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DNIX

DNIX (original spelling: D-Nix) is a discontinued Unix-like real-time operating system from the Swedish company Dataindustrier AB (DIAB). A version named ABCenix was developed for the ABC 1600 computer from Luxor. Daisy Systems also had a system named Daisy DNIX on some of their computer-aided design (CAD) workstations. It was unrelated to DIAB's product.

Inception at DIAB in Sweden
Dataindustrier AB (literal translation: computer industries shareholding company) was started in 1970 by Lars Karlsson as a single-board computer manufacture in Sundsvall, Sweden, producing a Zilog Z80-based computer named Data Board 4680. In 1978, DIAB started to work with the Swedish television company Luxor AB to produce the home and office computer series ABC 80 and ABC 800.

In 1983 DIAB independently developed the first Unix-compatible machine, DIAB DS90 based on the Motorola 68000 CPU. D-NIX here made its appearance, based on a UNIX System V license from AT&T Corporation. DIAB was however an industrial control system (automation) company, and needed a real-time operating system, so the company replaced the AT&T-supplied UNIX kernel with their own in-house developed, yet compatible real-time variant. This kernel was inspired by a Z80 kernel named OS.8 created for Monroe Systems division of Litton Industries.

Over time, the company also replaced several of the UNIX standard userspace tools with their own implementations, to the point where no code was derived from UNIX, and their machines could be deployed independently of any AT&T UNIX license. Two years later and in cooperation with Luxor, a computer called ABC 1600 was developed for the office market, while in parallel, DIAB continue to produce enhanced versions of the DS90 computer using newer versions of the Motorola CPUs such as Motorola 68010, 68020, 68030 and eventually 68040. In 1990 DIAB was acquired by Groupe Bull who continued to produce and support the DS machines under the brand name DIAB, with names such as DIAB 2320, DIAB 2340 etc., still running DIABs version of DNIX.

Derivative at ISC Systems Corporation
ISC Systems Corporation (ISC) purchased the right to use DNIX in the late 1980s for use in its line of Motorola 68k-based banking computers. (ISC was later bought by Olivetti, and was in turn resold to Wang, which was then bought by Getronics. This corporate entity, most often referred to as 'ISC', has answered to a bewildering array of names over the years.) This code branch was the SVR2 compatible version, and received extensive modification and development at their hands. Notable features of this operating system were its support of demand paging, diskless workstations, multiprocessing, asynchronous input/output (I/O), the ability to mount processes (handlers) on directories in the file system, and message passing. Its real-time support consisted largely of internal event-driven queues rather than list search mechanisms (no 'thundering herd' ), static process priorities in two classes (run to completion and timesliced), support for contiguous files (to avoid fragmentation of critical resources), and memory locking. The quality of the orthogonal asynchronous event implementation has yet to be equalled in current commercial operating systems, though some approach it. (The concept that has yet to be adopted is that the synchronous marshalling point of all the asynchronous activity could also be asynchronous, ad infinitum. DNIX handled this with aplomb.) The asynchronous I/O facility obviated the need for Berkeley sockets select or SVR4's STREAMS poll mechanism, though there was a socket emulation library that preserved the socket semantics for backward compatibility. Another feature of DNIX was that none of the standard utilities (such as ps, a frequent offender) rummaged around in the kernel's memory to do their job. System calls were used instead, and this meant the kernel's internal architecture was free to change as required. The handler concept allowed network protocol stacks to be outside the kernel, which greatly eased development and improved overall reliability, though at a performance cost. It also allowed for foreign file systems to be user-level processes, again for improved reliability. The main file system, though it could have been (and once was) an external process, was pulled into the kernel for performance reasons. Were it not for this DNIX could well have been considered a microkernel, though it was not formally developed as such. Handlers could appear as any type of 'native' Unix file, directory structure, or device, and file I/O requests that the handler could not process could be passed off to other handlers, including the underlying one on which the handler was mounted. Handler connections could also exist and be passed around independent of the file system, much like a pipe. One effect of this is that text terminal (TTY) like devices could be emulated without needing a kernel-based pseudo terminal facility.

An example of where a handler saved the day was in ISC's diskless workstation support, where a bug in the implementation meant that using named pipes on the workstation could induce undesirable resource locking on the fileserver. A handler was created on the workstation to field accesses to the afflicted named pipes until the appropriate kernel fixes could be developed. This handler required approximately 5 kilobytes of code to implement, an indication that a non-trivial handler did not need to be large.

ISC also received the right to manufacture DIAB's DS90-10 and DS90-20 machines as its file servers. The multiprocessor DS90-20's, however, were too expensive for the target market and ISC designed its own servers and ported DNIX to them. ISC designed its own GUI-based diskless workstations for use with these file servers, and ported DNIX again. (Though ISC used Daisy workstations running Daisy DNIX to design the machines that would run DIAB's DNIX, there was negligible confusion internally as the drafting and layout staff rarely talked to the software staff. Moreover, the hardware design staff didn't use either system! The running joke went something like: "At ISC we build computers, we don't use them.")  The asynchronous I/O support of DNIX allowed for easy event-driven programming in the workstations, which performed well even though they had relatively limited resources. (The GUI diskless workstation had a 7 MHz 68010 processor and was usable with only 512K of memory, of which the kernel consumed approximately half. Most workstations had 1 MB of memory, though there were later 2 MB and 4 MB versions, along with 10 MHz processors.) A full-blown installation could consist of one server (16 MHz 68020, 8 MB of RAM, and a 200 MB hard disk) and up to 64 workstations. Though slow to boot up, such an array would perform acceptably in a bank teller application. Besides the innate efficiency of DNIX, the associated DIAB C compiler was key to high performance. It generated particularly good code for the 68010, especially after ISC got done with it. (ISC also retargeted it to the Texas Instruments TMS34010 graphics coprocessor used in its last workstation.) The DIAB C compiler was, of course, used to build DNIX, which was one of the factors contributing to its efficiency, and is still available, in some form, through Wind River Systems.

These systems are still in use as of this writing in 2006, in former Seattle-First National Bank branches now branded Bank of America. There may be, and probably are, other ISC customers still using DNIX in some capacity. Through ISC there was a considerable DNIX presence in Central and South America.

Asynchronous events
DNIX's native system call was the  library function, analogous to the standard Unix   or   function. It took multiple arguments, the first of which was a function code. Semantically this single call provided all appropriate Unix functionality, though it was syntactically different from Unix and had, of course, numerous DNIX-only extensions.

DNIX function codes were organized into two classes: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 commands were those that were associated with I/O activity, or anything that could potentially cause the issuing process to block. Major examples were,,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , and. Type 2 were the remainder, such as,,  , etc. They could be satisfied by the kernel immediately.

To invoke asynchronicity, a special file descriptor called a trap queue had to have been created via the Type 2 opcode,. A Type 1 call would have the,  bit OR-ed with its function value, and one of the additional parameters to,   was the trap queue file descriptor. The return value from an asynchronous call was not the normal value but a kernel-assigned identifier. At such time as the asynchronous request completed, a,  (or,  ) of the trap queue file descriptor would return a small kernel-defined structure containing the identifier and result status. The,  operation was available to cancel any asynchronous operation that hadn't yet been completed, one of its arguments was the kernel-assigned identifier. (A process could only cancel requests that were currently self-owned. The exact semantics of cancelling was up to each request's handler, fundamentally it only meant that any waiting was to be terminated. A partially completed operation could be returned.) In addition to the kernel-assigned identifier, one of the arguments given to any asynchronous operation was a 32-bit user-assigned identifier. This most often referenced a function pointer to the appropriate subroutine that would handle the I/O completion method, but this was merely convention. It was the entity that read the trap queue elements that was responsible for interpreting this value.

Of note is that the asynchronous events were gathered via normal file descriptor read operations, and that such reading was also able to be asynchronous. This had implications for semi-autonomous asynchronous event handling packages that could exist within one process. (DNIX 5.2 did not have lightweight processes or threads.) Also of note is that any potentially blocking operation could be issued asynchronously, so DNIX was well equipped to handle many clients with a single server process. A process was not restricted to having only one trap queue, so I/O requests could be grossly prioritized in this way.

Compatibility
In addition to the native  call, a complete set of 'standard' libc interface calls was available. ,,  ,  , etc. Besides being useful for backwards compatibility, these were implemented in a binary-compatible manner with the NCR Tower computer, so that binaries compiled for it would run unchanged under DNIX. The DNIX kernel had two trap dispatchers internally, one for the DNIX method and one for the Unix method. Choice of dispatcher was up to the programmer, and using both interchangeably was acceptable. Semantically they were identical wherever functionality overlapped. (In these machines the 68000  instruction was used for the   calls, and the   instruction for  . The two trap handlers were very similar, though the [usually hidden]   call held the function code in the processor's D0 register, whereas   held it on the stack with the rest of the parameters.)

DNIX 5.2 had no networking protocol stacks internally (except for the thin X.25-based Ethernet protocol stack added by ISC for use by its diskless workstation support package), all networking was conducted by reading and writing to Handlers. Thus, there was no socket mechanism, but a  existed that used asynchronous I/O to talk to the TCP/IP handler. The typical Berkeley-derived networking program could be compiled and run unchanged (modulo the usual Unix porting problems), though it might not be as efficient as an equivalent program that used native asynchronous I/O.

Handlers
Under DNIX, a process could be used to handle I/O requests and to extend the file system. Such a process was called a Handler, and was a major feature of the operating system. A handler was defined as a process that owned at least one request queue, a special file descriptor that was procured in one of two ways: with a  or a   call. The former invented an isolated request queue, one end of which was then typically handed down to a child process. (The network remote execution programs, of which there were many, used this method to provide standard I/O paths to their children.) The latter hooked into the file system so that file I/O requests could be adopted by handlers. (The network login programs, of which there were even more, used this method to provide standard I/O paths to their children, as the semantics of logging in under Unix requires a way for multiple perhaps-unrelated processes to horn in on the standard I/O path to the operator.) Once mounted on a directory in the file system, the handler then received all I/O calls to that point.

