Catonsville Chamber of Commerce

About Catonsville

Catonsville () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland. The population was 44,701 at the 2020 US Census. The community is a streetcar suburb of Baltimore along the city's western border. The town is known for its proximity to the Patapsco River and Patapsco Valley State Park, making it a regional mountain biking hub. The town is also notable as a local hotbed of music, earning it the official nickname of "Music City, Maryland." Catonsville contains the majority of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), a major public research university with close to 14,000 students. == History == Before European colonists settled in present-day Catonsville, the area was occupied by the Piscataway tribe or the Susquehannocks.Rolling Road was used to transport tobacco south from plantations to the Patapsco River on horse-drawn wagons. In 1787, the Ellicott family built the Frederick Turnpike to transport goods from their flour mill, Ellicott Mills, to the Baltimore harbor. Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence at the time, owned the land around the then newly built road. He instructed his son-in-law, Richard Caton, to develop the area along the road. Caton and his wife, Mary Carroll Caton, lived in Castle Thunder, constructed on the Frederick Turnpike in 1787.Caton gave his name to the community and called it "Catonville," although the name was changed to "Catonsville" in the 1830s.