Editing North Laurel, Maryland (section)

==History==

===Prehistoric times===
[[File:Astrodon johnstoni.jpg|right|thumb|The Astrodon approx 112,000,000 B.C.]]
The edge of the [[Arundel Formation]] underlies the North Laurel area. The [[astrodon]], a herbivorous [[sauropod]], was present about 112 million years ago.<ref>Carpenter, Kenneth and Tidwell, Virginia (2005). "Reassessment of the Early Cretaceous Sauropod Astrodon johnstoni Leidy 1865 (Titanosauriformes)". In Carpenter, Kenneth and Tidswell, Virginia (ed.). ''Thunder Lizards: The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs''. Indiana University Press. pp. 38–77. {{ISBN|978-0-253-34542-4}}.</ref>  Prior to 10,700 B.C. North Laurel was a [[spruce]] forest evolving into a [[boreal forest]] occupied by mammals ranging from [[mastodon]] to [[sloth]]. By 3000 B.C. the vegetation was similar to modern plant life.<ref>{{cite book| title=Human Adaptation to the Fall Line Setting: A Framework for the Archeology of| page=13| author=Conrad Jay Bladey, Helen Curtis}}</ref> Humans have lived along the [[Patuxent River]] since at least 6500 B.C.<ref name=furgurson>[http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/04/amazing-artifacts-unearthed-at-pig.html "Amazing artifacts unearthed at Pig Point"], E.B. Furgurson III, ''The Archaeology News Network'', April 2011. Original source: ''The Capital'' [April 17, 2011]</ref> By the time of European contact, the lands in the region were occupied by various tribes of [[Algonquin language|Algonquin speaking]] Native Americans.

===Recent history===
The Patuxent River was first named ("Pawtuxunt") on the detailed map resulting from the 1608 voyage upriver by [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] settler [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]].<ref>{{Cite book
   |url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/smith/smith.html
   |title=The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles...
   |edition=Electronic
   |last=Smith
   |first=John
   |publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
   |year=2006
   |access-date=2007-10-29
}}</ref> The early English settlers progressively explored further northward from the mouth of the river, eventually reaching the area that is now North Laurel. In the 1620s the [[Susquehannock]]s pushed the [[Piscataway tribe]]s out to the southeast to reduce competition occupying the area as far south as the [[Potomac River]].<ref>{{cite book| title=Colesville, Maryland: The Development of a Community, Its People| author=Ned Bayley}}</ref> The Susquehannocks were well armed hunters and profited from beaver trading with the English. By 1632 [[Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore|Lord Baltimore]] had claimed title to issue land grants in Maryland through [[Charles I of England]]. In 1652, the Susquehannocks made a treaty with Marylanders to keep trade flowing and receive arms to use against the [[Iroquois]] to the north.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Westo Indians: Slave Traders of the Early Colonial South| author=Eric Everett Bowne| page=50}}</ref> By 1675, efforts were underway to eliminate the Susquehannocks from the region.<ref>{{cite book| title=Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American Indian, Volume 1| page=18| author=Steven Laurence Danver|author-link=Steven L. Danver}}</ref>

The North Laurel region was surveyed into land grants with colorful names in the mid-1700s. The largest grant was [[Warfield's Range]], followed by Wincopion Neck. Smaller grants in the area include (from north to south) The Addition, Ridgley's Neck, Bare Hills, Poplar Range, Grover's Lot, Poplar Bottom, Holland's Chance, Snowden's Intent, Clark's Walks, Snowden's New Birmingham, Brother's Partnership, Warfields Neglect, Sappington's Sweep, Nellsons Rainbow, Lasswells Hopewell, and Davis's Hills.<ref>{{cite book| title=Dr. Caleb Dorsey's Land Grant Map of Original Patents| year=1968}}</ref> The oldest structure in Howard County was situated on Warfield's Range. The log cabin built in 1696 was moved to [[Elkridge, Maryland|Elkridge]] to accommodate a Newburn development, and was destroyed by [[arson]].<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Durant Daily Democrat| date=25 December 2001| title=Centuries-old log cabin destroyed by fire}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Seeking Freedom The History of the Underground Railroad in Howard County|page=77}}</ref>  The [[U.S. Route 1 in Maryland|post road]] from [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] to [[Baltimore]] was constructed in 1740, which ran along its eastern boundary. Used by George Washington regularly, the road would remain the principle route between Baltimore and Washington for 200 years.<ref>{{cite book|title=Howard's Roads to the Past|author=Barbara Feaga|page=65}}</ref>

By the 1800s [[tobacco]] farming was the primary crop in North Laurel. Soil conservation was poor, leaving farms to switch crops or abandon farms. The founding of the Laurel [[grist mill]] in 1811 and the [[Savage Mill]] in 1822 brought an industrial economy to the area. [[Slavery in the United States|Slavery]] was a common practice among the farmers in North Laurel until after [[Emancipation Proclamation|emancipation]]. Runaway slave ads were regularly placed in the ''[[The Baltimore Sun|Baltimore Sun]]'' newspaper.<ref>{{cite news| title=Runaway| newspaper=The Baltimore Sun| date=March 25, 1846}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Runaway Ad| url=http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5400/sc5496/runaway_advertisements/pdf/18460325bs1.pdf| access-date=November 15, 2010}}</ref>

