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116-577: Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779 – January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland , best known as the author of the text of the American national anthem " The Star-Spangled Banner ". Key observed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 during the War of 1812 . He was inspired upon seeing the American flag still flying over the fort at dawn and wrote
232-564: A Catholic mission, to which Rev. Jean DuBois was assigned in 1792, which became St. John the Evangelist Church (built in 1800). To control this crossroads during the American Revolution , the British garrisoned a German Hessian regiment in the town; the war (the stone, L-shaped " Hessian Barracks " still stand). As the county seat for Western Maryland, Frederick not only was an important market town but also
348-406: A 16 percent increase from the city's 3,800 Asian residents in 2010. The city's Black or African-American population increased roughly 20 percent, from 12,144 in 2010 to 14,526 in 2020. According to American Community Survey estimates in 2021, for the roughly 33,907 households in the city, 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.4% were married couples living together, 30.4% had
464-554: A car trip to the presidential retreat, then called "Shangra-La" (now " Camp David ") within the Catoctin Mountains near Thurmont. Admiral Winfield Scott Schley (1839–1911) was born at "Richfields", the mansion home of his father. He became an important naval commander of the American fleet on board his flagship and heavy cruiser USS Brooklyn along with Admiral William T. Sampson in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba off
580-466: A diverse array of cuisines, including Italian American, Thai, Vietnamese, and Cuban, as well as a number of regionally recognized dining establishments. In addition to retail and dining, downtown Frederick is home to 600 businesses and organizations totaling nearly 5,000 employees. A growing technology sector can be found in downtown's historic renovated spaces, as well as in new office buildings located along Carroll Creek Park. Carroll Creek Park began as
696-429: A female householder with no spouse/partner present, and 20.3% male householders with no spouse/partner present. Approximately 14.8% of all households were made up of individuals living alone and 2.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.97. Frederick's relative proximity to Washington, D.C. , has always been an important factor in
812-549: A flag) booed the Confederates in September 1862, as General Stonewall Jackson led his light infantry division through Frederick on his way to the battles of Crampton's, Fox's and Turner's Gaps on South Mountain and Antietam near Sharpsburg . Union Major General Jesse L. Reno 's IX Corps followed Jackson's men through the city a few days later on the way to the Battle of South Mountain , where Reno died. The sites of
928-510: A flood control project in the late 1970s. It was an effort to reduce the risk to downtown Frederick from the 100-year floodplain and restore economic vitality to the historic commercial district. Today, more than $ 150 million in private investing is underway or planned in new construction, infill development or historic renovation in the park area. The first phase of the park improvements, totaling nearly $ 11 million in construction, run from Court Street to just past Carroll Street. New elements to
1044-474: A friend of Key who had been captured in his home on August 28. Beanes was accused of aiding the detention of several British Army stragglers who were ransacking local homes in search of food. Skinner, Key, and the released Beanes were allowed to return under guard to their own truce ship, but they were not allowed to go ashore because they had become familiar with the strength and position of the British units and their intention to launch an attack on Baltimore. Key
1160-429: A half dozen major churches. In 1793, All Saints Church hosted the first confirmation of an American citizen, by the newly consecrated Episcopal Bishop Thomas Claggett . That original colonial building was replaced in 1814 by a brick classical revival structure. It still stands today, although the principal worship space has become an even larger brick gothic church joining it at the back and facing Frederick's City Hall (so
1276-873: A judicial sale to the Pennsylvania Railroad for $ 150,000. The railroad survived through mergers and the Penn-Central bankruptcy. However, the State of Maryland acquired the Frederick and Pennsylvania Line in 1982. As of 2013, all but two miles (3.2 km) at the southern terminus at Frederick still exist, operated by either the Walkersville Southern , or the Maryland Midland Railway (MMID) railroads. Jewish pioneers Henry Lazarus and Levy Cohan settled in Frederick in
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#17327828944361392-600: A large complex a few blocks further down Church Street from the Anglicans and the German Reformed Church. Methodist missionary Robert Strawbridge , who accepted an invitation to preach at Frederick town in 1770, and Francis Asbury , who arrived two years later, both helped found a congregation which became Calvary Methodist Church, worshipping in a log building from 1792 (although superseded by larger buildings in 1841, 1865, 1910 and 1930). Frederick also had
1508-711: A memorial in 1898 and the remains of both Francis Scott Key and his wife, Mary Tayloe Lloyd, were placed in a crypt in the base of the monument. Despite several efforts to preserve it, the Francis Scott Key residence was ultimately dismantled in 1947. The residence had been located at 3516–18 M Street in Georgetown. Though Key had written poetry from time to time, often with heavily religious themes, these works were not collected and published until 14 years after his death. Two of his religious poems used as Christian hymns include "Before
1624-549: A new flag is designed it first flies over Fort McHenry. The first official 49- and 50-star American flags were flown over the fort and are still located on the premises. The fort has become a center of recreation for the Baltimore locals as well as a prominent tourist destination. Thousands of visitors come each year to see the "Birthplace of the Star-Spangled Banner." It's easily accessible by water taxi from
1740-434: A prominent banker, and his wife Mary Margaret Schley helped organize and raise funds for the annual Great Frederick Fair, one of the two largest agricultural fairs in the State. Since the 1960s, the fair has featured many outstanding country-western singers and become a major music festival. Schley Avenue commemorates the family's role in the city's heritage. The Frederick and Pennsylvania Line railroad ran from Frederick to
