This climate is ideal for growing farmed crops in the summer such as tomatoes, sweet corn and squash,[5] leaving much of the outlying area marked with large tracts of farmland.

However, the name Germantown referred to a community west of Manchester that was later incorporated with the town.

[7] Prior to European colonization, the Susquehannock people occupied the territory now within the borders of Manchester.

[10] The latter trail was laid out in 1737 as the first public road in what is now Carroll County by Robert Owings.

There were many early land grants; the first one touching the present confines of town was made in 1758, issued to "German Churche".

Later, Manchester would receive another nickname when the German custom of making ginger cakes brought on "Gingercake Town".

During the Civil War the success of the school was greatly hampered by the death of Dr. Dieffenbach and the low number of young men returning from the front lines.

[16][17] During the American Civil War, Manchester was used as a camping area for the Union Sixth Army Corps under General John Sedgwick on July 1, 1863.

[19] The official seal of the town of Manchester is a church steeple in the foreground and the likeness of a leaf-less tree in the background with the text "Founded 1765 Incorporated 1834".

[20] The large oak became a fixture of the town when, in 1758, King George III granted a charter to German colonists to erect a church near the tree.

The town newsletter was named Oaknotes as an homage to the large White Oak tree.

[21] Manchester is a typical "Main Street" town that continues expanding to accommodate a growing population.

A large portion of the businesses are located on or around Main Street which Maryland Route 30 becomes once entering "downtown" Manchester.

[28] Manchester is located on the Piedmont Plateau, west of the coastal lowlands of the Chesapeake Bay, in an area of rolling upland.

[29] Manchester's environs are the highest point in the state of Maryland east of the Appalachian Mountains.

[37] In 2011 Mayor Ryan Warner was elected for the first time, previously serving as a Town Council member.

In 2023, Warner would lose his bid for re-election to Melinda Smith, who previously served on the Town Council between 2013 and 2021.

Traffic congestion is high, southbound, in the morning as commuters make their way to the greater Baltimore area.

[46] There are plans to introduce a Manchester bypass relocating Route 30 outside of town limits.

[50] Comcast began operations in the county after purchasing the now defunct Adelphia Communications Corporation on July 31, 2006.