Oxon Hill, Maryland
Encyclopedia : O : OX : OXO : Oxon Hill, Maryland
Oxon Hill a suburb of Washington D.C., southeast the District. It is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County in the State of Maryland in the United States of America. Because it is not formally incorporated, it has no official boundaries, but the United States Census Bureau has defined a census-designated place consisting of Oxon Hill and the adjacent community of Glassmanor, designated Oxon Hill-Glassmanor, for statistical purposes. According to Rand McNally, the latest population estimate for Oxon Hill is around 26,750. The community Oxon Hill was named for the 18th Century manor home of Thomas Addison (which burned in 1895 but was replaced by another large home called "Oxon Hill Manor", now publicly-owned, which has a river view). The community is bisected by the Capital Beltway highway (I-95/495) and is near the interstate Woodrow Wilson Bridge, whose gridlocked traffic backs-up daily into Oxon Hill until the wider replacement bridge is fully completed in 2008, bringing relief. (Thousands of white-collar commuters working in suburban Virginia's booming economy find that housing is much cheaper in parts of Maryland). Oxon Hill includes many garden apartment projects along with single-family detached homes dating mostly from the 1940s through 1980s, including the incorporated town Forest Heights. In earlier decades, many residents were scientists from the adjacent U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, but very few are now. Oxon Hill's two principal shopping centers ("Rivertowne" and the much older "Eastover") attract neighborhood customers as well as shoppers from nearby Southeast Washington's impoverished slums, which lack adequate shopping facilities. Eastover, located almost at the D.C. state line, is a hub of many bus routes, some of them operating 24 hours a day, and has a Prince Georges County Police station.
Oxon Hill has many features and attractions. The area has many schools, including Oxon Hill Senior High School, part of the Prince George's County public school system; the school has a magnet science and technology program. The town has a modern public library, completely remodeled in 2005, part of the Prince George's public library system.
The library contains the African American Research Collection. This comprehensive collection of reference materials on African American history and culture includes over 16,000 cataloged items (many are rare or out-of-print), periodicals, sheet music by African American composers, pictures and posters. Vertical files contain pamphlets, clippings and bibliographies. Copies of selected materials are also in the Oxon Hill Branch's circulating collection. An extensive collection of current and historical periodicals, including the NAACP's Crisis from 1910, the Journal of Negro History from 1916 and Ebony from 1945.
The collection includes original editions of some slave narratives, as well as many reprint editions and the thirty-one volume Writer's Project series. Other topics are antislavery and slavery tracts, literary criticism, and the history of African Americans in Maryland and Prince George's County.
Rosecroft Raceway (harness racing) and Henson Creek Golf Course are among Oxon Hill's recreational attractions, although the racing audience has declined. The Parks Commission's Henson Creek ice skating rink was expanded to year-round use in 2005. The Henson Creek hiker-biker trail extends 5-1/2 miles.
Oxon Hill is near the future site of National Harbor[link], a major development on the Potomac River: a 7,300,000 sf mixed-use community including 2,500 residential units, 4,000 hotel rooms, convention center, 1 million sf of retail, dining, and entertainment, and 500,000 sf of class "A" office space. The huge and glamorous project's eventual effect on the community will be interesting.
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