1856-551: A prose work called The Power of Literature, and Its Connection with Religion , in 1834. On January 11, 1843, Key died at the home of his daughter Elizabeth Howard in Baltimore from pleurisy at age 63. He was initially interred in Old Saint Paul's Cemetery in the vault of John Eager Howard but in 1866, his body was moved to his family plot in Frederick at Mount Olivet Cemetery . The Key Monument Association erected
1972-399: A range of 2 miles (3 km), and the British rockets had a 1.75-mile (2.8 km) range, but neither guns nor rockets were accurate. The British ships were unable to pass Fort McHenry and penetrate Baltimore Harbor because of its defenses, including a chain of 22 sunken ships, and the American cannons. The British vessels were able to fire their rockets and mortars at the fort only at
2088-571: A statement by Key identifying his personal thoughts, the words quoted are offered by Key to describe the attitudes of others who assert that former slaves could not remain in the U.S. as paid laborers. This was the official policy of the American Colonization Society . Key was an ACS leader and fundraiser for the organization, but he himself did not send the men and women he freed to Africa upon their emancipation. The original confusion around this quote arises from ambiguities in
2204-458: A staunch proponent of African colonization and a strong critic of the abolition movement until his death. Crandall died shortly after his acquittal of pneumonia contracted in the Washington jail. Key was a devout and prominent Episcopalian . In his youth, he almost became an Episcopal priest rather than a lawyer. Throughout his life he sprinkled biblical references in his correspondence. He
2320-536: A trunk full of anti-slavery publications in his Georgetown residence and office, five days after the Snow riot , caused by rumors that a mentally ill slave had attempted to kill an elderly white woman. In an April 1837 trial that attracted nationwide attention and that congressmen attended, Key charged that Crandall's publications instigated slaves to rebel . Crandall's attorneys acknowledged he opposed slavery, but denied any intent or actions to encourage rebellion. Evidence
2436-462: A variety of shops and restaurants, comprising what Forbes magazine in 2010 called one of the United States' "Greatest Neighborhoods". Frederick has a bridge painted with a mural titled Community Bridge . The artist William Cochran has been acclaimed for the trompe-l'œil realism of the mural. Thousands of people sent ideas representing "community", which he painted on the stonework of
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#17327828944362552-515: Is a city in, and the county seat of, Frederick County, Maryland , United States. Frederick's population was 78,171 people as of the 2020 census , making it the second-largest incorporated city in Maryland behind Baltimore . It is a part of the Washington metropolitan area and the greater Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area . The city is located at an important crossroads at
2668-802: Is neither mercy nor justice for colored people in this district [of Columbia]". Lundy's article, Key said in the indictment, "was intended to injure, oppress, aggrieve, and vilify the good name, fame, credit & reputation of the Magistrates and constables" of Washington. Lundy left town rather than face trial; Greer was acquitted. In a larger unsuccessful prosecution, in August 1836 Key obtained an indictment against Reuben Crandall , brother of controversial Connecticut teacher Prudence Crandall , who had recently moved to Washington, D.C. It accused Crandall of " seditious libel " after two marshals (who operated as slave catchers in their off hours) found Crandall had
2784-618: Is now Carroll County . He graduated from St. John's College , Annapolis, Maryland , in 1796 and read law under his uncle Philip Barton Key who was loyal to the British Crown during the War of Independence. He married Mary Tayloe Lloyd on January 1, 1802, daughter of Edward Lloyd IV of Wye House and Elizabeth Tayloe, daughter of John Tayloe II of Mount Airy and sister of John Tayloe III of The Octagon House . The couple raised their 11 children in their Georgetown residence,
2900-809: Is the Tyler Spite House , built in 1814 at 112 W. Church Street by a local doctor to prevent the city from extending Record Street south through his land to meet West Patrick Street. Frederick also became one of the new nation's leading mining counties in the early 19th century. It exported gold, copper, limestone, marble, iron, and other minerals. As early as the American Revolution , Catoctin Furnace near Thurmont became an important source of iron production. Other mining areas split off into Washington County, Maryland and Allegheny County, Maryland but continued to ship their ore through Frederick to Eastern cities and ports. Frederick had easy access to
3016-451: Is to associate and amalgamate with the negro? Or, gentlemen, on the other hand, are there laws in this community to defend you from the immediate abolitionist, who would open upon you the floodgates of such extensive wickedness and mischief? The jury acquitted Crandall of all charges. This public and humiliating defeat, as well as family tragedies in 1835, diminished Key's political ambition. He resigned as District Attorney in 1840. He remained
3132-450: Is well known for the "clustered spires" skyline of its historic downtown churches. These spires are depicted on the city's seal and many other city-affiliated logos and insignia. The phrase "clustered spires" is used as the name of several city locations such as Clustered Spires Cemetery and the city-operated Clustered Spires Golf Course. The scale of the older part of the city is dense, with streets and sidewalks suitable for pedestrians, and
3248-785: The America the Beautiful Quarters Program. On September 10–16, 2014, Fort McHenry celebrated the bicentennial of the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner called the Star-Spangled Spectacular. The event included a parade of tall ships, a large fireworks show, and the Navy's Blue Angels As of 2015 , restoration efforts began to preserve the original brick used in construction of the Fort, primarily through mortar replacement. On August 26, 2020, when due to
