Until that point in history, Odenton , Maryland was just a lightly settled farming town. Then, in 1886 the railroad connected Baltimore, Maryland to the railway already running through Odenton . This provided the port city direct access to the nation’s capital and an already bustling thoroughfare became even more popular for travelers and passersby. It was because of the pivotal point that Odenton became known as The Town A Railroad Built.

Once these railways were well established, the town began to flourish and retail centers, post offices and telegraph stations arose in the town. At one point in 1878, Odenton was Maryland’s largest city, with 100 residents. Land was used primarily to farm wheat, corn and tobacco and was worth $5 to $30 per acre.

Farms built in the early 1900’s are still used today by farming organizations and have been used by the military and dairy farmers in the past.

The city of Odenton , Maryland is made of only 12.4 square miles. However the war departments of the United States government has 19,000 acres of land used for training camps. The camp was developed in the 1920’s and displaced landowners and merchants. Naturally, many of the displaced neighborhoods moved to Odenton as well as Baltimore and Washington D.C., which are nearby.

Odenton is location just 20 miles southwest of Baltimore, Maryland and just 29 miles northeast of Washington D.C.

Baltimore is now the largest city in Maryland and has historically been an important seaport because of its location on the Chesapeake Bay. The city is still an important port city today. The population of the city is 637,455 and the surrounding area has approximately 2.6 million people, which includes the suburbs of the city. Of the Baltimore-Washington Metro Area, Baltimore is the larger of the cities and the combined metro area makes up more that 8.1 million residents.

In January of 2007, the city elected its first female mayor. The city has been seeing a surge in building projects in the downtown area that are extending the skyline and will continue growing over the next decades. Many of the new developments are multi million dollar condominium and hotel buildings reaching some 65 stories or more.

The city is prone to hurricane season and thereby, flooding has caused recent damage within the past 5 years to the inlet to the harbor area. Underground garages were badly flooded and trash sites were carried away by flood waters, sprinkling thousands of cubic yards of debris along the flood path, which rose to 20 feet at some points.

In the Baltimore-Washington Metro Area and less than 30  miles from Odenton is the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. The capital city was founded on July 16, 1790. Today, the city is not a city at all. Washington, the city, was legally joined to the District of Columbia and is now one unit. However, it is still referred to and known Washington, D.C.

The population of the capital is officially 588,292 residents. However, during the work week the population increases to over 1 million people because of the workers commuting into the city from the outer suburbs. The immediate metro area has over 5.3 million residents and is ranked 8th on the list of largest metropolitan areas in the country.

The location of the nation’s capital was agreed upon by a compromise between the founding fathers which traded a location in the South in exchange for taking on war debts accumulated by the states. The exact location was not yet decided and the honor of choosing the 100 square mile district was later given to the country’s first President.

The capital city was established and named after the country’s first President. The city grew quickly. Then in 1814 the British raided the capital and burned the Capitol and White House and gutted the buildings during the raid. This was in retaliation to the sacking and burning of York, during the War of 1812. The government buildings were repaired fairly quickly. However, the Capitol was not completed for over 50 years.

The region would not see such a brazen, violent act for another 187 years. On September 11, 2001 terrorists deliberately flew a hijacked plane into a government building located in Arlington, Virginia. The Capitol or White House buildings were intended targets for a separate hijacked plane which did not reach its target when passengers overtook the hijackers and crashed the plane into a field in Pennsylvania. There were also two other hijacked planes which flew into landmark buildings in New York City, New York. This date marked the beginnings of a War on Terror.

If the District were a state, it would rank number one in the percentage of African American population. African Americans make up the majority of population with 55.4 percent, Caucasians make up 34.5 percent, 8 percent are Hispanic and 5.1 are other races. There are also an estimated 74,000 foreign immigrants living in the District.

Included in the Baltimore-Washington Metro Area is Odenton , MD whose population of 20,534 citizens is factored into the metro population of over 8 million residents. The city which began as a modest farm community is now incorporated into the suburbs of both Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

The racial makeup of the 21114 area factors out to be 80 percent White, almost 13 percent Black, 3 percent Asian, 2.7 percent Hispanic and Latino, less than one percent of Native American or Pacific Islander, .98 percent from other races and almost 3 percent of the population were from two or more races.

Compared to national averages, Odenton has a 14 percent higher population of White residents, one-half the national percentage of Black residents, and is 10 percent lower than the national percentage of Hispanic or Latino residents.

The median age for Odenton , Maryland is 33.9 years of age, so practically one could say the median age is 34 years, for good measure.

The economic characteristics of Odenton prove that residents of the city are hard workers, with 79.9 percent of the population ages 16 years and over employed. This is 16 percent higher than the national average.

The median household income for Odenton soars above the national average, with 21114 households making $72,188 per year, compared to $41,994 for the median national household income. This means that Odenton residents average $30,194 more each year than the rest of their peers across the nation.

Naturally, the percentage of families living below poverty level is 7.4 percent lower than the United States percentage of families below poverty level.

Odenton , Maryland 21114 is a major contender among the top 100 ranked best cities to live. Compared to the best ranked city to live, Odenton has a lower sales tax rate, nearly equal job growth opportunities, comparable home prices with lower property taxes, more colleges and universities, more restaurants, libraries, museums and art funded programs. These desirable neighborhoods and communities are what make Odenton one of the best places to live.

The ideal location and convenience to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore and the population create a strong real estate market in 21114 Odenton. The median home value is $393,508, which is three times the national average. The average monthly cost of home owners with a mortgage is $1,442, compared to the national average of $1,088.

Of the housing units available in the 21114 Odenton area, 97.5 percent of them are occupied. This means that the number of vacant housing units is only 2.5 percent, much lower than the 9 percent national average. The low vacancy rate is indicative of the 21114 region’s popularity and desirable location.

Of the 97.5 percent of occupied housing units, 77.1 percent are owner occupied and 22.9 percent are occupied by renters. The percentage of renters in Odenton is 11 percent lower than the national average of renters.

If one could measure the historic richness of an area, Odenton and the surrounding areas would be among the greatest, to be sure. The area has American history on nearly every street corner and city. Each city or town, large or small, can trace its roots to the first settler or pilgrim to post a flag or make a camp fire. These cities and towns all make up the larger picture of the massive metro areas and yet, they each maintain their unique identity.

Every one of the smaller parts of the metropolis is an important part of the intricate structure that makes the metro area a living body, living, breathing and growing.