Oxon Hill, Maryland
Encyclopedia
Oxon Hill is part of the Oxon Hill-Glassmanor
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor, Maryland
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor is a census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland. The combination is arbitrary, and in the mind of most local people there are two separate communities: Oxon Hill and Glassmanor...

 census-designated place (CDP) in southern Prince George's County
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....

, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Oxon Hill is a suburb of Washington, DC located southeast of the downtown district and east of Alexandria
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. It is the home of the new 300 acres (1.2 km²) National Harbor development on the shore of the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 .

Classification

Because it is not formally incorporated, it has no official boundaries, but the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 has defined a census-designated place
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

 consisting of Oxon Hill and the adjacent community of Glassmanor
Glassmanor, Maryland
Glassmanor is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County in the State of Maryland in the United States of America. Because it is not formally incorporated, it has no official boundaries, but the United States Census Bureau has defined a census-designated place consisting of Glassmanor...

, designated Oxon Hill-Glassmanor
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor, Maryland
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor is a census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland. The combination is arbitrary, and in the mind of most local people there are two separate communities: Oxon Hill and Glassmanor...

, for statistical purposes. According to Rand McNally
Rand McNally
Rand McNally is an American publisher of maps, atlases, textbooks, and globes for travel, reference, commercial, and educational uses. It also provides online consumer street maps and directions, as well as commercial transportation routing software and mileage data...

, the latest population estimate for Oxon Hill is around 26,750.

History

Oxon Hill was named for the colonial 18th century manor home of Thomas Addison (which burned in 1895 but was replaced in 1929 by a large 49-room neo-Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

-style home called Oxon Hill Manor
Oxon Hill Manor
-External links:*, including photo in 1995, at Maryland Historical Trust website* *: 28 photos and 14 data pages, at Historic American Building Survey*: 6 photos and 1 data page, at Historic American Building Survey...

, standing on a bluff over the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

). The current Manor is now owned by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is a bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland.-History:...

, and is used for cultural activities as well as being rented for weddings and special events (it reopened in Oct. 2007 after repairs). Oxon
Oxon
Oxon may refer to:* Oxon, England, short for Oxonia , a county in the United Kingdom* Oxon , an organic compound* Universitas Oxoniensis, the University of Oxford...

 is an abbreviation for the Latin Oxoniensis, meaning "of Oxford." The area now known as Oxon Hill reminded Addison of the area near Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The Revolutionary patriot John Hanson
John Hanson
John Hanson was a merchant and public official from Maryland during the era of the American Revolution. After serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland, in 1779 Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress...

 died while visiting the first Manor, and may be buried there in an unmarked grave.

Today the community is bisected by the busy Capital Beltway
Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
Interstate 495 is a Interstate Highway that surrounds the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C., is clear...

 (I-95/495), and is near the interstate Woodrow Wilson Bridge
Woodrow Wilson Bridge
The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Potomac River between the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia and Oxon Hill in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. While over the water near the Virginia shore, it crosses the southern tip of the District of...

. The enlarged bridge was opened December 15, 2008, and highway interchanges and ramps near the bridge were also re-aligned and re-configured. Prior to that date, traffic backed up into Oxon Hill daily for decades as 250,000-300,000 vehicles crossed the Wilson Bridge. (Thousands of white-collar commuters working in Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...

's booming economy find that housing is cheaper in Prince George's County, Maryland).

Oxon Hill includes many garden apartment and townhouse communities along with single-family detached homes built mostly between the 1940s when suburban development began, through the early 1990s, including the incorporated town Forest Heights
Forest Heights, Maryland
Forest Heights, officially the Town of Forest Heights is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, with an African-American majority population, and part of the larger postal designation Oxon Hill, MD. Students attend Oxon Hill High School. The town straddles both sides of...

. In earlier decades, many residents were scientists from the adjacent U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Air Force
Air force
An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...

 personnel, or musicians in military bands, but very few are now, as today such professionals prefer newer and more upscale communities. Oxon Hill's two principal shopping centers ("Rivertowne" built about 1980 which includes a K-Mart and Home Depot, and "Eastover" built about 1955) attract neighborhood customers as well as shoppers from nearby Southeast Washington, D.C. Eastover, located at the D.C. state line, is a hub of many bus routes, some of them operating 24 hours a day, and has a Prince George's County Police station. The apartment communities closest to the D.C. line are informally called by their original name "Glassmanor" although rental companies have officially given them newer names. Rather unusual community features are a nursing home and a large cultural center operated for an ethnic Filipino
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...

 population who are numerous in Oxon Hill and Fort Washington
Fort Washington, Maryland
Fort Washington, Maryland is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland in the suburbs of the capital city of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., south of the downtown district. It is a prosperous community with an African American majority...

