Middle River is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...

Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

, United States. The population was 33,203 at the 2020 census. A Middle River Train Station first appeared on the 1877 G.M. Hopkins & Co Baltimore County Map and by 1898 had a designated Post Office and modest street grid. The town expanded during the 1930s and 1940s and established the "Aero Acres" housing community which borders the railroad tracks and Martin Blvd. to serve as housing for people working at the Martin Aerospace Company. For this development, the architecture firm of

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...

designed gable-roofed Cape Cod houses with dimensions of 24 feet (7.3 m) by 28 feet (8.5 m), featuring large commercial-style windows in their principal rooms. In 1941 a total of 600 homes were built at Aero Acres using this design from Cemento (a cement/asbestos material).

Geography

Middle River is located at (39.333957, −76.440502). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the Census Designated Place (CDP) has a total area of , of which is land and , or 8.63%, is water.

Demographics

Northbound view, Martin State Airport MARC station

At the 2000 census, there were 23,958 people, 9,425 households, and 6,399 families living in the CDP. The population density was 3,100.8 people per square mile (1,196.7/km). There were 10,000 housing units at an average density of 1,294.3 per square mile (499.5/km). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the CDP was 82.60% White, 13.21% African American, 0.60% Native American, 1.23% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.86% from other races, and 1.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.92% of the population. Of the 9,425 households 33.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.0% were married couples living together, 16.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.1% were non-families. 25.7% of households were one person and 9.8% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.99. The age distribution was 25.9% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% 65 or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.0 males.

History

Middle River was once known as a "Little Appalachia". Before, during, and after World War II many Appalachian migrants settled in the

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

area, including Middle River. Appalachian people who migrated to Middle River were largely economic migrants who came looking for work.

Schools

Victory Villa Elementary School was built in the 1930s to teach the children of the Martin Aerospace Center's employees. It was rebuilt in 2018. Martin Boulevard Elementary School was built in the 1950s and rebuilt on the same property in the 1990s to accommodate the ever-expanding population in the Middle River Community. Middle River Middle School, originally a junior high school housing seventh through ninth grades, now conforms to the Maryland shift in grades and houses sixth through eighth grades. Students feed into Kenwood High School, located on Stemmers Run Road in

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

. Glenmar Elementary School is located across from Middle River Middle School and Hawthorne Elementary borders Essex.

References

External links