A handler would then read small kernel-assigned request data structures from the request queue. (Such reading could be done synchronously or asynchronously as the handler's author desired.) The handler would then do whatever each request required to be satisfied, often using the DNIX   and   calls to read and write into the request's data space, and then would terminate the request appropriately using. A privileged handler could adopt the permissions of its client for individual requests to subordinate handlers (such as the file system) via the  call, so it didn't need to reproduce the subordinate's permission scheme. If a handler was unable to complete a request alone, the  function could be used to pass I/O requests from one handler to another. A handler could perform part of the work requested before passing the rest on to another handler. It was very common for a handler to be state-machine oriented so that requests it was fielding from a client were all done asynchronously. This allowed for a single handler to field requests from multiple clients simultaneously without them blocking each other unnecessarily. Part of the request structure was the process ID and its priority so that a handler could choose what to work on first based upon this information, there was no requirement that work be performed in the order it was requested. To aid in this, it was possible to poll both request and trap queues to see if there was more work to be considered before buckling down to actually do it.

There was no particular restriction on the number of request queues a process could have. This was used to provide networking facilities to chroot jails, for example.

Examples
To give some appreciation of the utility of handlers, at ISC handlers existed for:
 * foreign file systems
 * FAT
 * CD-ROM/ISO9660
 * disk image files
 * RAM disk (for use with write-protected boot disks)
 * networking protocols
 * DNET (essentially X.25 over Ethernet, with multicast capability)
 * X.25
 * TCP/IP
 * DEC LAT
 * AppleTalk
 * remote file systems
 * DNET's /net/machine/path/from/its/root...
 * NFS
 * remote login
 * ncu (DNET)
 * telnet
 * rlogin
 * wcu (DNET GUI)
 * X.25 PAD
 * DEC LAT
 * remote execution
 * rx (DNET)
 * remsh
 * rexec
 * system extension
 * windowman (GUI)
 * vterm (xterm-like)
 * document (passbook) printer
 * dmap (ruptime analog)
 * windowmac (GUI gateway to Macintosh)
 * system patches
 * named pipe handler

ISC's extensions
ISC purchased both 5.2 (SVR2 compatible) and 5.3 (SVR3 compatible) versions of DNIX. At the time of purchase, DNIX 5.3 was still undergoing development at DIAB so DNIX 5.2 was what was deployed. Over time, ISC's engineers incorporated most of their 5.3 kernel's features into 5.2, primarily shared memory and IPC, so there was some divergence of features between DIAB and ISC's versions of DNIX. DIAB's 5.3 likely went on to contain more SVR3 features than ISC's 5.2 ended up with. Also, DIAB went on to DNIX 5.4, a SVR4 compatible OS.

At ISC, developers considerably extended their version of DNIX 5.2 (only listed are features involving the kernel) based upon both their needs and the general trends of the Unix industry:

 * Diskless workstation support. The workstation's kernel file system was removed, and replaced with an X.25-based Ethernet communications stub. The file server's kernel was also extended with a mating component that received the remote requests and handed them to a pool of kernel processes for service, though a standard handler could have been written to do this. (Later in its product lifecycle, ISC deployed standard SVR4-based Unix servers in place of the DNIX servers. These used X.25 STREAMS and a custom-written file server program. Despite the less efficient structuring, the raw horsepower of the platforms used made for a much faster server. It is unfortunate that this file server program did not support all of the functionality of the native DNIX server. Tricky things, like named pipes, never worked at all. This was another justification for the named pipe handler process.)
 * gdb watchpoint support using the features of ISC's MMU.
 * Asynchronous I/O to the file system was made real. (Originally it blocked anyway.) Kernel processes (kprocs, or threads) were used to do this.
 * Support for a truss- or strace-like program. In addition to some repairs to bugs in the standard Unix ptrace single-stepping mechanism, this required adding a temporary process adoption facility so that the tracer could use the standard single-stepping mechanism on existing processes.
 * SVR4 signal mechanism extensions. Primarily for the new STOP and CONT signals, but encompassing the new signal control calls as well. Due to ISC's lack of source code for the adb and sdb debuggers the u-page could not be modified, so the new signals could only be blocked or receive default handling, they could not be caught.
 * Support for network sniffing. This required extending the Ethernet driver so that a single event could satisfy more than one I/O request, and conditionally implementing the hardware filtering in software to support promiscuous mode.
 * Disk mirroring. This was done in the file system and not the device driver, so that slightly (or even completely) different devices could still be mirrored together. Mirroring a small hard disk to the floppy was a popular way to test mirroring as ejecting the floppy was an easy way to induce disk errors.
 * 32-bit inode, 30-character filename, symbolic link, and sticky directory extensions to the file system. Added /dev/zero, /dev/noise, /dev/stdXXX, and /dev/fd/X devices.
 * Process group id lists (from SVR4).
 * #! direct script execution.
 * Serial port multiplication using ISC's Z-80 based VMEbus communications boards.
 * Movable swap partition.
 * Core 'dump' snapshots of running processes. Support for fuser command.
 * Process renice function. Associated timesharing reprioritizer program to implement floating priorities.
 * A way to 'mug' a process, instantly depriving it of all memory resources. Very useful for determining what the current working set is, as opposed to what is still available to it but not necessarily being used. This was associated with a GUI utility showing the status of all 1024 pages of a process's memory map. (This being the number of memory pages supported by ISC's MMU.) In use you would 'mug' the target process periodically through its life and then watch to see how much memory was swapped back in. This was useful as ISC's production environment used only a few long-lived processes, controlling their memory utilization and growth was key to maintaining performance.

Features that were never added
When DNIX development at ISC effectively ceased in 1997, a number of planned OS features were left on the table:

 * Shared objects – There were two dynamically loaded libraries in existence, an encryptor for DNET and the GUI's imaging library, but the facility was never generalized. ISC's machines were characterized by a general lack of virtual address space, so extensive use of memory-mapped entities would not have been possible.
 * Lightweight processes – The kernel already had multiple threads that shared a single MMU context, extending this to user processes should have been straightforward. The API implications would have been the most difficult part of this.
 * Access-control lists (ACL) – Trivial to implement using an ACL handler mounted over the stock file system.
 * Multiple swap partitions – DNIX already used free space on the selected volume for swapping, it would have been easy to give it a list of volumes to try in turn, potentially with associated space limits to keep it from consuming all free space on a volume before moving on to the next one.
 * Remote kernel debugging via gdb – All the pieces were there to do it either through the customary serial port or over Ethernet using the kernel's embedded X.25 link software, but they were never assembled.
 * 68030 support – ISC's prototypes were never completed. Two processor piggyback plug-in cards were built, but were never used as more than faster 68020's. They were not reliable, nor were they as fast as they could have been due to having to fit into a 68020 socket. The fast context switching ISC MMU would be left disabled (and left out altogether in proposed production units), and the embedded one of the 68030 was to have been used instead, using a derivative of the DS90-20's MMU code. While the ISC MMU was very efficient and supported instant switching among 32 resident processes, it was very limited in addressability. The 68030 MMU would have allowed for much more than 8 MB of virtual space in a process, which was the limit of the ISC MMU. Though this MMU would be slower, the overall faster speed of the 68030 should have more than made up for it, so that a 68030 machine was expected to be in all ways faster, and support much larger processes.

title: DNIX


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Quikscript

Quikscript (also known as the Read Alphabet and Second Shaw) is an alphabet which is intended as a replacement for traditional English orthography with the Latin alphabet. It is a compact phonemic orthography, designed to be comfortably and quickly written. Quikscript has been adapted for other languages, using the same letters for phonemes absent in English phonology.

Origins and history
Read organized a lengthy public testing phase of Shavian by some 500 users from around the world who spoke different dialects of English. Once he had analyzed the results of those tests, Read decided to revise Shavian to incorporate a number of improvements to make it both easier and faster to write. He called the revised alphabet "Quikscript". In 1966, he published the Quikscript manual which set out the alphabet's rationale, and briefly discussed different possible methods of alphabet reform. The manual provides comprehensive instructions regarding the use of the alphabet along with reading samples.

Description
Each Quikscript letter represents one, and only one, English phoneme. There are 25 consonants and 15 vowels, 40 letters in all. The letters are designed to be written easily, each requiring only one (usually curved) pen stroke.

Just as in the Roman alphabet, there are short letters (e.g. a, c, e, m, and n), written between the base writing line and the "upper parallel" (as Read calls it), tall letters (e.g. b, d, f, k, and t), which ascend above the top of the short letters, and deep letters (e.g. g, j, p and y), which descend below the base writing line. Quikscript, however, makes better use of these possibilities with 11 tall, 11 deep, and 18 short letters. All vowels have short letter shapes, and the most common phonemes have the simplest letter shapes.

Similar-sounding phonemes have similar letter shapes, for example:
 * Long vowels and glides are written with a larger bend or loop, while short vowels have a simpler shape.
 * Every voiced consonant is written with a deep letter similar in shape to the corresponding voiceless consonant which is written with a tall letter.

While the Roman alphabet has two distinct forms for each letter, designated minuscule and majuscule, most letters in Quikscript have only one form. Names and proper nouns are preceded with a mid-line "name-dot" (·) which is sufficient to distinguish them from ordinary words.

Senior Quikscript
Beginners learn Junior Quikscript first. Each word is spelled "as it is spoken". Each letter is written separately from the next so that it is equivalent to what is termed "printing" in the Roman alphabet. Some people may prefer Junior Quikscript for printed texts as readers are used to the Roman alphabet being printed in that manner.

Senior Quikscript introduces a number of advanced techniques which save time in writing. The most obvious difference is that Senior encourages ligatures as long as the shapes of the letters are not altered. The design of the alphabet fosters these natural connections, as each Quikscript letter either begins or ends on the base line or the upper parallel. This structure permits letters to connect easily yet maintains the shapes of the individual letters because there are no connecting strokes between letters as there are in cursive Roman alphabet writing. It is common that Senior writing will have several conjoined letters in a row, but when such a connection is not possible, the letters are simply left unconnected. Read added a very small number of alternative letter forms, which permit even more letters to connect easily, along with a number of abbreviations for the most common English words, further reducing the space requirement for printed material and hence the costs of physical publication; it is the writer's choice whether to use them or not.

