Before Hyattsville and Bladensburg were officially incorporated, there was Beall Town.

According to Kenny Hamill’s “The Place Names of Maryland,” the first town in the Hyattsville area was located along the Anacostia River close to where Art Works Now is at the old Marche Florist building.

Citing a March 29, 1878, item in the Washington Star, Hamill writes that Beall Town was the port town along what was then known as the Eastern Branch of the Potomac until the river became filled with silt.

Beall Town also appears to have encompassed parts of Bladensburg. It was named for John Beall (1688-1742), who owned the land that was originally called “Black Ash.”

A petition in 1742 was passed to have a new town laid out south of Beall Town creating what is today known as the Town of Bladensburg, though it was originally called Garrison’s Landing and then eventually renamed after Thomas Bladen who was the Governor of Maryland from 1742-1747.

One might ask how exactly Beall is pronounced. John Essex, who served as the unofficial historian for University Park until his death last year, noted that Beall is usually pronounced “Bell.”

On a related note, “Maryland: A New Guide to the Old Line State” by Earl Arnett, Robert J. Brugger and Edward C. Papenfuse says the Eastern Branch was renamed the Anacostia after an Indian tribe in 1927.

(Incidentally, Hamill is also the author of a book about West Virginia place names, another on Indian place names in Maryland and, awesomely, a report on place names on the moon.)

These names have been long forgotten, but history has a way of coming back around. Beall Town or Garrison’s Landing would be fun names for a restaurant, cafe or retail shop in  Hyattsville or Bladensburg.