text: The original College Park subdivision was first platted in 1872 by Eugene Campbell.  Early maps called the local post office "College Lawn". The area remained undeveloped and was re-platted in 1889 by John O. Johnson and Samuel Curriden, Washington real estate developers. The original  tract was divided into a grid-street pattern with long, narrow building lots, with a standard lot size of  by . College Park originally included single-family residences constructed in the Shingle, Queen Anne, and Stick styles, as well as modest vernacular dwellings.
  By the turn of the century, College Park was being developed rapidly by catering to those who were seeking to escape the crowded Washington, D.C., as well as to a rapidly expanding staff of college faculty and employees.
  20th century
  In 1909 the College Park Airport was established by the United States Army Signal Corps to serve as a training location for Wilbur Wright to instruct military officers to fly in the US government's first airplane.  Civilian aircraft began flying from College Park Airport as early as December 1911, making it the world's oldest continuously operated airport.
  Commercial development in the city increased in the 1920s, aided by the increased automobile traffic and the growing campus along Baltimore Avenue/Route 1. By the late 1930s, most of the original subdivision had been partially developed. Several fraternities and sororities from the University of Maryland built houses in the neighborhood. After World War II, construction consisted mostly of infill of ranch and split-level houses. After incorporation in 1945, the city continued to grow, and a municipal center was built in 1959.