Riverdale Park, Maryland
| Riverdale Park, Maryland | ||
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| Town | ||
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| Coordinates: 38°57′46″N 76°55′47″W / 38.96278°N 76.92972°WCoordinates: 38°57′46″N 76°55′47″W / 38.96278°N 76.92972°W | ||
| Country |  United States of America |
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| State |
 Maryland
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| County |  Prince George's |
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| Area | ||
| • Total | 1.68 sq mi (4.35 km2) | |
| • Land | 1.65 sq mi (4.27 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.03 sq mi (0.08 km2) | |
| Elevation | 39 ft (12 m) | |
| Population (2010) | ||
| • Total | 6,956 | |
| • Estimate (2014) | 7,266 | |
| • Density | 4,215.8/sq mi (1,627.7/km2) | |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) | |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | |
| FIPS code | 24-66635 | |
| GNIS feature ID | 0597960 | |
| Website | www.riverdaleparkmd.info | |
Riverdale Park, formerly known and often referred to as Riverdale, Maryland is a semi-urban town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, a suburb in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 6,956 as of 2010.
Riverdale Park and the neighboring community of West Riverdale developed in the late 19th century as streetcar suburbs in central Prince George’s County. The town is located approximately seven miles northeast of downtown Washington, D.C., and is bounded to the north by East-West Highway. The area is also bisected by the heavily traveled U.S. Route 1. The city of College Park is located to the north, and Hyattsville is located to the south and southwest.
The area was first developed in 1801 when a Belgian aristocrat, Henri Joseph Stier, purchased 800 acres situated between two tributaries of the Anacostia River, known as the Paint and Northwest branches. Stier and his family moved to the United States several years earlier to escape the French Revolution (1788-1789). Upon purchase, he named his holdings Riversdale, and began constructing his residence that same year. The mansion was modeled after the Stier family’s Belgian home, Chateau du Mick, and when completed in 1807, the building stood as a two-story stuccoed-brick dwelling in the style of late Georgian architecture.
Just two years after purchasing the property, in 1803, the political tension that had caused Stier to flee his native country subsided, and he and his wife, Marie Louise, returned to Belgium. Riversdale was given to their daughter, Rosalie, who had married George Calvert, the grandson of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, in 1799. After Rosalie Stier Calvert died in 1821 and George Calvert in 1838, their son, Charles Benedict Calvert, took over the plantation. Charles Calvert was a renowned agriculturist and helped establish the Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland at College Park. In May 1853, Calvert announced he would donate land for an agricultural college. In 1861, Calvert was elected to the United States Congress and fought for the establishment of the United States Department of Agriculture. During his life, Charles Calvert conducted a variety of agricultural experiments at Riversdale, and expanded his family's original holdings to 2,200 acres. Calvert died in 1864; however, the property remained in the ownership of the Calvert family for another twenty years.
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