Waldorf is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Charles County, Maryland. It is 23 miles (37 km) south-southeast of Washington, D.C. The population of the census-designated area only (excluding St. Charles) was 22,311 at the 2000 census. Waldorf was settled before 1900 as a rural crossroads with a train station and was called "Beantown" after a local family. Waldorf is now largely subsumed by the large planned community of S...
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Waldorf is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Charles County, Maryland. It is 23 miles (37 km) south-southeast of Washington, D.C. The population of the census-designated area only (excluding St. Charles) was 22,311 at the 2000 census. Waldorf was settled before 1900 as a rural crossroads with a train station and was called "Beantown" after a local family. Waldorf is now largely subsumed by the large planned community of St. Charles.
Waldorf is either named after the town of Walldorf, Germany, or has a similar derivation: that is, either a German word meaning "forest village," or named after the Waldenses, a 12th Century religious sect. Once a tobacco market village, it came to prominence in the 1950s as a gambling destination after slot machines were legalized in Charles County in 1949. The boom lasted until 1968 when gambling was once again outlawed. Its subsequent substantial growth as a residential community began with a 1970 loan package from the...
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