Editing Prince Frederick, Maryland (section)

==History==
[[File:2016-07-20 15 15 41 View south along Maryland State Route 765 (Main Street) just south of Church Street in Prince Frederick, Calvert County, Maryland.jpg|thumb|right|Main Street in Prince Frederick]]
Prince Frederick has served as the county seat of Calvert County since 1722, when officials chose a plot of land known as "Williams' Old Field" as the spot for the new county courthouse. (Contemporary references to the piece of land include an upscale dining restaurant named Old Field Inn, and a street in Prince Frederick named "Old Field Lane.") The original courthouse was finally completed in 1732. The town was most likely named for [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]'s son [[Frederick, Prince of Wales|Frederick]], who was [[Prince of Wales]] during the time of the town's original conception.

In the [[War of 1812]], [[Joshua Barney|Commodore Joshua Barney's]] [[Chesapeake Bay Flotilla]] found refuge from the advancing British in St. Leonard's Creek, several miles south of Prince Frederick, in June 1814. While laying siege to Barney's force, the British under the command of [[Alexander Cochrane|Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane]] plundered and destroyed the area nearby, including burning the town of Prince Frederick.<ref name=barn>{{cite book
 | last =Shomette
 | first =Donald
 | title =Shipwrecks on the Chesapeake
 | publisher =Tidewater Publishers
 | year= 1982
 | location =Centreville, Maryland
 | pages =[https://archive.org/details/shipwrecksonches0000shom/page/87 87–93]
 | url =https://archive.org/details/shipwrecksonches0000shom
 | url-access =registration
 | isbn = 0-87033-283-X}}</ref>

In 1882, Prince Frederick burned a second time, when a massive fire destroyed virtually the entire town and its courthouse. A new courthouse was erected on the same spot, and remains the center of Calvert County's government to this day.

In the 1960s, [[Albert Irvin Cassell]], a prominent mid-twentieth-century African-American architect in Washington, D.C., sought to develop Chesapeake Heights on the Bay, a {{convert|520|acre|km2|abbr=on|adj=on}} summer resort community for African-Americans. The project was to feature houses, a motel, shopping centers, a pier, a marina, beaches, and a clubhouse fronting the Chesapeake Bay. Roads and a few homes were built by 1969, but the project ended with Cassell's death in that same year.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.howard.edu/library/development/cassell/Founders.htm|title= Library System/Howard University}}</ref>

In 1984, Prince Frederick was named one of seven "town centers" by Calvert County's government. The town center designation meant that while Prince Frederick was still not formally incorporated, special [[zoning]] regulations would be enacted and boundaries would be established so new growth would be centered around the existing commercial and residential districts. This was done in order to take advantage of existing infrastructure and discourage poorly planned [[urban sprawl]]. Prince Frederick's town center status also meant the creation of special architectural review boards who would encourage theme and unity of new buildings built within the town center.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.co.cal.md.us/assets/Planning_Zoning/Slideshows/March-6-07BOCC-UpdatesToTCMP.pdf |author=Calvert County Department of Planning and Zoning |title=Town Center Update |date=March 6, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128033334/http://www.co.cal.md.us/assets/Planning_Zoning/Slideshows/March-6-07BOCC-UpdatesToTCMP.pdf |archive-date=November 28, 2007 }}</ref>

[[Linden (Prince Frederick, Maryland)|Linden]] was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref>

On [[2002 La Plata tornado|April 28, 2002]], an F4 [[tornado]] passed just south of Prince Frederick, killing one person. The same tornado had also devastated the downtown business district of [[La Plata, Maryland|La Plata]] in neighboring [[Charles County, Maryland|Charles County]].<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/lwx/Historic_Events/apr28-2002/laplata.htm| author=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA)| title=La Plata Tornado - April 28, 2002}}</ref>