WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

EDUCATION

ORIGIN & FUNCTIONS

BOARD OF EDUCATION

Educational matters that affect Washington County come under the control of the Board of Education (Code Education Article, secs. 4-101 through 4-126).

The Board is composed of eight members. Seven are elected by the voters to four-year terms (Code Election Law Article, secs. 8-801 through 8-806). A nonvoting student member, selected by the Washington County Association of Student Councils, serves a one-year term (Code Education Article, secs. 3-1301 through 3-1303). A president and vice-president for the Board annually are chosen in December (Code Education Article, sec. 4-107). The Superintendent of Schools serves as executive officer, secretary, and treasurer of the Board (Code Education Article, sec. 4-102).

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Washington County Public School System is governed by the County Board of Education (Code Education Article, secs. 4-101 through 4-126). In addition, through the review and approval of the annual operating and capital budgets, Charles County government exercises authority over the County Public Schools. Moreover, through the establishment and monitoring of various financial and academic policies and regulations, the State Department of Education also has considerable oversight of county public schools. Indeed, under Maryland law, the State Department of Education works with county public schools to comply with requirements and mandates of federal law.

In Washington County, the Public School System has forty-four schools. These include 7 high schools, 7 middle schools, 25 elementary schools, 1 combined school, 1 alternative center, 2 special education centers, and 1 outdoors center. In Fiscal Year 2025, some 22,772 students were enrolled in the County's public schools.

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
The Superintendent of Schools administers the County Public School System (Code Education Article, secs. 4-102; 4-201 through 4-206).

With the approval of the State Superintendent of Schools, the Board of Education appoints the Superintendent of Schools to four-year terms.

Washington County Public Schools moved its administration to Downsville Pike, Hagerstown, in January 2014.

HAGERSTOWN COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Hagerstown Community College was founded as Hagerstown Junior College in 1946. The College's original purpose was to help veterans returning from World War II gain an education and enter the job market. The College was renamed Hagerstown Community College on July 1, 1998.

UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF MARYLAND HAGERSTOWN

Opened in January 2005, the University System of Maryland Hagerstown is a regional higher education center. It offers upper-level undergraduate and graduate programs at Hagerstown from six University System of Maryland schools based elsewhere. These include: Coppin State University; Frostburg State University; Salisbury University; Towson University; University of Maryland, College Park; and University of Maryland Global Campus.

The University System of Maryland Hagerstown is overseen by the Governing Council, and is aided by the Board of Advisors.

FREE LIBRARY

The Washington County Free Library began in 1898. In April 1905, it introduced the first bookmobile in the nation. Drawn by two horses, the "library wagon" began by delivering boxes of books to either the general stores or post offices in the towns and villages throughout the County. Destroyed in a collision with a freight train in August 1910, the original book wagon was replaced by a motorized vehicle in 1912.

Based in Hagerstown, the main Library has seven branches. They are in Boonsboro, Clear Spring, Hancock, Keedysville, Sharpsburg, Smithsburg, and Williamsport.

[photo, Boonsboro Branch Library, 401 Potomac St., Boonsboro, Maryland] BOONSBORO LIBRARY
401 Potomac St., Boonsboro, MD 21713 – 1201

The Boonsboro Branch Library started with formation of the Boonsboro Library Association in March 1904. Incorporated in 1906, the Association was created to establish a reading room where patrons would have access to a book collection formed and replenished by the central library at Hagerstown.

Boonsboro Branch Library, 401 Potomac St., Boonsboro, Maryland, March 2026. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

CLEAR SPRING LIBRARY
12624 Broadfording Road, Clear Spring, MD 21722 – 1361

At Clear Spring, the Leonard P. Snyder Library opened in 2003.

HAGERSTOWN LIBRARY
100 South Potomac St., Hagerstown, MD 21740 – 5504

The Hagerstown Library serves as the main Library of the Washington County Free Library. Formerly located at 101 Tandy Drive, the Library later moved to its present location at 100 South Potomac Street.

HANCOCK LIBRARY
231 Hancock Veterans Parkway, Hancock, MD 21750 – 1150

Origins of the Hancock War Memorial Library trace to 1907 when a librarian would travel once a week from Hagerstown to Hancock. Thereafter a library building was constructed in 1969 at Hancock in tribute to armed services veterans of Hancock. That building suffered from structural problems and floods in the 1990s. It was moved to Widmyer Park in 1997. Opened on October 30, 2018, a new library replaced the original structure.

[photo, Keedysville Branch Library, 22 Taylor Drive, Keedysville, Maryland]

KEEDYSVILLE LIBRARY
22 Taylor Drive, Keedysville, MD 21756 – 1361

Across from Taylor Park, the Keedysville Branch Library is located at 22 Taylor Drive. It is housed in the former Keedysville Municipal Building, which was constructed in 1972.

Keedysville Branch Library (former Municipal Building), 22 Taylor Drive, Keedysville, Maryland, October 2025. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

SHARPSBURG LIBRARY
106 East Main St., Sharpsburg, MD 21782

With special thanks to the research of Barbara Twigg, the following traces the history of the Sharpsburg Branch Library.

[photo, Sharpsburg Branch Library, 106 East Main St., Sharpsburg, Maryland] In January 1902, the first branch library of the Washington County Free Library was established in Sharpsburg. There, two deposit stations were set up from 1902 to 1913 with a supply of books. One station was in the U.S. Post Office at 121 East Main Street, and the second station was at the Highbarger or City Hotel at 101 East Main Street. These stations were replaced in 1913 by a "bookcase branch" in M.L. Burgan's store, and in 1919 transferred to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church Parish House.

Sharpsburg Town Hall & Library, 106 East Main St., Sharpsburg, Maryland, October 2019. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

[photo, Sharpsburg Branch Library, 106 East Main St., Sharpsburg, Maryland] A series of moves followed first to the Smith property at 131 West Main Street, then to Dr. Gardner's office also on Main Street. One of the public schools on Antietam Street held the Library from 1925 to 1937. The Sharpsburg's Community Building (constructed in 1911) later on its second floor would accommodate the Library, which incorporated in September 1936 as the Sharpsburg Library Association of Washington County, Inc. The Community Building, the Library's present site, had its first floor remodeled in 1975 for the Library.

Sharpsburg Branch Library, 106 East Main St., Sharpsburg, Maryland, October 2000. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

SMITHSBURG LIBRARY
66 West Water St., Smithsburg, MD 21783 – 1643

Founded in 1923, the Smithsburg Library moved to its present location in July 2006.

WILLIAMSPORT MEMORIAL LIBRARY
104 East Potomac St., Williamsport, MD 21795 – 1108

In 1936, the Williamsport Memorial Library was erected as a memorial to fourteen local high school students who died in a bus accident at Rockville, Maryland, on April 11, 1935. Led by their teacher, the Williamsport High School students were headed home on a chartered school bus from a chemistry exhibit at University of Maryland College Park, when they were hit by a speeding express passenger train.

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