Senior Quikscript also introduces the concept of half-letters. Read recognized that the top half of several tall letters and the bottom half of several deep letters are sufficient to clearly distinguish them. Therefore, the portion of the vertical shafts of those letters which lies between the base line and upper parallel can be discarded with no effect to legibility. Half-letters increase the number of letters which can be conjoined, yielding several benefits:
 * 1) the alphabet's appearance becomes more cursive and fluid, which is aesthetically appealing;
 * 2) it speeds up handwriting because fewer pen-lifts are required; and
 * 3) most importantly, it increases the variability and distinctiveness of word-shapes, improving word recognition and increasing the average reading speed.

References in literature
Book two of the popular Cole's Funny Picture Books, published in Australia by E. W. Cole at the turn of the 20th century, was revised in 1979 to include an article introducing Quikscript under the name Second Shaw.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Quikscript


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Uncle Tom

Uncle Tom is the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The character was seen in the Victorian era as a ground-breaking literary attack against the dehumanization of slaves. Tom is a deeply religious Christian preacher to his fellow slaves who uses nonresistance, but who is willingly flogged to death rather than violate the plantation's code of silence by informing against the route being used by two women who have just escaped from slavery. However, the character also came to be criticized for allegedly being inexplicably kind to white slaveowners, especially based on his portrayal in pro-compassion dramatizations. This led to the use of Uncle Tom – sometimes shortened to just a Tom – as a derogatory epithet for an exceedingly subservient person or house negro, particularly one accepting and uncritical of his or her own lower-class status.

Original characterization and critical evaluations
At the time of the novel's initial publication in 1851, Uncle Tom was a rejection of the existing stereotypes of minstrel shows; Stowe's melodramatic story humanized the suffering of slavery for white audiences by portraying Tom as a young, strong Jesus-like figure who is ultimately martyred, beaten to death by a cruel master (Simon Legree) because he refuses to betray the whereabouts of two women who had escaped from slavery. Stowe reversed the gender conventions of slave narratives by juxtaposing Uncle Tom's passivity against the daring of three African American women who escape from slavery.

The novel was both influential and commercially successful, published as a serial from 1851 to 1852 and as a book from 1852 onward. An estimated 500,000 copies had sold worldwide by 1853, including unauthorized reprints. Senator Charles Sumner credited Uncle Tom's Cabin for the election of Abraham Lincoln, an opinion that is later echoed in the apocryphal story of Lincoln greeting Stowe with the quip, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!" Frederick Douglass praised the novel as "a flash to light a million camp fires in front of the embattled hosts of slavery." Despite Douglass's enthusiasm, an anonymous 1852 reviewer for William Lloyd Garrison's publication, The Liberator, suspected a racial double standard in the idealization of Uncle Tom:

"Uncle Tom's character is sketched with great power and rare religious perception. It triumphantly exemplifies the nature, tendency, and results of Christian non-resistance. We are curious to know whether Mrs. Stowe is a believer in the duty of non-resistance for the white man, under all possible outrage and peril, as for the black man ... [For whites in parallel circumstances, it is often said] Talk not of overcoming evil with good – it is madness! Talk not of peacefully submitting to chains and stripes – it is base servility! Talk not of servants being obedient to their masters – let the blood of tyrants flow! How is this to be explained or reconciled? Is there one law of submission and non-resistance for the black man, and another of rebellion and conflict for the white man? When it is the whites who are trodden in the dust, does Christ justify them in taking up arms to vindicate their rights? And when it is the blacks who are thus treated, does Christ require them to be patient, harmless, long-suffering, and forgiving? Are there two Christs?"

James Weldon Johnson, a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance, expressed an antipathetic opinion in his autobiography:

"For my part, I was never an admirer of Uncle Tom, nor of his type of goodness; but I believe that there were lots of old Negroes as foolishly good as he."

In 1949, American writer James Baldwin rejected the emasculation of the title character "robbed of his humanity and divested of his sex" as the price of spiritual salvation for a dark-skinned man in a fiction whose African-American characters, in Baldwin's view, were invariably two-dimensional stereotypes. To Baldwin, Stowe was closer to a pamphleteer than a novelist and her artistic vision was fatally marred by polemics and racism that manifested especially in her handling of the title character. Stowe had stated that her sons had wept when she first read them the scene of Uncle Tom's death. But after Baldwin's essay, it ceased being respectable to accept the melodrama of the Uncle Tom story. Uncle Tom became what critic Linda Williams describes as "an epithet of servility" and the novel's reputation plummeted until feminist critics led by Jane Tompkins reassessed the tale's female characters.

According to Debra J. Rosenthal, in an introduction to a collection of critical appraisals for the Routledge Literary Sourcebook on Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin", overall reactions have been mixed, with some critics praising the novel for affirming the humanity of the African American characters and for the risks Stowe assumed in taking a very public stand against slavery before abolitionism had become a socially acceptable cause, and others criticizing the very limited terms upon which those characters's humanity was affirmed and the artistic shortcomings of political melodrama.

Inspiration
A specific impetus for the novel was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which imposed heavy fines upon law enforcement personnel in Northern states if they refused to assist the return of people who escaped from slavery. The new law also stripped African Americans of the right to request a jury trial or to testify on their own behalf, even if they were legally free, whenever a single claimant presented an affidavit of ownership. The same law authorized a $1000 (~$ in ) fine and six months imprisonment for anyone who knowingly harbored or assisted a fugitive slave. These terms infuriated Stowe, so the novel was written, read, and debated as a political abolitionist tract.

Stowe drew inspiration for the Uncle Tom character from several sources. The best-known of these was Josiah Henson, an ex-slave whose autobiography, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself, was originally published in 1849 and later republished in two extensively revised editions after the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Henson was enslaved at birth in 1789. He became a Christian at age eighteen and began preaching. Henson attempted to purchase his freedom for $450, but after selling his personal assets to raise $350 and signing a promissory note for the remainder, Henson's owner raised the price to $1000; Henson was unable to prove that the original agreement had been for a lesser amount. Shortly afterward Henson was ordered on a trip south to New Orleans. When he learned that he was to be sold there, he obtained a weapon. He contemplated murdering his white companions with the weapon, but decided against violence because his Christian morals forbade it. A sudden illness in one of his companions forced their return to Kentucky, and shortly afterward Henson escaped north with his family, settling in Canada where he became a civic leader.

Stowe read the first edition of Henson's narrative and later confirmed that she had incorporated elements from it into Uncle Tom's Cabin. Kentucky and New Orleans figure in both Henson's narrative and the novel's settings, and some other story elements are similar.

In the public imagination, however, Henson became synonymous with Uncle Tom. After Stowe's death her son and grandson claimed she and Henson had met before Uncle Tom's Cabin was written, but the chronology does not hold up to scrutiny and she probably drew material only from his published autobiography.

Epithet
The term "Uncle Tom" is used as an epithet for an excessively subservient person, particularly when that person perceives his or her own lower-class status based on race. It is similarly used to negatively describe people who betray their own group by participating in its oppression, whether willingly or not. The term has also, with more intended neutrality, been applied in psychology in the form of "Uncle Tom syndrome", a term for the use of subservience, appeasement, and passivity to cope with intimidation and threats.

The popular negative connotations of "Uncle Tom" have largely been attributed to the numerous derivative works inspired by Uncle Tom's Cabin in the decade after its release, rather than to the original novel itself, whose title character is a more positive figure. These works, often called a "Tom show," lampooned and distorted the portrayal of Uncle Tom with politically loaded overtones.

History
American copyright law before 1856 did not give novel authors any control over derivative stage adaptations, so Stowe neither approved the adaptations nor profited from them. Minstrel show retellings in particular, usually performed by white men in blackface, tended to be derisive and pro-slavery, transforming Uncle Tom from a Christian martyr to a fool or apologist for slavery. The performer and theatre manager George Kunkel was the first to adapt Stowe's novel into the minstrel show format; portraying the role of Uncle Tom in its first minstrel show adaptation in Charleston, South Carolina in 1861. Kunkel became the most prominent minstrel show performer in that part, performing it throughout the United States for decades and on a tour of England in 1883. His last performance of the part was in January 1885 less than a month before his death. Adapted theatrical performances of the novel, called Tom Shows, remained in continual production in the United States for at least 80 years beyond the 1850s (1930s). These representations had a lasting cultural impact and influenced the pejorative nature of the term Uncle Tom in later popular use.

Although not every minstrel depiction of Uncle Tom was negative, the dominant version developed into a character very different from Stowe's hero. Whereas Stowe's Uncle Tom was a young, muscular, and virile man who refused to obey his cruel master, Simon Legree, when Legree ordered him to beat other slaves, the stock character of the minstrel shows was degenerated into a shuffling, asexual individual, with a receding hairline and graying hair. For Jo-Ann Morgan, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin as Visual Culture, these shifting representations undermined the subversive layers of Stowe's original characterization by redefining Uncle Tom until he fitted within prevailing racist norms. Particularly after the Civil War, as the political thrust of the novel which had arguably helped to precipitate that war became obsolete to actual political discourse, popular depictions of the title character recast him within the apologetics of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The virile father of the abolitionist serial and first book edition degenerated into a decrepit old man, and with that transformation the character lost the capacity for resistance that had originally given meaning to his choices. Stowe never meant Uncle Tom to be a derided name, but the term, as a pejorative, has developed based on how later versions of the character, stripped of his inherent strength, were depicted on stage.

Claire Parfait, author of The Publishing History of Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852–2002, opined that "the many alterations in retellings of the Uncle Tom story demonstrate an impulse to correct the retellers's perceptions of its flaws" and of "the capacity of the novel to irritate and rankle, even a century and a half after its first publication."

