Ilchester, MD

Ilchester’s original settlement occupies the Patapsco River valley at Ilchester and Bonnie Branch roads, while the modern census area extends southwest onto suburban terrain beyond the valley in Howard County. The river forms the community’s northeastern boundary and the county line, with Catonsville and Baltimore County opposite. John Cornthwaite established the Dismal Mill, a wood gristmill, on the river’s western bank in 1761. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad came through the valley in 1830. A college opened on an Ellicott estate as Mount Saint Clemens in 1868 and became Saint Mary’s College in 1882. The community lies between Ellicott City and Elkridge and takes its name from Ilchester, Somerset, England.