Editing Rockville, Maryland (section)

===18th century===
The first [[land patent]]s in the Rockville area were obtained by Arthur Nelson between 1717 and 1735. Within three decades, the first permanent buildings in what would become the center of Rockville were established on this land. Still a part of [[Prince George's County, Maryland|Prince George's County]] at this time, the growth of Daniel Dulaney's [[Frederick, Maryland|Frederick Town]] prompted the separation of the western portion of the county, including Rockville, into [[Frederick County, Maryland|Frederick County]] in 1748.

Being a small, unincorporated town, early Rockville was known by a variety of names, including Owen's Ordinary, Hungerford's Tavern, and Daley's Tavern. The first recorded mention of the settlement later  known as Rockville dates to the [[Braddock Expedition]] in 1755. On April 14, one of the approximately 2,000 men who were accompanying General Braddock through wrote the following: "we marched to larance Owings or Owings Oardianary, a Single House, it being 18 miles and very dirty." Owen's Ordinary was a small rest stop on Rock Creek Main Road (later the [[Rockville Pike]]), which stretched from [[Georgetown, Washington, D.C.|George Town]] to Frederick Town, and was then one of the largest thoroughfares in the colony of Maryland.

On September 6, 1776,<ref name="proctor1934">{{cite news |last=Proctor |first=John Clagett |author-link=John Clagett Proctor |date=May 20, 1934 |title=Rockville Among Old Maryland Towns |page=76 |work=Washington Evening Star |url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX-NB&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=W60L63JXMTQxNTQ1ODU0NS40NDMwNDU6MToxNToxMzIuMTc0LjI1NC4xNDU&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=8&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=8&p_docnum=1&p_docref=v2:13D5DA85AE05A305@EANX-NB-1489DE40791B126E@2427578-148995EE73B6B74D@77-148AD6437721EFF8@ |access-date=December 22, 2016 |archive-date=February 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225042747/https://infoweb.newsbank.com/home/login?destination=infoweb.newsbank.com%3Fdb%3DEANX-NB%26wedirect%3Dtrue |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Maryland Constitution|Maryland Constitutional Convention]] agreed to a proposal introduced by Thomas Sprigg Wootton wherein Frederick County, the largest and most populous county in Maryland, would be divided into three smaller subdivisions. The southern portion of the county, of which Rockville was a part, was named Montgomery County. The most populous and prosperous urban center in this new county was George Town, but its location at the far southern edge rendered it worthless as a seat of local government. Rockville, a small but centrally located and well-traveled town, was chosen as the seat. At the time, Rockville did not have a name; it was generally called Hungerford's Tavern, after the well-known tavern in it.<ref name= proctor1934/> After being named the county seat, the village was referred to by all as Montgomery Court House.<ref name= proctor1934/> The tavern served as the county courthouse, and it held its first such proceedings on May 20, 1777.<ref name= proctor1934/>

In 1784, William Prather Williams, a local landowner, hired a surveyor to lay out much of the town.<ref name= proctor1934/> In his honor, many took to calling the town Williamsburg.<ref name= proctor1934/> In practice, however, Williamsburg and Montgomery Court House were used interchangeably. Rockville came to greater prominence when Montgomery County was created and later when George Town was ceded to the federal government to create the [[District of Columbia]].<ref name='McGuckian'/>