20th-century Black cultural critique
Spike Lee's 2000 film Bamboozled, which was a dark modern satire or comedy drama that challenges this kind of negative stereotyping. The film featured popular Black actors such as Damon Wayans as Pierre "Peerless Dothan" Delacroix and Jada Pinkett Smith as Sloan Hopkins, comedians such as Tommy Davidson as Womack "Sleep 'n Eat" and Paul Mooney as Junebug, and hip hop artists such as Yasiin Bey formerly known as Mos Def as Julius "Big Blak Afrika" Hopkins and The Roots as the Alabama Porchmonkeys. Lee's use of popular celebrities as satirical stock characters challenged long-held stereotypes of Black people in mainstream popular culture from novels to the screen. Casting hip-hop artists also allowed the filmmaker to allude to the role of negative stereotyping gangsta rap in the early aughts: "Spike Lee says in the DVD commentary [about Bamboozled] that gangsta rap is a kind of stereotype that doesn't advance the interests of blacks. He reiterated this position at his talk at Northeastern."

Bamboozled challenges notions of "Uncle Toming" or "acting white" as well as demonstrating the concept of double-consciousness coined by the notable sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois in his book The Souls of Black Folk (1903).

Also see the Emmy Award-winning 1987 documentary film Ethnic Notions by Black gay filmmaker Marlon Riggs narrated by actor Esther Rolle. The documentary narrates the history and legacy of the dehumanizing effects of African-American stereotypes and racializing caricatures from the "Loyal Uncle Tom" to grinning fools (see Stepin Fetchit) in cartoons, minstrel shows, advertisements, household artifacts, and even children's rhymes.

title: Uncle Tom


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Garrett Park, Maryland

Garrett Park is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It was named after a former president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Robert W. Garrett. The population was 996 at the 2020 census. Garrett Park is home to Garrett Park Elementary School, located just outside the town proper.

History
Garrett Park was an early planned community, originally promoted by businessman Henry W. Copp, who purchased the land in 1886. Copp wanted to build a suburban development reminiscent of an English village, and even went so far as to name the streets after locations in the novels of the English author Walter Scott, such as Kenilworth and Strathmore. Copp worked in conjunction with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which in 1893 built a train station. Builders were given reduced rates to transport workers and materials to the town site, and new residents were given free trips to move in. The town lies along the former B&O railway corridor (now used by CSX, Amtrak, and MARC). It was named for John Work Garrett, who had led the B&O for nearly three decades, including during the American Civil War. Copp limited commercial development in the community. Today the town has a four-star restaurant, post office, and farmer's market.

Garrett Park incorporated as a town in 1898, at which time it had thirty buildings and approximately 100 residents. However, rail suburbs did not catch on, and the community stagnated as automobiles replaced commuter trains and streetcars. In the 1920s, another company built approximately 50 more houses, now including garages. Sections of the town are included in the Garrett Park Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. For example, Garrett Park's first school house, designed in 1928 by prominent local architect Howard Wright Cutler and now preserved as part of a residential home, is a designated historic site by the Maryland Historical Trust. In 1977, the town became a declared arboretum, maintaining a tree inventory of all town trees and a scheduled tree planting schedule. In May 1982 the townspeople of Garrett Park voted 245 to 46 to ban the production, transportation, storage, processing, disposal, or use of nuclear weapons within the town. This made Garrett Park the first nuclear-weapon-free zone in the United States.

Geography
Garrett Park is located in southern Montgomery County at 39°2' North, 77°6' West. It is just west of Kensington, due north of Bethesda, northwest of Silver Spring, and southeast of Rockville. It is approximately halfway between Rockville and Silver Spring. Rock Creek Stream Valley Park, operated by Montgomery County, is located along the town's southeast borders.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.25 sqmi, all of it land.

Garrett Park is primarily a residential town, with a post office, and a few small businesses. The only road open to automotive traffic into or out of Garrett Park is Maryland State Highway 547 (Strathmore Avenue). The town is served by the MARC Train Brunswick Line. The town is unusual in that residents pick up their mail at the post office in person, rather than having home delivery.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 992 people, 380 households, and 277 families residing in the town. The population density was 3815.4 PD/sqmi. There were 401 housing units at an average density of 1542.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 91.6% White, 1.3% African American, 0.2% Native American, 3.6% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.5% of the population.

There were 380 households, of which 35.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.3% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 27.1% were non-families. 20.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.05.

The median age in the town was 46.8 years. 25.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 16.5% were from 25 to 44; 34.8% were from 45 to 64; and 18.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 48.0% male and 52.0% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 917 people, 347 households, and 266 families residing in the town. The population density was 3,427.8 PD/sqmi. There were 356 housing units at an average density of 1,330.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 91.82% White, 0.87% Black or African American, 0.22% Native American, 3.05% Asian, 1.53% from other races, and 2.51% from two or more races. 2.51% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 347 households, out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.0% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.3% were non-families. 18.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.4% under the age of 18, 3.1% from 18 to 24, 21.6% from 25 to 44, 31.7% from 45 to 64, and 18.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $106,883, and the median income for a family was $126,662. Males had a median income of $96,588 versus $66,563 for females. The per capita income for the town was $50,305. None of the families and 0.8% of the population were living below the poverty line, including no under 18 and 2.6% of those over 64.

Law and government
The Garrett Park Chapel was purchased by the town in 1968, and now serves as the town hall. Its form of government follows a strong-mayor structure as defined by the following characteristics specified in the town charter: the mayor and council members are elected separately by the residents and hold separate and distinct powers and functions of town governance. The mayor serves as chief executive officer and oversees the administrative operations of the town government, responsible for executing the town's budget and operations. The mayor appoints with approval by the council a clerk-treasurer, whose role as chief financial officer is responsible for formulating the town's fiscal year budget under supervision of the mayor for council review and adoption.

The council is the legislative body, comprising five elected officials. Each council member is elected for a two–year term, with two members elected in even-numbered years, three in odd-numbered years. As the legislative body, the council sets policy by ordinance or resolution and adopts the annual budget by approving the allocation of appropriated funds by ordinance. All executive powers of the town are vested in the mayor, who is elected separately by the town residents (in the even-numbered years) and also serves a two-year term.

Mayor or city executive
Recent mayors/chief executive officers (dual roles) of the town of Garrett Park (elected for two-year terms):
 * Nancy M. Floreen (elected to the County Council of Montgomery County in the 2002 election)
 * Peter Benjamin (2003–2004)
 * Carolyn Shawaker (2005-2007)
 * Chris Keller (2007-2012)
 * Peter Benjamin (2012-2018)
 * Kathryn (Kacky) Chantry (2018-2022)
 * Joanna Roufa Welch (2022–present)

Town council
Garrett Park has a five-member council, elected for two-year terms. The mayor is the presiding officer of the town council meetings.

Education
Garrett Park is served by the Montgomery County Public Schools.

Schools that serve the town include:
 * Garrett Park Elementary School, in North Bethesda, adjacent to Garrett Park
 * Tilden Middle School
 * Walter Johnson High School

The Washington Japanese Language School (WJLS, ワシントン日本語学校 Washington Nihongo Gakkō), a supplementary weekend Japanese school, has its school office at Quinn Hall of the Holy Cross Church in North Bethesda, adjacent to Garrett Park. The WJLS holds its classes in Bethesda. The institution, giving supplemental education to Japanese-speaking children in the Washington DC area, was founded in 1958, making it the oldest Japanese government-sponsored supplementary school in the U.S.

Transportation
The only state highway serving Garrett Park is Maryland Route 547. MD 547 connects the town with Maryland Route 355 to the west and Maryland Route 185 to the east, which both provide connections to Interstate 495 (the Capital Beltway) and to Washington, D.C.

title: Garrett Park, Maryland


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John Eager Howard

John Eager Howard (June 4, 1752 – October 12, 1827) was an American soldier and politician from Maryland. He was elected as governor of the state in 1788, and served three one-year terms. He also was elected to the Continental Congress, the Congress of the Confederation, the United States Senate, and the Maryland Senate. In the 1816 presidential election, Howard received 22 electoral votes for vice president on the Federalist Party ticket with Rufus King; the ticket lost to Democratic-Republicans James Monroe and Daniel D. Tompkins in a landslide.

Howard County, Maryland, is named for him, as are three streets in Baltimore. For seven days in November 1800, Howard was president pro tempore of the Senate.

Early life and education
John Eager Howard was the son of Cornelius Howard and Ruth (Eager) Howard, of the Maryland planter elite and was born at their plantation "The Forest" in Baltimore County, Maryland. Howard grew up in an Anglican slaveholding family.

Howard joined a Baltimore lodge of Freemasons.

Military career
Commissioned a captain at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Howard rose in 1777 to the rank of colonel in the Maryland Line of the Continental Army, fighting in the Battle of White Plains in 1776 and in the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. He was awarded a silver medal by the Confederation Congress for his leadership at the Battle of Cowpens in 1781, during which he commanded the 2nd Maryland Regiment. In September 1781, he was wounded in a bayonet charge at the Battle of Eutaw Springs. Major General Nathanael Greene wrote that Howard was "as good an officer as the world affords. He has great ability and the best disposition to promote the service....He deserves a statue of gold."

At the conclusion of the war, Colonel Howard was admitted as an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland. He went on to serve as the vice president (1795–1804) and president (1804–1827) of the Society in Maryland.

Political life
Following his army service, Howard held several electoral political positions: elected to the Confederation Congress in 1788; fifth Governor of Maryland for three one-year terms from 1788 through 1791; later as State Senator from 1791 through 1795; and elector in the presidential election of 1792. He declined an offer from George Washington in 1795 to serve as Secretary of War. He subsequently joined the newly organized Federalist Party and was elected to the Senate of the Fourth Congress by the General Assembly of Maryland to serve the remainder of the term of Richard Potts, who had resigned. He was elected to a Senate term of his own in 1797, serving until March 3, 1803, and briefly served as president pro tempore of the Senate in November 1800. While in Congress, he was the sole Federalist to vote against the Sedition Act.

