Elkridge is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Howard County, Maryland, United States.

[6] The settlement was founded as a place where planters, who each had a wharf along the river, could bring their tobacco crop to be loaded on English trading ships.

[9] In 1781, Lafayette camped light infantry at Elkridge Landing en route to Virginia during the Revolutionary war.

[12] Elkridge had a rich history of industries, including pig-iron forging, basket weaving, paper, cotton and grist milling, as well as employment from the B&O Railroad.

The Thomas Viaduct, located over Levering Avenue at the entrance to the Patapsco Valley State Park, is the oldest multiple-arched curved stone railroad bridge in the world.

Union troops guarded the Thomas Viaduct and the thoroughfare to Baltimore with a captured Winans Steam Gun[13] while camping on Lawyers Hill, a community of summer estates built over the years by residents such as Caleb Dorsey ("Belmont"), Baltimore City Supreme Bench Judge George Washington Dobbin ("the Lawn"), Thomas Donaldson ("Edgewood"), John Latrobe ("Fairy-Knowe"), and the Penniman family home ("Wyndhurst").

This community hall, built in 1871, was a neutral meeting place for entertainments for Northern and Southern sympathizers of the neighborhood and owned by them as stockholders.

[16][17][18][19][20][21] In 1915, bus service was started between Elkridge and the terminal adjacent to the Montgomery Ward Warehouse and Retail Store in Baltimore.

[36] Congressional District 7 occupies areas north of Montgomery Road and west of Interstate 95, and is represented by Congressman Kweisi Mfume (D).

Congressional District 3 covers central Elkridge; from south of Montgomery Road and east of Interstate 95 to roughly US Route 1 and the Anne Arundel County border.

Lastly, Congressional District 2, represented by Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger (D), spans southward of Adcock Lane and Route 100.

Councilperson Liz Walsh represents central Elkridge from approximately westward from the Anne Arundel County boundary and northward from Ducketts Lane and Harwood Park.

The second council district runs southward from Harwood Park and Ducketts Lane is represented by Councilperson Opel Jones.

Rockburn Branch Park in West Elkridge provides athletic fields, playgrounds, and nature trails.

Also in West Elkridge, Belmont Manor and Historic Park hosts private events as well as nature programs with the Howard County Conservancy and surrounding schools.

Maryland Route 100 runs through the southern part of Elkridge, providing access to Ellicott City and Glen Burnie.

The combination freight and passenger corridor overrides the water supply for Elkridge and Howard County, which is electronically monitored to detect precursors of explosive failures in the aging system.

[45] The Regional Transportation Agency of Central Maryland Line 409 (Purple) travels from Laurel Town Center to Elkridge.

The line follows Washington Boulevard, and circles Rowanberry Drive and Montgomery Road, terminating at Elkridge Corners Shopping Center.

The Baltimore Light Rail can be accessed by the BWI Business District Station 6 miles (10 km) away in Linthicum.