Essex is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States.

It began in 1909 by the Taylor Land Company for the residents in Baltimore who wanted a place outside the city limits to perhaps grow a garden or to pursue some other rural activity.

Henry Guttenberger built the first general store in Essex in 1910 on the corner of Eastern Boulevard and Mace Avenue.

Between 1911 and 1912, the Taylor Land Company donated the lots for Essex Methodist and St. John's Lutheran churches.

The ten-alarm blaze caused a half million dollars in damages, in the time it took to repair the buildings new shopping centers were built changing the buying habits of consumers.

The remaining aerospace business followed a progression of corporate mergers and today is owned and operated by Lockheed Martin.

Many neighborhoods have begun a "clean-up" of their areas, hoping to transform Essex into a place that will be ready to move into the twenty-first century.

Improvements include removal of run-down, low-income housing, including the Tall Trees Community, Edgewater apartments, and the Riverdale Community; new medians and pavement on Eastern boulevard; a new Essex monolith replaced the old Essex cube, and new developments being built around the town.

Ballestone Mansion (Ballestone-Stansbury House) built in 1800 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

[3] On August 2, 2009, the community of Essex celebrated its 100th birthday with a party at Cox's Point Park on Riverside Drive.

[5] The town is on mostly flat to gently rolling terrain, transitioning to marshland at the tip of the peninsula close to the Chesapeake Bay.