Hagerstown

Hagerstown anchors the Hagerstown metropolitan area extending into West Virginia. It makes up the northwesternmost portion of the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area in the heart of the Great Appalachian Valley. The population of the metropolitan area in 2020 was 293,844. Greater Hagerstown was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the state of Maryland and among the fastest growing in the United States, as of 2009.

Hagerstown has a distinct topography, formed by stone ridges running from northeast to southwest through the center of town. Geography accordingly bounds its neighborhoods. These ridges consist of upper Stonehenge Limestone. Many of the older buildings were built from this stone, which is easily quarried and dressed onsite. It whitens in weathering and the edgewise conglomerate and wavy laminae become distinctly visible, giving an appearance unique to the Cumberland Valley as seen in the architecture of St. John's Episcopal Church.

Despite its semi-rural Western Maryland setting, Hagerstown is a center of transit and commerce.