Van Lear is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Maryland

Washington County, Maryland

Washington County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering southern Pennsylvania to the north, northern Virginia to the south, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia to the south and west. As of the 2010 Census, its population is 147,430...

. The community is part of the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV MSA

Hagerstown Metropolitan Area

The Hagerstown-Martinsburg Metropolitan Area, officially designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Maryland-West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area , constitutes the primary cities of Hagerstown, Maryland, Martinsburg, West Virginia, and...

 (Metropolitan Statistical Area). Van Lear is located between Halfway, Maryland

Halfway, Maryland

Halfway is a census-designated place in Washington County, Maryland, United States. The population was 10,065 at the 2000 census. It is named for being halfway between Hagerstown and Williamsport...

 and Williamsport, Maryland

Williamsport, Maryland

Williamsport is a town in Washington County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,868 at the 2000 census and 2,278 as of July 2008.-Geography: Williamsport is located at ....

.

History

The Community of Van Lear was started in the late 1960's when a Hagerstown real estate agent, Lee Downey, started to sell tracts of his then rural land to developers. By the 1980's the Hagerstown area started to boom, so Downey made Van Lear Manor and Tammany Manor, the first two suburban neighborhoods in Van Lear.

Today

Today, Van Lear is a diverse residential mix of new and old, modern and historic, all side-by-side. In Van Lear's newer neighborhoods, larger modern homes are common.

Neighborhoods

• Van Lear Manor, the largest and first neighborhood.
• Tammany, another older neighborhood.
• Homewood, a housing complex for senior citizens.
• New Van Lear, a newer, somewhat large neighborhood filled with newer homes.
• Sterling Oaks, a new subdivision with middle to lower income housing.
• Bratton Hill, a small, new neighborhood with newer homes.
• New Tammany, a new middle-class neighborhood.

Sources

All of the information provided has been used with permission from the Van Lear Community Association.