3364-756: The American Revolutionary War . Other westward migrants continued south from Frederick to Roanoke along the Great Wagon Road, crossing the Appalachians into Kentucky and Tennessee at the Cumberland Gap near the Virginia/North Carolina border. Other German settlers in Frederick were Evangelical Lutherans , led by Rev. Henry Muhlenberg . They moved their mission church from Monocacy to what became
3480-1024: The Blue Ridge Mountains ) meets the rolling hills of the Piedmont region, the Frederick area became a crossroads long before European explorers and traders arrived. Native American hunters (possibly including the Susquehannocks , the Algonquian-speaking Shawnee , or the Seneca or Tuscarora or other members of the Iroquois Confederation ) followed the Monocacy River from the Susquehanna River watershed in Pennsylvania to
3596-615: The British navy from Chesapeake Bay on September 13–14, 1814. The fort was built in 1798 and was used continuously by U.S. armed forces through World War I and by the United States Coast Guard in World War II . It was designated a national park in 1925, and, in 1939, was redesignated a U.S. National Monument . During the War of 1812, an American storm flag, 17 by 25 feet (5.2 m × 7.6 m),
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3712-622: The Burr conspiracy trial, and he argued numerous times before the Supreme Court. He was nominated for District Attorney for the District of Columbia by President Andrew Jackson , where he served from 1833 to 1841. He was a devout Episcopalian . Key owned slaves from 1800, during which time abolitionists ridiculed his words, claiming that America was more like the "Land of the Free and Home of
3828-698: The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal , which began operations in 1831 and continued hauling freight until 1924. Also in 1831, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) completed its Frederick Branch line from the Frederick (or Monocacy) Junction off the main Western Line from Baltimore to Harpers Ferry , Cumberland , and the Ohio River . The railroad reached Chicago and St. Louis by the 1850s. Frederick became Maryland's capital city briefly in 1861, as
3944-596: The First Barbary War . It was published in newspapers, first in Baltimore and then across the nation, under the new title The Star-Spangled Banner . It was somewhat difficult to sing, yet it became increasingly popular, competing with " Hail, Columbia " (1796) as the de facto national anthem by the time of the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War . The song was finally adopted as
4060-684: The Great Appalachian Valley through Winchester and Roanoke, Virginia . Another important route continued along the Potomac River from near Frederick, to Hagerstown , where it split. One branch crossed the Potomac River near Martinsburg, West Virginia and continued down into the Shenandoah valley. The other continued west to Cumberland, Maryland , and ultimately crossed the Appalachian Mountains into
4176-590: The Key House . Key and Colonel John Stuart Skinner dined aboard HMS Tonnant on September 7, 1814, following the Burning of Washington in August. They were the guests of Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane , Rear-Admiral George Cockburn , and Major-General Robert Ross . Skinner and Key were there to plead for the release of Dr. William Beanes, a physician who resided in Upper Marlboro, Maryland , and
4292-673: The Köppen Climate Classification system, Frederick has a humid subtropical climate , abbreviated Cfa on climate maps. Frederick is also the site of the highest temperature recorded in Maryland at 109 °F (42.8 °C) on July 10, 1936. As of the 2020 U.S. 2020 United States census , there were 78,171 people residing in Frederick city. 2020 census data put the racial makeup of the city at 48.9% White , 18.6% Black or African American , 0.2% Native American , 5.7% Asian American or Pacific Islander , and 20.9% Hispanic or Latino of any race. Roughly 5% of
4408-484: The Mayor of Baltimore George William Brown and other locals deemed to be Confederate sympathizers. F. Scott Fitzgerald , whose full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was a distant cousin and the namesake of Key. Key's direct descendants include geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan , guitarist Dana Key , and American fashion designer and socialite Pauline de Rothschild . Frederick, Maryland Frederick
4524-500: The National Museum of American History , it is now on display there in a special exhibit that allows it to lie at a slight angle in dim light. The United States Code currently authorizes Fort McHenry's closure to the public in the event of a national emergency for use by the military for the duration of such an emergency. In 2013, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine was honored with its own quarter under
4640-621: The Petticoat affair concerning Secretary of War John Eaton , and he served as the attorney for Sam Houston in 1832 during his trial for assaulting Representative William Stanbery of Ohio. After years as an adviser to President Jackson, Key was nominated by the President to District Attorney for the District of Columbia in 1833. He served from 1833 to 1841 while also handling his own private legal cases. In 1835, he prosecuted Richard Lawrence for his attempt to assassinate President Jackson at
4756-786: The Potomac River watershed and the lands of the more agrarian and maritime Algonquian peoples , particularly the Lenape of the Delaware valley or the Piscataway and Powhatan of the lower Potomac watershed and Chesapeake Bay. This became known as the Monocacy Trail or even the Great Indian Warpath , with some travelers continuing southward through the " Great Appalachian Valley " ( Shenandoah Valley , etc.) to
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4872-619: The Rodman guns presently located and displayed at the fort. On 25 May 1861 John Merryman was arrested in Baltimore County and imprisoned in Fort McHenry. Merryman had had a role in destroying bridges in Maryland to impede the movement of Union troops. Merryman petitioned Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney for a writ of habeas corpus , and Taney granted the petition, demanding that Merryman appear in his courtroom
4988-413: The U.S. Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 23.96 square miles (62.06 km ), of which 23.79 square miles (61.62 km ) is land and 0.18 square miles (0.47 km ) is water. The city's area is predominantly land, with small areas of water being the Monocacy River , which runs to the east of the city, Carroll Creek (which runs through the city and causes periodic floods, such as that during
