Allegany County, MD

Settlement & growth (pre-1960)

Before European settlement, the region now known as Allegany County was part of the homeland of the Shawnee and Susquehannock peoples, who used the Potomac River valley for travel and seasonal hunting. The area was sparsely populated by these Native nations, who were largely displaced or pushed westward by the mid-1700s as British colonists expanded into the Appalachian frontier.

The first permanent European settlers were predominantly Scots-Irish and German immigrants who arrived in the mid-to-late 18th century, drawn by land grants in the fertile valleys and the promise of subsistence farming. These pioneers established small communities like Cumberland, which became the county seat in 1789, and Oldtown, one of the earliest settlements along the Potomac. The National Road, completed through Cumberland in 1818, transformed the area into a critical transportation hub, funneling settlers and goods westward and establishing Cumberland as a bustling gateway city.

The 19th century brought a second major wave: Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine in the 1840s and 1850s. They arrived to build the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, both of which made Cumberland a major industrial and rail center. Many Irish settled in Cumberland’s South End and in the canal towns of Oldtown and Hancock, working as laborers and canal boatmen. By the 1870s, the coal boom in the Georges Creek Valley drew a third wave: Eastern European immigrants, including Poles, Slovaks, and Italians, who came to work in the deep-shaft coal mines. These groups established tight-knit ethnic enclaves in mining towns like Lonaconing, Frostburg, and Westernport, where Catholic churches and fraternal societies anchored community life.

African Americans have been present in Allegany County since the colonial era, initially as enslaved laborers on farms and in ironworks. After the Civil War, freed people moved to Cumberland and the mining towns, working as domestic servants, railroad laborers, and miners. The Black population peaked in the early 20th century, with a distinct community forming in Cumberland’s Washington Street area and in the town of Frostburg. By 1960, the county’s population had reached its historic high of over 84,000, driven by the coal and railroad industries, but the decline of both sectors was already underway.

Modern era (post-1965)

The post-1965 era in Allegany County has been defined by population decline and demographic stagnation, rather than the diversification seen in much of the United States. The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act, which reshaped immigration nationally, had minimal impact here: the foreign-born population remains at just 1.0%, far below the national average. The county did not attract significant numbers of new immigrant groups, and its small Hispanic (1.9%) and East/Southeast Asian (0.7%) populations are largely the result of a few families drawn to work in healthcare, education, or retail in Cumberland and Frostburg, rather than the formation of distinct ethnic enclaves.

Domestic migration has been the dominant demographic force since the 1970s. The collapse of the coal industry and the decline of the railroad led to a steady out-migration of working-age residents seeking jobs in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, the Carolinas, and the Sun Belt. This exodus has left behind an older, more settled population. The Black population, which was 9.5% in 1970, has declined to 7.0% today, as younger Black families also left for urban centers with more opportunities. The Indian (subcontinent) population is negligible at 0.2%, and there is no significant Arab community.

Suburbanization has been limited. The county’s population is still concentrated in the historic towns: Cumberland (population ~19,000), Frostburg (~8,500), and Westernport (~1,800). Newer residential development has occurred in unincorporated areas like LaVale and Bowling Green, where strip malls and suburban subdivisions have grown along the U.S. Route 40 corridor. However, these areas remain overwhelmingly White and native-born, reflecting the county’s broader demographic continuity.