Schools in the 1990s: Playing Catch Up and the Equity Divide

There was a lot of growth on the outer edges of Columbia and surrounding areas in the 1980s but very little school construction. In fact there was a net loss of one school during that decade. So it's no surprise that the 1990s would see a boom not unlike the one seen two decades earlier. 

In the 1970s it was almost all in Columbia and Ellicott City and very little in Elkridge or North Laurel. The 1990s however, there will be many new Schools in both of those areas as well as Ellicott City and Clarksville. Very little new construction will happen in Columbia and what does happen there will be more to house students from higher growth areas.

Lets start in Elkridge where Waterloo Middle closed in 1984. There was talk of a replacement School almost immediately after its closure and land was acquired a shirt distance away on Mayfield Avenue. The Waterloo Middle building remained in operation both to house Waterloo Elementary from 1985-1987 while it was under renovation and then from 1987-1988 the district that would become Bollman Bridge. Upon Bollman Bridge's 1988 opening, Waterloo Middle was torn down but not for its own replacement, but for Deep Run Elementary which opened in 1990. 

Deep Run Elementary was the first new School in Elkridge since Waterloo Middle opened in 1955. Although Elkridge went 35 years without a new School it went on to gain five additional new ones in the coming years. First, in 1991 there was the long awaited Waterloo Middle Replacement School; Mayfield Woods Middle. Then, in 1992, Elkridge's namesake Elementary was replaced with a brand new building on Montgomery Road less than a mile from its original building on Old Washington Road. It should be noted that this building once housed Elkridge High School until 1952. 

About a mile west down Montgomery Road, Rockburn Elementary opened in 1993. On the same site as the new Elkridge Elementary, Elkridge Landing Middle opened in 1995. Nearby on the line in between Ellicott City and Elkridge lies Ilchester Elementary which opened in 1996. Though not in Elkridge, Long Reach High opened in Columbia that same year but a lot of Elkridge attends Long Reach and those left at Howard would attend a less crowded School. 

Meanwhile, back in Ellicott City, St. Johns Lane Elementary was the sole Elementary School for the northern part of the town from 1983-1990. Lots of growth happened there during that time as well. 

The western chunk of the St. Johns Lane was sent to the new Waverly Elementary in 1990 along with part of Centennial Lane Elementary. In 1994, part of that same area would then attend the new Manor Woods Elementary while eastern part of the St. Johns Lane District (similar to the closed Rockland District) would be sent to the Hollifield Station Elementary that would open in 1997. Hollifield Station took from Waverly Elementary as well. 

Ellicott City was also home to new Middle Schools in the 1990s as well. Burleigh Manor opened in 1992 serving the Centennial Lane section of town while Mount View Middle would open in 1993 providing relief for Dunloggin and Patapsco Middles respectively. On the eastern edge of town, Ellicott Mills Middle would be torn down in 1999 to reopen in 2001.

During this time, Ellicott Mills Students would attend the built but unopened Bonnie Branch Middle. Ellicott City would not get a High School during the 1990s but its western edge would attend the new River Hill High which opened to its own population in 1996 while other parts of town would be redistricted to Wilde Lake High whose replacement building opened in 1996 and attended River Hill for two years while original Wilde Lake was torn down and rebuilt. 

As I previously stated, River Hill was built in 1994 but opened to its own population in 1996. It would serve Clarksville, Fulton, Highland, Dayton, its namesake Columbia Village, and the western edge of Ellicott City. Almost all of this area attended Clarksville Elementary and Clarksville Middle up until 1991 when Pointers Run Elementary opened. This School served Fulton and the part of Clarksville that would become Columbia's Village of River Hill. In 1997, Fulton would gain its own Elementary School and the northern part of Clarksville, Dayton, and Glenelg would gain a new Elementary school in 1998 known as Tridelphia Ridge. The following year, Fulton and Highland would get their own Middle School; Lime Kiln. Lime Kiln was built on the same site as Fulton Elementary just two years earlier. 

In North Laurel, school construction raged on through the 1990s just like the rest of the County. The need for newer schools didn't go away when Bollman Bridge Elementary and Patuxent Valley Middle opened in 1988 and 1989 respectively. In 1992, Laurel Woods and Hammond Elementaries donated parts of their districts to make the new Forest Ridge Elementary. Laurel Woods remained crowded and the new Forest Ridge quickly became crowded as well so in 1998 Gorman Crossing opened allowing growth in the area to continue. On the Middle School front, Hammond Middle would donate its eastern chunk to make Murray Hill Middle which opened in 1997. Hammond Middle would refill itself by providing relief to Patuxent Valley.

Did you catch all of that? I barely did and I was a Howard County Student during all of that time. Although I lived in Columbia which was hardly impacted by these new Schools. The price tag of all these new Schools was quite high. So high in fact that systemic renovations and additions to Columbia Schools fell far behind and continue to do so even to this day. The 1990s was the start of the equity divide between old and new schools and the Neighborhoods they serve.