Savage

History

The lands of present-day Savage were first settled in approximately 1650. Colonel Henry Ridgley surveyed the land around Savage Mill and nearby Annapolis Junction, Maryland in 1685, naming the tract "Ridgely's Forrest". Joseph White was the grandson of Peregrine White, the first child born of the Mayflower expedition. In 1734, he opened a gristmill on land patented as "Whites Fortune" and "Mill Land". The parcels were consolidated to become "Whites Contrivance". A rich vein of American industrial history lies in Savage. When the textile industry was in its heyday, Savage was an important manufacturing center, its mills harnessing the water power on the falls of the Little and Middle Patuxent rivers. The town was named for John Savage, a Philadelphia merchant with interest in a mill on the falls of the Little Patuxent. In 1822, he and his associates, the Williams brothers, chartered the Savage Manufacturing Company, purchasing of the White property for $6,666.67. The company produced sails for the clipper ships that sailed out of Baltimore Harbor, in addition to a wide variety of other cotton products. The cotton milling industry started in Maryland in the 18th century and flourished in the 19th century. Cotton was shipped cheaply from Southern ports and hauled overland by mule and oxen teams to the mills before rail transportation served Savage. In 1835 the Washington branch of the B&O Railroad was completed, and Savage Station was established on the line about a mile southeast of the present mill. A spur of the B&O was laid to the Savage factory in 1887, and it was at this time that the famous Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge was moved to its present site from another location. Originally built in 1852, it was one of about 100 on the B&O line. Beloved by railroad…

Geography

Savage is located in southeastern Howard County, bordered by Columbia to the north and North Laurel to the southwest. U.S. Route 1 (Washington Boulevard) forms the southeast edge of the CDP. The historic Savage mill village is located in the southern part of the CDP, while a major freeway interchange between Interstate 95 and Maryland Route 32 sits on the northern edge of the CDP. The Middle Patuxent and Little Patuxent rivers join to the west of the mill village. The Middle Patuxent (above the confluence) and the Little Patuxent (below the confluence) form the southwest edge of the CDP. The river drops about in to form the falls that powered the early mills. The Little Patuxent continues southeast to join the Patuxent River at Crofton.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Reservoir High
  High · Fulton · 1,837 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Howard High
  High · Ellicott City · 1,741 students · 15.7:1 ratio
• Long Reach High
  High · Columbia · 1,714 students · 13.7:1 ratio
• Atholton High
  High · Columbia · 1,467 students · 15.6:1 ratio
• River Hill High
  High · Clarksville · 1,424 students · 17:1 ratio
• Oakland Mills High
  High · Columbia · 1,401 students · 13.7:1 ratio
• Centennial High
  High · Ellicott City · 1,392 students · 16.8:1 ratio
• Wilde Lake High
  High · Columbia · 1,341 students · 13.7:1 ratio