,
Oxon Hill is part of the Oxon Hill-Glassmanor
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor, Maryland
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor is a census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland. The combination is arbitrary, and in the mind of most local people there are two separate communities: Oxon Hill and Glassmanor...

 census-designated place (CDP) in southern Prince George's County
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....

, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Oxon Hill is a suburb of Washington, DC located southeast of the downtown district and east of Alexandria
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. It is the home of the new 300 acres (1.2 km²) National Harbor development on the shore of the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 .

Classification

Because it is not formally incorporated, it has no official boundaries, but the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 has defined a census-designated place
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

 consisting of Oxon Hill and the adjacent community of Glassmanor
Glassmanor, Maryland
Glassmanor is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County in the State of Maryland in the United States of America. Because it is not formally incorporated, it has no official boundaries, but the United States Census Bureau has defined a census-designated place consisting of Glassmanor...

, designated Oxon Hill-Glassmanor
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor, Maryland
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor is a census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland. The combination is arbitrary, and in the mind of most local people there are two separate communities: Oxon Hill and Glassmanor...

, for statistical purposes. According to Rand McNally
Rand McNally
Rand McNally is an American publisher of maps, atlases, textbooks, and globes for travel, reference, commercial, and educational uses. It also provides online consumer street maps and directions, as well as commercial transportation routing software and mileage data...

, the latest population estimate for Oxon Hill is around 26,750.

History

Oxon Hill was named for the colonial 18th century manor home of Thomas Addison (which burned in 1895 but was replaced in 1929 by a large 49-room neo-Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

-style home called Oxon Hill Manor
Oxon Hill Manor
-External links:*, including photo in 1995, at Maryland Historical Trust website* *: 28 photos and 14 data pages, at Historic American Building Survey*: 6 photos and 1 data page, at Historic American Building Survey...

, standing on a bluff over the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

). The current Manor is now owned by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is a bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland.-History:...

, and is used for cultural activities as well as being rented for weddings and special events (it reopened in Oct. 2007 after repairs). Oxon
Oxon
Oxon may refer to:* Oxon, England, short for Oxonia , a county in the United Kingdom* Oxon , an organic compound* Universitas Oxoniensis, the University of Oxford...

 is an abbreviation for the Latin Oxoniensis, meaning "of Oxford." The area now known as Oxon Hill reminded Addison of the area near Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The Revolutionary patriot John Hanson
John Hanson
John Hanson was a merchant and public official from Maryland during the era of the American Revolution. After serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland, in 1779 Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress...

 died while visiting the first Manor, and may be buried there in an unmarked grave.

Today the community is bisected by the busy Capital Beltway
Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
Interstate 495 is a Interstate Highway that surrounds the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C., is clear...

 (I-95/495), and is near the interstate Woodrow Wilson Bridge
Woodrow Wilson Bridge
The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Potomac River between the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia and Oxon Hill in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. While over the water near the Virginia shore, it crosses the southern tip of the District of...

. The enlarged bridge was opened December 15, 2008, and highway interchanges and ramps near the bridge were also re-aligned and re-configured. Prior to that date, traffic backed up into Oxon Hill daily for decades as 250,000-300,000 vehicles crossed the Wilson Bridge. (Thousands of white-collar commuters working in Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...

's booming economy find that housing is cheaper in Prince George's County, Maryland).

Oxon Hill includes many garden apartment and townhouse communities along with single-family detached homes built mostly between the 1940s when suburban development began, through the early 1990s, including the incorporated town Forest Heights
Forest Heights, Maryland
Forest Heights, officially the Town of Forest Heights is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, with an African-American majority population, and part of the larger postal designation Oxon Hill, MD. Students attend Oxon Hill High School. The town straddles both sides of...

. In earlier decades, many residents were scientists from the adjacent U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Air Force
Air force
An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...

 personnel, or musicians in military bands, but very few are now, as today such professionals prefer newer and more upscale communities. Oxon Hill's two principal shopping centers ("Rivertowne" built about 1980 which includes a K-Mart and Home Depot, and "Eastover" built about 1955) attract neighborhood customers as well as shoppers from nearby Southeast Washington, D.C. Eastover, located at the D.C. state line, is a hub of many bus routes, some of them operating 24 hours a day, and has a Prince George's County Police station. The apartment communities closest to the D.C. line are informally called by their original name "Glassmanor" although rental companies have officially given them newer names. Rather unusual community features are a nursing home and a large cultural center operated for an ethnic Filipino
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...

 population who are numerous in Oxon Hill and Fort Washington
Fort Washington, Maryland
Fort Washington, Maryland is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland in the suburbs of the capital city of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., south of the downtown district. It is a prosperous community with an African American majority...

