Believe it or not I live in (actually about a quarter mile south) of Boring. Boring was once known as Fairview, and the name was coined by David Boring, the postmaster in the 1830s. Of course this begs the question: Is Boring boring? Well yes it is, but in a good way.
Boring is a small hamlet located around the intersection of Old Hanover Road , Pleasant Grove Road, and the CSX Railroad (formerly the Western Maryland Railroad) in the northwestern part of Baltimore County, and consists of about 40 houses or so centered around its "downtown", the Boring Volunteer Fire Company and the Boring Post Office Zipcode 21020. It is located about 5 miles north of Reisterstown, Maryland. It is on a section of the old road to Hanover, Pennsylvania which was bypassed in the 1930s to the 1950s by Hanover Pike. Hanover Pike is a more modern highway which carries commuters to and from their jobs down in Baltimore and Anne Arundel County to their homes in Carroll County. Carroll County is fast being overrun by suburban sprawl, but because Boring is on the old road, and because of the County's restrictive zoning in this part of the county, the town has remained quite small.
Boring used to be a stop for the Western Maryland Railroad as late as the 1940's, and the general store provided a market for the surrounding farms which dot the rolling countryside. Up the road about a mile north in Fowblesburg there was a creamery, also along the railroad, and what used to be the only office of Farmers and Merchants Bank.The bank moved out to the main road in the 1970's, and now has 4 branches scattered between Reisterstown and Manchester.
The general store housed the Post Office and sold household goods and things like sodas and candy as late as the early 1990's, but the store closed in 1994 when the elderly owner passed away. It was a favorite stop for bicyclists, who still take advantage of the quiet uncrowded roads running past the rolling farmland and villages in the surrounding area. Today only the Post Office remains, and a hearing to close the post office was attended by nearly the entire town to oppose the closure, and the Post Office was kept open.
The Boring Volunteer Fire Company provides modern fire protection to the area, thanks to subsidies by the county, hosting a cellular telephone tower, and by hosting Bingo six nights a week. Once a year, they host the Boring Antique Gas Engine Show on the grounds of the Fire Department, and air becomes thick with the smell of unburned hydrocarbons and the sound of old tractors and antique engines resurrected by the locals.
Yeah, its boring, but I kinda like it that way.
I double checked the information about the origin of the town's name. A painting of David Boring, along with his life's story and genealogy hangs in the Post Office there.
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