Silver Spring: Then & Again

Delights to the Eye

2012-01-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

"Takoma and Takoma Park, Silver Springs (sic) and Forest Glen are all picturesque and beautiful villages lying along or within the boundaries of Maryland. They are reached by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, as well as by the trolley. During the summer season many of the people of Washington take up their residences there, where they live in the midst of nature and at the same time of civilization. Glimpses of rural scenery in these neighborhoods are a constant delight to the eye."

From "Every-day Life in Washington...with Pen and Camera" (p. 372) by Charles M. Pepper (New York: The Christian Herald, 1900).

Collection of The Peabody Room,
Georgetown Branch, DC Public Library.

Playing Christmas Day 1955 at the Silver Theater

2011-12-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

Anyone who wants to go out to see a movie in downtown Silver Spring on Christmas Day has an overwhelming selection of film offerings. From sixteen different motion pictures at the Regal Majestic & IMAX to four films at the AFI Silver Theatre.

Fifty-six years ago Silver Spring filmgoers had far less options. Playing at the Silver Theater (note the spelling difference) on December 25, 1955 was the Janet Leigh & Jack Lemmon musical My Sister Eileen. This singing and dancing remake of the earlier 1942 film of the same name was about two Ohio sisters (Leigh and Betty Garrett) seeking success in the big city...and where else in 1955 was that but in NYC's Greenwich Village.

Maryland News, December 23, 1955, p. 5.
Microfilm collection of the Silver Spring Historical Society.

My favorite dance sequence in the film is when the legendary choreographer and sometimes actor Bob Fosse spars with actor/dancer Tommy Rall. Rall will be 82 years-old on December 27th but Fosse sadly dropped dead of a heart attack in 1987 in front of the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC. He was only 60 years-old.

Interspersed between showings of My Sister Eileen was the George Montgomery and Nancy Gates western Masterson of Kansas, directed by the equally legendary William Castle. Four years would pass before Castle really begin establishing his reputation with low-budget, over-the-top gimmicky thrillers such as House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler, both released in 1959.

Both of these Silver Theater/Theatre Christmas Day offerings were second run films with My Sister Eileen (appealing to a mostly female audience) being initially released the previous September and Masterson of Kansas, aimed at the guys, already being a year old having been released the previous Christmas.

The Silver's only other local competition was the Roth's Theatre at 8242 Georgia Avenue, originally opened in 1927 as the SECO (Suburban Electrical COmpany). The SECO was the first movie theater to open in downtown Silver Spring and held the monopoly for eleven years until the Silver opened in 1938.

After the kids opened their Christmas presents that day and settled down for lunch they could shoot over to Roth's to catch the 2:00 pm Walt Disney hit Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, starring Fess Parker. Even though the movie had ben released the previous May and was nothing more that a compilation of three Davy Crockett television episodes that aired on the ABC television show Disneyland, it was billed as "NOW...ON THE MOTION PICTURE SCREEN!" I'm sure there were plenty of eight year-old boys wearing their coonskin caps in the theatre.

Later that evening the adults could catch Robert Taylor and Kaye Kendall in The Adventures of Quentin Durward, the story of a Scottish night (Taylor) who finds himself in France to facilitate a marriage between a rich and beautiful countess (Kendall) and his aging uncle, King Louis XI, played by Robert Morley. Intrigue ensues. No problem convincing the kids to miss that one.

If you REALLY wanted to see the first release films all one had to do was to catch the streetcar at Alaska and Eastern Avenue and head down to F Street, NW where the Loew's Palace (at 13th Street) and the Capital (at 14th Street) were respectively showing Rains of Ranchipur, a drama about an Englishwoman (Lana Turner!) having an affair with a Hindu doctor (Richard Burton!), and the Vincente Minnelli (Liza'a father) directed musical Kismet, starring Howard Keel and Ann Blyth.

Whatever motion picture you watch this Christmas Day, new release or old, in a movie theater, on television, via dvd or streaming, may it be an enjoyable ending to 2011!

A Silver Spring Christmas: 1955 Style

2011-12-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

Maryland News, December 23, 1955.
Microfilm collection of the Silver Spring Historical Society.

Like this year, Christmas day fell on a Sunday in 1955. Shoppers who had yet to complete their holiday purchases might have felt relieved when this advertisement for G. C. Murphy & Co. appeared in the Friday, December 23rd Maryland News.

This "five and dime" variety store was the namesake of George Clinton Murphy, who founded the business in 1906 in McKeesport, PA. A national chain store that offered low-priced merchandise, Murphy's had been located at 8237 Georgia Avenue since 1937.

Murphy's occupied the ground floor of the MUCH altered building that still sits on the southeast corner of Georgia and Thayer avenues (originally contructed c. 1927 and named the Heizer Building after its owner, Roy M. Heizer). It is difficult to imagine all of the merchandise touted in this advertisement fitting into such a small building.

Adjusted for inflation, the advertised prices do not seem too dissimilar from what one would pay for the same items today. That 67c nylon hosiery for your wife or girlfriend is equal to $5.66 and the high-end $5.98 all-metal wagon for little Dickie (or Sue) would be set you back $50.48. Keep in mind that the national average wage in 1955 was $3,301.44 or $68.78 each week...before taxes.

Murphy's remained in the Heizer Building thru at least 1968. Amazingly, no photographs of either the exterior or interior of this business that served our community for over three decades have surfaced. If you have photos...or even reminiscences of shopping or working at this Murphy location...please share them here.

Montgomery Blair Coming to a Screen Near You?

2011-10-08T07:17:00.000-07:00

Recently a research company working on Steven Spielberg's $100M motion picture Lincoln, to be released December 2012, contacted me. They are looking for an image of Montgomery Blair's "crest," a heraldic design that I've never come across.

If it ever existed, perhaps it looked something like these...

Blair family crest courtesy of
http://www.allfamilycrests.com

Montgomery Blair High School crest
courtesy Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette

The question that begs to be asked though is does this mean that Blair, Lincoln's postmaster general from 1861-1864, will be in the film that is based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2005 biography Team of Rivals: the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln? Montgomery is well represented in the book along with his father and brother, Frances (senior and junior), mother Eliza, brother James, and sister Elizabeth.

To my knowledge the last depiction of Montgomery Blair...at least on the small screen...was in 1955 when Mack Williams (I know, who?) played him in Lincoln's Doctor's Dog, an episode written by William R. Cox and Christopher Morley that was part of the short-lived television anthology series Screen Directors Playhouse. Although Mack Williams did not have a single line of dialogue, he was a spiting image of Blair so some casting agent did their job well.