,
Oxon Hill is part of the Oxon Hill-Glassmanor
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor, Maryland
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor is a census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland. The combination is arbitrary, and in the mind of most local people there are two separate communities: Oxon Hill and Glassmanor...

 census-designated place (CDP) in southern Prince George's County
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....

, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Oxon Hill is a suburb of Washington, DC located southeast of the downtown district and east of Alexandria
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. It is the home of the new 300 acres (1.2 km²) National Harbor development on the shore of the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 .

Classification

Because it is not formally incorporated, it has no official boundaries, but the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 has defined a census-designated place
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

 consisting of Oxon Hill and the adjacent community of Glassmanor
Glassmanor, Maryland
Glassmanor is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County in the State of Maryland in the United States of America. Because it is not formally incorporated, it has no official boundaries, but the United States Census Bureau has defined a census-designated place consisting of Glassmanor...

, designated Oxon Hill-Glassmanor
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor, Maryland
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor is a census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland. The combination is arbitrary, and in the mind of most local people there are two separate communities: Oxon Hill and Glassmanor...

, for statistical purposes. According to Rand McNally
Rand McNally
Rand McNally is an American publisher of maps, atlases, textbooks, and globes for travel, reference, commercial, and educational uses. It also provides online consumer street maps and directions, as well as commercial transportation routing software and mileage data...

, the latest population estimate for Oxon Hill is around 26,750.

History

Oxon Hill was named for the colonial 18th century manor home of Thomas Addison (which burned in 1895 but was replaced in 1929 by a large 49-room neo-Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

-style home called Oxon Hill Manor
Oxon Hill Manor
-External links:*, including photo in 1995, at Maryland Historical Trust website* *: 28 photos and 14 data pages, at Historic American Building Survey*: 6 photos and 1 data page, at Historic American Building Survey...

, standing on a bluff over the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

). The current Manor is now owned by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is a bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland.-History:...

, and is used for cultural activities as well as being rented for weddings and special events (it reopened in Oct. 2007 after repairs). Oxon
Oxon
Oxon may refer to:* Oxon, England, short for Oxonia , a county in the United Kingdom* Oxon , an organic compound* Universitas Oxoniensis, the University of Oxford...

 is an abbreviation for the Latin Oxoniensis, meaning "of Oxford." The area now known as Oxon Hill reminded Addison of the area near Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The Revolutionary patriot John Hanson
John Hanson
John Hanson was a merchant and public official from Maryland during the era of the American Revolution. After serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland, in 1779 Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress...

 died while visiting the first Manor, and may be buried there in an unmarked grave.

Today the community is bisected by the busy Capital Beltway
Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
Interstate 495 is a Interstate Highway that surrounds the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C., is clear...

 (I-95/495), and is near the interstate Woodrow Wilson Bridge
Woodrow Wilson Bridge
The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Potomac River between the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia and Oxon Hill in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. While over the water near the Virginia shore, it crosses the southern tip of the District of...

. The enlarged bridge was opened December 15, 2008, and highway interchanges and ramps near the bridge were also re-aligned and re-configured. Prior to that date, traffic backed up into Oxon Hill daily for decades as 250,000-300,000 vehicles crossed the Wilson Bridge. (Thousands of white-collar commuters working in Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...

's booming economy find that housing is cheaper in Prince George's County, Maryland).

Oxon Hill includes many garden apartment and townhouse communities along with single-family detached homes built mostly between the 1940s when suburban development began, through the early 1990s, including the incorporated town Forest Heights
Forest Heights, Maryland
Forest Heights, officially the Town of Forest Heights is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, with an African-American majority population, and part of the larger postal designation Oxon Hill, MD. Students attend Oxon Hill High School. The town straddles both sides of...

. In earlier decades, many residents were scientists from the adjacent U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Air Force
Air force
An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...

 personnel, or musicians in military bands, but very few are now, as today such professionals prefer newer and more upscale communities. Oxon Hill's two principal shopping centers ("Rivertowne" built about 1980 which includes a K-Mart and Home Depot, and "Eastover" built about 1955) attract neighborhood customers as well as shoppers from nearby Southeast Washington, D.C. Eastover, located at the D.C. state line, is a hub of many bus routes, some of them operating 24 hours a day, and has a Prince George's County Police station. The apartment communities closest to the D.C. line are informally called by their original name "Glassmanor" although rental companies have officially given them newer names. Rather unusual community features are a nursing home and a large cultural center operated for an ethnic Filipino
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...

 population who are numerous in Oxon Hill and Fort Washington
Fort Washington, Maryland
Fort Washington, Maryland is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland in the suburbs of the capital city of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., south of the downtown district. It is a prosperous community with an African American majority...

