Mark your calendar for Saturday, April 25, and join us at Laurel Park for our second Voices of Laurel  Day at the Races event! The Laurel History Boys and Voices of Laurel  team will be under the tent at trackside—join us to enjoy live racing up close just one week before the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Preakness makes its historic debut at Laurel Park. Grants and Donations Thank you to Joan Robison, Marion Hoekstra, Karl Ginter, Amanda Green, Bryan Castro, and

A roundup of local news, events, and announcements Convicted arsonist David Crawford during his time as Laurel Police Chief (File Photo) Former Police Chief Crawford Sentenced in Montgomery County A Montgomery County judge sentenced former Laurel Police Chief David Crawford to 55 years in prison in mid-February 2026. Crawford pled guilty to two counts of first-degree arson and one count of second-degree arson for fires he started at the home of his stepson in 2016, 2017, and

Local news covering the Oldtown area Laurel Cats held a grand opening celebration for its new mobile vet surgery service on March 4. (Photo: Caitlin Lewis) The Cat’s Meow: Laurel Cats Builds on Success with New Way to Help Cat Owners In 2012, Oldtown resident Helen Woods and a small group of volunteers saw a need in Laurel: the feral cat population was huge, with feral cat colonies all over Laurel, and the main method for dealing with the excess cats was euthanasia. Woods con

Local news covering the North Laurel, Savage, and Scaggsville areas Howard County Executive Calvin Ball holds a press conference to announce plans for mixed-income houses in North Laurel. (Photo: Manny Locke Jr./WMAR) Photo: Team USA North Laurel is Home to Olympic Bobsledder Bryan Sosoo, a Laurel native, made his Olympic debut at the 2026 Winter Games in Italy as a push athlete in four-man bobsled. A 2014 graduate of Reservoir High School, Sosoo was a track standout at Monmo

Local news covering the Russett and Maryland City areas Columnist Brenda Zeigler-Riley with Catherine’s owner Donovan Vassell. (Photo courtesy of Brenda Zeigler-Riley) Catherine’s Restaurant Draws Crowds to Corridor Marketplace Have you ever had Italian-Caribbean food? I recently had dinner at Catherine’s Restaurant, located in Corridor Marketplace. The restaurant was packed; however, my 6 pm reservation was honored. (I advise that reservations be made, especially if dining

Local news covering Laurel Lakes, Victoria Falls, Oakcrest, Montpelier, and the Route 197 corridor The Laurel Manor Recreation Center in The Villages, Florida, is named after Laurel Park Racecourse. (Photo: Diane Mezzanotte) The “Six Degrees of Laurel, Maryland” Most of us are familiar with the social science theory called the “six degrees of separation.” (Think Kevin Bacon and that American Express commercial.) I have come to believe that there is also a “Six Degrees of Laur

Local news covering the West Laurel and Burtonsville areas The newly renovated Burger King in Burtonsville. (Photo: Russ Geis) Nationwide Policy Actions Can Have Local and Personal Impacts A recent action by the U.S. Government has hit close to home in West Laurel. The current administration sought to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 350,000 Haitian nationals living in the United States under protective status because of the dangerous situation in their home

When Laurel Park is converted into a training center in a year or two upon completion of the renovation at Pimlico, the racetrack’s extraordinary history will come to a close. Over its 115-year existence, the track has seen numerous Triple Crown winners and for 43 years was host to the Washington, DC International, the most prestigious international race in the world. Horse racing wasn’t the only spectacular event that took place at the racetrack, as shown in the timeline bel

Site Will Host Significantly Scaled-Down Preakness in May Photo: Richard Friend Hold on to your fancy hats and mind your bets, horse racing fans, big changes are again expected to impact Laurel Park. Following the ups and downs of the fate of Laurel’s storied racetrack has become like a ride on a merry-go-round: up with the news of much needed renovations to both historic race tracks; down with the news of Laurel Park’s closing and demolition; up with the news of the 151st ru

The Laurel History Boys and Voices of Laurel  team will be trackside at Laurel Park on Saturday, April 25 to host our second annual Day at the Races. This free event is open to everyone, and provides another opportunity for residents to see the historic venue and experience thoroughbred racing live and up close—while you still can. With Laurel Park’s future still not completely certain, one thing is sure—its days of being the active racetrack Laurel has known since 1911 will