In the summer of 1834, [[Irish American|Irish]] (Corkians) and [[German American|German]] (Fardown) workers clashed at the [[B&O Railroad|B&O]] construction site at North Laurel. Fardowns burned shanties used by Corkian workers. A militia of 60 men were led by General Ridgley to keep the peace between the rival factions.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Great Road: The Building of the Baltimore and Ohio, the Nation's First Railroad| author=James D. Dilts| page=177}}</ref> In 1835 the rail line between Baltimore and Washington was completed next to the post road.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.anacostiatrails.org/site/media/ATHAnewsletterVol3No2.pdf
 |title       = ATHA's Featured Community: the City of Laurel
 |access-date  = 2007-07-21
 |last        = Mills
 |first       = Kristie
 |author2     = Elsie Klumpner
 |date        = Winter 2006
 |work        = ATHA Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 2
 |publisher   = Anacostia Trails Heritage Area
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929184835/http://www.anacostiatrails.org/site/media/ATHAnewsletterVol3No2.pdf
 |archive-date = 2007-09-29
}}</ref>

North Laurel was located in [[Anne Arundel County, Maryland|Anne Arundel County]] until 1860, when it became part of the newly subdivided Howard County.

In 1890, a syndicate purchased portions of the Burr, Brightwood, Kennedy, and Wheeler farms next to the B&O track to form a town named "North Laurel" adjacent, which did not materialize.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=14 September 1890|title=Large Purchase of Land Near Laurel}}</ref> The Patuxent Springs became a small tourist destination at the turn of the century.<ref>{{cite book|title=Howard's Roads to Past|author=Barbara W. Feaga|page=71}}</ref>

In 1901, [[Ernest Lyon]] founded the [[Maryland Industrial and Agricultural Institute for Colored Youths]] near the [[Patuxent River]]{{where|date=February 2018}} to serve [[African Americans]] during the era of [[racial segregation in the United States]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://aomol.msa.maryland.gov/000001/000499/pdf/am499--98.pdf|title=Biography}}</ref>{{refn|group=notes|The school was also known as the "Laurel Colored Agricultural and Industrial School."}}

[[File:OverlookFarm.jpg|right|thumb|Overlook Farm House built in 1911]]
In 1910, the Southern Real Estate Company of [[Pittsburgh]] bought one of Gustuavas Ober's North Laurel farms totaling {{convert|550|acre}} for $70,000. The lots were subdivided to form Laurel Park.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Washington Times| date=1 October 1910}}</ref> Many of the lots remained undeveloped for over 100 years. Several remaining lots were purchased with [[eminent domain]] and exchanged with Cornerstone Homes to consolidate enough land to build the North Laurel Civic Center and park.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Columbia Flyer| date=6 June 2002}}</ref> In 2013, Howard County sold the remaining wooded lots on the parkland to build Park Overlook.

The next year, Senator [[Arthur Pue Gorman]]'s daughter, Grace "Daisy", built her home, Overlook, on {{convert|140|acre}} of land along Murray Hill Road inherited from her father. Her husband, R.W. Johnson, was the first manager of the [[Laurel Park (race track)|Laurel race track]]. The property was the home to land developer and ambassador [[Kingdon Gould Jr.]] from 1952.<ref>{{cite web|title=Overlook (Kingdon Gould) House Historic Sites Survey|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/015000/015800/015808/pdf/msa_se5_15808.pdf|access-date=26 May 2018|first=Cleora Barnes |last=Thompson|publisher=Maryland Historic Trust|date=June 1977}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-kingdon-gould-20180119-story.html |title=Kingdon Gould Jr., former ambassador and astute parking lot investor, dies at 94 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |first=Jacques |last=Kelly |date=January 19, 2018 |access-date=May 26, 2018 |archive-date=January 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120065824/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-kingdon-gould-20180119-story.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1948, police raided Rocway Towers, putting an end to a short-lived effort to bring Washington-funded gambling casinos to Laurel. The Stucco Roadhouse built in the 1920s to resemble a mission house was the site of a 1948 gangland murder and prostitution into the 1970s. It remains in operation today as a used car dealership.<ref>{{cite news| title=Gaming Raid Traps 49 at Laurel Casino| date=6 June 1948}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=HO-821| url=http://data.howardcountymd.gov/scannedpdf/Historic_Sites/HO-821.pdf| access-date=15 April 2014}}</ref> The same year, [[Freestate Raceway]], a second racetrack featuring harness racing, was opened.