Montgomery Blair courtesy of

The Gilder Lehrman Collection, New York
Reference Number: GLC 5111.07

Who do you think Spielberg should cast as Montgomery Blair?

UPDATE:

Remembering that I had been in email contact with a few Blair descendants over the years, I checked my emails and lo and behold found THE Blair family crest:

Courtesy
http://katharinesweb.net/Ancestors/Blair/Blair.htm

Let's hope that Montgomery Blair doesn't wind up on the cutting room floor!

UPDATE:

Blair certainly has not wound up on the cutting room floor as he is being played by 86 year old Hal Holbrook. I hope Spielberg uses CGI on Holbrook's face as Blair was in his late 40s/early 50s during the years he was Lincoln's postmaster general (1861-64)!

Mean Streets?

2011-09-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

Every fall when institutions of higher learning start classes, I begin to get emails from both local as well as not so local graduate students (Canada, I'm talking about you) . They have a paper to write and have chosen Silver Spring as their topic.

The below email arrived in my in-box today:

"Hello. My name is BLANK and I am a senior psychology major attending BLANK. I have been living in Silver Spring for the past four years. I have an assignment for my Urban Sociology class where I need to look at the population demographics of Silver Spring from the year 2000 to now. I was able to find some information on the census website, but a lot of people tell me Silver Spring used to be a tough area not too long ago. I was wondering if you would be able to give me some insight on how the area has changed, what caused the social change to occur, and around what year(s) did it happen? I would be very appreciative of any information you would be able to give me. Thank you."

I smiled at the thought of Silver Spring being thought of as "a tough area." By 2000 both Whole Foods (then named Fresh Fields) and Strosniders Hardware opened in "Phase One" of Silver Spring's "Town Center." Discovery Communications and the American Film Institute had also decided by 2000 to locate here.

This "tough area" is one of the biggest (sub)urban myths that Silver Spring still seems to be trying to live down. I've lived in downtown Silver Spring since 1992 and have been a visitor since the late 1970s and never once felt any more endangered here than anywhere else in the DC metro area that I have ever been to.

I welcome readers' opinions/answers to this student's questions. Please post comments and I will share them with this individual. Thank you.

See the World's Largest Acorn & More Unusual Local Attractions!

2011-09-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the world's largest (man-made) acorn can be found right here in downtown Silver Spring or that a statue of a lobsterman is in Washington, DC?

These and other greater Washington one-of-a-kind landmarks and destinations will be featured on More Unusual Attractions, to air on October 7th and 10th at 9 pm on WETA TV 26.

I will appear in the segment about Silver Spring's historic circa 1850 Acorn Gazebo, located in Acorn Park at the corner of East-West Highway and Newell Street. For information about the other landmarks and attractions that will appear in the program, visit the More Unusual Attractions Map.

Please join me this Saturday, October 1st, for a walking tour of historic Silver Spring that will include the Acorn Gazebo along with other fascinating insights into Silver Spring's history.

The tour kicks off at 10 am from the Silver Spring Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, 8100 Georgia Avenue, and concludes at noon. The cost is $5 per person. Reservations are not required. Limited parking available in front of the station or a short walk from the Silver Spring Metro Station. Well behaved dogs welcome!

(The railroad station is open FREE from 10-3 on Saturday.)

Hope to see you Saturday!

"Nothing By You"

2011-09-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

I had a good chuckle when I came across this cartoon on p. 35 of the September 12, 2011 issue of The New Yorker.

Get it?

For those who don't, the cartoon depicts a stylized view of the 5th Avenue facade of the landmark 1911 New York Public Library as seen from E. 41st Street. The banner hanging over the entrance is chiding the reader who would be so lucky to have a work represented in one of the greatest libraries in the world.

To which I immediately thought, "Hey, maybe I do!"

Off to http://catalog.nypl.org/ I went and in the author field I typed "McCoy Jerry A." and hit the "Submit" button. My jaw dropped.

There, shelved inside this century old marble Beaux Arts edifice designed by Carrère and Hastings, sits Downtown Silver Spring in the Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy. The neighboring book to the right is Smith Island, Chesapeake Bay by Frances W. Dize and to the left sits another book on Silver Spring, Enchanted Forest Glen : the Endangered Legacy of National Park Seminary Historic District in Silver Spring, Maryland.

I have been planning a visit to NY see the High Line and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. To these sites I will now add Room 121 of the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

New TD Bank Location Features Historic Silver Spring Mural

2011-07-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

Customers entering the recently opened TD Bank "store" at 8661 Colesville Road (inside City Place) will be greeted by a large colorful mural depicting Georgia Avenue as it looked in 1927. The original source black and white photograph was supplied by the Silver Spring Historical Society.

These murals are a unique feature of the interior decor of TD Banks and allow local historical societies to educate customers about the visual history of the community where the bank is located. This is the second time that SSHS has worked with TD Bank, having provided another archival image for its 3132 Briggs Chaney Road location that opened in 2008.

Small 11" x 17" poster versions of each mural are available for free at each respective bank. Stop in and take home a piece of Silver Spring's history with you!

Jerry A. McCoy poses with Delana H. Coyle, Assistant VP and store manager of the downtown Silver Spring TD Bank. The mural depicts Georgia Avenue at the intersection of Wayne Avenue in 1927. The brick building is St. Michael's Church, which sat in the middle of today's Wayne Avenue

This 2008 mural depicts the way Georgia Avenue at Silver Spring Avenue looked in 1917. TD Bank lobby, 3132 Briggs Chaney Road, Silver Spring, MD. Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.

World's Largest Acorn & Other Amazing Sites

2011-06-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I conducted a free walking tour of south Silver Spring as part of the 14th Annual Montgomery County Heritage Days Weekend. About a dozen engaged and interested participants attended which was a really nice antidote to recent criticisms expended about SSHS's historic preservation efforts. Here are a few photographs taken by George French. As always thanks George!

I hereby proclaim this structure WORLD'S LARGEST ACORN

(pay no attention to Raleigh, North Carolina's claim)! Located

in Acorn Park, corner of East-West Highway & Newell Street,

this gazebo was constructed circa 1850 by Benjamin C. King at

the bequest of Silver Spring founder Francis Preston Blair for

his wife Eliza Gist Blair.

Directly across from the Acorn Gazebo is the "birthplace" of Silver Spring, the original
spring discovered by Francis Preston Blair in 1840 (courtesy of his horse Selim).
Blair began construction of his country estate Silver Spring nearby in 1842 which
led to the growth of our community. No, the water is not from the spring,
which ceased flowing about 70 years ago, but WSSC tap water!

