In its 13th year, the Montgomery County History Conference is still teaching Montgomery County residents about the rich history in their own proverbial backyard. On Saturday, January 26, residents from across the county came to the Montgomery College Germantown campus as they hosted a variety of panels, with topics ranging from the Underground Railroad to immigration and its effect on high school students.

The History Conference is hosted by Montgomery History, which is celebrating its 75th year and collects, preserves, interprets, and shares histories of “all of Montgomery County’s residents,” according to Montgomery History’s website. The main ways the organization does so is by providing numerous educational opportunities, including the History Conference.

In an interview with Montgomery College Television (MCTV), Executive Director Matt Logan said of the conference, “History is a way to kind of deepen their roots to this place, to create a more welcoming community, [and] to create more civic engagement.”

Local celebrities joined this spectacular symposium, including County Executive Mark Elrich and Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando. “Talking about history is a way to put into context the challenges that we face today,” Jawando said before starting the conference.

As mentioned earlier, this conference is not the only way to discover Montgomery County’s history. To find out more about future events hosted by Montgomery History, go to montgomeryhistory.org.