List of Virtues

This is where we list the virtues and merits of Prince George's County, Maryland. This could include highlights of information from other sites listed on the virtues links page. Please share anything that you find that you think should be listed here. Please include sources when possible. The resource links go to other sites - procede at your own risk.

Past
Present

• Was home to the dinosour, Astrodon Johnstoni. It lived between 130 million and 95 million years ago. Teeth from the Astrodon Johnstoni were first discovered here in 1858. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• One of the oldest counties (founded in 1696) in the U.S. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• First Bishop and the first Archbishop of the Catholic Church in North America (John Carroll) and first Episcopal Bishop in the United States (Thomas John Claggett) were born here. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Site of the first regularly scheduled postal service. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Provided the land to create the greater part of our Nation's Capital, Washington, D.C. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Site of one of the nation's most historic military engagements against the British, the Battle of Bladensburg, occurring during the War of 1812. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Site of Samuel Morse's first experimental telegraph message and the country's first telegraph line. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Home to the oldest fair in Maryland (County Fair)
• Home to the world's oldest continuously operating airport, College Park Airport. The Wright Brothers taught flying lessons here in 1909. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Home to the first Army Aviation School, established at College Park Airfield (Airport) in 1911 with five planes and four hangars. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• The site of the Nation's first recognized, controlled helicopter flight. It happened in a demonstration to the Navy in 1924 at College Park Airfield (Airport). (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Was home to two Triple Crown Winners: Gallant Fox in 1930 and Omaha in 1935. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Birthplace of the famous Ercoupe. The Ercoupe was a small, general airplane designed for anyone to fly. The Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) of Riverdale began production of this unique aircraft in 1939. It was the "Ford Escort" of airplanes. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Home of the nation's first African American owned and operated airport. The Columbia Air Center was established in 1941 by John W. Greene. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• The area's only NBA Championship team was from Prince George's County. The Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) won their only championship in 1978. They played at the famous Capital Centre in Landover before moving to MCI Center in Washington, DC. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Base for one of the most challenging missions ever conducted by NASA. In December 1993, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center managed the highly successful first servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Was home to two World Championship boxers: Sugar Ray Leonard and Riddick Bowe. County site & PGHistory.org)
• Home to the world's first independent cellular phone system, Cellular One. (County site & PGHistory.org)

PRESENT

• Most affluent African-American market in U.S. (Exodus)
• Most financially successful (median family income=$62,467) majority (62.7%) African American county in USA and probably the world. (Census)
• Houses the world's largest clean room at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Hubble Clean Room is an 86,000 square-foot (7989.4 square-meter) building used to integrate and test space equipment and hardware. It's 1,000 times cleaner than a hospital operating room. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Home of the Washington Redskins football team, Landover's FedExField is the largest capacity stadium in the National Footbal League, seating over 93,000 fans. (County site)
• Has more than 260 historic sites and more 18th century homes than Williamsburg. See above list of past virtues to see information about some of them. (County site & PGHistory.org)
• Home to largest agricultural library in the world - the National Agricultural Library. (County site & PGHistory.org)

Looking for Prince George's County History? Click here for PGHistory.org
Looking for the official Prince George's County web site? click here