At a Crossroads of Travel and Trade

At a Crossroads of Travel and Trade. Upper Marlboro in 1814. Established in 1706 and incorporated in 1870, Upper Marlboro is the county seat of Prince George's County, As a center for both agriculture and county administration, the town was located at a crossroads of travel and trade. The Western Branch of the Patuxent River, on the southern edge of the town, was used for the shipping of tobacco until the early 19th century. A system of roads and later the railroad connected the town to markets.

By the 1800s, the town boasted stores, a bank, an academy, three churches, and the law offices of prominent attorneys. A new courthouse was finished in 1801 near the eastern edge of town. It would have been noticed by the British troops as they marched to and from Upper Marlboro in August 1814 in their campaign to invade the nation's capital. Following the Civil War, a group of local African Americans purchased land to build a Methodist meetinghouse on the south edge of town and worked with the Freedmen's Bureau to establish an African-American school.

New courthouses were built in 1881 and in 1991 as the community's role shifted from agriculture to supporting county courts and administration. A historic district, Darnall's Chance House Museum, and a vital Main Street maintain Upper Marlboro's 300-year history.