Hyattsville Our Hometown 1886 - 1986

100 years of Life, Growth and Service in Prince George's County Maryland 

"Hyattsville has endured with human enthusiasm, determination, and foresight. Our city is living testimony to its citizens- those countless people, who, through the years, infused the city with their special dedication and faith"

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  By the Hyattsville Centennial Book Advisory Committee members .  

Hyattsville: Our Hometown 

This book is a project intended to commemorate the centennial of Hyattsville’s incorporation on April 7th, 1886 and was created by Major Tom Bass, the City Council and the members of Hyattsville Centennial Book Advisory Committee (Elizabeth M. Aman, Marion P. Grimes, Margaret E. Jenkins, KathleenA. McKarland, Mary K. Prangley, Beverly B. Seele, Spurgeon D. Terry, Jr. and Evelyn L. Thrift). 


Hyattsville, Our Town 1886-1986 is a biography of the city of Hyattsville first century. The book chronicles the arrival of the Hyatt family from London to Virginia in 1634, Christopher Clarke Hyatt’s 19th century founding of the city, and Hyattsville’s economic and technological growth in the early 20th century. This centennial title sketches a detailed portrait of the City of Hyattsville, its institutions, inhabitants, and societal developments up to the work’s publication in the late 1980s. 



Insights from the book 

--To get full access to the book content, visit the Prince George's Room at the Hyattsville Branch Library--

History of the Hyatt family. 

This book contains a brief history of the Hyatt family,  For whom the Hyattsville city was named, the early years of the city history, and a great pictures of the earlier maps and pictures of the Hyatt mansion and other featured estate buildings.    




"Thomas Hyatt, born in England, ca. 1612, married Kathryn Parsols at Chirping Norton parish , Oxford shire. On January 2, 1634, he left London abroad Bonaventure, bound for Virginia,. Thomas had acquired 400 acres known as "Aquia River" from Valentine Peyton and also held a land patent --believed to be for 500 acres-- from lord Baltimore.   ( City of Hyattsville 1988, p. 12).  

Now and then 

This is a selection of pictures from the book of some buildings and streets in the city that you can compare with current pictures from websites like google maps. 

Map of the city of Hyattsville drwan by E.R. Mackean  and entered at the Library of congress in 1873.  Click this link to a 2017 Maryland department of transportation Administration map.

The B&O Railroad station in Hyattsville, ca. 1903. Smithsonian institution photo. (p.13) Now there is the Franklin's restaurant corner at 5123 Baltimore Ave, Bladensburg, MD 20710

Hyattsville Public Library 

"On January 1, 1948, the Hyattsville public library joined the Prince George's County Memorial Library System and opened as its second branch" (City of Hyattsville 1988 p. 185)

This is a selection of pictures that show the first library model and the local book mobile service. You can contrast the former model with the new branch model here.  

You may be also interested in: 

75th Anniversary Celebration Committee (Hyattsville, Md.)(1961) . 75 years of community growth and development in the city of Hyattsville. Hyattsville MD 

Andra Damron (2008) Hyattsville.  Charleston, S.C. : Arcadia Publishing. Chicago, IL. 

Wright, Catherine. (1977). Port o' Bladensburg, a brief history of a 1742 town. Project of the town of Bladensburg Bicentennial committee.