Across from Acorn Park is the 1946 Canada Dry Bottling Plant, designed by New York City

industrial architect Walter Monroe Cory whose motto was "Factories CAN be beautiful."

The bottling plant closed in 1999 an reopened in 2005 as the Silverton Condominiums

(although everyone I've ever talked to who resides there say they live in "Canada Dry").

Silver Spring's Lost Bungalows

2011-06-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

One hundred years ago a real estate advertisement for a nine room Silver Spring bungalow appeared in the June 18, 1911 Washington Evening Star newspaper. Owned by James H. Cissel, president of the Silver Spring National Bank (est. 1910), this new slate-roofed home featured a full basement, front porch, furnace heat, hot and cold running water, electric lights, and a fireplace.

Situated on a 50 ft. by 220 ft lot all of this was yours for $5,500. If not ready for home ownership, the bungalow could be rented for $40 per month. Adjusted for inflation, these costs would be about $127,000 and $925 respectively. Still a bargain!

Courtesy Washingtoniana Division, DC Public Library

Unfortunately this house is no longer extant. It was originally located at 913 Sligo Avenue and was typical of the residences constructed in the Silver Spring Park subdivision, located on the east side of the Washington & Brookeville Turnpike (today's Georgia Avenue).

Beginning in the mid 20th century, this home and dozens of others located on Sligo, Silver Spring, Thayer, and Bonifant streets between Georgia Avenue and Fenton Street were converted to commercial use or simply razed to make way for larger structures. A few of the homes escaped destruction and can be seen in the area known today as Fenton Village. Today, a portion of the bungalow's footprint is occupied by The Nora School, 955 Sligo Avenue.

Another view of 913 Sligo Avenue (right) taken on June 21, 1917 by
Washington, DC postcard photographer Willard R. Ross.

Five homes were located on the north side of the 900 block of Sligo Avenue
between today's Mayor Lane (above the "G" in "SLIGO") and Fenton Street on
the right. From 1931 Atlas of Montgomery County, Vol. One. Collection of
the Silver Spring Historical Society.

More Was Misplaced Than the Extra "S" !

2011-06-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the opportunity to use the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, an on-line database of citations to articles in approximately 300 current and over 1,000 retrospective architectural and related periodicals dating from the 1930s to the present. Access to such a database is invaluable when researching architects, their buildings, or even structures located in specific locations.

Unfortunately this very expensive database is not available via Montgomery County or District of Columbia public libraries or even Montgomery College. It is primarily found at universities and it was through Catholic University that I was able to access it.

A quick keyword search of "Silver Spring, MD" pulled up multiple hits but one immediately jumped out at me:

Title: Tourist Center [Silver Springs, Md.]

Source: Progressive architecture, 1958 Apr., v. 39, p. 146-148, illustrations, plan

Language: English.

Abstract: Victor A. Lundy, archt.

Subject(s): Vacation camps

People: Lundy, Victor Alfred, 1923-

Document Type(s): journal article

A tourist center was planned for Silver Spring in 1958? That was news to me! It made perfect sense. Perhaps the center was to serve as a gateway to tourists planning to visit the Nation's Capital. Visions of an awesome example of mid-century roadside architecture formed in my mind. I couldn't wait to see not only what this structure looked like but where it had been planned to be built.

Palm Spring, CA Visitors Center, originally built in 1963 as the Tramway Gas station.
Photo courtesy Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism.

Luckily the DC Public Library carries original back issues of Progressive Architecture and I was able to access to April 1958 issue. I laughed when I flipped to page 146 of the issue only to see:

Photo courtesy DC Public Library.

Oh well. I still think a tourist center in downtown Silver Spring is a good idea. A great location would be the empty c. 1850 Moorings mansion in Jesup Blair Park near Georgia Avenue and the DC/MD line.

Celebrating Silver Spring's Treasures

2011-04-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

May is the National Trust for Historic Preservation's National Preservation Month and this year's theme is "Celebrating America's Treasures." The purpose of this advocacy is to showcase our country's diverse and unique heritage and downtown Silver Spring is certainly home to a wide variety of treasures worth celebrating.

One such treasure is the building located at 8412 Georgia Avenue, constructed in 1937 as the Silver Spring Post Office. This federal buildings (the first to be erected in Montgomery County) was one of 1,100 post offices constructed in the United States between 1934 and 1944 that featured murals or sculptures commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture. Fourteen of these post offices were located in Maryland with three in Montgomery County (the other two were Rockville and Bethesda).

Located in the lobby of Silver Spring's new post office was a 16-foot-long oil on canvas mural titled The Old Tavern by Nicolai Cikovsky. The mural depicted the crossroads of Sligo, Maryland (today’s intersection of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road) at the end of the Civil War. Civil War Union soldiers are reading mail picked up at a tavern located where Discovery Communications stands today. When the post office closed in 1981 and relocated to Second Avenue, the mural was carefully removed from the wall, placed in storage and promptly forgotten.

In 1994 after a year long search I located the mural rolled up in a cardboard carpet tube that was stored in the basement of the demolished (2003) Blair Station Post Office, located at 8045 Newell Street. A three-year effort was commenced by the Friends of the Silver Spring Library to raise $25,000 to conserve the mural, which was badly deteriorated. In 1997 the restored mural was ceremoniously unveiled at the Silver Spring Library where it is now on permanent view. I'm told that the mural will become the centerpiece of the new Silver Spring Library, planned for the corner of Fenton and Bonifant streets.

After the mural was removed from the post office in 1981, the rest of the interior was completely gutted. Disposed were the postal clerk windows, post office boxes, writing tables, highly stylized ceiling light fixtures (they looked like miniatures of the planet Saturn), and a plaque honoring the individuals responsible for the post office’s construction. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s name was prominently placed near the top of this plaque.

Although no extant photographs had surfaced showing the plaque in situ, documentation of its existence was established through a full-scale architectural rendering housed in the archives of the Silver Spring Historical Society. Long had I wondered what became of the plaque, along with everything else that had graced the lobby.

In 2006 I received a note in the mail from the manager of the Silver Spring Library. A man in Western Maryland had mailed to the library a small black and white photograph. The image showed a group of well-dressed men lined up in front of the Silver Spring Post Office. Written on the back was, “Silver Spring Post Office / Recruiting Office in 1942."

