Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Germantown, Maryland" in English language version.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)The crossroads became known as "German town" because of the heavy German accents of these people. The name has stuck even though a majority of the land-owners in the area were of English or Scottish descent.
The Civil War took a terrible toll on Germantown, not because there was any actual fighting here, but because of the animosities between neighbors that it created. Many of the families of German descent were against slavery and had sons fighting in the Union army. Many of the families of English descent owned slaves and even many who didn't, had sons fighting in the Confederate army. Many people who had formerly been friendly went out of their way to not have to deal with each other, some changing churches, or going to a mill or store miles distant from the one they usually used.
In the late summer and fall of 1861 there were more than 20,000 Union soldiers camped to the west of Germantown in the Darnestown and Poolesville areas. Sometimes these soldiers would come to the stores in Germantown. In September, 1862, and June, 1863, many regiments of Union soldiers marched north on Rt. 355 on their way to the Battles of Antietam and Gettysburg. In July, 1864, Gen. Jubal Early led his Confederate army down Rt. 355 to attack Washington, D.C. Confederate raiders also came through the area several times during the War. Local farmers lost horses and other livestock to the armies of both sides.
There was no public school in Germantown until after the Civil War. Before that time school was held in people's homes. In 1868 there was a one-room school on built on Rt. 118 near Blackrock Road that served the children of both Germantown and Darnestown. In 1883 a larger one-room school was built closer to Clopper Road to teach the children of Germantown. Another new school was built in 1910 on the present site of Germantown Elementary school. This school had four rooms—two downstairs and two upstairs—each room housing two grades. After eighth grade the children rode the train to attend high-school in Rockville.
Fire engulfed the old wooden structure of the Bowman Brothers Mill in 1914, but four years later they were in business again and sold the mill to a brand new corporation—the Liberty Milling Company. Augustus Selby was the first owner/manager of the new mill which opened in 1918. Electricity was brought into the mill and also served the homes and businesses nearby, making this the first area in the northern part of the county to get electricity.
Johnson bought his dream farm in Germantown in 1935 and lived here with his five children and his mother, his wife having passed away, until his death in 1946. His dairy farm was located where Seneca Valley High School is today. He was elected by the local people to two terms as a County Commissioner.
"Feed the Liberty Way" was the slogan for the mill which, with its 8 silos, became the second largest mill in Maryland and supplied flour for the army during World War II. Cornmeal and animal feed were also made at the mill, and a mill store sold specialty mixes like pancake and muffin mix.
After the war the mill went into decline, and was burned by arson in 1971.
The area felt a new surge of energy with the building of interstate 270 in the 1960s. For a while the old and the new mixed as employees of the Atomic Energy Commission (now the Department of Energy) came to the old Germantown store for lunch and Mr. Burdette's cows often had to be cleared from the road. When the sewer line was completed in 1974 building in Germantown began in earnest.
The Cross family established the Cider Barrel Mobile Home Park on Route 355 in Germantown, Md., not far from the College's Germantown Campus.
Germantown is not an incorporated city but is administered by the Montgomery County government.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Germantown is not an incorporated city but is administered by the Montgomery County government.
Montgomery College, Germantown Campus, opened October 21, 1978, with two buildings, 1,200 students, and a faculty of 24. A steel water towel modeled Planet Earth as seen from a satellite. By 2003, enrollment was 5,000 with 80 faculty members in four buildings. A 40-acre biotechnology laboratory is nearing competition in 2008.
Until recent years, Germantown book lovers went to the library in Gaithersburg or patronized the weekly bookmobile. In the year 2000, the Upcounty Regional Services Center opened and the largest first-floor space became the library. In 2007, the Germantown Public Library moved to its own, separate location. The new library opened at a cost of $19 million. Now library space is enlarged from 16,000 to 44,193 square feet on two levels. There are 180,000 volumes on the shelves, and 37 PCs available for public use.