, . A WalMart is scheduled to open in 2013.

Until about 1960, the community used the mailing address Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 before getting its own postal designation. About 1980, the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 detached the two-thirds of greater Oxon Hill that was furthest from Washington, D.C. and re-defined that part as a new postal designation Fort Washington, MD. To make mail sorting easier at that time, the new postal boundary line separating the two Maryland communities was drawn along already existing zip code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 boundaries (the former zip 20021 portion of Oxon Hill remained Oxon Hill with the new code 20745, while everything in the former zip 20022 portion of Oxon Hill about 1980 was automatically re-named the new Fort Washington 20744). Illogically, this partitioning re-assigned some areas that seem to be almost in the heart of Oxon Hill (such as all of the Bock Road, Tucker Road, Murray Hills, and Brinkley Road areas, including several large prominent churches, Rosecroft Raceway, the ice rink, and ironically even Oxon Hill Middle School) to Fort Washington mailing addresses, which can cause confusion.

Educational institutions

Oxon Hill has many schools, including the very large Oxon Hill Senior High School, part of the Prince George's County public school system; the school has a magnet
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

 science and technology program. Other students attend Potomac, Friendly, or Crossland High Schools.

Another magnet school in Oxon Hill is the K-8 John Hanson French Immersion School whose mission is to ensure that all students acquire knowledge and skills, through speaking, reading and writing the French language. The French Immersion school is also attached to the John Hanson Montessori School which upholds the teaching ideals of Italian educator Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name...

. Both are located in the former John Hanson Junior High School building, which is next door to the main Oxon Hill post office.

The town has a very large, modern public library, completely remodeled in 2005, part of the Prince George's public library system.
Originally built in 1967,
the Oxon Hill Library Branch contains the Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth was the self-given name, from 1843 onward, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, she...

 Room, an African American research collection. This comprehensive collection of reference materials on African American history and culture includes over 16,000 cataloged items (many are rare or out-of-print), periodicals, sheet music by African American composers, pictures and posters. Vertical files contain pamphlets, clippings and bibliographies. Copies of selected materials are also in the Oxon Hill Branch's circulating collection. An extensive collection of current and historical periodicals, including the NAACP's Crisis from 1910, the Journal of Negro History from 1916 and Ebony
Ebony (magazine)
Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African-American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945...

from 1945.

The collection includes original editions of some slave narratives, as well as many reprint editions and the thirty-one volume Writer's Project series. Other topics are antislavery and slavery tracts, literary criticism, and the history of African Americans in Maryland and Prince George's County.

Outdoor recreation

Rosecroft Raceway (founded in 1949) and Henson Creek Golf Course are among Oxon Hill's recreational attractions, although in 2008 Rosecroft ended live harness horse racing and now only offers betting on televised simulcast races (per article in Washington Post, May 20, 2010) (the Maryland slot machine
Slot machine
A slot machine , informally fruit machine , the slots , poker machine or "pokies" or simply slot is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed...

 referendum in November 2008 did not include Rosecroft in its list of possible sites to add slots). Rosecroft Raceway closed June 19, 2010Rosecroft Raceway Official Notice of Closure

The Parks Commission's 1974 Henson Creek ice skating
Ice skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...

 rink was enclosed and expanded to year-round use in 2005; across from it is a private club swimming pool, the Oxon Hill Recreation Club (OHRC). OHRC has been in continuous operation since 1958. A double gymnasium and recreation and learning center are planned in the future adjacent to the rink and pool. The Henson Creek paved hiker-biker trail extends 5-1/2 miles along a stream. Oxon Cove Farm
Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm
Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Cove Farm is a national historic district that includes a living farm museum operated by the National Park Service, and located at Oxon Hill, Prince George's County, Maryland...

 (formerly Oxon Hill Children's Farm) is a free of charge, educational facility operated daily for families by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

. Its future is uncertain because it is located in the shadow of the National Harbor
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center
The Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center is a large hotel and convention center located in National Harbor, Maryland and owned by Gaylord Hotels, a division of Gaylord Entertainment Company...

. The farm also has a bicycle trail used by a few commuters to nearby government facilities. General public indoor and outdoor swimming pools are also on Allentown Road near Padgett's Corner.

