Highland Beach, Maryland

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Coordinates: 38°55′55″N, 76°27′59″W
Highland Beach, Maryland
Location in Maryland
County	Anne Arundel County
Founded	1893
Incorporated	1922
Area
- City	0.2 km² (0.1 sq mi)
Population (2000)
- City	109
- Density	601.2/km² (1,557.1/sq mi)
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)

Highland Beach is a town in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 109 at the 2000 census. The town was founded early in the 20th Century by affluent black people from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, looking for a retreat on the Chesapeake Bay. The town's incorporated status gave it a unique standing in empowering it to maintain its own police force, sufficient to keep the resentful whites from harassing residents. Celebrities with homes here have included Alex Haley, Bill Cosby, and Arthur Ashe. Streets there include Crummell, Dunbar, Henson, Augusta, Douglass, Langston, and Washington, named for the famous African-Americans.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 External links

[edit] History

Highland Beach was founded in the summer of 1893 by Charles Douglass (Frederick Douglass' son) and his wife Laura after they had been turned away from a restaurant at the nearby Bay Ridge resort because of their race. They bought a 40-acre tract on the Chesapeake Bay with 500 feet of beachfront and turned it into a summer enclave for their family and friends. It became a gathering place for upper-class blacks, including many of the well known personages of the age.

Among the residents and guests were Paul Robeson, D.C. municipal court judge Robert Terrell and his wife Dr. Mary Church Terrell, Robert Weaver, Harriet Tubman, W. E. B. DuBois, and poets Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar. Charles Douglass’ father, the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass, visited and would have become a resident had he not died before the house that his son was building for him was completed.

When Highland Beach was incorporated in 1922 it became the first African-American municipality in Maryland. Although founded as a summer resort, it is now a town of year-round residents who choose not to permit commercial establishments. There are some sixty homes, many of them still owned and occupied by descendents of the original settlers. The residents are proud and protective of their town’s heritage, established over a century ago by proud and successful people determined to overcome the prejudices of their post-Reconstruction times. However, it should be noted that, as of the 2000 census, African-Americans make up less than 40 percent of the towns residents.

[edit] Geography

Highland Beach is located at 38°55′55″N, 76°27′59″W (38.931880, -76.466455)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²). 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is land and 14.29% is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 109 people, 44 households, and 27 families residing in the town. The population density was 601.2/km² (1,647.1/mi²). There were 80 housing units at an average density of 441.3/km² (1,208.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 52.29% White, 39.45% African American, and 8.26% from two or more races.

There were 44 households out of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.9% were married couples living together, 15.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.6% were non-families. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the town the population was spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 2.8% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 29.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 84.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.1 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $53,333, and the median income for a family was $82,379. Males had a median income of $36,563 versus $31,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $27,802. There were no families and 1.5% of the population living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and 10.5% of those over 64.