Once a large, rural estate, Langley Park, an unincorporated community, has experienced many social, cultural, economic and physical changes over the course of its history. The community received its name from Langley Fields, England. During the late 1940s, developers converted the farmland into new subdivisions and advertised Langley Park as Prince George’s County’s first planned community. Developers constructed bungalows and garden apartments for the community’s new residents. World War II veterans and their families wooed by new homes, the area’s convenience Washington, DC, and the amenities of a suburban lifestyle, flocked to the area. In the next few decades, Langley Park became a middle-class enclave of predominantly white, Jewish residents. The community mostly consisted of young couples with families.
The faces of Langley Park began to change in the 1970s after desegregation as African Americans moved into the community, inhabiting apartment complexes and single-family homes. Although some established families remained, the white population in Langley Park largely declined due to white flight to the outer suburbs. Hispanic and Caribbean immigrants lead a new wave of migration into the community during the 1980s originating from countries such as El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica and the West Indies. In addition, Asian and African immigrants from places like Vietnam, India, Ethiopia and Nigeria settled into the area. Takoma/Langley Crossroads proved to be an attractive locale for immigrants due to the availability of affordable housing that could also accommodate families. The integration of these new groups into Langley Park reflected a larger trend of increased migration to the Greater Washington during the 1980s and 1990s.
Presently, Langley Park is an ethnically diverse community however people of Hispanic decent are the majority, at roughly 64 percent of the population according to the 2000 census. The increased immigration of many people from a variety of countries and its richness of many cultures has added a distinctive element to the community.
Commercial development
Over the course of its development, the commercial district of Langley Park also expanded to meet the desires of the rapidly growing population. Businesses opened along University Boulevard including the Langley Park Shopping Center. Built in 1959, the Langley Park Shopping Center located on one of the corners of University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue, served as an anchor in the commercial district, for each quadrant of this intersection developed as a retail use. The area was home to the second largest strip mall in Maryland. Takoma/Langley Crossroads also attracted high-end merchants such as Lansburg’s Department Store that served the middle- and high-income communities in the immediate area and the Greater Washington area.
As the black population moved into the area, the merchants altered their merchandise to reflect the taste and preferences of the area’s new residents. Some businesses became black-owned and operated, while other merchants employed African American in their stores. After the influx of international newcomers to the Takoma/Langley Crossroads area, local merchants, many from immigrant communities themselves, responded to the increased diversity in the region by opening new businesses that directly catered to the needs of the growing immigrant populations. These businesses provided goods and services specific to the preferences of the community they wished to serve. The International Mall located on University Boulevard, partially funded by bonds issued by Prince George’s County, was developed specifically for this purpose, and has become a central locale of internationally focused businesses.
The Langley Park Plaza Mall in the region has become a new tourist destination for many recent immigrants, especially to those from Central America. However, the stores have not been the main attraction to the shopping center, but rather a fountain, nestled in a section of the mall, has attracted Takoma/Langley Crossroad’s visitors. Recent immigrants take photos in front of the fountain, now an important landmark, to show their families and friends at home that they have arrived to the United States.
The International Corridor features a variety of retail establishments like Salvadoran bakeries, African fabric stores and Indian restaurants, which cater to the local population but also attract a clientele from the Greater Washington Metropolitan area. The commercial development of the Takoma/Langley Crossroads, as a result of the social and cultural changes in the area, has become a vital component not only to its economic growth, revitalization and stability but also to the social and cultural support of its various communities.
Once a large, rural estate, Langley Park, an unincorporated community, has experienced many social, cultural, economic and physical changes over the course of its history. The community received its name from Langley Fields, England. During the late 1940s, developers converted the farmland into new subdivisions and advertised Langley Park as Prince George’s County’s first planned community. Developers constructed bungalows and garden apartments for the community’s new residents. World War II veterans and their families wooed by new homes, the area’s convenience Washington, DC, and the amenities of a suburban lifestyle, flocked to the area. In the next few decades, Langley Park became a middle-class enclave of predominantly white, Jewish residents. The community mostly consisted of young couples with families.