5104-562: The "Battle that Saved Washington." The Monocacy National Battlefield lies just southeast of the city limits, along the Monocacy River at the B&;O Railroad junction where two bridges cross the stream: an iron-truss bridge for the railroad and a covered wooden bridge for the Frederick-Urbana-Georgetown Pike, which was the site of the main battle of July 1864. Some skirmishing occurred further northeast of town at
5220-598: The 1740s as merchants. Mostly German Jewish immigrants organized a community in the mid-19th century, creating the Frederick Hebrew Congregation in 1858. Later the congregation lapsed, but was reorganized in 1917 as a cooperative effort between the older settlers and more recently arrived Eastern European Jews under the name Beth Sholom Congregation . In 1905, Rev. E. B. Hatcher started the First Baptist Church of Frederick. After
5336-408: The 1937 biography of Key by Edward S. Delaplaine. Key was a founding member and active leader of the American Colonization Society (ACS), whose primary goal was to send free black people to Africa. Though many free black people were born in the United States by this time, historians argue that upper-class American society, of which Key was a part, could never "envision a multiracial society". The ACS
5452-632: The American Colonization Society, was the total and immediate abolition of slavery in the United States . This Key was firmly against, with or without slave owner compensation , and he used his position as District Attorney to attack abolitionists. In 1833, he secured a grand jury indictment against Benjamin Lundy , editor of the anti-slavery publication Genius of Universal Emancipation , and his printer William Greer, for libel after Lundy published an article that declared, "There
5568-476: The American national anthem more than a century after its first publication by Act of Congress in 1931, signed by President Herbert Hoover . Key was a leading attorney in Frederick, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., for many years, with an extensive real estate and trial practice. He and his family settled in Georgetown in 1805 or 1806, near the new national capital. He assisted his uncle Philip Barton Key in
5684-555: The Appalachian mountains (areas further west being disputed between the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania until 1789). The current town's first house was built by a young German Reformed schoolmaster from the Rhineland Palatinate named Johann Thomas Schley (died 1790), who led a party of immigrants (including his wife, Maria Von Winz) to the Maryland colony. The Palatinate settlers bought land from Dulany on
5800-698: The Arts , and the Maryland Ensemble Theatre). Frederick is the home of The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center, a leading non-profit in the region, as well as the Maryland Shakespeare Festival. Fort McHenry Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point , now a neighborhood of Baltimore , Maryland . It is best known for its role in the War of 1812 , when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by
5916-406: The Civil War, the Maryland legislature established racially segregated public facilities by the end of the 19th century, re-imposing white supremacy. Black institutions were typically underfunded in the state, and it was not until 1921 that Frederick established a public high school for African Americans . First located at 170 West All Saints Street, it moved to 250 Madison Street, where it eventually
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#17327828944366032-430: The District of Columbia , was shot and killed by Daniel Sickles —a U.S. Representative from New York who would serve as a general in the American Civil War —after he discovered that Philip Barton Key was having an affair with his wife. Sickles was acquitted in the first use of the temporary insanity defense. In 1861, Key's grandson Francis Key Howard was imprisoned in Fort McHenry with
6148-446: The Executive Branch continued to refuse to comply with Taney's ruling. During World War I , an additional hundred-odd buildings were built on the land surrounding the fort in order to convert the entire facility into an enormous U.S. Army hospital for the treatment of troops returning home from the European conflict. None of those buildings remain, while the original fort has been preserved and restored to essentially its condition during
6264-517: The Frederick area will likely maintain a continued growth pattern over the next decade. Frederick has also been impacted by recent national trends centered on the gentrification of the downtown areas of cities across the nation (particularly in the northeast and mid-Atlantic), and to re-brand them as sites for cultural consumption. The Frederick Historic District in the city's downtown houses more than 200 retailers, restaurants and antique shops along Market, Patrick and East Streets. Restaurants feature
6380-409: The George B. Hartzog award for serving the National Park Service as the best volunteer unit. Among the members of the unit is Martin O'Malley , the former mayor of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland, who was made the unit's honorary colonel in 2003. The flag that flew over Fort McHenry, the Star-Spangled Banner Flag , has deteriorated to an extremely fragile condition. After undergoing restoration at
6496-450: The Lord We Bow" and "Lord, with Glowing Heart I'd Praise Thee". In 1806, Key's sister, Anne Phoebe Charlton Key, married Roger B. Taney , who would later become Chief Justice of the United States . In 1846 one daughter, Alice, married U.S. Senator George H. Pendleton and another, Ellen Lloyd, married Simon F. Blunt . In 1859, Key's son Philip Barton Key II , who also served as United States Attorney for
6612-581: The Oppressed". As District Attorney, he suppressed abolitionists, and he lost a case against Reuben Crandall in 1836 where he accused the defendant's abolitionist publications of instigating slaves to rebel. He was also a leader of the American Colonization Society which sent former slaves to Africa. He freed some of his slaves in the 1830s, paying one as his farm foreman to supervise his other slaves. He publicly criticized slavery and gave free legal representation to some slaves seeking freedom, but he also represented owners of runaway slaves. He had eight slaves at
6728-399: The Pennsylvania–Maryland State line, a/k/a Mason–Dixon line . Chartered in 1867, construction began in 1869 and the line opened October 8, 1872. However, it defaulted on its interest payments in 1874 and was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1875, which formed a new division to operate the rail line. In the spring of 1896, the Frederick and Pennsylvania Line railroad was liquidated in