In 1798, amidst rising tensions with France, Howard declined a commission as brigadier general in the United States Army.

At the end of his Senate term in 1803, Howard returned to Baltimore, where he avoided elected office but continued in public service and philanthropy. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815. In the 1816 presidential election, he received 22 electoral votes for Vice President as the running mate of Federalist Rufus King, losing to Democratic-Republican candidates James Monroe and Daniel D. Tompkins in a landslide. No formal Federalist nomination had been made, and it is not clear whether Howard himself, who was one of several Federalists who received electoral votes for vice president, actually wanted to run.

Howard developed property in the city of Baltimore and was active in city planning. His house was constructed north of the city, in what later became the Mount Vernon neighborhood, where he owned slaves.

Marriage and family
Howard married Margaret ("Peggy") Chew (1760–1824), daughter of Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice Benjamin Chew, in 1787. They had nine children:
 * John Eager Howard Jr. (1788–1822), Maryland State Senator.
 * George Howard, Governor of Maryland.
 * Benjamin Chew Howard (1791–1872), US Representative and Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.
 * Dr. William Howard (1793–1834), civil engineer for the War Department.
 * Juliana Howard McHenry (1796–1821)
 * James Howard (1797–1870)
 * Sophia Howard Read (1800–1880)
 * Charles Howard (1802–1869)
 * Mary (February–May 1806)

Death and legacy
Howard died in 1827. He is buried at Old Saint Paul's Cemetery in Baltimore.
 * Howard County, Maryland, was named for Howard.
 * In 1904, the city of Baltimore commissioned an equestrian statue of Howard by Emmanuel Frémiet and installed it at Washington Place in Mount Vernon.
 * The former Maryland state song "Maryland, My Maryland" refers to "Howard's war-like thrust".
 * Three streets in Baltimore are named for Howard: John Street, Eager Street, and Howard Street.

title: John Eager Howard


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Frederick, Maryland

Frederick is a city in, and the county seat of, Frederick County, Maryland, United States. Frederick's population was 78,171 people as of the 2020 census, making it the second-largest incorporated city in Maryland behind Baltimore. It is a part of the Washington metropolitan area and the greater Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area.

The city is located at an important crossroads at the intersection of a major north–south Native American trail and east–west routes to the Chesapeake Bay, both at Baltimore and what became Washington, D.C., and across the Appalachian Mountains to the Ohio River watershed.

Frederick is home to Frederick Municipal Airport (IATA: FDK), which accommodates general aviation, and Fort Detrick, a U.S. Army bioscience and communications research installation and Frederick County's largest employer.

Pre-colonization
Located where Catoctin Mountain (the easternmost ridge of the Blue Ridge mountains) meets the rolling hills of the Piedmont region, the Frederick area became a crossroads long before European explorers and traders arrived. Native American hunters (possibly including the Susquehannocks, the Algonquian-speaking Shawnee, or the Seneca or Tuscarora or other members of the Iroquois Confederation) followed the Monocacy River from the Susquehanna River watershed in Pennsylvania to the Potomac River watershed and the lands of the more agrarian and maritime Algonquian peoples, particularly the Lenape of the Delaware valley or the Piscataway and Powhatan of the lower Potomac watershed and Chesapeake Bay. This became known as the Monocacy Trail or even the Great Indian Warpath, with some travelers continuing southward through the "Great Appalachian Valley" (Shenandoah Valley, etc.) to the western Piedmont in North Carolina, or traveling down other watersheds in Virginia toward the Chesapeake Bay, such as those of the Rappahannock, James, and York Rivers.

Colonial era
The earliest European settlement was slightly north of Frederick in Monocacy, Maryland. Monocacy was founded before 1730 (when the Indian trail became a wagon road) and was abandoned before the American Revolutionary War, likely due to the river's periodic flooding, hostilities predating the French and Indian War, or simply Frederick's better location with easier access to the Potomac River near its confluence with the Monocacy.

Daniel Dulany, a land speculator, laid out what was initially called Frederick Town by 1745. Three years earlier, All Saints Church had been founded on a hilltop near a warehouse/trading post. Sources disagree as to which Frederick the town was named for, but the likeliest candidates are Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore (one of the proprietors of Maryland ), Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, and Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.

In 1748, Frederick County was formed by carving a section off of Prince George's County. Frederick Town (now Frederick) was made the county seat of Frederick County. The county originally extended to the Appalachian mountains (areas further west being disputed between the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania until 1789). The current town's first house was built by a young German Reformed schoolmaster from the Rhineland Palatinate named Johann Thomas Schley (died 1790), who led a party of immigrants (including his wife, Maria Von Winz) to the Maryland colony. The Palatinate settlers bought land from Dulany on the banks of Carroll Creek, and Schley's house stood at the northwest corner of Middle Alley and East Patrick Street into the 20th century. Schley's settlers also founded a German Reformed Church (today known as Evangelical Reformed Church, and part of the UCC). Probably the oldest house still standing in Frederick today is Schifferstadt, built in 1756 by German settler Joseph Brunner and now the Schifferstadt Architectural Museum.

Schley's group was among the many Pennsylvania Dutch (ethnic Germans) (as well as Scots-Irish and French and later Irish) who migrated south and westward in the late-18th century. Frederick was an important stop along the migration route that became known as the Great Wagon Road, which came down from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Emmitsburg, Maryland and continued south following the Great Appalachian Valley through Winchester and Roanoke, Virginia. Another important route continued along the Potomac River from near Frederick, to Hagerstown, where it split. One branch crossed the Potomac River near Martinsburg, West Virginia and continued down into the Shenandoah valley. The other continued west to Cumberland, Maryland, and ultimately crossed the Appalachian Mountains into the watershed of the Ohio River. Thus, British General Edward Braddock marched his troops (including the youthful George Washington) west in 1755 through Frederick on the way to their fateful ambush near Fort Duquesne (later Fort Pitt, then Pittsburgh) during the French and Indian War. However, the British after the Proclamation of 1763 restricted that westward migration route until after the American Revolutionary War. Other westward migrants continued south from Frederick to Roanoke along the Great Wagon Road, crossing the Appalachians into Kentucky and Tennessee at the Cumberland Gap near the Virginia/North Carolina border.

Other German settlers in Frederick were Evangelical Lutherans, led by Rev. Henry Muhlenberg. They moved their mission church from Monocacy to what became a large complex a few blocks further down Church Street from the Anglicans and the German Reformed Church. Methodist missionary Robert Strawbridge, who accepted an invitation to preach at Frederick town in 1770, and Francis Asbury, who arrived two years later, both helped found a congregation which became Calvary Methodist Church, worshipping in a log building from 1792 (although superseded by larger buildings in 1841, 1865, 1910 and 1930). Frederick also had a Catholic mission, to which Rev. Jean DuBois was assigned in 1792, which became St. John the Evangelist Church (built in 1800).

To control this crossroads during the American Revolution, the British garrisoned a German Hessian regiment in the town;

Early 19th century
As the county seat for Western Maryland, Frederick not only was an important market town but also the seat of justice. Although Montgomery County and Washington County were split off from Frederick County in 1776, Frederick remained the seat of the smaller (though still large) county. Important lawyers who practiced in Frederick included John Hanson, Francis Scott Key and Roger B. Taney.

Frederick was also known during the nineteenth century for its religious pluralism, with one of its main thoroughfares, Church Street, hosting about a half dozen major churches. In 1793, All Saints Church hosted the first confirmation of an American citizen, by the newly consecrated Episcopal Bishop Thomas Claggett. That original colonial building was replaced in 1814 by a brick classical revival structure. It still stands today, although the principal worship space has become an even larger brick gothic church joining it at the back and facing Frederick's City Hall (so the parish remains the oldest Episcopal Church in western Maryland). The main Catholic church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, was built in 1800, then rebuilt in 1837 (across the street) one block north of Church Street on East Second Street, where it still stands along with a school and convent established by the Visitation Sisters. The stone Evangelical Lutheran Church of 1752 was also rebuilt and enlarged in 1825, then replaced by the current twin-spired structure in 1852.

The oldest African-American church in the town is Asbury United Methodist Church, founded as the Old Hill Church, a mixed congregation in 1818. It became an African-American congregation in 1864, renamed Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church in 1870, and built its current building on All Saints Street in 1921.

Together, these churches dominated the town, set against the backdrop of the first ridge of the Appalachians at Catoctin Mountain. The abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier later immortalized this view of Frederick in his poem to "Barbara Fritchie": "The clustered spires of Frederick stand/Green-walled by the hills of Maryland."

When U.S. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned National Road from Baltimore toward St. Louis, eventually built to Vandalia, then the state capital of Illinois, National Pike ran through Frederick along Patrick Street; it later became U.S. Route 40. Frederick's Jacob Engelbrecht corresponded with Jefferson in 1824 and received a transcribed psalm from Jefferson in return. Engelbrecht kept a diary from 1819 through 1878, which remains an important first-hand account of 19th century life on National Road. An important house remaining from this era is the Tyler Spite House, built in 1814 at 112 W. Church Street by a local doctor to prevent the city from extending Record Street south through his land to meet West Patrick Street.

Frederick also became one of the new nation's leading mining counties in the early 19th century. It exported gold, copper, limestone, marble, iron, and other minerals. As early as the American Revolution, Catoctin Furnace near Thurmont became an important source of iron production. Other mining areas split off into Washington County, Maryland and Allegheny County, Maryland but continued to ship their ore through Frederick to Eastern cities and ports.

Frederick had easy access to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which began operations in 1831 and continued hauling freight until 1924. Also in 1831, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) completed its Frederick Branch line from the Frederick (or Monocacy) Junction off the main Western Line from Baltimore to Harpers Ferry, Cumberland, and the Ohio River. The railroad reached Chicago and St. Louis by the 1850s.

Civil War
Frederick became Maryland's capital city briefly in 1861, as the legislature moved from Annapolis to vote on the secession question. President Lincoln arrested several members, and the assembly was unable to convene a quorum to vote on secession.

