Crofton is a census-designated place and planned community in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States, located just west of the state capital Annapolis. Crofton is located 24mi south of Baltimore, 9.8mi west of Annapolis, and 24mi east-northeast of Washington, D.C. The community was established in 1964. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 27,348.HistoryDevelopmentIn 1963, after the Crawford Corporation accumulated over 1600acre of land, it announced that it would build a new community called Crofton. This new town and planned community was founded at the same time as Reston, Virginia (April 17, 1964) and Columbia, Maryland (1967). Crofton would be anchored by a community golf course, which later became the Crofton Country Club. Crofton was officially founded in the fall of 1964. The company considered picking an English name for the new town that "sounds well and implies that this is a pleasant place to live." It ended up picking the name "Crofton", named after a small township in Cumberland County, England. The English town was originally called Croft-town, derived from the word "Croft", as the town standing upon the Crofts. Originally an exclusive gated community, Crofton's gates were opened and they now only serve as a symbol for the community.
