Editing Odenton, Maryland (section)

==History==
[[File:Maryland - Odenton through Patuxent - NARA - 23941155 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view, 1937]]
In 1840, the steam-powered [[Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad]] (A&ER) was built across a sparsely settled farming community that would later become Odenton.  At the beginning of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Union soldiers guarded this railroad line because it was the only link between the North and the nation's capital. Rail traffic through [[Baltimore]] had been disrupted by southern sympathizers, so supplies, mail and soldiers flowed through [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]] and west Anne Arundel County to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

The town of Odenton, nicknamed "The Town a Railroad Built" by Catherine L. O'Malley,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ovfc28.org/history.php| title = Odenton Volunteer Fire Company History| access-date = 2007-02-01| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070908103825/http://www.ovfc28.org/history.php| archive-date = 2007-09-08| url-status = dead}}</ref> was formed in 1868 with the construction of the [[Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road|Baltimore Potomac (B&P) Railroad]] connecting Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Where the B&P crossed the A&ER, a train station and telegraph office were constructed and named for Oden Bowie, president of the B&P and former governor of Maryland. Train service to the station began on July 2, 1872.  The rail junction (today's [[Odenton (MARC station)|MARC]] station) at Odenton Road, already a busy thoroughfare from Annapolis to [[Frederick, Maryland|Frederick]], became the site of Odenton's first commercial center. The Watts and Murray general stores served railroad workers and farmers, and in 1871 a post office was established. A town grew near the junction, houses were built for railroad workers, a [[Methodism|Methodist]] church was dedicated in 1891 and a grade school opened in 1892.

Small villages developed around these various railroad lines, but none amounted to more than a cluster of shops and homes around a train station and post office. The 1878'' Maryland Directory'' listed the following towns: Conaway, Odenton, Patuxent, Sappington, and [[Woodwardville, Maryland|Woodwardville]]. Odenton was the largest, with a population of 100, a church, a school and two stores. In nearby Woodwardville, where the B&P crossed the [[Little Patuxent River]], A. G. Woodward was the postmaster and operated a general merchandise store in a village of 50 people. Two churches and a school served that community. Land was worth from $5 and $30 per acre, producing wheat, corn and tobacco.

Canneries, primarily for tomatoes, were built in many locations in Anne Arundel County, including Odenton and Woodwardville. The George M. Murray Canning House, built in the late 19th century on Odenton Road (behind present day 1380 and 1382 Odenton Road) was a successful operation into the early 1900s.

Shortly after 1900, another company built an electric interurban railroad parallel to the B&P and also electrified the former A&ER. Train service on these lines began in 1908. The [[Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railroad]] provided public transportation to central Maryland.

In 1914, the [[United States Naval Academy]] purchased the {{convert|800|acre|km2|adj=on}} [[Howard's Adventure|Hammond Manor Farm]] in neighboring [[Gambrills]] for the construction of a dairy following the 1910 [[typhoid fever]] outbreak at the academy. The academy operated the dairy until 1998. Until 2005 it was the home of [[Dean Foods]]' [[Horizon Organic]] dairy. The farm is currently the home of Maryland Sunrise Farm.

In 1917, at the advent of [[World War I]], Odenton's growth was spurred by the establishment of [[Fort George G. Meade|Fort Meade]]. The [[United States Department of War]] acquired {{convert|19000|acres|km2}} of land west of Odenton to develop a training camp, displacing numerous farmers, merchants and public and private enterprises, many of whom moved east to nearby Odenton. The [[Epiphany Chapel and Church House]] at Fort Meade was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2001.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref> This growth accelerated in the 1950s with the establishment of the [[National Security Agency]] on the fort and [[Friendship International Airport]] (now the [[Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport]]) a few miles to the north. Odenton still maintains its railroad history through the Dennis F. Sullivan Maintenance Facility, operated by [[Amtrak]], which maintains track, bridges and other structures on the Amtrak/MARC line between Baltimore and Washington. All of this, as well as the suburban expansion of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., have transformed Odenton from a farmland region to a business, residential and industrial center in Anne Arundel County.