As a major crossroads, Frederick, like Winchester, Virginia, and Martinsburg, West Virginia, saw considerable action during the American Civil War. Slaves also escaped from or through Frederick (since Maryland was still a "slave state" although it had not seceded) to join the Union forces, work against the Confederacy and seek freedom. During the Maryland campaigns, both Union and Confederate troops marched through the city. Frederick also hosted several hospitals to nurse the wounded from those battles, as is related in the National Museum of Civil War Medicine on East Patrick Street.

A legend related by John Greenleaf Whittier claimed that Frederick's Pennsylvania Dutch women (including Barbara Fritchie who reportedly waved a flag) booed the Confederates in September 1862, as General Stonewall Jackson led his light infantry division through Frederick on his way to the battles of Crampton's, Fox's and Turner's Gaps on South Mountain and Antietam near Sharpsburg. Union Major General Jesse L. Reno's IX Corps followed Jackson's men through the city a few days later on the way to the Battle of South Mountain, where Reno died. The sites of the battles are due west of the city along the National Road, west of Burkittsville. Confederate troops under Jackson and Walker unsuccessfully attempted to halt the Federal army's westward advance into the Cumberland Valley and towards Sharpsburg. Gathland State Park has the War Correspondents' Memorial stone arch erected by reporter/editor George Alfred Townsend (1841–1914). The 1889 memorial commemorating Major General Reno and the Union soldiers of his IX Corps is on Reno Monument Road west of Middletown, just below the summit of Fox's Gap, as is a 1993 memorial to slain Confederate Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland Jr., and the North Carolina troops who held the line. President Abraham Lincoln, on his way to visit Gen. George McClellan after the Battle of South Mountain and the Battle of Antietam, delivered a short speech at what was then the B&O Railroad depot at the current intersection of East All Saints and South Market Streets. A plaque commemorates the speech (at what is today the Frederick Community Action Agency, a Social Services office).

At the Prospect Hall mansion off Jefferson Street to Buckeystown Pike near what is now Butterfly Lane, in the early morning hours of June 28, 1863, a messenger arrived from President Abraham Lincoln and General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, informing General George Meade that he would be replacing General Joseph Hooker after the latter's disastrous performance at Chancellorsville in May. The Army of the Potomac camped around the Prospect Hall property for the several days as skirmishers pursued Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia before Gettysburg. A large granite rectangular monument made from one of the boulders at the "Devil's Den" in Gettysburg to the east along the driveway commemorates the midnight change-of-command.

In July 1864, in the third Southern invasion, Confederate troops led by Lieutenant General Jubal Early occupied Frederick and extorted $200,000 ($ in dollars) from citizens for not razing the city on their way to Washington, D.C. Union troops under Major General Lew Wallace fought a successful delaying action, in what became the last significant Confederate advance at the Battle of Monocacy, also known as the "Battle that Saved Washington." The Monocacy National Battlefield lies just southeast of the city limits, along the Monocacy River at the B&O Railroad junction where two bridges cross the stream: an iron-truss bridge for the railroad and a covered wooden bridge for the Frederick-Urbana-Georgetown Pike, which was the site of the main battle of July 1864. Some skirmishing occurred further northeast of town at the stone-arched "Jug Bridge" where the National Road crossed the Monocacy; and an artillery bombardment occurred along the National Road west of town near Red Man's Hill and Prospect Hall mansion as the Union troops retreated eastward. Antietam National Battlefield and South Mountain State Battlefield Park which commemorates the 1862 battles are located 23 miles and 35 miles respectively to the west-northwest. While Gettysburg National Battlefield of 1863 lies approximately 35 mi to the north-northeast. The reconstructed home of Barbara Fritchie stands on West Patrick Street, just past Carroll Creek linear park. Fritchie, a significant figure in Maryland history in her own right, is buried in Frederick's Mount Olivet Cemetery. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill quoted Whittier's poem to President Franklin D. Roosevelt when they stopped here in 1941 on a car trip to the presidential retreat, then called "Shangra-La" (now "Camp David") within the Catoctin Mountains near Thurmont.

Late 19th century
Admiral Winfield Scott Schley (1839–1911) was born at "Richfields", the mansion home of his father. He became an important naval commander of the American fleet on board his flagship and heavy cruiser USS Brooklyn along with Admiral William T. Sampson in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba off the shores of the Spanish island colony of Cuba in the Spanish–American War in 1898. Major Henry Schley's son, Dr. Fairfax Schley, was instrumental in setting up the Frederick County Agricultural Society and the Great Frederick Fair. Gilmer Schley served as Mayor from 1919 to 1922, and the Schleys remained one of the town's leading families into the late-20th century.

Nathaniel Wilson Schley, a prominent banker, and his wife Mary Margaret Schley helped organize and raise funds for the annual Great Frederick Fair, one of the two largest agricultural fairs in the State. Since the 1960s, the fair has featured many outstanding country-western singers and become a major music festival. Schley Avenue commemorates the family's role in the city's heritage.

The Frederick and Pennsylvania Line railroad ran from Frederick to the Pennsylvania–Maryland State line, a/k/a Mason–Dixon line. Chartered in 1867, construction began in 1869 and the line opened October 8, 1872. However, it defaulted on its interest payments in 1874 and was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1875, which formed a new division to operate the rail line. In the spring of 1896, the Frederick and Pennsylvania Line railroad was liquidated in a judicial sale to the Pennsylvania Railroad for $150,000. The railroad survived through mergers and the Penn-Central bankruptcy. However, the State of Maryland acquired the Frederick and Pennsylvania Line in 1982. As of 2013, all but two miles (2 mi) at the southern terminus at Frederick still exist, operated by either the Walkersville Southern, or the Maryland Midland Railway (MMID) railroads.

Jewish pioneers Henry Lazarus and Levy Cohan settled in Frederick in the 1740s as merchants. Mostly German Jewish immigrants organized a community in the mid-19th century, creating the Frederick Hebrew Congregation in 1858. Later the congregation lapsed, but was reorganized in 1917 as a cooperative effort between the older settlers and more recently arrived Eastern European Jews under the name Beth Sholom Congregation.

In 1905, Rev. E. B. Hatcher started the First Baptist Church of Frederick.

After the Civil War, the Maryland legislature established racially segregated public facilities by the end of the 19th century, re-imposing white supremacy. Black institutions were typically underfunded in the state, and it was not until 1921 that Frederick established a public high school for African Americans. First located at 170 West All Saints Street, it moved to 250 Madison Street, where it eventually was adapted as South Frederick Elementary. The building presently houses the Lincoln Elementary School. The Laboring Sons Memorial Grounds, a cemetery for free blacks, was founded in 1851.

Geography
Frederick is located in Frederick County in the northern part of the state of Maryland. The city has served as a major crossroads since colonial times. Today it is located at the junction of Interstate 70, Interstate 270, U.S. Route 340, U.S. Route 40, U.S. Route 40 Alternate and U.S. Route 15 (which runs north–south). In relation to nearby cities, Frederick lies 46 mi west of Baltimore, 50 mi north and slightly west of Washington, D.C., 24 mi southeast of Hagerstown and 71 mi southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 23.96 sqmi, of which 23.79 sqmi is land and 0.18 sqmi is water. The city's area is predominantly land, with small areas of water being the Monocacy River, which runs to the east of the city, Carroll Creek (which runs through the city and causes periodic floods, such as that during the summer of 1972 and fall of 1976), as well as several neighborhood ponds and small city owned lakes, such as Culler Lake, a man-made small body of water in the downtown area.

Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally cool winters. It lies to the west of the fall line, which gives the city slightly lower temperatures compared to locales further east. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Frederick has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated Cfa on climate maps. Frederick is also the site of the highest temperature recorded in Maryland at 109 F on July 10, 1936.

Demographics
As of the 2020 U.S. 2020 United States census, there were 78,171 people residing in Frederick city.

2020 census data put the racial makeup of the city at 48.9% White, 18.6% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 5.7% Asian American or Pacific Islander, and 20.9% Hispanic or Latino of any race. Roughly 5% of the city's population was of two or more races, with 0.6% categorized as "Some Other Race".

In regard to minority group growth, the 2020 census data show the city's Hispanic population at 16,368, a 74 percent increase compared with 9,402 in 2010, making Hispanics/Latinos the fastest growing race group in the city and in Frederick county (87 percent increase ). Frederick city had 4,425 Asian residents in 2020, a 16 percent increase from the city's 3,800 Asian residents in 2010. The city's Black or African-American population increased roughly 20 percent, from 12,144 in 2010 to 14,526 in 2020.

According to American Community Survey estimates in 2021, for the roughly 33,907 households in the city, 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.4% were married couples living together, 30.4% had a female householder with no spouse/partner present, and 20.3% male householders with no spouse/partner present. Approximately 14.8% of all households were made up of individuals living alone and 2.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.97.

Economy
Frederick's relative proximity to Washington, D.C., has always been an important factor in the development of its local economy, along with the presence of Fort Detrick, its largest employer. Frederick is the home of Riverside Research Park, a large biomedical research park located on Frederick's east side. Tenants include the relocated main offices of the National Cancer Institute's Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research as well as Charles River Labs. As a result of continued and enhanced federal government investment, the Frederick area will likely maintain a continued growth pattern over the next decade. Frederick has also been impacted by recent national trends centered on the gentrification of the downtown areas of cities across the nation (particularly in the northeast and mid-Atlantic), and to re-brand them as sites for cultural consumption.

The Frederick Historic District in the city's downtown houses more than 200 retailers, restaurants and antique shops along Market, Patrick and East Streets. Restaurants feature a diverse array of cuisines, including Italian American, Thai, Vietnamese, and Cuban, as well as a number of regionally recognized dining establishments.

In addition to retail and dining, downtown Frederick is home to 600 businesses and organizations totaling nearly 5,000 employees. A growing technology sector can be found in downtown's historic renovated spaces, as well as in new office buildings located along Carroll Creek Park.