6844-437: The Schifferstadt Architectural Museum. Schley's group was among the many Pennsylvania Dutch (ethnic Germans) (as well as Scots-Irish and French and later Irish ) who migrated south and westward in the late-18th century. Frederick was an important stop along the migration route that became known as the Great Wagon Road , which came down from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Emmitsburg, Maryland and continued south following
6960-421: The Union soldiers of his IX Corps is on Reno Monument Road west of Middletown , just below the summit of Fox's Gap , as is a 1993 memorial to slain Confederate Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland Jr. , and the North Carolina troops who held the line. President Abraham Lincoln , on his way to visit Gen. George McClellan after the Battle of South Mountain and the Battle of Antietam , delivered a short speech at what
7076-399: The Visitor Center, have numerous other exhibits as well that show the fort's use over time. Every September, the City of Baltimore commemorates Defenders Day in honor of the Battle of Baltimore. It is the biggest celebration of the year at the Fort, accompanied by a weekend of programs, events, and fireworks. In 2005 the living history volunteer unit, the Fort McHenry Guard , was awarded
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#17327828944367192-475: The War of 1812. During World War II , Fort McHenry served as a Coast Guard base. Used for training, the historic sections remained open to the public. The fort was made a national park in 1925; on August 11, 1939, it was redesignated a " National Monument and Historic Shrine", the only such doubly designated place in the United States. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. It has become national tradition that when
7308-432: The backdrop of the first ridge of the Appalachians at Catoctin Mountain . The abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier later immortalized this view of Frederick in his poem to " Barbara Fritchie ": "The clustered spires of Frederick stand/Green-walled by the hills of Maryland." When U.S. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned National Road from Baltimore toward St. Louis , eventually built to Vandalia , then
7424-403: The banks of Carroll Creek , and Schley's house stood at the northwest corner of Middle Alley and East Patrick Street into the 20th century. Schley's settlers also founded a German Reformed Church (today known as Evangelical Reformed Church, and part of the UCC ). Probably the oldest house still standing in Frederick today is Schifferstadt , built in 1756 by German settler Joseph Brunner and now
7540-446: The battles are due west of the city along the National Road , west of Burkittsville . Confederate troops under Jackson and Walker unsuccessfully attempted to halt the Federal army's westward advance into the Cumberland Valley and towards Sharpsburg . Gathland State Park has the War Correspondents' Memorial stone arch erected by reporter/editor George Alfred Townsend (1841–1914). The 1889 memorial commemorating Major General Reno and
7656-444: The bridge. The residents of Frederick call it "the mural", "painted bridge", or more commonly, the "mural bridge". The Frederick Arts Council is the designated arts organization for Frederick County. The organization is charged with promoting, supporting, and advocating the arts. There are over ten art galleries in downtown Frederick, and three theaters are located within 50 feet of each other (Cultural Arts Center, Weinberg Center for
7772-409: The city council, and the new police commissioner, George P. Kane , and members of the Maryland General Assembly along with several newspaper editors and owners. Francis Scott Key 's grandson, Francis Key Howard , was one of these political detainees. Some of the cells used still exist and can be visited at the fort. Fort McHenry also served to train artillery at this time; this service is the origin of
7888-416: The city's population was of two or more races, with 0.6% categorized as "Some Other Race". In regard to minority group growth, the 2020 census data show the city's Hispanic population at 16,368, a 74 percent increase compared with 9,402 in 2010, making Hispanics/Latinos the fastest growing race group in the city and in Frederick county (87 percent increase ). Frederick city had 4,425 Asian residents in 2020,
8004-438: The command of Major George Armistead , lost four killed—one woman was cut in half by a bomb as she carried supplies to the troops—and 24 wounded, including one black soldier, Private William Williams . At one point during the bombardment, a bomb crashed through the fort's powder magazine . However, either the rain extinguished the fuse or the bomb was a dud . Washington lawyer Francis Scott Key went to Baltimore to negotiate
8120-415: The current twin-spired structure in 1852. The oldest African-American church in the town is Asbury United Methodist Church, founded as the Old Hill Church, a mixed congregation in 1818. It became an African-American congregation in 1864, renamed Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church in 1870, and built its current building on All Saints Street in 1921. Together, these churches dominated the town, set against
8236-457: The development of its local economy, along with the presence of Fort Detrick , its largest employer. Frederick is the home of Riverside Research Park , a large biomedical research park located on Frederick's east side. Tenants include the relocated main offices of the National Cancer Institute 's Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research as well as Charles River Labs . As a result of continued and enhanced federal government investment,
8352-594: The first Saturday of every month, Frederick hosts an evening event in the downtown area called "First Saturday". Each Saturday has a theme, and activities are planned according to those themes in the downtown area (particularly around the Carroll Creek Promenade). The event spans a ten-block area of Frederick and takes place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. During the late spring, summer, and early fall months, this event draws particularly large crowds from neighboring cities and towns in Maryland, and nearby locations in
8468-614: The fleet. When they arrived in Baltimore that evening, Key completed the poem in his room at the Indian Queen Hotel. His untitled and unsigned manuscript was printed as a broadside the next day under the title "Defence of Fort M'Henry”, with the notation: "Tune – Anacreon in Heaven ". This was a popular tune that Key had already used as a setting for his 1805 song "When the Warrior Returns", celebrating American heroes of