This was new information to me as I had not known that the draft board during WW II was located in the post office, theorizing instead that draftees went to 1927 Maryland National Guard Armory, located east of Georgia Avenue on Wayne Avenue. The Armory, a Montgomery County-designated Master Plan for Historic Preservation structure, was demolished in 1998 for construction of a parking garage that was built five years later.

The library manager thought that the Silver Spring Historical Society would be an appropriate home for the photograph. Little did the manager, or I, know what other “treasures” the donor of this photograph possessed.

Enclosed with the photograph was contact information for the sender who lived in Little Orleans, Maryland. I immediately called the gentleman, identified myself as founder and president of the Silver Spring Historical Society, and explained how the Silver Spring Library had sent me the photograph. When the man said, “I also have a plaque if you want it,” I couldn’t believe what I had heard. Without asking I knew exactly what plaque he was referring to.

It turned out that the caller had worked at the Silver Spring Post Office from 1958 to 1975. Later, he had advanced to the position of postmaster of Mt. Rainier, Maryland and the plaque was given to him by a fellow post office employee who had obtained it when the Silver Spring Post Office's Georgia Avenue facility closed in 1981. The plaque was in his shed where it had been sitting for over two decades.

"I’ll be out this weekend,” was my response! I knew the exact location of Little Orleans, 108 miles west of Silver Spring, as I had stopped there during a four-day C & O Canal bicycle “ride through” from Cumberland, MD to Georgetown in 2003. My companions and I had replenished our water bottles at the landmark Bill’s Place in Little Orleans where I, of course, had no idea that the object of my desire was just up the hill and around the bend.

The plaque, fabricated of cast aluminum, weighs 17 lbs. and measures 21” x 32”. Also donated to the SSHS a hinged 3 1/2” x 5” front door to PO Box 413 that was in the post office’s lobby. The cast aluminum front features a proud, bas-relief eagle surrounded by radiating lines with the locking mechanism centered in a shield placed over the eagle’s breast. I wondered whose hands had held the many keys that opened and closed this door for forty-four years and what missives did the door guard?

The Silver Spring Historical Society desires to permanently exhibit these items alongside the mural at the new Silver Spring Library. An offer was made a couple of years ago to officials with the Montgomery County Public Library system to display the items at the new library but no acceptance was ever given. So attention MCPL! Display of these and many other historical artifacts located in our archives are still available and would serve as a wonderful library amenity to educate the public about Silver Spring’s fascinating heritage!

If you or someone you know worked for the Silver Spring Post Office on Georgia Avenue, please share your reminiscences (and perhaps photos) with the Silver Spring Historical Society. Please email me at sshistory@yahoo.com.

Not Even the Dead Get Respect

2011-04-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

On April 14th the Silver Spring Historical Society commemorated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Norman Lane, the "Mayor" of Silver Spring. A brief ceremony was held on Georgia Avenue at the statue depicting Norman that was created by artist Fred Folsom in 1991. The event included the placing of a beautiful floral wreath generously donated by Bell Flowers.

During my remarks to the five people who took the time to remember Norman, I mentioned that I expected the wreath to be stolen before the day was over. Well, I was a bit too pessimistic. It lasted four days before it was ripped off. Whoever stole it, sometime between Sunday afternoon and this morning, couldn't be bothered with the metal stand that the wreath was attached to and left it behind.

This event sadly reminds me of a recent exchange I had with an individual who thought "someone" should find a copy of the Grecian nymph statue that originally graced (nearly a century ago) the stone grotto of the Silver Spring and install it. I told this person that such a statue wouldn't stand a chance of surviving because vandals would either destroy it or steal it outright. This person was incredulous that anyone would do such a thing.

Ah, the joy of ignorance.

The little benevolent piece left inside of me should say, "If this person needed the flowers so badly, then they should have and enjoy them." But it just can't. For too long disrespect has been shown to Silver Spring's heritage and this theft is simply the latest example.

Happy 100th Birthday Norman!

2011-04-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

Half a dozen folks gathered this morning at Georgia Avenue's Mayor's Promenade to honor the 100th birthday of Norman Lane. Placed before artist Fred Folsom's 1991 portrait bronze statue of Norman was a beautiful floral wreath donated by Bell Flowers (thanks Chad Mangum!).

(Left to right) Chad Mangum, Jerry A. McCoy, Charles Atwell,
Richard Jaeggi, Chris Matthews, unidentified. Top & bottom photos by George French.

The quick 15 minute event began and ended on a note that Norman would have especially appreciated. A homeless man approach one of the free newspaper boxes positioned directly opposite the statue. He opened the box and started rooting through the newspapers and, one by one, pulled out four cans of malt liquor.

After the formal portion of the ceremony was over a few of us were talking when a different homeless man came around the corner singing out loud and barged right into the middle of our group. He asked for money for "coffee." In return he was asked, "Do you know where you are going to go to buy it?" He responded, "No." It was suggested to him that Kefa Cafe would be a good place to go! I don't know if money was proffered for at that point I needed to leave to go to work.

This fall will be the 20th anniversary of the statue's dedication. Perhaps another event can be held to commemorate one of the best examples of public art in Montgomery County.

Photo by Jerry A. McCoy

"Don't Worry About It!"

2011-04-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

Thus was the catch phrase spoken by Norman Collins Lane, affectionately known as the "Mayor of Silver Spring," who was born a century ago on April 14, 1911. Norman was a homeless man who spent the better part of twenty-five years walking the streets and alleys of downtown Silver Spring.

This dignified portrait of Norman was taken in 1971.
Copyright Dave Stovall.

He collected handouts of money and food and did odd jobs around the community. One of these jobs was as a groundskeeper picking up trash at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. One day in October of 1965 he encountered the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson. President Johnson was at Bethesda to have his gall bladder removed and supposedly said to Norman upon meeting him, "Christ, you look in worse shape than I do!"

Photograph taken in 1965 of Norman meeting President Johnson.
The photo is inscribed, "To Norman Lane
With best wishes Lyndon B. Johnson." Collection of Iris Hyson.

Norman's beverage of choice was Pabst Blue Ribbon beer...morning, noon and night...and he usually wore a construction hard hat. Robert Phillips, owner of the Silver Spring Auto Body Co. (demolished) provided Norman with a cot and a hot plate in his business, the closest that Norman would accept to the comforts of a home. Norman liked to rummage through the dumpsters behind Bell Florist and Pumphrey's Funeral Home (demolished) where he would retrieve discarded roses and then proceed to give one to each woman he passed on Georgia Avenue.

For years this sign was attached to the Silver Spring Auto Body Co. until it disappeared
in 2003 after the business shut down. Photo taken by Jerry A. McCoy in 1996.

