The town of Bladensburg

The town of Bladensburg was established by an Act of the Provincial Legislature passed in September 1742. The town was named in honor of Governor Sir Thomas Bladen, whose term as as Provincial Governor began in 1742. The original plat of the village included 60 acres on the south side of the Eastern Branch of the Potomac River in Prince George’s County near Garrison’s Landing.

Bladensburg Port Landing was located where the current Bladensburg WWI Memorial Peace Cross stands today.  During the Revolutionary Era, the Bladensburg port was one of the most flourishing ports in the Colonies with water forty feet deep enough to handle very large ships. These ships carried cargo from all over the world for the Colonies. Much of the cargo consisted of tobacco, silks, satins, powdered wigs, pipes of madeira wine, fine furniture, and other luxuries. It was a busy community with flour mills, wholesale grocery and merchandise stores, shipping firms, including several large English concerns, shipyards, rope walks and many other establishments essential to a thriving seaport. The Customs Officer at Bladensburg was the highest paid official in all the Colonies under the Crown.

Bladensburg was incorporated in 1854.