Emmitsburg

Denise Etris
detris@emmitsburgmd.gov

Joyce Rosensteel
jrosensteel@emmitsburgmd.gov

Chris Staiger
cstaiger@emmitsburgmd.gov

Clifford Sweeney
csweeney@emitsburgmd.gov

Town Manager
David Haller

Town hall
300 A S. Seton Ave.
301-600-6300
www.emmitsburg.net

Town meeting:
First and third Monday of every month 7:30 p.m.
History
At the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains near the Pennsylvania border lies the small town of Emmitsburg.
Many visitors to the battlefields at Gettysburg, Pa., just north of Emmitsburg, take time to visit this tranquil and unique town located in northern Frederick County. It is the home of Mount St. Mary’s University, the American St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the National Emergency Training Center.
The first settlers in the area, then known as the Tom’s Creek Hundred, were Robert and Elizabeth Wilson, who arrived sometime around 1733.
Since the days of the early settlers, Emmitsburg has grown into a thriving, busy town. It still manages, however, to hold on to its small-town warmth and rich historical past.
Emmitsburg residents have pride in the town’s architecture and consider it a major asset. Described as Federalist style, the houses have changed very little since the early 1800s.
New housing developments have sprung up throughout the town, but Emmitsburg has yet to see a huge influx of people. From 1955 until 1995, the town’s population only increased by 500. According to the 2000 Census, 2,091 people live in Emmitsburg.
The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, funded by donations, receives about 45,000 visitors per year. Seton became the first American to be declared a saint in 1975; her remains are buried beneath a basilica built of Italian marble in 1965.
The 1,400-acre campus of ‘‘the Mount,” just south of town, is also the site of the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes.
Road signs recently erected along U.S. Route 15 direct visitors to both shrines.