Silver Spring Auto Body Co. sign donated by Charles Atwell.
Collection of SSHS Archives.

When the ABC television show "Real People" featured a 7 1/2 minute segment on Norman in 1979, it asked people in downtown Silver Spring if they'd vote for him if he ran for office. Everybody said sure with one black guy responding, "Why not? The last two white men I voted for were bums too."

Such a colorful personality seemed to beg to be immortalized and that was what artist Fred Folsom did, starting in 1974 by creating dozens of studies, paintings and lithographs depicting Norman. On October 11, 1991, four years after Norman passed away in the back seat of an National DC cab abandoned off of Sligo Avenue, Folsom dedicated a life-sized bronze portrait of him.

Oil on masonite, 12" x 12", by Fred Folson, copyright 1987.
Collection of Jerry A. McCoy.

The bust is located in the walkway, named "Mayor's Promenade," located next to 8219 Georgia Avenue. This walkway led back to the front door of the Silver Spring Auto Body Co. The alley that this business faced, running parallel to Georgia between Thayer and Sligo avenues, was also named "Mayor Lane."

Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.

Please join the Silver Spring Historical Society on Thursday, April 14th, at 9:00 a.m to honor Norman on his 100th birthday. If anyone knew him, we would love to hear some stories. And if anyone knows how the tune goes, we could sing this song written in 1979 by Harry Merrick, then the lead singer of the five-member Chase Holiday Band...

"He's walking down the sidewalk, moving kind of slow. He looks kind of funny, but he's never feeling low. And if you ask him he'll tell you everything is OK. He never worries, you can always hear him say, 'It's all right, don't worry about it.'

He's the mayor of Silver Spring, Norman is his name. Things will come and go, but he'll always stay the same. People have to relax and take it day by day because he never worries and you can always hear him say, 'It's all right, don't worry about it.' "

I'm Walking Yes Indeed I'm Talking...

2011-04-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I led a two hour, half mile walking tour of Downtown Silver Spring for about twenty folks. The free tour was filmed and will appear as a short segment of the cable television show Paths to the Present: Montgomery County Stories, produced by Barbara Grunbaum for County Cable Montgomery and the Montgomery County Historical Society.

Mike the cameraman films the group in front of the 1922 Silver Spring National Bank,
scene of our community's first bank robbery. Photo by Barbara Grunbaum.

The walk was held in association with the Montgomery County Historical Society and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County as part of the dual exhibits Between Fences and Good Neighbors: Fences in Montgomery County, currently on display at the Silver Spring Civic Building thru April 30, 2011. Between Fences is a traveling exhibit organized by the Smithsonian Institution and is well worth seeing, as is Good Neighbors, organized by the MCHS.

For me the tour was reaffirming after last Monday's depressing loss before the Historic Preservation Commission of the Silver Spring Historical Society's nomination of the 1956 First Baptist Church of Silver Spring. It was nice to be surrounded by like-minded individuals who believe that it is important to preserve Silver Spring's history. They were engaged, interested, and asked questions about the many buildings that I profiled, including the ones that were no longer extant. Sadly, some of these lost structures were standing when I first began to offer these tours over ten years ago.

"If you've got a camera, take a photo of this church while it's still here!"
Photo by Barbara Grunbaum.

A "Currier & Ives" view of the First Baptist Church of Silver Spring.
Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.

Tour participant looks a photos of the 1927 Silver Spring Armory, a designated historic
structure destroyed by Montgomery County in 1998 for construction of a parking garage.
A piece of the armory is in the background. Photo by Barbara Grunbaum.

The tour concluded at Silver Spring's restored 1945 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station.
Open for free tours the first Saturday of each month, a new attraction at the station is the
installation of a large model railroad display...swamped by kids! Photo by Barbara Grunbaum.

Here is a Bargain!!

2011-03-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

Today at work I was clipping copies of 1940s Evening Star newspapers. Even though the DC Public Library's Washingtoniana Division has this newspaper on microfilm, whenever I encounter original loose copies I always go through them and clip interesting photographs to place into our Washington Historical Image Collection.

In the February 8, 1941 issue (p. B-5) I found this awesome advertisement for a bungalow in the Blair Takoma section of Silver Spring. $5,750 doesn't sound like much money and indeed, when adjusted for inflation today equals only about $86K

The bungalow was constructed in 1925 and last sold in 2005 for $450,000, which certainly would have amazed Mr. Phillips! It appears to look much as it did 70 years ago, with the only difference being today's reverse color scheme, chimney cap addition, and simplified porch railing.

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Next American City » Buzz » Misunderstanding Historic Preservation

2011-03-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Next American City » Buzz » Misunderstanding Historic Preservation

From the Archives I

2011-02-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

The Silver Spring Historical Society recently acquired this cigarette lighter, which probably sat on an engineer's desk at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory during the 1950s or 60s. The APL, as it was known, was located at 8621 Georgia Avenue from 1942 to 1976 when it was closed down.

According to Phillip R. Hays, PhD LT USNR-R, the AN/SPS-30 referred to on the lighter's plaque was a shipboard air search radar that had the ability to
determine altitude of a target as well as bearing and range. This type of radar was often called a "3D" radar.

Such radar installations consisted of an antenna and pedestal, the transmitting and receiving equipment, and a control unit. The control unit was something like a radio tuner for your home entertainment system. It allowed the operator to adjust the operating characteristics of the radar set.

APL was most famously known for the development of the Proximity VT (Variable Time) Fuse, credited by military leaders as second in importance to the atomic bomb in ending WWII. APL management must have had a penchant for making souvenirs for their employees after they completed a contract. A souvenir VT fuse (it looks like a small missle) is owned by the Laurel Historical Society and Museum.

The vaguely art deco APL (shown here in a 1946 postcard) was razed sometime in the 1980s. If anyone knows the exact year, please let me know. For the past three decades the footprint of the structure has been used as a parking lot located next door to the Lee Building at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road. This would have been a great building on Georgia Avenue's streetscape had it managed to survive, instead of the gapping hole we have long had to live with.

Paths to the Present Video Features Silver Spring Landmark

2011-02-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

Here is the most recent Paths to the Present video that features Silver Spring's Fire Station #1 Restaurant & Brewing Co.

Owner/founder Jeremy Gruber is a preservation "angel" for saving this nearly century old landmark, unlike others in Silver Spring who continue to destroy our cultural history.

THANK YOU Jeremy!

