-western terminus of the Red Line.

Maryland's MARC system operates commuter rail services connecting Gaithersburg to Washington, DC with two stations in the city, at "Old Town Gaithersburg" and "Metropolitan Grove", and a third station - "Washington Grove" - just outside city limits.

Gaithersburg's bus system includes Metrobus routes operated by WMATA and Ride-On routes operated by Montgomery County.

Additionally, the State of Maryland is considering construction of a light rail or bus rapid transit line from Shady Grove Metro station to Clarksburg, Maryland called the Corridor Cities Transitway. If built, the transitway would have several stations in Gaithersburg.

Other

The mainline of the CSX Railroad bisects Montgomery County and runs as many as 50 trains a day through the center of Gaithersburg. The MARC trains run on the CSX tracks, as do Amtrak trains, which go through Gaithersburg but do not stop.

The Montgomery County Airpark (IATA airport code: GAI) is a short distance outside Gaithersburg city limits. It serves general aviation purposes and is the only airport in Montgomery County. For commercial airline service, Gaithersburg residents use Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport or Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Education

Gaithersburg is served by Montgomery County Public Schools.Elementary schools that serve Gaithersburg include:

* Brown Station Elementary School
* Candlewood Elementary School
* Diamond Elementary School
* Darnestown Elementary School
* Fields Road Elementary School
* Flower Hill Elementary School
* Gaithersburg Elementary School
* Goshen Elementary School
* Jones Lane Elementary School
* Judith A. Resnik Elementary School
* Laytonsville Elementary School
* Rachel Carson Elementary School
* Rosemont Elementary School
* SouthLake Elemantary School
* Strawberry Knoll Elementary School
* Summit Hall Elementary School
* Thurgood Marshall Elementary School
* Washington Grove Elementary School
* Whetstone Elementary SchoolMiddle schools that serve Gaithersburg include:

* Forest Oak Middle School
* Ridgeview Middle School
* Gaithersburg Middle School
* Lakelands Park Middle School
* Neelsville Middle School
* Cabin John Middle School
* Robert Frost Middle School
* Redland Midlle school
* Kingsview Middle School
* Shady Grove Middle School

High schools that serve Gaithersburg include:

* Gaithersburg High School
* Colonel Zadok A. Magruder High School
* Northwest High School
* Quince Orchard High School
* Thomas S. Wootton High School
* Watkins Mill High School

Media

Gaithersburg is primarily served by the Washington, DC media market.

Newspapers

Gaithersburg is home to Gazette Newspapers, a publisher of weekly community newspapers in suburban Maryland, including the [http://gazette.net/gaithersburg/news/ Gaithersburg Gazette] . [http://www.towncourier.com/TheTownCourier/Home.html "The Town Courier"] newspaper is based in Kentlands and focuses on Gaithersburg's west side neighborhoods, in addition to publishing Rockville and Urbana editions.

Television and Internet

Gaithersburg's city government operates [http://gaithersburgmd.gov/tv Gaithersburg Television] , which focuses on the city issues and is streamed online. Gaithersburg topics are discussed on the controversial and non-affiliated blog [http://gaithersblog.net Gaithersblog] .

Famous people from Gaithersburg

*Mark Bryan- Bass player from Hootie & The Blowfish.
*Neil Fallon- Lead singer of Clutch.
*Reese Forbes- Professional skateboarder.
*Judah Friedlander- actor, most notably from the television show 30 Rock.
*Hank Fraley- football player currently starting at center for the Cleveland Browns.
*Eddie Stubbs- American country musician, disc jockey, and Grand Ole Opry Announcer.
*Paul James - actor, most notably from the television show GrΣΣk
*Paul Rabil - Lacrosse player (midfield), four-time All-American at Johns Hopkins University, all-star for the MLL's Boston Cannons.

References and footnotes

External links

* [http://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/ Official city government website]
* [http://www.gaithersburglocalnews.com/ Gaithersburg Local Community News]