Happy Birthday, Montgomery County!

Today, October 1, in 1776, is the date when Montgomery County officially became a county in Maryland. It was carved out of Frederick County by the Maryland Constitutional Convention on Sept. 6, with an effective date of October 1.

Our county is named for Richard Montgomery, a hero of the Revolutionary War who died on the last day of 1775 while leading the Continental Army's attempt to conquer Canada. This was the first time counties in America (Montgomery and Washington County, Maryland) were named after heroes in the American Revolution.

The county seat was an area adjacent to Hungerford's Tavern, now Rockville.

In the 1790 first federal census, 18,000 people were counted in Montgomery County. In the latest census in 2010, a total of 972,000 were counted here, and there are now undoubtedly more than a million.