8584-651: The intersection of a major north–south Native American trail and east–west routes to the Chesapeake Bay , both at Baltimore and what became Washington, D.C. , and across the Appalachian Mountains to the Ohio River watershed. Frederick is home to Frederick Municipal Airport ( IATA : FDK), which accommodates general aviation , and Fort Detrick , a U.S. Army bioscience and communications research installation and Frederick County's largest employer. Located where Catoctin Mountain (the easternmost ridge of
8700-668: The latter's disastrous performance at Chancellorsville in May. The Army of the Potomac camped around the Prospect Hall property for the several days as skirmishers pursued Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia before Gettysburg . A large granite rectangular monument made from one of the boulders at the "Devil's Den" in Gettysburg to the east along the driveway commemorates the midnight change-of-command. In July 1864, in
8816-406: The legislature moved from Annapolis to vote on the secession question. President Lincoln arrested several members, and the assembly was unable to convene a quorum to vote on secession. As a major crossroads, Frederick, like Winchester, Virginia , and Martinsburg, West Virginia , saw considerable action during the American Civil War . Slaves also escaped from or through Frederick (since Maryland
8932-541: The next day and sending U.S. Marshals to the fort to enforce the ruling. A famous and dramatic standoff then occurred at the gates of the fort between the Federal Marshals and General George Cadwalader , the commander of Union troops of the Fort. The commander refused to comply with the order on the grounds that he was acting under orders from President Abraham Lincoln , who had suspended habeas corpus. The court case, Ex parte Merryman , remains unresolved, and
9048-569: The opening of Baltimore Harbor between the basin at the present-day Inner Harbor and Northwest branch on the north side and the Middle and Ferry (now Southern) branches of the Patapsco River on the south side. The Frenchman Jean Foncin designed the fort in 1798, and it was built between 1798 and 1800. The new fort's purpose was to improve the defenses of the increasingly important Port of Baltimore from future enemy attacks. The new fort
9164-630: The parish remains the oldest Episcopal Church in western Maryland). The main Catholic church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, was built in 1800, then rebuilt in 1837 (across the street) one block north of Church Street on East Second Street, where it still stands along with a school and convent established by the Visitation Sisters . The stone Evangelical Lutheran Church of 1752 was also rebuilt and enlarged in 1825, then replaced by
9280-544: The park include brick pedestrian paths, water features, planters with shade trees and plantings, pedestrian bridges and a 350-seat amphitheater for outdoor performances. A recreational and cultural resource, the park also serves as an economic development catalyst, with private investment along the creek functioning as a key component to the park's success. More than 400,000 sf of office space; 150,000 sf of commercial/retail space; nearly 300 residential units; and more than 2,000 parking spaces are planned or under construction. On
9396-492: The poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry"; it was published within a week with the suggested tune of the popular song " To Anacreon in Heaven ". The song with Key's lyrics became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" and slowly gained in popularity as an unofficial anthem, finally achieving official status as the national anthem more than a century later under President Herbert Hoover . Key was a lawyer in Maryland and Washington, D.C. for four decades and worked on important cases, including
9512-641: The popular Baltimore Inner Harbor . However, to prevent abuse of the parking lots at the Fort, the National Park Service does not permit passengers to take the water taxi back to the Inner Harbor unless they have previously used it to arrive at the monument. Several authorized archaeological digs have been conducted, and found artifacts are on display in one of the buildings surrounding the Parade Ground. These structures, as well as
9628-482: The population noted that only a very small number of free black people were actually moved, and they faced brutal conditions in West Africa, with very high mortality. Free Black people made it clear that few of them wanted to move, and if they did, it would be to Canada, Mexico, or Central America, not Africa. The leaders of the American Colonization Society, including Key, were predominantly slave owners. The Society
9744-431: The release of Dr. William Beans, a civilian prisoner of war, and there he witnessed the bombardment from a nearby truce ship. An oversized American flag had been sewn by Mary Pickersgill for $ 405.90 in anticipation of the British attack on the fort. Key saw the flag emerge intact in the dawn of September 14, and he was so moved that he began to compose "Defence of Fort M'Henry" set to the tune " To Anacreon in Heaven ". It
9860-547: The river's periodic flooding, hostilities predating the French and Indian War , or simply Frederick's better location with easier access to the Potomac River near its confluence with the Monocacy. Daniel Dulany , a land speculator, laid out what was initially called Frederick Town by 1745. Three years earlier, All Saints Church had been founded on a hilltop near a warehouse/trading post. Sources disagree as to which Frederick
9976-453: The seat of justice. Although Montgomery County and Washington County were split off from Frederick County in 1776, Frederick remained the seat of the smaller (though still large) county. Important lawyers who practiced in Frederick included John Hanson , Francis Scott Key and Roger B. Taney . Frederick was also known during the nineteenth century for its religious pluralism, with one of its main thoroughfares, Church Street, hosting about
10092-628: The sensational conspiracy trial of Aaron Burr and in the expulsion of Senator John Smith of Ohio. He made the first of his many arguments before the United States Supreme Court in 1807. In 1808, he assisted President Thomas Jefferson 's attorney general in United States v. Peters . In 1829, Key assisted in the prosecution of Tobias Watkins , former U.S. Treasury auditor under President John Quincy Adams , for misappropriating public funds. He also handled
