Suitland

History

Suitland is named after 19th century landowner and businessman Senator Samuel Taylor Suit, whose estate, "Suitland,” was located near the present-day intersection of Suitland and Silver Hill Roads. In the 1600s, the Piscataway tribe inhabited the lands in southern Maryland. European settlers first visited Saint Clement's Island on the Potomac River and then established their first Maryland colony downriver at Saint Mary's City in 1634, and by the 1660s through the 1680s, settlers had moved into what is now known as Prince George's County. Faced with this encroachment, the Piscataways left the area in 1697, and moved north to present-day Coney Island, New York. They eventually moved further north into Pennsylvania and Michigan. The sole export of the European settlers was tobacco, and slaves were first brought to the county in the 1700s. Prior to the Civil War, tobacco production had made Prince George's County one of the wealthiest counties in Maryland, and half of the county's population was enslaved. In the 1870s and 1880s, such prominent guests as U.S. Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes visited the Suitland estate. It was the 1871 site of negotiations preliminary to the international tribunal in Geneva that arbitrated the Alabama Claims. After Suit's death in 1888, portions of the estate were sold (circa 1892 to 1903) to William A. Harrison, and the land was subsequently subdivided and sold over the years. Suit's son, Arthur B. Suit, retained three acres (1.2 ha) of land near the corner of Suitland and Silver Hill Roads, where he maintained a general store, a bar, a bowling alley, and the community's one-room jailhouse. By the turn of the century, the village of Suitland had added a post office, churches, and several houses. There are two…

Geography

As an unincorporated area, Suitland's boundaries are not officially defined. The U.S. Geological Survey locates the center of Suitland at 38°50'49"N 76°55'33"W. This area is roughly bounded by Southern Avenue (D.C. Line) to the north, Branch Avenue (MD 5) to the west, Pennsylvania Avenue (MD 4) to the east, and Donnell Drive/Suitland Parkway/Meadowbrook Drive (Henson Creek) to the south. Within the northeastern section of these boundaries lies the township of Morningside, MD and a small portion of another unincorporated area known as Forestville, MD. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Suitland has a total area of , a 25% reduction from the 2.2 square miles (5.6 km2) used in previous years. While the Census Bureau defines the CDP as all land, the Suitland Bog and portions of Henson Creek, a tributary of the Potomac, are located off Suitland Parkway near the southern border of the CDP. Suitland Bog is one of the last of the natural bogs in the D.C. region, which numbered approximately thirty before the onset of suburban development. This wetland ecosystem features sweet bay magnolias and other rare species of plants, including northern pitcher-plants, lady slipper orchids, sundews, and sphagnum moss. There are two community recreation centers (Bradbury Heights Recreation Center and William Beanes Community Center) and 4 parks (Auth Village Neighborhood Park, Douglas Patterson Community Park, Dupont Heights Neighborhood Park, and Michael J. Polley Neighborhood Park) maintained by the Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation.

Race & ethnicity