Hyattsville, MD

Hyattsville, Maryland covers just two-and-a-half square miles in Prince Georges County, five miles southeast of Silver Spring, Maryland, on the Anacostia River. The city has easy access to nearby cities including Washington, D.C. A heavily wooded city, it's been designated a "Tree City USA."

Hyattsville was named for Christopher Clark Hyatt, who purchased land near the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tracks in 1845. Neighboring farmland was divided into lots for housing.

Recently Hyattsville has undergone a series of downtown renovations, including commercial and residential redevelopment, that make it an ideal shopping destination.

ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES

Hyattsville benefits from its close proximity to Washington D.C.

Around 16,000 people call Hyattsville home and the median age of residents is 34. Median household income is $56,119 and is lower than the state average of $68,080. Eleven percent of residents in Hyattsville are living under the poverty line. Construction, education and healthcare are the most popular industries. The city is also the headquarters of the National Center for Health Statistics, a part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

NEIGHBORHOODS AND DISTRICTS

The historic district of the city is home to a number of Victorian houses, built in the late 1880s and Sears bungalows and Arts & Crafts houses, built in the late 1910s and early 1940s. A residential and retail development in the Arts District downtown and University Town Center (UTC) is done as a part of the redevelopment of the city. UTC embraces residential condos, student housing, office buildings, a public plaza, retail spaces, shopping and eating establishments. East-West Highway is a major commercial strip in Hyattsville, anchored by The Mall at Prince Georges.

FAMILY FUN

Magruder/Hamilton is the largest park in Hyattsville, covering 32 acres. The Anacostia River runs through the park with many community events held there. It features an outdoor pool, ball fields, a boardwalk nature trail, picnic areas, and tennis courts.

Other area parks include:

• Gallatin Park
• Hyatt Park
• Tiny Park
• Nicholson Park
• Burlington Park
• Deitz Park

BEST BETS

There are a significant number of historic sites in Hyattsville, including Victorian houses built in the late 1880s and Arts & Crafts houses. In 1982, a portion of the city was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. That area was expanded in 2004.

Ash Hill is a building on Rosemary Lane, built in 1840 by Robert Clark, and purchased by General Edward Fitzgerald Beale in 1875. A number of historical figures, including President Ulysses S. Grant, Buffalo Bill Cody, and President Grover Cleveland, are said to have visited Ash Hill. President Grant was a close friend of Beale's who kept Grant's two Arabian Horses stabled on the property.

The Hyattsville Armory is a stone, fortress-like building designed as a quarter-scale model of Windsor Castle. It has the distinction of being the first Armory built in Prince George's County and the fifth in all of Maryland. Dating back to 1918, it was the first of a number of armories designed by Maryland state architect Robert Lawrence Harris.

Other noteworthy sites include:

• Fox's Barn
• W.G. Lown House
• William Shepherd House
• Harriet Ralston House
• Wheelock House

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

• The Lively Arts in Hyattsville is an award-winning, interactive art program aimed at bringing a variety of art performances, concerts and exhibits to the area. It is run by 'The Arts Connection.'
• Dogs for the Arts is sponsored by the City of Hyattsville and features an owner-dog look-alike contest, paw painting, and dog trick demonstrations.
• The Hyattsville Community Artist Alliance was founded in 1994. The non-profit group brings together local painters, musicians and artists of all kind to provide arts with show space and to bring art and educational programs to residents.
• ART SPIN is an annual event billed as an arts and music gala celebration with music, art exhibits, theatrical readings, vendors, and food.

Other nearby and notable outlets for the arts include:

• Mount Rainier Artspace Project
• Clarice SmithPerforming Arts Center
• Comcast Center
• The Art Gallery at University of Maryland
• Arts District Hyattsville Community Center Art Gallery

There is great excitement over the ongoing Arts District Hyattsville project, which is injecting quite a bit of hipness into the neighborhood. It is billed as an artist's community with condos and row houses designed to be living and working spaces. Shopping, restaurants, theaters, and galleries are springing up in the area.

Tours of the Hyattsville Historic District are regularly scheduled. A formal, annual tour takes participants through the architectural styles evident in Hyattsville and outlines the evolution of housing in the city. There are also self-guided walking tour maps available throughout the year.

FUN FACTS

Notable Hyattsville residents, past and present, include:

• Muppets creator Jim Henson
• Novelist and journalist James Mallahan Cain
• NFL player Leigh Bodden (Cleveland Browns)

LOCAL MEDIA

Hyattsville has a weekly newspaper, the Hyattsville Gazette, which has a circulation of about 23,000. The paper is under the Community Newspaper Group of Post-Newsweek Media Inc., a part of the Washington Post Company. The Hyattsville Gazette also has an online version.