Since its establishment in 1745, Frederick has been one of Maryland’s most important towns. It rose from western outpost to inland market center and county seat within a few short years, settled largely by German and Scots-Irish immigrants. Its development was enabled by early roadways that cross at the center of its city grid and commercial area: the north-south road from Georgetown to Pennsylvania, and the east-west road from Baltimore that became the National Road. Although bypassed by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, it enjoyed a spur line to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad by the mid-nineteenth century. Even once usurped by Hagerstown as regional industrial leader, Frederick maintained its prominence as the region’s municipal, financial, and commercial epicenter, and remains the area’s most prosperous town.
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