[11] Hagerstown has a distinct topography, formed by stone ridges running from northeast to southwest through the center of town.

It whitens in weathering and the edgewise conglomerate and wavy laminae become distinctly visible, giving an appearance unique to the Cumberland Valley as seen in the architecture of St. John's Episcopal Church.

Interstates 81 and 70, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Winchester and Western railroads, as well as Hagerstown Regional Airport form an extensive transportation network for the city.

[1][13] In 1794, government forces arrested 150 citizens during a draft riot which was staged by protesters in response to the Whiskey Rebellion.

[14] Hagerstown's strategic location at the border between the North and the South made the city a primary staging area and supply center for four major campaigns during the Civil War.

In the Maryland Campaign of 1862, General James Longstreet's command occupied the town while en route to the Battle of South Mountain and Antietam.

In 1863, the city was the site of several military incursions and engagements as Gen. Robert E. Lee's army invaded and retreated in the Gettysburg Campaign.

The Confederates levied a ransom of $20,000 and a large amount of clothing,[15] in retribution for U.S. destruction of farms, feed and cattle in the Shenandoah Valley.

This is in contrast to neighboring Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, which McCausland razed on July 30 when the borough failed to supply the requested ransom of $500,000 in U.S. currency, or $100,000 in gold.

Named after the German tinsmith Benjamin Heiskell who crafted it in 1769 in the form of a Hessian soldier,[1] it stood atop the Market House first and City Hall second for a combined 166 years.

During the Civil War era, the weathervane gained its characteristic bullet hole from a Confederate sharpshooter, who won a bet after shooting it from a full city block away.

In 1935, the original was retired to the Museum of the Washington County Historical Society, later to be moved to its present display in the Jonathan Hager House.

The weathervane has been depicted in the city's annual Mummers Day Parade by Charles Harry Rittenhouse, Sr. sporting the necessary accoutrements of a German mercenary soldier.

Hagerstown's first aircraft production came in World War I with the Maryland Pressed Steel Company building the Bellanca CD biplane in hopes of securing government contracts.

Among Fairchild's products during World War II were PT-19/PT-23/PT-26 (Cornell) and AT-21 trainers, C-82 "Packet" cargo planes and missiles.

At its height in World War II, Fairchild employed directly and indirectly up to 80% of Hagerstown's workforce or roughly 10,000 people.

Today, only small to medium-sized aviation companies remain in the area, e.g., Sierra Nevada Corporation, a defense electronics engineering and manufacturing contractor.

[19] Major waterways within Hagerstown include Hamilton Run and Antietam Creek that are tributaries of the Potomac River.

Natural landscape around Hagerstown consists of low, rolling hills with elevations of 500 feet (150 m) to 800 feet (240 m) above sea level and rich, fertile land that is well-suited and utilized for dairy farming, cornfields, and fruit orchards typical of Mid-Atlantic agriculture.

[20] Precipitation is moderate, averaging 39.29 in (998 mm) annually, and is somewhat evenly distributed throughout the year, with a slight winter minimum and a maximum in May and June.

[citation needed] Once primarily an industrial community, Hagerstown's economy depended heavily on railroad transportation and manufacturing, notably of aircraft, trucks, automobiles, textiles, and furniture.

[1] Today, the city has a diversified, stable business environment with modern service companies in various fields as well as continued strength in manufacturing and transportation in railroads and highways.

Surrounding Hagerstown, there has been and continues to be a strong agricultural presence while tourism, especially with respect to the retail sector, also provides support to the local economy.

Antietam National Battlefield, the site of the bloodiest single day in American history, is located in nearby Sharpsburg.

The city and surrounding vicinity also has a number of sites and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

They include the Antietam Furnace Complex Archeological Site, Antietam Hall, Brightwood, Colonial Theatre, Ditto Knolls, Dorsey-Palmer House, Elliot-Bester House, Jacob M. Funk Farm, Garden Hill, Good-Hartle Farm, Hager House, Hagerstown Armory, Hagerstown Charity School, Hagerstown City Park Historic District, Hagerstown Commercial Core Historic District, Hagerstown Historic District, Houses At 16-22 East Lee Street, Lantz-Zeigler House, Lehman's Mill Historic District, Long Meadows, Maryland Theatre, Henry McCauley Farm, Oak Hill Historic District, Old Forge Farm, Old Washington County Library, Paradise Manor, Potomac-Broadway Historic District, Price-Miller House, Rockland Farm, Rockledge, Rohrer House, South Prospect Street Historic District, Trovinger Mill, Valentia, Washington County Courthouse, Western Maryland Railway Station, Western Maryland Railway Steam Locomotive No.

The Interstate BBQ Festival is a Kansas City Barque Society sanctioned competition which hosts dozens of professional and backyard teams and draws thousands of spectators as a huge regional event.

In 1931, prior to the next season beginning, the Blue Ridge League folded due to financial losses and the Hagerstown Hubs moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia.

The team was initially set to begin play in 2023, but delays in stadium construction pushed the inaugural season to 2024.

Its current members are Kristin Aleshire, Caroline Anderson, Erika Bell, Tiara Burnett, and Sean Flaherty.