Happy 150th Birthday Willard R. Ross

2010-12-24T15:52:00.000-08:00

Today is the 150th birthday of Washington, DC photographer Willard R. Ross. Born in Ohio on December 24, 1860, Ross moved to the District of Columbia around 1910 and commenced business for himself as a postcard photographer specializing in "hometown" views.

Ross documented Silver Spring twice with his large format camera that utilized glass plate negatives, once in 1917 and then again in 1928. This view of Brookeville Pike, today's Georgia Avenue, was taken on June 21, 1917 and tweaked to reflect the spirit of the holiday season.

If the buildings in the left foreground look familiar to you that is because all of them have miraculously survived to see the 21st century. The porch on the left is today's display windows of Plaza Artist Materials (the unseen American four-square house attached to the porch is encased in the present structure). Next is a two-story wood frame structure that today houses Bell Flowers. Other than having been covered in stucco, this circa 1910-15 structure looks almost like it did a century ago. Just across Silver Spring Avenue is the original 1914 Maryland National Guard Armory, which begat the Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Dept. #1 that in turn begat today's Fire Station 1 Restaurant & Brewing Co.

To view all of the other known images that Ross took of Silver Spring, see chapter one "Through the Lens of Willard R. Ross: Silver Spring in 1917 and 1928" in Historic Silver Spring.

Wishing you all Happy Holidays and a Healthy and Happy 2011!

"Downtown Silver Spring" THE BOOK is Here!

2010-11-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

WHAT: Release and book signing of Downtown Silver Spring by Jerry A. McCoy

WHEN: Saturday, November 6, 2010, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

WHERE: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, 8100 Georgia Avenue (@ Sligo Ave.), Silver Spring, MD

Jerry A. McCoy and the Silver Spring Historical Society are proud to announce availability of the newly published book Downtown Silver Spring. Featuring a foreword by nationally renowned mystery writer and local resident George Pelecanos, this 96-page softcover book contains over 100 never-before-published "Then & Now" images of downtown Silver Spring.

The cost of the book is $21.99, cash or check only. With the holidays right around the corner, Downtown Silver Spring is an excellent gift for current and former residents or those who would just like to learn more about the fascinating history of downtown Silver Spring.

Also available will be the 2005 book, Historic Silver Spring, for $19.99. Buy both for $35.00 (a 16.5% savings).

For recent articles about the book and author, see:

http://www.gazette.net/stories/10272010/takonew204436_32540.php

http://silverspring.patch.com/articles/jerry-mccoy-a-qa-with-silver-springs-unofficial-historian

Information:
(301) 537-1253

Hope to see you Saturday!

Peeling Back the Layers of Silver Spring's History

2010-10-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks I will be posting images that superimpose archival views of Silver Spring over the locations where the photographs were originally taken.

In most cases nothing of the earlier image survives, as is the case with this 1940s photograph of Wright's Jeweler-Optician at 8229 Georgia Avenue. This was watchmaker William M. Wright's second location on the avenue, his first being at 8421 that opened in 1936.

Wright had the one-story brick building, constructed in 1933, refaced with black Vitrolite glass panels that served as background to a prominent neon sign that spelled out his name in cursive letters. It is not known what color the neon was.

Vitrolite was a popular opaque glass available in various colors that was associated with the Art Deco movement. It was used in both new construction as well as renovations. Nothing of this striking facade survives. Today, passersby are treated to a bland glass and corrugated metal facade.

This never-before-published photo is from the archives of the Silver Spring Historical Society and will appear in the forthcoming book Downtown Silver Spring, authored by myself and featuring a fascinating foreword by George Pelecanos. A book signing (sorry, George will not be there!) will take place on Saturday, November 6th, from 10-3 at the historic Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station, 8100 Georgia Avenue. Cost of the book is $21.99.

Copies of the 2005 book, Historic Silver Spring ($19.99) will also be available. Only cash or check will be accepted.

There But For the Grace...

2010-09-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Most every morning when I walk to the Silver Spring Metro station I see a red motorized wheelchair parked in a corner of the glass "V" bus shelter at Bonifant Street and Dixon Avenue. The wheel chair is occupied by a slumped individual with a coat draped completely over his or her person.

One morning I actually observed a passing pedestrian lift up the corner of the jacket to check if the person was OK (i.e. alive). At that moment I still couldn't make out the person's gender.

It was thus with great surprise and concern that I saw the red motorized wheelchair with its fully revealed occupant today around noon sitting next to the Safeway on Fenton Street. An elderly homeless man was sleeping in the wheelchair under the shade of a tree.

Does anyone know anything about this individual? It deeply distresses me that here in Montgomery County, one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, this disabled senior citizen is living out on the streets of our "revitalized" community.

I suspect that if this man decided to spend the night or take a nap on Ellsworth Drive, he wouldn't be there long. Surely our local social services know of this individual. Why is he not being helped?

Any insights would be welcomed.

UPDATE:

9/24/10
This gentleman was sleeping at the "V" bus shelter this morning at 7:45 am.

Little Tavern Lives On (Somewhat)

2010-09-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

Good to Go Carryout: Laurel Tavern Donuts

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Washington Post
p. E3

When Will Kwon opened Laurel Tavern Donuts in 2008, he stepped, quite unaware, into one long shadow. "It's a doughnut shop," he insisted, referring to the business plan he had crafted. "But people kept asking for burgers!"

Message received. Within a week of opening the doors to the cozy, green-and-white, faux-Tudor space, Will and his wife, Jin, rolled out mini-burgers, pairing them with house-made doughnuts. That did the trick.

The burgers (three for $2.99) are still small, square and topped with the same blend of chopped onions and Montreal steak seasoning as those sold by the previous tenant: Little Tavern, part of a now-defunct chain. The Kwons got the recipe from a woman who was a longtime manager there, "but now we buy a better grade of beef," Will said.

They also make sure the burgers are uniformly cooked, unlike those I remember from the Georgetown outlet I frequented during my bar-hopping days. The flavorful meat is nestled in a soft bun.

"Club LT," which started up in 1927 in Louisville, popularized the slogan "Buy 'em by the bag," selling single burgers for a dime and coffee for a nickel. The company relocated to the Washington area in 1928. Opened in 1939, the Laurel shop was among the last few in the chain to shut down.

In its new incarnation under the Kwons, who owned a doughnut franchise in Memphis, the doughnuts are the headliners. And for good reason. The glazed doughnut (79 cents) is as light and fluffy as a Krispy Kreme, and it melts in your mouth. Ditto the angel creme, strawberry jelly and apple cinnamon.