10208-741: The shores of the Spanish island colony of Cuba in the Spanish–American War in 1898. Major Henry Schley's son, Dr. Fairfax Schley, was instrumental in setting up the Frederick County Agricultural Society and the Great Frederick Fair. Gilmer Schley served as Mayor from 1919 to 1922, and the Schleys remained one of the town's leading families into the late-20th century. Nathaniel Wilson Schley,
10324-426: The state capital of Illinois, National Pike ran through Frederick along Patrick Street; it later became U.S. Route 40 . Frederick's Jacob Engelbrecht corresponded with Jefferson in 1824 and received a transcribed psalm from Jefferson in return. Engelbrecht kept a diary from 1819 through 1878, which remains an important first-hand account of 19th century life on National Road. An important house remaining from this era
10440-654: The stone-arched "Jug Bridge" where the National Road crossed the Monocacy; and an artillery bombardment occurred along the National Road west of town near Red Man's Hill and Prospect Hall mansion as the Union troops retreated eastward. Antietam National Battlefield and South Mountain State Battlefield Park which commemorates the 1862 battles are located 23 miles and 35 miles respectively to
10556-408: The summer of 1972 and fall of 1976), as well as several neighborhood ponds and small city owned lakes, such as Culler Lake, a man-made small body of water in the downtown area. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally cool winters. It lies to the west of the fall line , which gives the city slightly lower temperatures compared to locales further east. According to
10672-418: The third Southern invasion, Confederate troops led by Lieutenant General Jubal Early occupied Frederick and extorted $ 200,000 ($ 3.9 million in 2023 dollars ) from citizens for not razing the city on their way to Washington, D.C. Union troops under Major General Lew Wallace fought a successful delaying action, in what became the last significant Confederate advance at the Battle of Monocacy , also known as
10788-596: The time of his death. Key was born into an affluent family. Key's father John Ross Key was a lawyer, a commissioned officer in the Continental Army , and a judge of English descent. His mother Ann Phoebe Dagworthy Charlton was born (February 6, 1756 – 1830), to Arthur Charlton, a tavern keeper, and his wife, Eleanor Harrison of Frederick in the colony of Maryland. Key grew up on the family plantation Terra Rubra in Frederick County, Maryland , which
10904-516: The top steps of the Capitol, the first attempt to kill an American president. Key purchased his first slave in 1800 or 1801 and owned six slaves in 1820. He freed seven in the 1830s, and owned eight when he died. One of his freed slaves continued to work for him for wages as his farm's foreman, supervising several slaves. Key also represented several slaves seeking their freedom, as well as several slave-owners seeking return of their runaway slaves. Key
11020-476: The town was named for, but the likeliest candidates are Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore (one of the proprietors of Maryland ), Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales , and Frederick the Great , King of Prussia. In 1748, Frederick County was formed by carving a section off of Prince George's County . Frederick Town (now Frederick) was made the county seat of Frederick County . The county originally extended to
11136-436: The tri-state area (Virginia and Pennsylvania). The average number of attendees visiting downtown Frederick during first Saturday events is around 11,000, with higher numbers from May to October. According to the county's comprehensive annual financial reports , the top employers by number of employees in the county are the following. ("NR" indicates the employer was not ranked among the top ten employers that year.) Frederick
11252-467: The watershed of the Ohio River . Thus, British General Edward Braddock marched his troops (including the youthful George Washington ) west in 1755 through Frederick on the way to their fateful ambush near Fort Duquesne (later Fort Pitt , then Pittsburgh ) during the French and Indian War . However, the British after the Proclamation of 1763 restricted that westward migration route until after
11368-431: The weapons' maximum range. The poor accuracy on both sides resulted in very little damage to either side before the British, having depleted their ammunition, ceased their attack on the morning of September 14. Thus the naval part of the British invasion of Baltimore had been repulsed. Only one British warship, a bomb vessel, received a direct hit from the fort's return fire, which wounded one crewman. The Americans, under
11484-503: The west-northwest. While Gettysburg National Battlefield of 1863 lies approximately 35 miles (56 km) to the north-northeast. The reconstructed home of Barbara Fritchie stands on West Patrick Street, just past Carroll Creek linear park. Fritchie, a significant figure in Maryland history in her own right, is buried in Frederick's Mount Olivet Cemetery . British Prime Minister Winston Churchill quoted Whittier's poem to President Franklin D. Roosevelt when they stopped here in 1941 on
11600-713: The western Piedmont in North Carolina , or traveling down other watersheds in Virginia toward the Chesapeake Bay , such as those of the Rappahannock , James , and York Rivers . The earliest European settlement was slightly north of Frederick in Monocacy, Maryland . Monocacy was founded before 1730 (when the Indian trail became a wagon road) and was abandoned before the American Revolutionary War , likely due to
11716-445: Was a bastioned pentagon, surrounded by a dry moat —a deep, broad trench. The moat would serve as a shelter from which infantry might defend the fort from a land attack. In case of such an attack on this first line of defense, each point, or bastion could provide a crossfire of cannon and small arms fire. Fort McHenry was named after early American statesman James McHenry (1753–1816), a Scots-Irish immigrant and surgeon-soldier. He
11832-680: Was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Maryland and a signer of the United States Constitution. Afterwards, he was appointed United States Secretary of War (1796–1800), serving under Presidents George Washington and John Adams . Beginning at 6:00 a.m. on September 13, 1814, British warships under the command of Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane continuously bombarded Fort McHenry for 25 hours. The American defenders had 18-, 24- and 32-pounder (8, 11, and 16 kg) cannons. The British guns had
