In 1776, the city we call Rockville was a tiny village clustered at the intersection of two main colonial roads. The settlement had begun decades before to serve travelers and others who ventured into Maryland's western frontier. By the time America broke ties with Great Britain, fewer than 100 people lived or worked in the community known for a prominent local landmark, Charles Hungerford's tavern.

On September 6, 1776, Dr. Thomas Sprigg Wootton (c. 1740-1789)-a delegate to the Maryland Constitutional Convention who lived on the hill above Watts Branch near the high school named for him-introduced a bill to divide Frederick County into three smaller government units. The bill passed by a small majority and was effective on October 1. The central section remained Frederick, the northern section became Washington County, and the southern section was named Montgomery County. The two new counties honored America's first heroes. General Richard Montgomery, a British officer until he settled in New York, was 38 years old when he fell while attacking the city of Quebec on December 31, 1775. George Washington was poised to lead the new nation through seven years of war.

The question which immediately arose was where to locate the new local government. No settlement rivaled the colonial port of George Town in size or importance, but its location at the southern end of the new County rendered it unacceptable. Colonists were accustomed to greeting friends and casting ballots at Hungerford's tavern, a village situated on a well-traveled road roughly equi-distant between the important settlements of Frederick Town and George Town. It was logical for voters of the new County to designate the crossroads village as the seat of local government.

The decision 225 years ago to anchor County government in the tiny settlement near Hungerford's tavern was the most momentous in Rockville's history. The selection as County seat, with assurance that a court house, jail, and polling place must be located there, stimulated entrepreneurs of all persuasions. Places of lodging, of eating and drinking, offices for attorneys and surveyors, and businesses which catered to traveler, visitor, and resident alike must be opened. Buildings, privies, stables, services, and workers were needed. And the more people who lived in Montgomery County, the more important became its seat of government.

Justices held the first court session at the tavern, by then operated by Leonard Davis, in May of 1777. Two years later, Montgomery County paid Thomas Owen Williams to renovate an existing building so the court could meet four times a year. By 1788, a small two-story brick building had been constructed in a square of 2 7/8 acres. This court house have been small, for in 1810 a separate building was added to house the clerk and his records. Other court houses successively replaced the original but-through road changes, urban renewal, and other revitalization efforts-this public space in the center of Rockville kept the name "Court House Square."

From late 1776 through the 1820s, maps showed the settlement as "Montgomery Court House." Who could have guessed that 225 years after Montgomery County was born, its seat of government would grow to nearly 50,000 people? Who could have imagined the growth of County government from a handful of part-time clerks, bailiffs, justices, and county commissioners to more than 7,600 employees today?