The following text is excerpted from the book "The Riverdale Story: Mansion to Municipality", edited by Christina A. Davis, and published by the Town of RiverdalePark, 1996.

More than a century before the settlement and incorporation of Riverdale, the land on which the town is situated was home to one family and their servants--the Calverts of Riversdale. The mansion and its history is a vital part of Riverdale's heritage and are featured prominently in the town's redevelopment and revitalization plans and in Prince George's County cultural events. Perhaps most importantly, Riversdale continues to hold a permanent place in the hearts of the people of the town, who for decades have looked after the mansion as if it were their own.

In the spring of 1800, George Calvert told his father-in-law of a substantial tract of property near Bladensburg to be sold at sheriff's auction. George Calvert, who himself had purchased land in the vicinity, reported that the land was fertile and the woodlands were good, with the Northeast Branch of the Anacostia River flowing through it. The estate's approximate boundaries, in modem terms, were Old Calvert Road to the north, Kenilworth Avenue to the east, Bladensburg Road to the south, and Baltimore Avenue to the west. The only property on the land was an unprofitable sawmill. By the fall of 1800, Mr. Stier purchased the 729 acre property, along with two house lots in Bladensburg. George Calvert spent the next quarter of a century finishing construction and decoration of the Riversdale Mansion.