Rockville

History

Situated in the Piedmont region and crossed by three creeks (Rock Creek, Cabin John Creek, and Watts Branch), the area that became Rockville provided a favorable environment for seasonally mobile Native American communities as early as 8000 BC. The waterways were used for travel and hunting and provided refuge for the people associated with the Piscataway Confederacy. By the first millennium BC, some groups had established year-round agricultural villages in the region. These communities cultivated native flora, including sunflowers and marsh elder. During the Late Woodland period, communities associated by archaeologists with the Montgomery Complex inhabited the central Potomac region. By around AD 1200, these early groups (dubbed Montgomery Indians by later archaeologists) were increasingly drawn into conflict with the Seneca and Susquehannock peoples who had migrated south from Pennsylvania and New York. Within the present-day boundaries of the city, six prehistoric sites have been uncovered and documented, along with numerous artifacts several thousand years old. By 1700, pressure from European colonists had displaced the majority of these original inhabitants. Indigenous peoples established a trail along the high ground, known as Sinequa Trail, which is now downtown Rockville. The Maryland Assembly later established a standard width of for major thoroughfares, and the route developed into the Rock Creek Main Road, also known as the Great Road. In the mid-18th century, Lawrence Owen opened a small inn on the road. The place, known as Owen's Ordinary, took on greater prominence when, on April 14, 1755, Major General Edward Braddock stopped at Owen's Ordinary on a start of a mission from George Town (now Washington, D.C.) to press British claims of the western…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system Rockville has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Rockville is in hardiness zone 7a, meaning that the average annual minimum winter temperature is . The average first frost occurs on October 21, and the average final frost occurs on April 16.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  141,318
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  114,880
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  103,475
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  102,045
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  96,318
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  94,827
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  92,432
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  89,107

Largest nearby schools

• Montgomery Blair High
  High · Silver Spring · 3,204 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• Walter Johnson High
  High · Bethesda · 2,942 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Wheaton High
  High · Silver Spring · 2,599 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• Northwest High
  High · Germantown · 2,484 students · 17.3:1 ratio
• Gaithersburg High
  High · Gaithersburg · 2,436 students · 14.3:1 ratio
• Richard Montgomery High
  High · Rockville · 2,390 students · 17.8:1 ratio
• Bethesda-Chevy Chase High
  High · Bethesda · 2,335 students · 18:1 ratio
• Seneca Valley High
  High · Germantown · 2,239 students · 14.5:1 ratio