The community that eventually was incorporated as Perryville in 1882 had been known as Lower Ferry (and occasionally other names) since 1695 because of the ferry service that was offered there at the mouth of the Susquehanna River. When the townspeople chose a new name in the late 1800s, they reached further back into history—to 1658 when John Bateman gave his adjacent property the name Perry Point in honor of his wife, Mary Perry. (That property was purchased by the federal government in 1918 and is now the home of the Veterans Administration’s Perry Point Medical Center.)

The Susquehanna ferry crossing was an important link on the Post Road between Baltimore and Philadelphia and attained strategic and popular significance during the Revolutionary War. A continuous stream of travelers, both foreign and American, crossed the river there and lodged, dined, and drank in the ferry house and tavern that Colonel John Rodgers opened in 1780.

Rodgers Tavern became a favorite stopping place for such Revolutionary figures as George Washington, Lafayette, [see Havre de Grace, Ed.] and Rochambeau. Other distinguished visitors included Jefferson and Madison. In 1781, Washington brought officers and troops through the river crossing at Rodgers Tavern on the way to his victorious campaign against Cornwallis at Yorktown.

During the latter half of the 1800s, Perryville became a major railroad depot on the Wilmington to Baltimore line. But history was reversed when the railroad track between Baltimore and Perryville was temporarily disabled during the Civil War—the Union Army resorted to ferrying troops and munitions across the Susquehanna to get them to Annapolis.

Throughout the 20th century Perryville continued to grow and change. Once a river town, then a railroad town, now evolved into a services-oriented town, Perryville will continue to anchor the southwest part of Cecil County as it adheres to its successful formula of adapting to changing times.