How did Western Maryland Grow? Frederick was settled in 1745 when Daniel Dulany marked off the land in building lots that were quickly bought. From its beginning, Frederick was a trading center for farmers of the nearby region. It soon became connected with Baltimore, forty-five miles to the east, by Frederick Road. As farmers moved farther and farther west of Frederick, there was need for another town. In 1761 Jonathan Hager, a German immigrant, laid out a town twenty miles northwest of Frederick. At first he called the settlement Elizabeth Town in honor of his wife. But Hager operated a trading center and was so well known among the people that they spoke of the new town as Hager's Town, until that came to be its name. German was spoken in most of the homes of early Frederick and Hagerstown.

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