page_title: Wheaton, Maryland
section_title: Features
hierarchical_section_title: Wheaton, Maryland / Features
caption_attribution_description: English: Brookside Garden 2007 004, Location: Wheaton (Maryland)
context_page_description: Wheaton is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, situated north of Washington, D.C. and northwest of Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton, a career officer in the United States Army and volunteer from Rhode Island in the Union Army who rose to the rank of major-general while serving before, during and after the Civil War.
  Wheaton was split into its own CDP by the United States Census Bureau for the 2010 Census, which found its population to be 48,284.
  The United States Postal Service has assigned ZIP code 20902 to Wheaton, but the Wheaton Post Office is part of the Silver Spring area. Downtown Wheaton is located around the triangle formed by Veirs Mill Road, University Boulevard, and Georgia Avenue.
context_section_description: Wheaton is home to the Wheaton Regional Park, which includes a nature center; riding stables; dog park; a picnic area with carousel and miniature train; an athletic complex with indoor tennis, ice rink, inline skating rink, and ball fields; and Brookside Gardens, Montgomery County's 50-acre (200,000-m²) public display garden. Much of Wheaton was developed in the 1950s. In the 1960s its shopping center, Wheaton Plaza (now known as Westfield Wheaton), was the largest in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. Wheaton is also home to the Wheaton Regional Public Library. The library closed on March 13, 2016 and was to be replaced in the summer of 2019 by the combined Wheaton Library and Community Recreation Center. At the closing, it was announced that an interim library will be housed in the ballroom of the Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad across the street from the library. 
  The Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad is one of the busiest (11,000 calls in 2007) predominantly volunteer fire departments in Montgomery County. The diversity of the neighborhood is reflected by the high concentration of various ethnic restaurants located in Wheaton, as well as in the composition of the student body of Wheaton High School, part of the Montgomery County Public Schools and located near the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Randolph Road.
  It is served by the Red Line of the Washington Metro system. Spanning 508 feet (155 m), the Wheaton station has the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere.
  Since Wheaton has the highest location in the Washington, DC area, it was also the home of the first television license in the United States. Using the call sign W3XK, Charles Francis Jenkins began broadcasting from his home at the corner of Windham Lane and Georgia Ave. starting on July 2, 1928.
  Other points of interest include
  The Gilchrist Center for Cultural Diversity - Named after former Montgomery County Executive Charles W. Gilchrist, opened Sept. 8th 2001, it provides services to an increasing immigrant population in Montgomery County.
  Wheaton Youth Center
  Ana G. Méndez University System
caption: Brookside Gardens in Wheaton Regional Park
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