Will, 49, begins making them from scratch starting at 3 a.m. "The first batch is ready at 5," he says. "We open at 5:30." During the next three hours or so, he will have turned out two giant batches (he won't divulge numbers) of assorted doughnuts displayed for public inspection in bright yellow trays.

The menu recently evolved to include a short list of traditional breakfast items. Eggs and cheese and ham and eggs ($2.49) come off Jin's tiny grill in perfect condition: no watery interior, no singed edges. And like everything on the menu, they're served from sunup to sundown. The eggs taste rich, but Jin, 46, insists she doesn't slather the grill with oil or butter when making them. "People don't like greasy," she says.

Other winners include the breakfast platter: two eggs with a generous helping of bacon, sausage or turkey, home fries and toast ($3.99); grilled cheese ($2.49); and grilled ham and cheese ($2.99).

The shop is all about takeout. Missing are the eight or 10 stools at the busy counter where the person who cooked your food was the same one who rang the register.

Laurel Tavern attracts a motley crew. Feds from Fort Meade and NSA grab and go. Washington-bound MARC train riders show up for their fix. And employees of the Laurel Park racecourse have a standing order of five dozen doughnuts each week, Jin reports.

It should be against the laws of nature to serve fine eggs and doughnuts without also pouring good coffee. Not to worry. The Kwons brew a Colombian blend that's bold and beautiful.

- Tony Glaros

Laurel Tavern Donuts 115 Washington Blvd. S., Laurel. 301-362-7551. Hours: Mondays through Fridays, 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m; Saturdays, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Comments:

Its good to know that a remnant of the great Little Tavern chain survives. Thank you Mr. & Mrs. Kwon.

Jerry A. McCoy, President
Silver Spring Historical Society
Silver Spring, Maryland
(Former home of Little Tavern #1, built 1935, destroyed 2003.)

Circa 1940 advertisement for Silver Spring's Little Tavern
#1, formerly located at 8230 Georgia Avenue (corner of
Ripley Street). Collection of the Silver Spring Historical Society.

Time to Move?

2010-09-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

While flipping thru the Whole Foods "Whole Deal" bi-monthly newsletter I spot an "article" on sale wine they are featuring. "Wait a minute," I think.

Then I see it at the bottom..."Please note: in some governmental and geographical areas, we are not legally permitted to sell wine in our stores. Time to move?"

No, time for our Montgomery County government to privatize the sale of alcohol.

Discovery Communications HQ Hostage Crisis

2010-09-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

For two hours while at work in DC I kept tabs on the unfolding drama of the hostage situation playing out at the Discovery Communications headquarters in downtown Silver Spring. Far more riveting than any crime drama on television, the event came to conclusion around quitting time a little before 5:30 pm.

Hopping onto a practically empty Metro (see what you folks who leave town early for a long Labor Day weekend miss?) I arrived at Silver Spring. From the Metro platform I could see that Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue were still closed to traffic but that commuters were being allowed to exit Metro on the Discovery side of the station.

Approaching Wayne Avenue I could see a press conference taking place and went over to see what I had seen earlier on the air. It was somewhat surreal to see it all in person.

Unfortunately this was not downtown Silver Spring's first high profile hostage event. Just two blocks away on February 9, 1977, seven individuals were taken hostage in the Citizens Bank and Trust Co. of Maryland at Blair Park Shopping Center, known today as Blair Plaza. Twenty-seven-year-old Vietnam veteran Stephen Wyatt Gregory, armed with two rifles and 250 rounds of ammunition, fired about 200 shots inside the bank.

Seven hours later Gregory surrendered after negotiations with police, FBI, and his mother.

Pedestrians were allowed on Colesville Road
but only on the opposite side of the street from
Discovery Communications.
Copyright Jerry A. McCoy 2010.

News 4's Pat Collins reporting from the scene. Copyright Jerry A. McCoy 2010.

A scene you don't see every day during PM rush hour. Copyright Jerry A. McCoy 2010.

WUSA-TV 9's Derek McGinty (on knees in white shirt and nice tie) asks Montgomery County Chief of Police J. Thomas Manger about the death of terrorist James J. Lee who held three people at gunpoint. The press conference was held at the corner of Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue. Copyright Jerry A. McCoy 2010.

Broadcast satellite trucks on Colesville Road between the Silver Spring Metro Station and 2nd Avenue..
Copyright Jerry A. McCoy 2010.

Maryland News 83rd Anniversary

2010-08-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

Front page of the June 22, 1934 Maryland News.
The public was invited “…to read it, criticize it, make
suggestions and send in news.” The subscription was
$2.00 per year. Collection of Silver Spring
Historical Society.

Last week was the 83rd anniversary of publication of the first issue of The Maryland News, Silver Spring's first newspaper, on August 27, 1927. Silver Spring businessman E. Brooke Lee and Bethesda Chevy Chase Gazette editor and publisher Robert I. Black established the publication as a bi-weekly, countywide newspaper whose mission was to report “All the News of Montgomery County."

Initially printed on presses located in the District of Columbia, by May of 1928 the publishers had opened the Maryland News building, located at 8081 Georgia Avenue. This two-story brick structure still stands prominently on the corner of Georgia and Sligo avenues and is today part of Jackie's Restaurant.

The newspaper was composed and printed here until 1953. In 1956 the newspaper moved into the newly constructed Gist Building at 933-A Gist Avenue. Designed by Ted Englehardt (architect of the wonderful Weller's Dry Cleaners at 8237 Fenton Street), The Maryland News shared the Gist Building with the Silver Spring Shopper newspaper. Publication of the News ceased June 15, 1975.

Local newspapers have long been recognized as important sources for documentation of a community's history, for found within their pages is information available no where else. That is why their preservation through the the long-established process of microfilming and the increasingly popular digitization is critical to undertake. In my job as special collections librarian at the District of Columbia Public Library's Washingtoniana Division and Peabody Room, I am in charge of having microfilmed both past and current newspaper titles in our collections.

The Silver Spring Historical Society is fortunate to have The Maryland News preserved on microfilm covering the years 1934 to 1967. Here are found fascinating news events and human interest stories...along with occasional photographs...recording what life was like for Silver Spring's residents several generations ago. Access to the microfilm is available to researchers by appointment.

Several years ago SSHS located a private repository of original bound volumes of The Maryland News that include the years 1927 to 1932 and 1968 to 1973. Multiple requests to the owners to microfilm the materials have unfortunately been refused. The early material is especially fragile and unless preservation is undertaken soon, all of this important history will be forever lost.

