In 1695, Colonel Edward Dorsey, patriarch of an influential Maryland family, purchased a 448 acre tract of land in northern Anne Arundel County. (Howard County did not come into existence until 1850.) The plantation he built first grew tobacco and later, with the opening of a mill by the Ellicott brothers (Ellicott City), grew wheat. Dorsey named his plantation Long Reach.
 
 

In 1974, Long Reach became the name of one of the new planned city of Columbia's original villages. In 1995, a new high school, Long Reach High School, was built in the village of Long Reach in the city of Columbia.

Want to learn more? Visit the Board of Education website http://www.howard.k12.md.us