Riverdale Park

History

Riverdale Park and the neighboring community of West Riverdale developed in the late 19th century as streetcar suburbs in central Prince George's County. The town is located approximately seven miles northeast of downtown Washington, D.C. The area is also bisected by the heavily traveled Baltimore Avenue (U.S. Route 1). The city of College Park is located to the north, the town of University Park to the west across Baltimore Avenue, the town of Edmonston to the east and southeast, and Hyattsville is located to the south and southwest. The area was first developed in 1801 when a Belgian aristocrat, Henri Joseph Stier, purchased 800 acres situated between two tributaries of the Anacostia River, known as the Paint and Northwest branches. Stier and his family moved to the United States several years earlier to escape the French Revolution (1788–1789). Upon purchase, he named his holdings Riversdale, and began constructing his residence that same year. The mansion was modeled after the Stier family's Belgian home, Chateau du Mick, and when completed in 1807, the building stood as a two-story stuccoed-brick dwelling in the style of late Georgian architecture. Just two years after purchasing the property, in 1803, the political tension that had caused Stier to flee his native country subsided, and he and his wife, Marie Louise, returned to Belgium. Riversdale was given to their daughter, Rosalie, who had married George Calvert, the grandson of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, in 1799. After Rosalie Stier Calvert died in 1821 and George Calvert in 1838, their son, Charles Benedict Calvert, took over the plantation. Charles Calvert was a renowned agriculturist and helped establish the Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland at College Park. In May…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity