Town file
Elkridge, Maryland
Elkridge, Maryland (Howard County, Maryland) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 61, "The Mannequin Murders" (15 March 2018). Elkridge, Maryland, is a suburban town of about 16,750 people in Howard County, roughly twenty minutes from Baltimore.
- Town
- Elkridge
- County
- Howard County
- State
- Maryland
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 61
- Approximate location
- 39.195, -76.741
Episode 61 / 15 March 2018 / 144 min / full
The Mannequin Murders
"James says they are going to Elkridge, Maryland, about 20 minutes outside Baltimore, in Howard County, zip code 21075" about 0:07:12
The case: Murders of Carvel and Sarah Faulkner (1979); Murder of Rebecca 'Dolly' Davis (February 1980); Murder of Evelyn Dietrich (March 1981); Murder of Iva Murdle Watson (December 1984); Murder of Kathleen Gouldin (July 1989). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2018
- Population
- 16,750
- Median age
- 32.7
- Median household income
- $96,427
- Median home value
- $327,300
- Two-bedroom rent
- $1,590
- Cost of living
- 126
- Religious
- about 45%
- Property crime
- right about average
- Violent crime
- ▲ about 20% higher
History, in brief
- In 1652 the Susquehannock tribes signed a peace treaty with the people of Maryland that gave them the Howard County area. about 0:08:12
- Elkridge is the oldest settlement in Howard County, which was then part of Anne Arundel County. about 0:08:58
- It sits on the Patapsco River, and each plantation had a wharf to load tobacco onto ships bound for England. about 0:09:22
- The Maryland General Assembly set up a 30-acre, 40-lot town at Elkridge Landing; the rival Jansen Town planned in the 1700s failed when one of the commissioners died. about 0:09:38
- Elkridge Landing was the seaport for the whole inland area. about 0:10:27
- The Elkridge Furnace, a 16-acre ironworks, was founded in 1755 and ran into the 1860s, into the middle of the Civil War. about 0:10:33
- In 1825 Jansen Town burned to the ground, destroying nine of its ten houses, and later that year Elkridge Landing got a post stop. about 0:11:06
- Elkridge had a history of pig iron forging, basket weaving, cotton paper, grist milling and work for the railroad. about 0:11:47
- Union troops guarded the area in the Civil War because it was a thoroughfare to Baltimore. about 0:12:42
- In 1918 a flu pandemic swept the county, starting with an early outbreak at Camp Meade in Anne Arundel County. about 0:12:54
- In 1939 the Andrews brothers opened the first mobile home park there. about 0:14:33
The reviews read out
3 stars
"Titled 'lots of cheap stuff': prices are good but most merchandise is new dime-store goods, with little used, vintage or antique stock."about 0:25:13
"'Management does not care about new vendors': the reviewer left business cards, has waited two years for a call while other new businesses were signed, and says most vendors sell new merchandise."about 0:26:23
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Cape St. Claire, Maryland19 miles
- Middle River, Maryland19 miles
- Largo, Maryland22 miles
- Bethesda, Maryland25 miles
- Joppatowne, Maryland26 miles
- Lothian, Maryland26 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.