College Park is perhaps best known as home to the flagship campus of the University of Maryland. The city and the university straddle U.S. Route 1 just south of the Capital Beltway. University sports, academic conferences and competitions, and cultural events draw thousands of visitors to College Park each year.

The institution that eventually evolved into the University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland Agricultural College, was chartered in 1856 on 428 acres previously owned by Charles B. Calvert, a prime mover in planning and securing the college. After Calvert died in 1864, his remaining estate was divided among his heirs. Part of that land was platted and developed as the subdivision named College Park, which today is the Old Town neighborhood.

College Park grew as a series of neighborhoods. Beyond the busy pace of Route 1, the city’s “Main Street,” there are 12 distinct residential neighborhoods that help to create the overall atmosphere of a small town. Families take advantage of neighborhood playgrounds, a skating rink, athletic fields, swimming pools, a community center, and Lake Artemesia. An evolving series of hiker-biker trails links many of those amenities to each other and to the University.

A significant chapter in early aviation history began in 1909 in College Park at what is the world’s oldest continuously operating airport. Wilbur Wright trained military officers to fly the government’s first airplane there, and the first Army Aviation School was established there in 1911. Today, an aviation museum depicts the role of the College Park Airport in many firsts of American flight.