Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Camp Springs

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
DHistory
History · Camp Springs

Camp Springs’ post office opened in 1878

More historic than 12% of U.S. towns · #216 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it

Most of Camp Springs was built recently: 0.1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1970.

1878first post office
0on the National Register
0.1%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
6famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Camp Springs’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Camp Springs began

When was Camp Springs founded?

1878

The Camp Springs post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Campsprings (1878), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 22,776 in 19702020 census: 22,734148 years

How historic is Camp Springs?

D

More historic than 12% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Camp Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Camp Springs’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Camp Springs is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #216 of 261 in Maryland. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Camp Springs’ overall grade.
Founding era1878, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.1% of homes (±0.1) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical MD town 0.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 12%
NewerOlder
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 17%

Few Maryland towns list much on the Register (a typical Maryland town has 0.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Camp Springs’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (20% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.1 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Camp Springs’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Camp Springs, and 7 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19004 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1979. Watch Camp Springs change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Camp Springs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Camp Springs’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCamp Springs, Maryland. Day-rooms which…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Campsprings, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Andrews ManorAuth VillageBroadviewManchester EstatesMiddleton FarmPagetts CornerWoods Corner
Gone or out of use
Mount Hope Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Camp Springs
Bells Methodist ChurchMount Hope

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Camp Springs on the map, 1900 to 1979

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Camp Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Camp Springs on the 1900 USGS mapCamp Springs on the 1934 USGS mapCamp Springs on the 1945 USGS mapCamp Springs on the 1979 USGS map1900Washington sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Camp Springs.

The story

How Camp Springs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Camp Springs.

Read it all →

The community of Camp Springs was settled in the mid-19th century at the crossroads of present-day Branch Avenue and Allentown Road. By 1860, the settlement contained several stores, a blacksmith shop, a school, Methodist church, and several residences. Early maps record the name of this settlement as Allentown, after the Allen family. The Allens were large landholders in the area, and the town, adjacent road, and Allenwood Elementary School were named in recognition of them. The town's popular name, and subsequently the name of its post office, was Camp Springs. According to local history, the community was called Camp Springs since soldiers en route to Fort Meade from the District of Columbia found the area to be a comfortable place to camp due to the abundant springs.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Camp Springs, 1878 to 1978

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Campsprings post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1913Post officeThe Campsprings post office closes
  6. 1943In the archiveCamp Springs, Maryland. Day-rooms which were furnished by the Optimists Club
  7. 1967Born hereFrank Pollack is born here
  8. 1970Born hereSam Watters is born here
  9. 1971Born hereMark Williams is born here
  10. 1978Born hereMarshall Gilkes is born here
By decade

Camp Springs, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item
Camp Springs, Maryland. Day-rooms which were furnished by the Optimists Club1943Camp Springs, Maryland. Day-rooms which were furnishe…
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Camp Springs, Maryland. Day-rooms which were furnished by the Optimists Club
Retake this viewCamp Springs, Maryland. Day-rooms which were furnished by the Optimists Club, 1943

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Camp Springs’ page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Camp Springs, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,000198020002020Peak: 22,776

Between 16,118 and 22,776 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Camp Springs’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

6 famous people were born in Camp Springs

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
M
Marshall GilkesAmerican musician · b. 1978
F
Frank PollackAmerican football player · b. 1967
M
Mark WilliamsAmerican football player · b. 1971
S
Sam WattersAmerican record producer · b. 1970
P
Paul ShieldsAmerican football player · b. 1976
T
Tiara MalcomAmerican basketball player · b. 1983
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

MorningsideIts storyD−Clinton3 historic placesB+Silver HillIts storyC−Andrews AFBIts storyDTemple HillsIts storyDFriendlyIts storyC−Marlow HeightsIts storyDSuitland2 historic placesCOxon Hill1 historic placeCForestvilleIts storyC−

Questions about Camp Springs’ history

What year was Camp Springs founded?

The Camp Springs post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Camp Springs rank for history?

Camp Springs is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #216 of 261 in Maryland. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Camp Springs?

0.1% of Camp Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1972.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.