Statistics Show Overall Decrease in Incidents Within City Photo illustration by Richard Friend One morning in May 2023, Naomi Beech (whose name has been changed to protect her privacy) walked out of her Historic District home in the City of Laurel planning to commute to work just as she had done every other weekday. Instead, she opened the driver’s side door of her Kia Seoul and was greeted with a vandalized interior and destroyed steering column. Neighborhood Ring camera foo

Wreaths Across America It is the mission of Wreaths Across America to “Remember the Fallen...Honor Those Who Serve...and Teach the Next Generation the Value of Freedom.” It is because of this mission that members of the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department are proud to be a small part of this worthy and heartwarming event. On December 17, 2025, we joined millions of others in over 5,500 locations, and came together at Ivy Hill Cemetery to honor, remember, and teach future generat

Photos: Angie Latham Kozlowski Ireatha Leona Woods, the owner of Leona’s Sewing Studio in Savage Mill, has been sewing nearly her entire life. She has also been drawn to learn about Africa for just as long. Her interest in Africa and African fabrics began when she was a preteen, thanks to her many visits to a bookmobile. She was also a budding seamstress in those years. She recalled that as a young girl, “I used to study Ethiopia a lot, and then the first person that I met to

Fred Frederick, who passed away in January, was a Laurel icon. Since he opened his Chrysler dealership in its present location on Route 1 in 1959, he was involved in more community efforts than probably anyone. When I interviewed him in his office in 2014, he had so many stories that my recorder’s batteries ran out. As I tried to politely leave and slowly backed out of his office, he was yelling, “Wait! One more! I have one more!” Here are some highlights from that interview.

Photo: JV / Unsplash A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. This is the Law of Scouting, and it has been unchanged since William D. Boyce brought scouting to America in 1910 from England, where it was founded in 1907 by Lord Baden-Powell. Laurel’s Troop 1250 has been around since 1963, when James Van Daniker was scoutmaster. If you want more scouting history, there is a merit badge for that.

These short bits of history tend to pile up as I do more research on various topics. Unless otherwise credited, all quotes are from the Laurel Leader . 1816 There were four competing stagecoach lines running from Washington to Baltimore, through Laurel on the Washington Turnpike, which much later became Route 1. The six-hour trip cost $6. 1911 In November, only a month after the Laurel Race Course opened, “a well organized effort by a band of notorious race track crooks to fl

A line of people form a chain along Route 1 in Beltsville as part of Hands Across America, which took place 40 years ago this May. (Photo: Ralph Bull) A high-angle photo by Doug Kasputin on the cover of the May 29, 1986 edition of the Laurel Leader  captures the line of attendees along Washington Boulevard in front of the Tastee Diner and what was at that time Herb’s Carry-Out. This May 25th marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most iconic charitable events ever held: Han

The origins of Christ Episcopal Church in Columbia, Maryland—originally known as the Elk Ridge Church—are deeply entwined with the political, religious, and geographic transformations of colonial Maryland. This article investigates the complex development of Queen Caroline Parish, the ecclesiastical landscape that preceded it, and the socio-political context that shaped its creation in 1728. The Establishment of the Anglican Church in Maryland Maryland was founded in 1634 by

Town Solves Soldier-Girl Problems This article is reprinted from the Washington Daily News , October 13, 1944 Its own young men gone to war and its streets crowded with Ft. Meade soldiers, this is how the little town of Laurel, Md., has so far successfully handled the same kind of servicemen-and-girls wartime problem that has shocked Washington with the brutal slaying of 18-year-old Dorothy Berrum. Easy on Soldiers Laurel, 19 miles out of Washington, is a wartime study from m

“Any effort to educate our fellow-man should invite favor and support. Nothing is lost to him who helps to better the condition of the unfortunate and helpless.” — The Afro-American Ledger (October 12, 1901) Praise and the promise of support from notable local and national public figures filled the full-page appeal for public financial support for the establishment of the Maryland Industrial and Agricultural Institute for Colored Youths in the Afro-American Ledger . However,