Discover St. Mary's County 2009 - (Page 49) ST. MARY’S COUNTY: A GROWING COMMUNITY BY JASON TINNEY St. Mary’s County witnessed its first relocation boom 375 years ago when Maryland’s first settlers stepped ashore at St. Clement’s Island. People continue to flock to the state’s oldest county for many of the same reasons as the early colonists, namely quality of life and economic opportunity. Today, Southern Maryland is the fastest growing region in Maryland for technology-related-jobs. A key reason is technology-related jobs in St. Mary’s County. Since its founding in 1634, St. Mary’s economy has evolved dramatically. After steady growth in its first century, the county’s population actually began to decline in the late 1700s, a trend that persisted into the early 1940s, as agriculture, primarily tobacco and oysters, formed the economic foundation. With the onset of World War II, the U.S. Navy established the Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in 1942 and that’s when everything changed. “We went from losing population to quickly turning that around and we haven’t looked back,” says Bob Schaller, Ph.D., director of St. Mary’s County’s Department of Economic and Community Development. In 1940, the county’s population was just over 14,000. In 2007, the population surpassed 100,000, bolstered in part by the first round www.Maryland375.com 49 http://www.Maryland375.com
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