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In 1985, when Donald L. Trimmer first became a town commissioner, Woodsboro had a population of about 500 people; quarry trucks were among the 9,000 or so vehicles driving daily down Main Street.

Now Woodsboro has more than 900 residents, a bypass (making Main Street much quieter) and a modernized wastewater treatment plant. And soon, it will lose Trimmer as a leader.

The town has just one gas station, but is the headquarters of a regional bank (Woodsboro Bank). It was first plotted out by Englishman John Wood Jr., in 1786.

Not many people have called it home, but its population spiked during the last 20 years. Between 1990 and 2000, more than 170 new houses were built in Woodsboro. From about 1900 to 1990, only about 120 new houses were built there.

The building boom began in 1987 with the construction of Meadow View subdivision. The developments of Copper Oaks, Rose Wood Condominiums, Weinberg Knolls followed in the 1990s, according to the town's comprehensive plan; growth culminated in the 38-home Woodbury subdivision in 2005.

There's room for just more than 500 more people in town, planners believe. Other than that, the town won't grow much, because it is surrounded by preserved farms and forests and vast quarries.

Trimmer will watch town affairs from the sidelines starting in June, one month after Woodsboro residents go to the polls to elect a new burgess. Trimmer announced early this year that he will not seek re-election. He'll turn over the burgess position to a successor during the June 9 town meeting.

After that, he will "take it easy for a couple of years," he said this week.

Trimmer, 73, has lived in Woodsboro since he was a grade-school student. He will continue to live in Woodsboro and will serve as treasurer to Woodsboro Volunteer Fire Company No. 16 and as president of the church council of Woodsboro Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Earl Powell, 67, of Woodsboro said he met Trimmer for the first time more than four decades ago, when both men volunteered at the fire company. Powell, who described Woodsboro as a "still a small, quiet town," is still a member of the fire company, too.

"Trimmer's done a lot of good things," Powell said this week at a Woodsboro store. "You've got your new sewer plant in town – it's been re-modified and changed over. You've got a bigger sewer line; he worked on the water line. The park's been improved. A lot of things have been done and updated from what it used to be. All in all, he's done pretty good."

When asked what his proudest achievement has been, Trimmer answered without hesitating, "The bypass."

"It was a combined effort," Trimmer said.

Early in his first term as burgess, Woodsboro joined forces with Frederick County, local quarry owners and a "very instrumental" state delegate [Del. George H. Littrell Jr. of District 4A] in getting the Md. Route 194 bypass around the eastern side of Woodsboro.

The quarries "realized that all the trucks that were being loaded with stone out at the quarries had to go right down Main Street. They were willing to help get it to remove the truck traffic," Trimmer said. "Now they just cruise right on down the bypass."

Trimmer takes almost equal pride in the upgrades to Woodsboro's water distribution system and wastewater treatment plant.

In 2004 the town borrowed $2.5 million to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant from a capacity to treat 100,000 gallons of water per day to a capacity of 250,000 gallons per day.

"The older plant was becoming a maintenance problem as well as a limitation as to any additional housing to be built around or in the town," Trimmer said.

Woodsboro Commissioner Joel Rensberger won election to his first term in 2007. This week, he credited Trimmer for fiscal conservatism, saying, it's "a good legacy to have."

"He's half the reason I'm in public office," Rensberger said.

E-mail Jeremy Hauck at jhauck@gazette.net.