Frederick

Sister cities

• Schifferstadt
• Landau in der Pfalz
• Aquiraz

History

Located where Catoctin Mountain, the easternmost ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, meets the rolling hills of the Piedmont region, the Frederick area became a crossroads long before European explorers and traders arrived. Native American hunters, possibly including the Susquehannock, the Algonquian-speaking Shawnee, the Seneca, the Tuscarora, or other member tribes of the Iroquois Confederation followed the Monocacy River from the Susquehanna River watershed in Pennsylvania to the Potomac River watershed and the lands of the more agrarian and maritime Algonquian peoples, particularly the Lenape of the Delaware Valley and possible of the Piscataway and Powhatan of the lower Potomac River watershed and Chesapeake Bay. This became known as the Monocacy Trail or the Great Indian Warpath to the western Piedmont in North Carolina. Such northern tribal hunting parties may also have traveled along other watersheds in Virginia toward the Chesapeake Bay, such as those of the Rappahannock, James, and York Rivers. The earliest European settlement was slightly north of Frederick in Monocacy, Maryland. Monocacy was founded before 1730 (when the Indian trail became a wagon road) and was abandoned before the American Revolutionary War, likely due to the river's periodic flooding, hostilities predating the French and Indian War, or simply Frederick's better location with easier access to the Potomac River near its confluence with the Monocacy. Daniel Dulany, a land speculator, laid out what was initially called Frederick Town by 1745. Three years earlier, All Saints Church had been founded on a hilltop near a warehouse/trading post. Sources disagree as to which Frederick the town was named for, but the likeliest candidates are Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore (one of the…

Geography

Frederick is located in Frederick County in the northern part of the state of Maryland. The city has served as a major crossroads since colonial times. Today it is located at the junction of Interstate 70, Interstate 270, U.S. Route 340, U.S. Route 40, U.S. Route 40 Alternate and U.S. Route 15 (which runs north–south). In relation to nearby cities, Frederick lies west of Baltimore, north and slightly west of Washington, D.C., southeast of Hagerstown and southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The city's area is predominantly land, with small areas of water being the Monocacy River, which runs to the east of the city, Carroll Creek (which runs through the city and causes periodic floods, such as that during the summer of 1972 and fall of 1976), as well as several neighborhood ponds and small city owned lakes, such as Culler Lake, a man-made small body of water in the downtown area. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally cool winters. It lies to the west of the fall line, which gives the city slightly lower temperatures compared to locales further east. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Frederick has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated Cfa on climate maps. Frederick is also the site of the highest temperature recorded in Maryland at on July 10, 1936.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  24,230
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  17,786
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17,098
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17,029
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  16,825
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,475
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  14,466
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  14,005

Largest nearby schools

• Gov. Thomas Johnson High
  High · Frederick · 1,962 students · 18.5:1 ratio
• Urbana High
  High · Ijamsville · 1,940 students · 21.6:1 ratio
• Frederick High
  High · Frederick · 1,829 students · 17.9:1 ratio
• Tuscarora High
  High · Frederick · 1,717 students · 19.3:1 ratio
• Oakdale High
  High · Ijamsville · 1,622 students · 20.8:1 ratio
• Linganore High
  High · Frederick · 1,572 students · 19.2:1 ratio
• Walkersville High
  High · Walkersville · 1,213 students · 18.7:1 ratio
• Urbana Middle
  Middle · Ijamsville · 1,128 students · 19.1:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2025-10-27
  4 km E of Riverside, Maryland
• M 2.6 — 2021-06-25
  2 km SE of Woodlawn, Maryland
• M 2.81 — 2019-09-15
  5 km ESE of East Berlin, Pennsylvania
• M 3.03 — 2016-01-17
  3 km NE of Ranson, West Virginia
• M 3.6 — 2010-07-16
  5 km NNW of Barnesville, Maryland
• M 3.05 — 2010-06-03
  4 km ENE of Franklintown, Pennsylvania