Atholton, Maryland

Atholton is an unincorporated community in Howard County, Maryland, United States. A postal office operated from May 26, 1897, to November 1900 and again from 1903 to July 1917.[1]

Atholton was founded at the crossroads of Old Columbia Pike, Guilford Road and Clarksville Pike. Atholton takes its name from a 600-acre (240 ha) land grant named "Athole" granted from King Charles to James Macgill 17 August 1732.[2] He built a nearby manor house named "Athol" built between 1732 and 1740.[3][4] In 1845, Nicolas Worthington freed seventeen of his slaves, and gave them 150 acres (61 ha) of the "Athol enlarged" land which was then called "Freetown". In 1869, the Atholton Colored Church was founded and renamed to the Locust Chapel (Locust United Methodist) between 1871 and 1876.[5][6]

Atholton was situated one mile north of Simpsonville without well-defined boundaries. By the 1930s, postal service was concentrated at Simpsonville.[7]

In 1962, Edward G Pickett and Walter Shank built the Atholton Village Shopping Center, which was one of the first commercial properties taken over by Columbia Research & Development (Rouse)in 1965.[8] The same year the historic Volkmann home burned down by arson shortly after being purchased for the Holiday Hills Development.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Checklist of Maryland Post Offices" (PDF). Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  2. Collection Research: Land Owners & Patents, 1670-1812 ACCESSION NO. A.3.a. iii Property Owners, Land Names, & Acreage – covering Anne Arundel (Howard), Baltimore, Frederick, and Montgomery Counties.
  3. "Athol" (PDF). Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  4. "HO-37" (PDF). Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  5. Barbara W Feagan. Howard's Roads to the Past. p. 85.
  6. Alice Cornelison; Silas E. Craft Sr.; Lillie Price. History of Blacks In Howard County. p. 40.
  7. Howard's Roads to the Past. Howard County Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee, 2001. 2001. pp. 81–82.
  8. "Shopping Center - New of Howard's Scene". The Times. 31 March 1965.
  9. "Holiday Hills Blaze". The Times. 31 March 1965.


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