11948-616: Was active in All Saints Parish in Frederick, Maryland, near his family's home. He also helped found or financially support several parishes in the new national capital, including St. John's Episcopal Church in Georgetown , Trinity Episcopal Church in present-day Judiciary Square , and Christ Church in Alexandria (at the time, in the District of Columbia). He was described as a "devoted and intimate friend" of Bishop William Meade of Virginia, and his "good literary taste"
12064-896: Was adapted as South Frederick Elementary. The building presently houses the Lincoln Elementary School. The Laboring Sons Memorial Grounds , a cemetery for free blacks , was founded in 1851. Frederick is located in Frederick County in the northern part of the state of Maryland. The city has served as a major crossroads since colonial times. Today it is located at the junction of Interstate 70 , Interstate 270 , U.S. Route 340 , U.S. Route 40 , U.S. Route 40 Alternate and U.S. Route 15 (which runs north–south). In relation to nearby cities, Frederick lies 46 miles (74 km) west of Baltimore , 50 miles (80 km) north and slightly west of Washington, D.C. , 24 miles (39 km) southeast of Hagerstown and 71 miles (114 km) southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . According to
12180-628: Was credited for the quality of the church's hymnal. From 1818 until his death in 1843, Key was associated with the American Bible Society . He successfully opposed an abolitionist resolution presented to that group around 1838. Key also helped found two Episcopal seminaries, one in Baltimore and the other across the Potomac River in Alexandria (the Virginia Theological Seminary ). Key also published
12296-418: Was flown over Fort McHenry during the British bombardment of the fort. The flag was replaced early on the morning of September 14, 1814, with a larger American garrison flag , 30 by 42 feet (9.1 m × 12.8 m). The larger flag signaled American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore . The sight of the ensign inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" that
12412-459: Was intended to preserve slavery, rather than eliminate it. In the words of philanthropist Gerrit Smith , it was "quite as much an Anti-Abolition, as Colonization Society". "This Colonization Society had, by an invisible process, half conscious, half unconscious, been transformed into a serviceable organ and member of the Slave Power ." The alternative to the colonization of Africa, project of
12528-415: Was introduced that the anti-slavery publications were packing materials used by his landlady in shipping his possessions to him. He had not "published" anything; he had given one copy to one man who had asked for it. Key, in his final address to the jury said: Are you willing, gentlemen, to abandon your country, to permit it to be taken from you, and occupied by the abolitionist, according to whose taste it
12644-437: Was later set to music in the song " To Anacreon in Heaven ", which was later known and designated as " The Star-Spangled Banner ", the national anthem of the United States. Fort McHenry was built on the site of the former Fort Whetstone, which was used to defend Baltimore from 1776 to 1797. Fort Whetstone stood on Whetstone Point in the residential and industrial area of present-day Locust Point in Baltimore, which juts into
12760-400: Was not supported by most abolitionists or free black people of the time, but the organization's work would eventually lead to the creation of Liberia in 1847. In the early 1830s American thinking on slavery changed quite abruptly. Considerable opposition to the American Colonization Society's project emerged. Led by newspaper editor and publisher William Lloyd Garrison , a growing portion of
12876-449: Was one of the executors of John Randolph of Roanoke 's will, which freed his 400 slaves, and Key fought to enforce the will for the next decade and to provide the freedmen and women with land to support themselves. Key is known to have publicly criticized slavery's cruelties, and a newspaper editorial stated that "he often volunteered to defend the downtrodden sons and daughters of Africa." The editor said that Key "convinced me that slavery
12992-539: Was renamed " The Star-Spangled Banner " and became the United States' national anthem, and has even been translated into various languages, targeted mostly for US immigrants who later acquired American citizenship. During the American Civil War the area where Fort McHenry sits served as a military prison, confining both Confederate soldiers, as well as a large number of Maryland political figures who were criticizing then President Abraham Lincoln. The imprisoned included newly elected Baltimore Mayor George William Brown ,
13108-654: Was still a "slave state" although it had not seceded) to join the Union forces, work against the Confederacy and seek freedom. During the Maryland campaigns , both Union and Confederate troops marched through the city. Frederick also hosted several hospitals to nurse the wounded from those battles, as is related in the National Museum of Civil War Medicine on East Patrick Street. A legend related by John Greenleaf Whittier claimed that Frederick's Pennsylvania Dutch women (including Barbara Fritchie who reportedly waved
13224-762: Was then the B&;O Railroad depot at the current intersection of East All Saints and South Market Streets. A plaque commemorates the speech (at what is today the Frederick Community Action Agency, a Social Services office). At the Prospect Hall mansion off Jefferson Street to Buckeystown Pike near what is now Butterfly Lane, in the early morning hours of June 28, 1863, a messenger arrived from President Abraham Lincoln and General-in-Chief Henry Halleck , informing General George Meade that he would be replacing General Joseph Hooker after
13340-423: Was unable to do anything but watch the 25-hour bombardment of the American forces at Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore from dawn of September 13 to the next morning. At dawn, Key was able to see a large American flag waving over the fort, and he started writing a poem about his experience on the back of a letter that he had kept in his pocket. On September 16, Key, Skinner, and Beanes were released from
13456-507: Was wrong—radically wrong". A quote increasingly credited to Key stating that free black people are "a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community" is erroneous. The quote is taken from an 1838 letter that Key wrote to Reverend Benjamin Tappan of Maine who had sent Key a questionnaire about the attitudes of Southern religious institutions about slavery. Rather than representing
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