The community that was to become Cheverly was first designed and recorded in the land records in 1904 as a 93 acre planned community called Cheverly Gardens. The land was then purchased in 1918 by the Washington Suburban Realty Company and the design was changed to better incorporate the existing Magruder family mansion, “Mount Hope”, which was first constructed in 1839 and has served as the town’s official symbol since 1931.
The head of the Washington Suburban Realty Company, Robert Marshall moved into Mount Hope in 1919 and in 1923, the first road, now known as Cheverly Avenue, was completed and paved to connect the Pennsylvania Railroad line to Landover Road. Washington Suburban Realty Company built 34 houses between 1921 and 1925. Most of the early houses were mail-order homes from Sears and Roebuck Company, and the McClure Homes Company. In 1929 the company went bankrupt in part from losses from the 1929 stock market crash.
In 1931 the town was incorporated during a period great municipal growth in Prince George’s Cournty. It was seen as a good government measure to better provide community services and gave Prince George’s County more incorporated municipalities than most of the rest of the state combined. During the 1930s and 1940s the number of residences increased from 135 to 650. Residential construction continued through the 1960s, with industrial property developed on the West side of town and garden style apartment complexes built along Landover Road. The community center and town hall were built in 1978.
On April 29, 2006, the community held a 75th anniversary celebration at the town community center.