Elkridge Landing was a

Patapsco River The Patapsco River ( ) mainstem is a river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore. With its South Branch, the Patapsco forms the northern border of Howar ...

seaport in Maryland, and is now part of

Elkridge, Maryland Elkridge is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Howard County, Maryland, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Elkridge is a rapidly growing area; between the 2010 and the 2020 census, the population had grown from ...

. The historic Elkridge Furnace Inn site is in

Patapsco Valley State Park Patapsco Valley State Park is a Maryland state park extending along of the Patapsco River south and west of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. The park encompasses multiple developed areas on over acres of land, making it Maryland's largest st ...

Geography

Elkridge is located in present-day

Howard County, Maryland Howard County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population is 334,529. Since there are no incorporated municipalities, there is no incorporated coun ...

, west of the

, south of

Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...

, and with the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

(B&O) running through the middle of the historic district. The historic roads are the old Washington Turnpike, now Main Street, Railroad Avenue, Paradise Avenue, Elkridge Heights Road and Furnace Avenue.

History

The Elkridge site

Pottery has been found dating from 1800 B.C.E. and there is evidence of settlement along the Patapsco River until 1500 C.E.Elizabeth Janney.
Elkridge
'. Arcadia Publishing; 8 July 2013. . p. 12.

Seaport

In 1690 the town and seaport of Elkridge Landing was settled in the Patapsco Valley of the

Colony of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an Kingdom of England, English and later British colonization of the Americas, British colony in North America from 1634 until 1776, when the province was one of the Thirteen Colonies that joined in supporting the A ...

. It was a deep-water port, with a channel about 10 to 14 feet deep, that brought ships inland from the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

. Tobacco casks, or

hogsheads A hogshead (abbreviated "hhd", plural "hhds") is a large cask of liquid (or, less often, of a food commercial product) for manufacturing and sale. It refers to a specified volume, measured in either imperial or US customary measures, primarily ...

, were rolled down Rolling Hill to the port by "long strings of slaves" and boarded ships. Manufactured iron was also shipped out of the port. Native Americans lived north of the Elkridge Landing site in 1692 and rangers were appointed among the settlers to keep watch. Around 1725, a 28-by-16-foot "Rowling House" with clapboard siding was built on the landing to store tobacco rolled in hogsheads to market. In 1727, the state ended the practice of having ship sailors personally retrieve hogsheads of tobacco. Inland tobacco farms increased productivity by rolling their own hogsheads to ports of Baltimore, Annapolis, and Elkridge. Six acres around the Rowling house were surveyed by William Cromwell on 7 February 1743. The site was purchased by Caleb and Edward Dorsey and named "Calebs and Edwards Friendship". Mining for

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be c ...

on the banks of the Patapsco River dumped sand and earth dumped into the river, closing the port of Elkridge Landing after the first half of the 1700s.Inventory of Historic Properties.
Maryland Historical Trust. p. 3. Retrieved January 25, 2014. A 1753 law was enacted to prevent the further filling in of the Patapsco River's shipping channel at Elkridge Landing and up to

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. In 1763, half of Anne Arundel's tobacco production was processed at the landing: 1,695 hogsheads. Christ Church Guilford taxed the tobacco to pay for the local sheriff and church expenses.

Jansen-Town

On April 12, 1733, the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives, and the lower ...

voted to make Elkridge Landing the town of Jansen-Town in what was then the County of Ann-Arundel. At that time 40 lots were created on 30 acres of land purchased near or on the Patapasco River.

Iron manufacturing

Caleb Dorsey, an

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a larg ...

aware of iron ore found in the Patapsco River valley, established Dorsey's Forge in 1761. It ran on water power from the river and made nails and horseshoes. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

he made

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

s and

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

s. As of 1787 there were 9 or more slaves that worked his operation. In 1822 the business was purchased by Thomas, James and Benjamin Ellicott from Pennsylvania. It was first named Avalon Iron Works, but then became a nail factory and rolling mill. More than 100 people worked at the complex by the 1850s. The forge, factory and mill were destroyed in a flood in 1868. Two structures that remained are in the

.Elizabeth Janney.
Elkridge
'. Arcadia Publishing; 8 July 2013. . p. 16. By 1880, the town was described as "A sorry village on the Patapsco, which once hoped to be the rival of Baltimore."

Transportation

The town became more prosperous when the Washington Turnpike and the railroad traversed through the town, resulting in new residential and commercial construction. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Union troops were deployed to protect both bridges. In the 1930s when Route 1 skirted the city, many commercial buildings moved alongside the highway.

Historic district

An application was submitted in 2003 to make it a historic district and is now on the Inventory of Historic Properties with the

Maryland Historical Trust The Maryland Historical Trust is an agency of Maryland Department of Planning and serves as the Maryland State Historic Preservation Office. The agency serves to assist in research, conservation, and education, of Maryland's historical and cultur ...

. There are business and residential properties built between the 1820s and 1920s within the district. It is one of the oldest settlements in Howard County, Maryland. Elkridge Landing is significant for its historic iron and shipping industries, role in development of the railroads in the 19th century, architecture and its archaeological potential.Inventory of Historic Properties.
Maryland Historical Trust. p. 1. Retrieved January 25, 2014.

Present

In 2015, the Howard County Council approved a payment-in-lieu of taxes agreement for Riverwatch, a middle-income townhouse and apartment development built by the KB Companies in coordination with the Howard County Housing and Community Development on Furnace Avenue replacing a series of small historic single family homes in the neighborhood.

Notable people

Andrew Ellicott Andrew Ellicott (January 24, 1754 – August 28, 1820) was an American land surveyor who helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachians, surveyed the boundaries of the District of Columbia, continued and completed Pierre (Pe ...

* John Ellicott * George Poe

Notes

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Map of Elkridge Landing, 1860
Elkridge, Maryland Populated places established in 1690 1690 establishments in Maryland