Carroll Creek Park began as a flood control project in the late 1970s. It was an effort to reduce the risk to downtown Frederick from the 100-year floodplain and restore economic vitality to the historic commercial district. Today, more than $150 million in private investing is underway or planned in new construction, infill development or historic renovation in the park area.

The first phase of the park improvements, totaling nearly $11 million in construction, run from Court Street to just past Carroll Street. New elements to the park include brick pedestrian paths, water features, planters with shade trees and plantings, pedestrian bridges and a 350-seat amphitheater for outdoor performances.

A recreational and cultural resource, the park also serves as an economic development catalyst, with private investment along the creek functioning as a key component to the park's success. More than 400,000 sf of office space; 150,000 sf of commercial/retail space; nearly 300 residential units; and more than 2,000 parking spaces are planned or under construction.

On the first Saturday of every month, Frederick hosts an evening event in the downtown area called "First Saturday". Each Saturday has a theme, and activities are planned according to those themes in the downtown area (particularly around the Carroll Creek Promenade). The event spans a ten-block area of Frederick and takes place from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. During the late spring, summer, and early fall months, this event draws particularly large crowds from neighboring cities and towns in Maryland, and nearby locations in the tri-state area (Virginia and Pennsylvania). The average number of attendees visiting downtown Frederick during first Saturday events is around 11,000, with higher numbers from May to October.

Top employers
According to the county's comprehensive annual financial reports, the top employers by number of employees in the county are the following. ("NR" indicates the employer was not ranked among the top ten employers that year.)

Cityscape
Frederick is well known for the "clustered spires" skyline of its historic downtown churches. These spires are depicted on the city's seal and many other city-affiliated logos and insignia. The phrase "clustered spires" is used as the name of several city locations such as Clustered Spires Cemetery and the city-operated Clustered Spires Golf Course.

The scale of the older part of the city is dense, with streets and sidewalks suitable for pedestrians, and a variety of shops and restaurants, comprising what Forbes magazine in 2010 called one of the United States' "Greatest Neighborhoods". Frederick has a bridge painted with a mural titled Community Bridge. The artist William Cochran has been acclaimed for the trompe-l'œil realism of the mural. Thousands of people sent ideas representing "community", which he painted on the stonework of the bridge. The residents of Frederick call it "the mural", "painted bridge", or more commonly, the "mural bridge".

Theatre and arts
The Frederick Arts Council is the designated arts organization for Frederick County. The organization is charged with promoting, supporting, and advocating the arts. There are over ten art galleries in downtown Frederick, and three theaters are located within 50 feet of each other (Cultural Arts Center, Weinberg Center for the Arts, and the Maryland Ensemble Theatre). Frederick is the home of The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center, a leading non-profit in the region, as well as the Maryland Shakespeare Festival.

In August 2007, the streets of Frederick were adorned with 30 life-size fiberglass keys as part of a major public art project entitled "The Keys to Frederick". In October 2007, artist William Cochran created a large-scale glass project titled The Dreaming. The project is in the historic theater district, across from the Wienberg Center for the Arts.

The Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET), a professional theater company, is housed on the lower level of the Francis Scott Key Hotel. The MET first produced mainstage theater in 1997, but the group began performing together with its creation of The Comedy Pigs sketch comedy/improv troupe in April 1993. The students at Hood College also have a theatre club and put on shows at least once during the school year, sometimes two shows are presented during the school year.

The film Blair Witch Project (1999) was set in the woods west of Burkittsville, Maryland, in western Frederick County, but it was not filmed there.

Music
Frederick has a community orchestra, the Frederick Symphony Orchestra, that performs five concerts per year consisting of classical masterpieces. Other musical organizations in Frederick include the Frederick Chorale, the Choral Arts Society of Frederick, the Frederick Regional Youth Orchestra, and the Frederick Symphonic Band. The Frederick Children's Chorus has performed since 1985. It is a five-tier chorus, with approximately 150 members ranging in age from 5 to 18. A weekly recital is played on the Joseph Dill Baker Carillon every Sunday, year 'round, at 12:30 p.m. for half an hour. The carillon can be heard from anywhere in Baker Park, and the city carillonneur can be seen playing in the tower once a year as part of the Candlelight tour of Historic Houses of Worship, on the first weekday after Christmas.

Frederick is home to the Frederick School of Classical Ballet, the official school for Maryland Regional Ballet. Approximately 30 dance studios are located around the city. Each year, these studios perform at the annual DanceFest event. Frederick also has a large amphitheater in Baker Park, which features regular music performances of local and national acts, particularly in the summer months.

Clutch, a successful rock band formed in 1990, calls Frederick their home. The band rehearses for each album and tour in Frederick while drummer Jean-Paul Gaster has been a resident of Frederick since 2001. One of the band's biggest hits, "50,000 Unstoppable Watts", was written about Fort Detrick and Frederick.

Frederick is also home to indie-rock band Silent Old Mtns. The music video for their 2012 single Dead All The Time was shot entirely in Historic Downtown Frederick.

Library
The main library for Frederick County is located in downtown Frederick, with several branches across the county.

Retail
The city's main mall is the Francis Scott Key Mall. An abandoned retail center, the Frederick Towne Mall existed previously, and closed in 2013. There are plans for the Frederick Towne Mall, now known as District 40 to include new shopping options as construction which began in 2020. The movie theater Warehouse Cinemas opened here in September 2020.

Religion
There are numerous religious denominations in Frederick: the first churches were established by early Protestant settlers, followed by Irish Catholics and other European Catholics.

St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Della (now Urbana) is one of the oldest active African-American churches in Frederick County, Maryland, according to a testimonial placed in its cornerstone which stated that it was the first A.M.E. church built in the southern part of Frederick County. It was built in 1916 on a foundation first laid in 1908.

Other denominations represented in Frederick City and in the surrounding county include large numbers of Brethren, as well as some Pentecostal churches. Quinn Chapel, of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, is located on East Third Street. The AME Church, founded in Philadelphia in the early 19th century by free blacks, is the first black independent denomination in the United States. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has had a presence in Frederick since the 1970s when the first congregation was organized and now includes four congregations in two buildings within the city.

Beth Sholom Congregation, a conservative synagogue, has been in Frederick since 1917. Congregation Kol Ami, a Reform synagogue, was founded in 2003. Chabad Lubavitch of Fredrick, a Chabad, was founded in 2009.

Sri Bhaktha Anjaneya Temple, located in Urbana, serves Frederick's Hindu community.

The Islamic Society of Frederick, founded in the early 1990s, serves Frederick's Muslim community.

Sports
The Frederick Keys are a collegiate summer baseball team in the MLB Draft League that was formerly a minor league baseball team associated with the Baltimore Orioles (1989–2020). The Keys are named after Francis Scott Key, who was a resident of Frederick. They play at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium.

The Spire City Ghost Hounds are an independent baseball team in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball that began playing at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium in April 2023. The team went on hiatus for the 2024 season, planning to return in 2025 when the Atlantic League expands to 12 teams.

FC Frederick is a semi-pro team in the National Premier Soccer League. The club plays home games at Thomas Athletic Field at Hood College.

The Flying Cows are a professional basketball team competing in The Basketball League that started playing in BB&T Arena at Hood College in April 2024. In the early 1990s, the Frederick Flyers played in the Atlantic Basketball League at Frederick Community College's arena before they relocated to Pennsylvania.

City executive
In 2017, Democrat Michael O'Connor was elected mayor of Frederick.

Previous mayors include:

 * Lawrence Brengle (1817)
 * Hy Kuhn (1818–1820)
 * George Baer Jr. (1820–1823)
 * John L. Harding (1823–1826)
 * George Kolb (1826–1829)
 * Thomas Carlton (1829–1835)
 * Daniel Kolb (1835–1838)
 * Michael Baltzell (1838–1841)
 * George Hoskins (1841–1847)
 * M. E. Bartgis (1847–1849)
 * James Bartgis (1849–1856)
 * Lewis Brunner (1856–1859)
 * W. G. Cole (1859–1865)
 * J. Engelbrecht (1865–1868)
 * Valerius Ebert (1868–1871)
 * Thomas M. Holbruner (1871–1874)
 * Lewis M. Moberly (1874–1883)
 * Hiram Bartgis (1883–1889)
 * Lewis H. Doll (1889–1890)
 * Lewis Brunner (1890–1892)
 * John E. Fleming (1892–1895)
 * Aquilla R. Yeakle (1895–1898)
 * William F. Chilton (1898–1901)
 * George Edward Smith (1901–1910)
 * John Edward Schell (1910–1913)
 * Lewis H. Fraley (1913–1919)
 * Gilmer Schley (1919–1922)
 * Lloyd C. Culler (1922–1931)
 * Elmer F. Munshower (1931–1934)
 * Lloyd C. Culler (1934–1943)
 * Hugh V. Gittinger (1943–1946)
 * Lloyd C. Culler (1946–1950)
 * Elmer F. Munshower (1950–1951)
 * Donald B. Rice (1951–1954)
 * John A. Derr (1954–1958)
 * Jacob R. Ramsburg (1958–1962)
 * E. Paul Magaha (1962–1966)
 * John A. Derr (1966–1970)
 * E. Paul Magaha (1970–1974)
 * Ronald N. Young (1974–1990)
 * Paul P. Gordon (1990–1994)
 * James S. Grimes (1994–2002)
 * Jennifer Dougherty (2002–2005)
 * W. Jeff Holtzinger (2005–2009)
 * Randy McClement (2009–2017)
 * Michael O'Connor (2017-)

Representative body
Frederick has a board of aldermen of six members (one of whom is the mayor) that serves as its legislative body. Elections are held every four years. Following the elections on November 2, 2021, Kelly Russell, Donna Kuzemchak, Derek Shackelford, Katie Nash, and Ben MacShane, all Democrats, were elected to the board. Democrat Michael O'Connor was re-elected mayor.

Police
The city has its own police department and is also covered by the county sheriff's office.

Public schools
Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) operates area public schools.