In 1959 the plan was announced that [[Interstate 95]] would be built through the farms of eastern Howard County. In October 1962, {{convert|47|acre|m2}} were rezoned for apartments at the corner of [[Whiskey Bottom Road]] and All Saints Road to take advantage of the future highway exit in North Laurel. An additional {{convert|27|acre}} of land was given to the county in school exchange for approving such a dense development.<ref>{{cite news |title=Apartment Project |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |date=June 24, 1962|page=RE1}}</ref> To the north, school board member Rob Moxley was secretly buying and swapping {{convert|10000|acre}} of farmland for Howard Research and Development to build [[Columbia, Maryland|Columbia]]. On 21 September 1963, the Laurel Planning and Redevelopment Corporation took out $520,000 in loans to buy {{convert|100|acre}} of the land to build Whiskey Bottom Apartments, which was resold to Whiskey Bottom Properties in 1966 for $1,000,000. The loan officer Ralph Lublow was tried for taking secret bonuses for the project, and in 1978 was released due to insanity after ordering hitmen to murder fellow businessmen Morton Hollander and Alvin Blum.<ref>{{cite web| title=Merchant's Mortgage Co v Lublow| url=http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?page=12&xmldoc=1975483275Md208_1467.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985&SizeDisp=7| access-date=16 April 2013}}</ref> On June 17, 1964, the Howard County Public School system applied for a [[Federal Impact Aid|P.L. 815 federal loan]] intended to fund schools for the children of federal workers that were being relocated to support Cold-War buildups.<ref>{{cite web| title=Howard County Public School System minutes 17 June 1964}}</ref> The project that would support the rapid population increase from the Whiskey Bottom development would become [[Laurel Woods Elementary School|Whiskey Bottom Road Elementary School]].

By 1963, the county anticipated growth from 44,000 to nearly 260,000 by the year 2000 (a mark reached by 2004). It also anticipated that despite the massive growth in population from the new 100,000-person "planned city" of Columbia, the Sixth Election District would be the most populated section of Howard County after 1975.<ref>{{cite web| title=Howard County Buildings| url=http://archives.ubalt.edu/gbc/pdf/4-18.pdf| access-date=7 April 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002427/http://archives.ubalt.edu/gbc/pdf/4-18.pdf| archive-date=2013-12-03| url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1991, Freestate Racetrack was targeted for development. The Coca-Cola company sought the site for a bottling plant that was eventually built in [[Hanover, Maryland]].<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Washington Post| title=Howard County Gives Coke a Break; Water, Sewage Fees Reduced to Lure Plant| date=9 October 1992}}</ref> On 8 September 1992, a man and a teenager attempted a series of failed [[carjacking]]s starting at the southbound rest stop at I-95 through the Bolling Brook subdivisions. The men carjacked the vehicle of Dr. Pam Basu and her 22-month-old daughter at a stop at Horsham and Kightsbridge road. Basu attempted to retrieve her daughter, and was dragged to death along Gorman Road. The suspects were caught in western Howard County after a police chase. As a direct result of the violent incident, the Federal Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992 (FACTA) was created, the first federal carjacking law. The 1992 act, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 2119, took effect on October 25, 1992.<ref name="Folks">Mike Folks, [https://web.archive.org/web/20131224112434/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1994-01-17/news/9401170203_1_federal-carjacking-law-carjacking-cases-pamela-basu Carjacking Law Getting Little Use: Few Prosecutions Occur Despite Increase in Number of Cases], ''Sun-Sentinel'' (January 17, 1994).</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=FATAL DESTINY - The Carjacking Murder of Dr. Pam Basu| author=Mr. James H. Lilley, Mr. Biswanth "Steve" Basu}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Baltimore Sun| date=25 April 2012| title=Carjacking murder of Pam Basu subject of former county cop's book Mount Airy author publishes first book about 1992 case| author=Lane Page}}</ref>

Prior to the [[September 11, 2001, attacks]], all five of the hijackers of [[American Airlines Flight 77]] (which crashed into the Pentagon) stayed at various motels in North Laurel, including the Budget Host Valencia and Pin-Del motels in [[Howard County, Maryland|Howard County]].<ref>Sellin, Erik (2016). ''The Preparation for Flight 77''. Classic CD Books. {{ISBN|9781935513049}}.</ref> The wing of the Valencia where they stayed was demolished,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2006/09/09/md-was-among-last-stops-for-hijackers-2/ |title= Md. was among last stops for hijackers |date=September 30, 2021 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 4, 2024 |quote=The Valencia Motel ... still exists, but the building where they stayed has been demolished and replaced}}</ref> and a new Sleep Inn was constructed on the ground, which opened in April 2007.

In 2006, the Rouse Company developed luxury townhomes at Stone Lake, a former quarry. The quarry was trash dump in the 1950s and closed in 1973. In 1976, Rouse proposed using the site for the profitable commercial landfill operations requiring dumping fees in competition with the [[Alpha Ridge Landfill]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|title=Howard's first-choice landfill site gets a low rating from task force|date=8 December 1976|author=Micheal J. Clark}}</ref> The site filled with rain and groundwater becoming the location of multiple drownings.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Washington Post| title=Maryland Youth Drowns in Howard County Quarry| date=26 April 1976}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Washington Post| title=Miller Leaving General Growth| date=30 March 1976}}</ref>