Every Springfield must have its Shelbyville.

Just as the fictional hometown of “The Simpsons” has its cross-town rival of Shelbyville, so too does Hyattsville have its Bladensburg. Except maybe Bladensburg is the ill-begotten Springfield in this scenario.

From the Washington Post, May 24, 1980 (not available online):

The town was founded in 1845 by one Christopher Clarke Hyatt on a parcel of land between the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tracks and the Washington-Baltimore Turnpike. Hyatt, it seems, wanted to get away from rowdy Bladensburg. His most conspicuous legacy is a continued ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Another legacy is a number of handsome Victorian houses along shady roads, and a few handsome commercial buildings, left from the days when Hyattsville was one of Washington’s most pleasant streetcar suburbs. In addition to the trolley, the B&O ran about 30 trains a day.