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CHistory
History · Langley Park

1 of Langley Park’s places is on the National Register

More historic than 26% of U.S. towns · #156 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Langley Park. Most of Langley Park was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1966. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 2000.

1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
8old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Langley Park’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Langley Park’s history

How historic is Langley Park?

C

More historic than 26% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Langley Park’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Langley Park is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #156 of 261 in Maryland. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Langley Park’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19402.6% of homes (±1.8) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 0.5 per 10,000 residents · typical MD town 0.9 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 26%
NewerOlder
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 40%

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 Langley Park’s 0.5 sits near the middle of its state (42% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±1.8 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: our sources. 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 Langley Park’s past

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

On the map since 19003 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1979. Watch Langley Park change.
★ What stands out · On the map

Langley Park on the map, 1900 to 1979

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

Langley Park on the 1900 USGS mapLangley Park on the 1934 USGS mapLangley Park 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 Langley Park.

The story

How Langley Park came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Langley Park.

Read it all →

"Langley Park" refers to the Langley Park estate established in 1923 by the McCormick-Goodhart family in the Chillum District of Prince George's County. The name McCormick-Goodhart represented the linking of one of Chicago's oldest families, that of Cyrus McCormick, with that of British barrister Frederick E. McCormick-Goodhart. Frederick's wife Henrietta (Nettie) was the daughter of Leander J. McCormick, a brother of Cyrus. They named the 540-acre (2.2 km2) estate "Langley Park" after the Goodharts' ancestral home in Kent, England. In 1924, they erected an 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m2), 28-room Georgian Revival mansion, designed by architect George Oakley Totten Jr., at a cost of $100,000. It remains a community landmark at 8151 15th Ave. CASA of Maryland purchased the property in 2009, making the site its home base, and a US$31 million Multicultural Community Center is now open in th…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Langley Park, 1900 to 1933

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 1918In the archiveRiggs Mill
  4. 1933In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey Albert S. Burns, Photographer C. 1934-1935 - Adelphi M…
By decade

Langley Park, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s8 items
Riggs Mill1918Riggs MillHistoric American Buildings Survey Albert S. Burns, Photographer C. 1934-1935 - Adelphi Mill, Adelphi Mill Recreation C…1933Historic American Buildings Survey Albert S. Burns, P…Historic American Buildings Survey Albert S. Burns, Photographer c. 1934-35 RIGGS MILL - Adelphi Mill, Adelphi Mill Rec…1933Historic American Buildings Survey Albert S. Burns, P…Historic American Buildings Survey T. T. Waterman, Photographer 1934 STAIR DETAIL - Adelphi Mill, Adelphi Mill Recreati…1933Historic American Buildings Survey T. T. Waterman, Ph…Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, Photographer April 30, 1936 12-00 M. DETAIL OF MILL-WHEEL. - Adelp…1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, Photographer April 30, 1936 12-30 P. M. VIEW FROM SOUTH - Adelphi …1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, Photographer April 30, 1936 12-40 P. M. VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST. - Ade…1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, Photographer. April 30, 1936 11-50 A.M. VIEW OF COTTAGE AND MILL F…1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …
1940s–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
Today10 recent
2016-09-02 13 19 17 View south along Maryland State Route 212 (Riggs Road) at Maryland State Route 193 (University Boul…20162016-09-02 13 19 17 View south along Maryland State R…Langley Park Mansion Sep 102010Langley Park Mansion Sep 10Langley Park 22010Langley Park 2Langley Park 12010Langley Park 12008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 f20082008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 f2008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 e20082008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 e2008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 d20082008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 d2008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 c20082008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 c2008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 b20082008 09 18 - MD193 approaching MD 650 bMDMap-doton-LangleyPark2004MDMap-doton-LangleyPark
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.

Riggs Mill
Retake this viewRiggs Mill, 1918

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Langley Park

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2008
Langley Park
Langley Park
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Georgian Revival1
Langley ParkGeorgian Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Langley Park, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00020002020Peak: 20,126

Between 16,214 and 20,126 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Langley Park’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Langley Park

Nobody well known was born in Langley Park itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Nora RobertsAmerican romance writer · b. 1950
Rian JohnsonAmerican filmmaker · b. 1973
Frances TiafoeAmerican tennis player · b. 1998
Rebecca SugarAmerican animator and screenwriter · b. 1987
Michael EalyAmerican actor · b. 1973
Steve FrancisAmerican basketball player · b. 1977
Places that used to be

Old corners

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Carole Highlands

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Langley Park’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRiggs Mill: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Adelphi1 historic placeB−Chillum3 historic placesC+Silver Spring5 historic placesB−Takoma Park2 historic placesA−

Questions about Langley Park’s history

How does Langley Park rank for history?

Langley Park is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #156 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.

What is on the National Register in Langley Park?

One place: the Langley Park (listed 2008).

How old are the homes in Langley Park?

3% of Langley Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1966.

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 Wikimedia Commons (17), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.