Hampstead

Hampstead is one of the major cities in the county. Between 1736 and 1738, Robert Owings was assigned to "cut a new road as Christopher Gist had marked it" south from Connewago (now Hanover, Pennsylvania) to a point about halfway to Fort Garrison in Baltimore County. The village of Spring Garden became a stage-line stop on the new road and later became the town of Hampstead. The first settlers to the area were English immigrants who made their way west from the Port of Philadelphia. They were followed by Scots and Germans.

 

Hampstead has developed from a sleepy, farming community to a modern town of about 5,600 residents. Community activities center around the town’s numerous organizations and its schools—Hampstead Day, the Christmas Village, and school events in August, for examples.

 

Hampstead is committed to retaining its small-town atmosphere and cherished quality of life even as it implements its innovative Main Street Revitalization Plan. As major elements of the plan, the town has renovated an old bank building on Main Street as the new police station, will continue the restoration of the 1912 train station, and will continue to support the building of a bypass road to alleviate downtown traffic congestion.