Bethesda Information: Tickets, Venues, Events and More

‘Bethesda’ is located in the southern Montgomery County, Maryland, the USA. This place has derived its name from a local church, the Bethesda Presbyterian Church that was built in 1820. It was burnt in 1850 but got rebuilt the same year about 100 yards south at its present site. It was renamed to Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda.

Situated at a major thoroughfare, which was originally the route of an ancient Native American trail, Bethesda developed into a toll road from 1805 to 1820 to carry tobacco products from Georgetown to Frederick. Many sections of this road were paved and widened around 1920. This route is now famous as Wisconsin Avenue. It has become Rockville Pike in the north of Bethesda town center.

The Bethesda community derived its name from a Presbyterian named Bethesda Meeting House. A famous church was there on the present site of Cemetery of Bethesda Meeting House. The local post office adopted the name of Bethesda from that church in 1871. In due course of time, the surrounding area took on this name.

As an unincorporated area, Bethesda doesn’t have any official boundary. According to the 2000 census, this city has a total population of 55,277. Its residents come under the Maryland Legislative District 16. It has a total area of 34.2 km², out of which 34.0 km² is land and 0.1 km² is water. It is a wealthy and well-educated area in the USA with a population of 50,000 or more. 79% of its residents are 25 or older and have bachelor's degree, and 49% are graduates or professionals.

Maryland Route 355, also known as Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda and as Rockville Pike and Hungerford Drive in more northern communities, is its main commercial corridor that runs through Bethesda. It connects Bethesda with Kensington and Rockville communities and ends after many name changes in Frederick and Maryland. It becomes Rockville Pike toward the South and Wisconsin Avenue near the NIH Campus and continues beyond Bethesda through Chevy Chase, Friendship Heights, Maryland and into Washington, DC, which ends into Georgetown.