University Park is located to the south of the University of Maryland and west of Baltimore Avenue (U.S. Route 1). It resembles a host of other “streetcar communities” that sprang up in the 1920s on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. Most of the early commuters from University Park, though, chose to travel into the city by car rather than endure the ninety-minute trip by trolley. Nowadays, the trolley line no longer exists, but the tables have turned—more commuters are leaving their cars at home, lured by two Metro stations, one on each side of the town, and by the Baltimore/Washington MARC train, which stops at nearby Riverdale Park and College Park.

The original development company made it plain to all property buyers that land use would be limited to single-family dwellings, and, to this day, there are no commercial enterprises in the town. The company managed the community until the mid 1930s when the town became an incorporated municipality. One of the early actions of the newly formed government was the purchase of land for a town park along a stream that bisected the community.

The first street planting of the Bradford Pear tree developed at the National Arboretum occurred in the 1950s on the streets of University Park. The initial planting was closely monitored for ten years, and those original trees have outlasted many of the later installations of the variety. The town continues to maintain an aggressive street-tree maintenance and planting program.

In 1996, University Park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but the town is also very much a town of the future. It is home to businessmen, scholars, scientists, doctors, lawyers, judges, administrators, and elected officials. The quality of life there is exceptional. In the last decade of the 20th century, the town’s aging infrastructure—streets, water mains, and gas mains—was rehabilitated and a recycling program was established. That program redirects close to sixty percent of the town’s waste away from landfill disposal. At the same time, coalitions established with neighboring municipalities and other governmental agencies have enabled more to be accomplished with the expenditure of fewer tax dollars.