Laurel

History

Many dinosaur fossils from the Cretaceous Era are preserved in a park in Laurel. The site, which among other finds has yielded fossilized teeth from Astrodon and Priconodon species, has been called the most prolific in the eastern United States. From the Late Glacial age in 10,700 B.C. to 8,500 B.C., Laurel's climate warmed and changed from a spruce forest to a hardwood forest. In the Late Archaic period from 4,000 to 1,000 B.C., Laurel would have been covered primarily with an oak and hickory forest. Laurel was formed from land on the fall line of the Patuxent River patented by the Snowden family in 1658 as part of the 12,250-acre New Birmingham plantation, which included the later Montpelier. The Washington Turnpike Road Company built Route 1 between 1796 and 1812, creating a major north–south land route. Milstead's Hotel halfway house was built in town to serve four stage lines a day in 1816. Nicholas Snowden built a grist mill on the site circa 1811 which grew to a small cotton mill by the 1820s. In 1828, a detailed survey was conducted to build a canal from Baltimore to Georgetown to connect to the proposed C&O canal. The route from Elkridge Landing to Bladensburg would have built a waterway roughly aligning with modern U.S. Route 1 and Kenilworth Avenue, with special consideration not to harm the water power for Savage Mill. The project did not go forward; the preference was to build a railroad, the B&O. Nicholas Snowden died in 1831, and the mill properties transferred to Louisa Snowden and her husband Horace Capon in 1834. In 1835, coinciding with the opening of the Capital Subdivision rail line from Baltimore to Washington, the Patuxent Manufacturing Company was chartered by Horace Capon, Edward Snowden, Theodore Jenkins, W.C. Shaw, A.E. Hall, and O.C.…

Geography

Laurel is located on the bank of the Patuxent River, which was the power source for the cotton mills that were the early industry of the town. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. As is typical of central Maryland, Laurel lies within the humid subtropical climate zone, featuring hot humid summers (up to ) and cool to mild winters (as low as ) to with high annual precipitation averaging . Laurel lies within USDA plant hardiness zones 7 and 8.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  122,190
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  100,679
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  94,738
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  91,896
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  85,686
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  80,038
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  80,024
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  79,252

Largest nearby schools

• High Point High
  High · Beltsville · 3,003 students · 18.4:1 ratio
• Parkdale High
  High · Riverdale · 2,561 students · 16.3:1 ratio
• Eleanor Roosevelt High
  High · Greenbelt · 2,526 students · 20.7:1 ratio
• Duval High
  High · Lanham · 2,503 students · 19.7:1 ratio
• Northwestern High
  High · Hyattsville · 2,346 students · 16.5:1 ratio
• Laurel High
  High · Laurel · 2,134 students · 17.8:1 ratio
• Chesapeake Math and IT Public Charter
  Other · Laurel · 1,684 students · 18.5:1 ratio
• Greenbelt Middle
  Middle · Greenbelt · 1,342 students · 13.7:1 ratio