Waldorf, Maryland General Assembly of Maryland by an act changed the name to "Waldorf" in honor of William Waldorf Astor (1848–1919), the great-grandson of John Jacob Astor (1763–1848), who was born in Walldorf, Palatinate, Germany. On July 29, 1908, the city of Plumb Valley in Waseca County, Minnesota, changed its name to Waldorf after Waldorf, Maryland. Once a tobacco market village, Waldorf came to prominence in the 1950s as a gambling destination after slot machines were legalized in Charles County in 1949. The boom lasted until 1968 when gambling was once again outlawed. Its subsequent substantial growth as a residential community began
John Jacob Astor III the street address of the Empire State Building. Later, he had an imposing vacation home, "Beaulieu", built in Newport, Rhode Island, and he had a country estate, Nuits, at Ardsley-on-Hudson in Irvington, New York. Astor increasingly visited London in his later years. His son moved there permanently with his family in 1891 and became a citizen in 1899 where he was later made a peer. John Jacob Astor III died on February 22, 1890 and was interred in the Trinity Church Cemetery in Manhattan. John Jacob Astor III John Jacob Astor III (June 10, 1822 – February 22, 1890) was