The area which is known today as Catonsville has had a long and interesting history.
Before the Colonies
It is generally accepted that by about 1200 AD, permanent villages had been established on the land known today as Maryland. By the time the Americas had been discovered by the European world, the natives of these villages had established well developed systems of government and languages as well as established trails primarily for the purpose of trade between villages.
The local tribe that lived and traveled in this area would later come to be known by the European colonists as the Pascatae or Piscataway, an Algonquain speaking tribe. The name Piscataway came from the name of their principal village on the Piscatawy Creek in present day Prince Georges County. The name loosely translates to 'high passable bank around a bend in the river'. The principal village was also sometimes referred to as Kittamaqundi, taken from the name of their great chief. The Piscataway occupied the land between the Potomac River to the Chesapeake Bay up to at least the Patapsco River. The area that would much later become Catonsville was definitely along an established Piscataway Trail, and was close to one or more Piscatway villages. The trail running through this area would also come to be an important warpath for at least one of their rival tribes, the Iroquois, and may have also been taken advantage of by the powerful warrior tribe known as Susquehannocks, who disputed this area to be part of their domain.
During the Colonial Era
Up until the beginning of the serious colonization of Maryland, the Piscataway population was probably approximately 2500 across at least 30 villages. As the European colonization took place, the natives generally welcomed the colonists that came to settle on the western shore of Maryland. Interestingly enough, the receptiveness of the tribe led to them being the first tribe that the English attempted to Christianize via Catholic missionaries. It turned out that the tribe was also reasonably receptive to the new teachings and was able to coexist well with the colonist up until about 1652.
Things changed drastically in 1652 when the English government outlawed Catholicism. This significant change ended the work of the local Catholic missionaries. Under the new English government and despite their previous good relationship with the colonist, the Piscataway were driven from their best land and were often hunted by slave catchers. To complicate these problems, the Piscataway were now realizing the effects of exposure to smallpox and various other diseases that, unfortunately, came with the continually growing colonists population. As if this was not enough, during this same time, the Piscatway were constantly raided by the rival Susquehannock tribe. The Susquehannock problem was only replaced in 1675, when the more powerful Iroquois had conquered the Susquehannocks and were determined to finish the job with the extermination of the Piscataway. Although a peace agreement was arranged with the Iroquois by 1685, the vast majority of the Piscatway tribe and its leaders fled to Virginia away from the colonist and the Iroquois as their population had now been wasted to a mere 400 from all of the pressures. Despite offers by the colonists to return and make amends, the Piscatway eventually, in a twist of irony, moved north under the protection of the Iroquois and would later be known by a different name, the Conoy.
You say Journeycake; I say Johnnycake
With all but a few of the original natives of this area scattered about, the colonists continued to expand across Maryland and found new settlements. By the 1720's, an area on the northern end of present-day Catonsville had already started to be settled and was known at the time as Johnnycake. The name Johnnycake came from a local inn that specialized in a type of cornbread that was called by that name and was extremely popular with travelers. According to local legend, the name of the cornbread was actually Journeycake, presumably to define that is was something that customers could take with them when they would leave to resume their journey, usually on the westbound county road. Supposedly local slang took over converting the name to Johnnycake.
Welcome to 'Catonville'?
In 1805 another westbound county road, that had been opened in the 1780's by the Ellicotts between their Patapsco River flour mill and the town of Baltimore, became designated by the state legislature, as the Frederick Turnpike. Today we know it as Frederick Rd (MD Route 144). It was along this new road that the foundations of present-day Catonsville were laid when Richard Caton was commissioned by his father-in-law, Charles Carroll of Carrollton (the longest living signer of the Declaration of Independence), to develop Carroll's land running next to the road. Richard Caton developed the land where a house, 'Castle Thunder', was built for the Catons in 1787. The area, on both sides of the Frederick Turnpike came to be as 'Catonville'. By the 1830's, the spelling was changed to 'Catonsville'.
The Growth of Catonsville into the Present
Because of Catonsville's location along the turnpike, the geography of the land, and the difficulty involved in making the journey by horses and wagons, the town became a very popular rest stop for travelers along the Frederick Turnpike by the 1830's to 1840's. This natural and convenient resting-place for the turnpike's travelers then naturally started attracting businessmen to the area. Over the next twenty to thirty years, wise-minded businessmen had developed a small area of the community along the turnpike, into a strip of various types of stores that could help serve the needs of the Frederick Turnpike's travelers. By developing this area, these businessmen also provided many types of products and services that the residents of the community needed. At the same time that the businessman were contributing to changes in the community German and English Protestants; Irish, German, and French Catholics; and African Methodist were establishing new churches in Catonsville, adding to the diversity of the community. By the 1880's a Presbyterian congregation had also been formed.
During this same period, Catonsville's beautiful rural landscape combined with the conveniences of a developed area helped to attract one of the other major components of this growing community's population, wealthy Baltimoreans. Wealthy Baltimorean families came to Catonsville to escape the summer heat of the city by building large estates in the community for use as summer homes. One of the more well-known mansions that was built in Catonsville was 'The Summit'. 'The Summit' is still standing today as an apartment house, south of Frederick Road. Because of the presence of these seasonal residents, new employment opportunities were generated for both white and black working-class residents, further ensuring community stability and growth.
Slowly but surely over the years, many of the wealthy Baltimore families seeking a summer retreat in Catonsville, turned into permanent residents as the town continued to grow and new innovations in transportation were making Catonsville an even more attractive and convenient location to live. Ultimately the businessmen, the wealthy families, and the working class of the community combined to create the unusual dynamic of Catonsville's population.
By 1862 a horse-car line was established on Frederick Road. As time and technology would progress many facets of society would continue to populate Catonsville. In 1884 the Catonsville Short Line Railroad, with a steam engine pulling passenger and freight cars through residential land to a terminus on Frederick Road, made Catonsville more accessible to and from Baltimore, further contributing to the village's growth. In the 1890's an electric trolley line replaced the horse-car, and another streetcar line was established on the new Edmondson Avenue, taking passengers to Ellicott City.
Another new school was built in 1910 to provide for the increased significant population. A number of residents attempted several times to make Catonsville into a legally incorporated town, but the majority of Catonsville's residents would not support it when it was put to a vote. The majority of the town also survived attempts by Baltimore City to annex the community, but in 1918 the last annexation near North Bend did take place. Catonsville continued to expand with the building of new houses, including both large houses and small cottages, with the vast majority of the homeowners permanently residing in their homes instead of using them merely as summer homes.
Catonsville's population had reached a zenith of diversity, existing as a combination of laborers, craftsmen, salesmen, managers, and professionals. Two world wars would come to pass, and Catonsville continued to be developed, with more new schools. New highways would come to take over as primary routes for travel by automobile, the new transportation of choice, and the ultimate eliminator of the once bustling streetcars, making them distant memories. With the completion of US Route 40 (and later I-70), Frederick Road would lose its title as the major western route out of Baltimore. Finally, Catonsville evolved into the distinct modern suburb that we recognize today; a diverse, beautiful, and peaceful suburb rich in traditions and life, full of countless things to offer its residents and its visitors.
