District Heights, Maryland

District Heights is an incorporated city in Prince George's County, Maryland, located near Maryland Route 4. The population was 5,837 at the 2010 United States Census. For more information, see the separate articles on Forestville, Maryland and Suitland.

District Heights is 9.85 miles (15.85 km) away from central Washington, D.C.

Geography

District Heights is located at 38°51′34″N 76°53′21″W / 38.85944°N 76.88917°W / 38.85944; -76.88917 (38.859545, −76.889139).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.93 square miles (2.41 km²), all of it land.

History

District Heights was originally farm land owned by Major Leander P. Williams, purchased as four patented Lord Baltimore tracts known as: "Good Luck", "Magruder's Plains Enlarged", "the Levels", and "Offutt's Adventure". Under grants issued to Lord Baltimore by King Charles I of Great Britain, the tracts belonged to Colonel Ninian Beall, Benjamin Berry, and Alexander Magruder. District heights evolved from one of the four patents. In 1925 land purchased and formed into District Heights Company by Joseph Tepper, David L. Blanken, Henry Oxenberg, Gilbert Leventhal, Simon Gordon, and Simon Gerber. The land was farmed by Walter and Al Dustin, whose farmhouse stood at 7116 Foster Street. By 1925 streets laid out first three blocks of Halleck Street and Aztec. By 1936, the city had approximately 25 homes built, two businesses, a grocery store and filling station, a pump house and water tower to furnish the water and pressure for the City, a sewage system and a free Model T bus service to 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.