Oxon Hill is also the site of the National Harbor, a major development on the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

: a 7,300,000 square feet (680,000 m²) mixed-use community including 2,500 residential units, 4,000 hotel rooms, a convention center
Convention center
A convention center is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typically offer sufficient floor area to accommodate several thousand attendees...

, 1 million square feet (90,000 m²) of retail, dining, and entertainment, and 500,000 square feet (46,000 m²) of class-"A" office space, along with the largest marina on the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 and the largest hotel in the entire Washington area. The first phase of the development began opening in April 2008.

Notable resident

  • G. Gordon Liddy
    G. Gordon Liddy
    George Gordon Liddy was the chief operative for the White House Plumbers unit that existed from July–September 1971, during Richard Nixon's presidency. Separately, along with E. Howard Hunt, Liddy organized and directed the Watergate burglaries of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in...

    ,People Magazine former FBI Bureau chief, lawyer
    Lawyer
    A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

    , Richard Nixon
    Richard Nixon
    Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

    's White House
    White House
    The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

     Staff Assistant, key Watergate figure, author, and nationally syndicated radio
    Radio
    Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

     talk show
    Talk show
    A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....

     host.G. Gordon Liddy Biography

Notable former residents

  • Dr. John Bayne, 19th century founder of the University of Maryland
    University System of Maryland
    The University System of Maryland is a public corporation and charter school system comprising 12 Maryland institutions of higher education. It is the 12th-largest university system in the United States, with over 125,000 undergraduate, 43,000 graduate and roughly 13,000 combined full-time and...

    , superintendent of county schools, Union Army
    Union Army
    The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

     physician
    Physician
    A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

    , and one of the first Americans to grow and eat a tomato
    Tomato
    The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

    , proving they were not poisonous as had been thought. His home, "Salubria", across from National Harbor, was recently demolished, and National Harbor plans to build "outlet shops" on the property.National Harbor lands Tanger Outlet Center

  • Sumner Welles
    Sumner Welles
    Benjamin Sumner Welles was an American government official and diplomat in the Foreign Service. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1937 to 1943, during FDR's presidency.-Early life:Benjamin Sumner Welles was born in...

    , U.S. Undersecretary of State to Franklin D. Roosevelt
    Franklin D. Roosevelt
    Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

    , lived in the second "Oxon Hill Manor" home and hosted Roosevelt and possibly Sir Winston Churchill
    Winston Churchill
    Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

     there. The home was later occupied by Fred Maloof (a wealthy oilman, timberland tycoon, and art collector) before coming into ownership of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

  • Roger L. Easton
    Roger L. Easton
    Roger L. Easton is an American scientist. He is the principal inventor and designer of the Global Positioning System . In 1955, Easton co-wrote the Naval Research Laboratory's Project Vanguard proposal for a U.S. satellite program in competition with two other proposals, including a proposal from...

    , Naval scientist, the chief inventor of GPS and winner of a 2004 Presidential National Medal of Technology, lived on Oxon Hill Road (more information is on "Google images").

  • U.S. Senator George McGovern
    George McGovern
    George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....

    , Democratic presidential candidate, lived briefly in Glassmanor while a freshman U.S. Congressman. (source: Washingtonian Magazine biographical article)

  • Sammy Nestico
    Sammy Nestico
    Samuel "Sammy" Louis Nestico is a prolific and well known composer and arranger of big band music...

    , distinguished band music composer/arranger, lived in Birchwood City in the 1960s

  • Arnie Sachs (1928–2006), photojournalist. He took a famous photo of teenager Bill Clinton
    Bill Clinton
    William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

     shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy
    John F. Kennedy
    John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....


    • Singer Eva Cassidy
      Eva Cassidy
      Eva Marie Cassidy was an American vocalist known for her interpretations of jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics. In 1992 she released her first album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown, followed by a live solo album, Live at Blues Alley in 1996...

      , who rose to prominence in the United Kingdom
      United Kingdom
      The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

       before an untimely death in 1996 at age 33 from cancer
      Cancer
      Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

      .

    • Actress Taraji P. Henson
      Taraji P. Henson
      Taraji Penda Henson is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Yvette in Baby Boy , Shug in Hustle and Flow and Queenie in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2009...

      , who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
      Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
      Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

       in 2009, attended Oxon Hill High School
      Oxon Hill High School
      Oxon Hill High School is a public senior high school located in Oxon Hill, an unincorporated area in Prince George's County, Maryland, and a suburb of Washington, D.C...

      .
    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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