FCPS ranks number one in the state of Maryland in the 2012 School Progress Index accountability data, which includes overall student performance, closing achievement gaps, student growth and college and career readiness. FCPS holds the second-lowest dropout rate in the state of Maryland at 3.84%, with a graduation rate at 93.31%. In 2013, FCPS's SAT average combined mean score was 1538, which is 55 points higher than Maryland's combined average of 1483 and 40 points higher than the nation's average of 1498. All of FCPS's high schools, except for Oakdale High School, which was not open to all grade levels at the time of the survey, are ranked in the top 10% of the nation for encouraging students to take AP classes.

High schools serving Frederick students include:

 * Frederick High School
 * Governor Thomas Johnson High School
 * Tuscarora High School
 * Oakdale High School

Other high schools in Frederick County:
 * Middletown High School
 * Catoctin High School
 * Brunswick High School
 * Linganore High School
 * Urbana High School
 * Walkersville High School

Other public schools: Adult Education, Career and Technology Center, Heather Ridge School, Outdoor School, Rock Creek School, and The Earth and Space Science Laboratory. A public charter school, Frederick Classical Charter School, also serves students. Frederick County was long-time home to a highly innovative outdoor school for all sixth graders in Frederick County. This school was located at Camp Greentop, near the presidential retreat at Camp David and Cunningham Falls State Park.

Private schools

 * The Banner School
 * St. John Regional Catholic School
 * Frederick Adventist Academy
 * Saint John's Catholic Prep
 * New Life Christian School
 * Frederick Christian Academy

K–12 schools

 * Maryland School for the Deaf
 * Friends Meeting School

Colleges and universities

 * Frederick Community College
 * Hood College
 * Mount St. Mary's University, Frederick County, Maryland

Television
Frederick is licensed one Maryland Public Television station affiliate: WFPT 62 (PBS/MPT).

Radio
The city is home to WSHE 820 AM (the former WZYQ 1370) and 94.3 FM, relaying free-form The Gamut; WFMD 930 AM broadcasting a news/talk/sports format; WFRE 99.9 FM broadcasting country music; and WAFY 103.1 FM which plays all the latest pop songs. The following box details all of the radio stations in the local market.

Print
Frederick's newspaper of record is the Frederick News-Post.

Transportation

Frederick's location as a crossroads has been a factor in its development as a minor distribution center both for the movement of people in Western Maryland, as well as goods. This intersection has created an efficient distribution network for commercial traffic in and out, as well as through the city.

Major roads and streets in Frederick are intersected by:
 * : A major east–west interstate highway connecting Frederick to Baltimore and Hagerstown
 *  Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Highway: Begins at I-70, and spurs southeastward towards Washington, D.C.
 *  Frederick Freeway: Travels north to Gettysburg, PA and south concurrent with U.S. 340 to Point of Rocks, Maryland and Leesburg, Virginia.
 * : Runs concurrent with I-70 and U.S. 15 North until becoming West Patrick Street and Old National Pike to Middletown.
 * : Runs southwestward with U.S. 15 until spurring west towards Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

From 1896 to 1961, Frederick was served by the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway, an interurban trolley service that was among the last surviving systems of its kind in the United States. The city is served by MARC commuter rail service, which operates several trains daily on the former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Old Main Line and Metropolitan Branch subdivisions to Washington, D.C.; Express bus route 991, which operates to the Shady Grove Metrorail Station, and a series of buses operated by TransIT services of Frederick, Maryland. Greyhound Lines also serves the city.

Frederick Municipal Airport has a mile-long runway and a second 3600' runway.

Beginning in the 1990s, Frederick has invested in several urban infrastructure projects, including streetscape, new bus routes, as well as multi-use paths. A circular road, Monocacy Boulevard, is an important component to the revitalization of its historic core.

The Mayor's Ad-hoc Bicycle Committee was formed in 2010 and given the mission to achieve designation for the City as a Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) by the League of American Bicyclists. The first application resulted in an Honorable Mention. Upon reapplication In 2012, Frederick achieved the bronze level BFC designation. The City's third application resulted in re-certification as a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community. Work is ongoing to achieve an even stronger designation (Silver) at the time of the next application.

In 2013, the Mayor's Ad-hoc Bicycle Committee was expanded in scope to include pedestrian issues and was formally adopted by Resolution 13-08 as a permanent standing committee called the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC). The BPAC advises City officials and staff on the sound development, management, and safe use of The City of Frederick's pedestrian and bicycle systems as they relate to infrastructure, accessibility, and promoting the benefits of these systems.

Notable people

 * Joe Alexander (1986), American-Israeli named to the 2007 All-Big East squad.
 * Scott Ambush, musician (born in Frederick, Maryland).
 * John Vincent Atanasoff, inventor of the modern-day computer; lived in Frederick County
 * Michael Beasley (1989), NCAA National Player of the Year (2007–2008)
 * Shadrach Bond (1773–1832), the first Governor of Illinois (born in Frederick).
 * Lester Bowie (1941–1999), jazz trumpeter and improviser
 * Mark Burrier, Cartoonist and Illustrator
 * Joe Bussard (1936–2022), a record collector
 * Beverly Byron, Congresswoman who resided in Frederick during her time in office.
 * Fred Carter (born 1945), basketball player from Mount St. Mary's University
 * Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley) (1932–1963), country music singer.
 * David Essig, singer-songwriter, performer and record producer
 * Eva Fabian (born 1993), American-Israeli world champion swimmer
 * Chuck Foreman NFL running back
 * Barbara Fritchie, American Unionist patriot during Civil War (1766–1862).
 * David Gallaher (born June 5, 1975), writer whose second book is set in 1950s Frederick;
 * Jessie Graff, record-setting female competitor on American Ninja Warrior
 * John Hanson, the first President of Congress under the Articles of Confederation
 * Shawn Hatosy (born December 29, 1975), actor
 * Sam Hinds, MLB player for the Milwaukee Brewers.
 * Bruce Ivins (1946–2008), scientist at Fort Detrick
 * Bradley Tyler Johnson (1829–1903), soldier, lawyer, and politician
 * Thomas Johnson (1732–1819), jurist and political figure
 * Charlie Keller: MLB Player with the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers
 * Francis Scott Key (1779–1843), lawyer, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
 * Jacob Koogle (1841–1915), Medal of Honor recipient during the American Civil War
 * Alex Lowe (1958–1999), Alpinist considered to be the greatest alpine climber and skier of his generation
 * Charles Mathias (1922–2010), a Republican member of the United States Senate, representing Maryland
 * Claire McCardell (1905–1958), American fashion designer
 * James E. McClellan (1926–2016), American veterinarian and politician
 * John McElroy, S.J. (1782–1877), one of two of the Army's first Catholic chaplains.
 * Vivienne Medrano, Creator of Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel
 * Derrick Miller, US Army Sergeant sentenced to life in prison for premeditated murder of Afghan civilian
 * Terence Morris (born January 11, 1979) professional NBA basketball player
 * John Nelson, U.S. Attorney General and Congressman
 * Bazabeel Norman, black Revolutionary War soldier, later to become the second free black landowner in Ohio.
 * Alexander Ogle (1766–1832), U.S. Congressman
 * William Tyler Page (1868 – 1942), known for his authorship of the American's Creed
 * Donald B. Rice (born June 4, 1939), Secretary of the Air Force from 1989–1993
 * Florence Roberts (March 16, 1861 – June 6, 1940), actress
 * Richard P. Ross Jr. (1906 – 1990) general in the Marine Corps during World War II
 * Winfield Scott Schley (1839 – 1911), rear admiral of the U.S. Navy who served from the Civil War to the Spanish–American War
 * Bobby Steggert (born 1981) Tony Award-nominated actor.
 * Roger Brooke Taney (1777–1864) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; rendered the Dred Scott Decision in 1857
 * Theophilus Thompson (1855 – after 1873), the first notable African-American chess player
 * Florence Trail, educator, writer
 * Bryan Voltaggio, chef at Volt in Frederick, runner-up on Top Chef program

title: Frederick, Maryland


text:
Carroll County

Carroll County may refer to
 * Carroll County, Arkansas
 * Carroll County, Georgia
 * Carroll County, Illinois
 * Carroll County, Indiana
 * Carroll County, Iowa
 * Carroll County, Kentucky
 * Carroll County, Maryland
 * Carroll County, Mississippi
 * Carroll County, Missouri
 * Carroll County, New Hampshire
 * Carroll County, Ohio
 * Carroll County, Tennessee
 * Carroll County, Virginia
 * Carroll County, Virginia

title: Carroll County


text:
Putnam County

Putnam County is the name of nine counties in the United States of America:

 * Putnam County, Florida
 * Putnam County, Georgia
 * Putnam County, Illinois
 * Putnam County, Indiana
 * Putnam County, Missouri
 * Putnam County, New York
 * Putnam County, Ohio
 * Putnam County, Tennessee
 * Putnam County, West Virginia

Other meanings

 * "Putnam County", a song by Tom Waits on his 1975 album Nighthawks at the Diner
 * The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a musical by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin

title: Putnam County


text:
Henry County

Henry County is the name of ten counties in the United States of America:

 * Henry County, Alabama
 * Henry County, Georgia
 * Henry County, Illinois
 * Henry County, Indiana
 * Henry County, Iowa
 * Henry County, Kentucky
 * Henry County, Missouri
 * Henry County, Ohio
 * Henry County, Tennessee
 * Henry County, Virginia

All are named in honor of Patrick Henry, of Virginia, except Henry County, Iowa, which is named for General Henry Dodge.

title: Henry County


text:
Lake County

Lake County may refer to:

New Zealand

 * Lake County, New Zealand

United States

 * Lake County, California
 * Lake County, Colorado
 * Lake County, Florida
 * Lake County, Illinois
 * Lake County, Indiana
 * Lake County, Michigan
 * Lake County, Minnesota
 * Lake County, Montana
 * Lake County, Ohio
 * Lake County, Oregon
 * Lake County, South Dakota
 * Lake County, Tennessee

title: Lake County