Wheaton Map
Wheaton is an unincorporated, urbanized area in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, north of Washington, D.C., northwest of Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton (1833–1903), 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 American Civil War.
Wheaton's boundaries are not officially defined. The United States Census Bureau has not chosen to make Wheaton itself into a Census-Designated Place, but instead combines it with Glenmont into a single Wheaton-Glenmont CDP, centered at 39°3?N 77°3?W / 39.05°N 77.05°W / 39.05; -77.05, whose 2000 census population was 57,694. According to Rand McNally, the Greater Wheaton area (which extends beyond Wheaton-Glenmont CDP) had an estimated population of 134,800 in 2005. The United States Geological Survey, however, does consider Wheaton as a place whose center is at latitude 39°2?23?N 77°3?20?W / 39.03972°N 77.05556°W / 39.03972; -77.05556. 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 can be found at the intersections of Veirs Mill Road (Md. Rt. 586), University Boulevard (Md. Rt. 193), and Georgia Avenue (Md. Rt. 97).
Wheaton developed from Leesborough (named in 1826), a business district which popped near the junction of three major roads: The first is Brookeville Pike (also known as the "Washington-Brookeville Pike" and later as the "Union Turnpike", now MD Route 97, Georgia Ave) a north/south toll thoroughfare running from Washington, DC to Brookeville, Maryland and eventually to Baltimore, Maryland.
Nearby cities include Kensington, Gaithersburg, Fulton, New Carrollton, Highland.