If readers have knowledge of a repository of the final two years of The Maryland News from 1974 to 1975, please contact me at sshistory@yahoo.com or 301.537.1253. Thank you.

Metal and plywood Maryland News sign. Measuring 9 ft. wide x 2 ft. high, the sign (along with other
Silver Spring architectural artifacts) was offered to the Montgomery County Public Libraries system
("Where the County READS...MEETS...LEARNS") on long-term loan for display in the planned
Silver Spring Library. The offer was denied. Collection of the Silver Spring Historical Society.

Farewell Chevy Chase Bank

2010-08-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

I have had an account at Chevy Chase Bank since my wife and I moved to downtown Silver Spring in 1992. Chevy Chase is only the third bank that I have had since moving to the area in 1978.

My first bank as a sophomore at American University was Madison National Bank. I opened an account with them because they had a branch bank within walking distance in Spring Valley. During my senior year in 1980, Madison opened its first automatic teller machine on campus called "Dolley." I covered the dedication ceremony for the school's Eagle newspaper.

This ATM (which wasn't even known then by that moniker) was conveniently located in Clark Hall a few steps from my dorm, Letts Hall. With 24-hour access, I thought "Dolley" was amazing as I would be able to withdraw what little money I had.

This was the first ATM I had ever seen. My hometown bank in Lorain, Ohio...Lorain National Bank...where I had had a savings account since I was a kid, only had human beings that sat behind an open counter.

(Does anyone know what was the first bank in metropolitan Washington, DC that offered ATMs?)

I stayed with Madison until around 1984 when I got married and moved to Adams-Morgan. Madison had been experiencing irregularities in its operations and I didn't feel confident in them so I switched to Riggs National Bank, who had a branch at 1779 Columbia Road, NW that was within walking distance of our apartment. Good thing. Two years later Madison was shuttered after being in operation for only 23 years.

I really liked Riggs. This was a bank that had history and even looked like a bank! Established in 1896 Riggs'a Admas-Morgan branch was designed by George N. Day and constructed in 1928. With its two-story limestone facade designed in restrained Neoclassical style, this structure certainly symbolized what I had always thought a bank should look like. That and the fact that 22 U.S. Presidents had banked at Riggs gave me confidence that it would outlive me.

When my wife and I bought our bungalow in pre "revitalized" downtown Silver Spring in 1992, Riggs was unfortunately not located anywhere in the Central Business District. If they had been present I would still be a customer today...well, with its successor, PNC Financial Services, who took over in 2005. So instead, we opened accounts at Chevy Chase Bank, then located where Bombay Gaylord is at 8401 Georgia Avenue.

I never liked their name due to the obvious connection with the Saturday Night Live comedian. But it certainly was convenient to home, especially since they also had ATMs located in Safeway, a mere one block from our house.

I knew that change was coming to Chevy Chase Bank...to be re-named Capital One Bank...but I was still caught off guard when I came across this scene at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Bonifant Street yesterday on my way home from work. A worker was getting ready to install new signage over the corner entrance.

I just hope they ditch the "What's in your wallet?" Vikings commercial, but something tells me they will not. If so, the image of Chevy Chase the comedian wasn't all that bad.

EPILOGUE

What's in your wallet?

Uh, stolen money.

Little did I know when I took these photos of the bank that it had been robbed earlier that day!

DEPARTMENT OF POLICE

MEDIA SERVICES DIVISION

2350 RESEARCH BOULEVARD ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND 20850-3294

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 26, 2010 FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Media Services Division, 240-773-5030

Bank Robber Arrested

Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Major Crimes Division - Robbery Section announce the arrest of a man who robbed a Chevy Chase Bank in Silver Spring this afternoon.

Today at approximately 2:15 p.m., 3rd District officers responded to the Chevy Chase Bank located at 8315 Georgia Avenue for the report of a bank robbery that had just occurred.

The male suspect entered the bank and presented a note to the teller demanding cash and implying that he had a weapon. He left with an undisclosed amount of cash. A weapon was not seen and no one was injured. A look-out description of the suspect: black male, 5’10” tall, heavyset, hair in dredlocks, and wearing a red and blue plaid shirt was broadcast.

Responding patrol units located a suspect matching that description walking casually southbound on Georgia Avenue toward East West Highway. He was taken into custody without incident. The cash stolen from the bank was recovered.

Carl Coleman Purvis, Jr., age 42, of the 500 block of Peabody Street, NW Washington D.C., was charged with armed robbery and theft. He is currently being held at the Montgomery County Detention Center. Bond information is not yet available.

To see a photo of the bank robber, go to http://connectedcommunities.us/showthread.php?t=38458

"Happy" Birthday Silver Spring Armory

2010-08-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

On this date 83 years ago, Silver Spring's Maryland National Guard Armory opened. Despite being a designated Montgomery County Master Plan for Historic Preservation structure, this community landmark was demolished in 1998 by vote of the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission.

Bordered by Wayne Avenue, Fenton Street, and the no longer extant Pershing Drive*, this monumental structure was eventually replaced five years later by the Wayne Avenue parking garage. The Armory is "commemorated" by architectural fragments scattered along the sidewalk in front of the garage.

*So much for Silver Spring's honoring of General John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing. The only segment of the drive that remains in the Central Business District is the short section that essentially serves as Whole Foods' entrance off of Cedar Street.

Regular U.S. postage stamp issued in 1961.

Summer dance program at the Silver Spring Armory.
Photo copyright 1998 Jerry A. McCoy.

Silver Spring Armory front (west) elevation.
Photo copyright 1998 Jerry A. McCoy.

Silver Spring Armory architectural fragments placed alongside
Wayne Avenue parking garage. Photo copyright 2005 Jerry A. McCoy.

The ultimate sacrilege committed against the Silver Spring Armory was the severing of the concrete bas-relief Maryland State flag into four quadrants. Two of the quarter sections were placed back to back, on this pylon, and erected at one of the parking garage's entrances. The other two quarter sections were similarly placed at the opposite end of the garage. This disrespect would have never been shown if this had been the United States flag. The same etiquette applies to state flags but our Montgomery County Government was/is ignorant of this fact. Photo copyright 2005 Jerry A. McCoy.

Greetings from Silver Spring, Maryland

2010-07-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

During the brief, violent storm that blew through Montgomery County last Sunday, I was standing in front of my house under the porch and watched in amazement as a torrent of water flowed south down the full width of Grove Street. Suddenly, the transformer at the top of the telephone pole on the corner of my lot exploded...a deafening, chest-thumping sound that I am all too familiar with. I immediately thought to myself, "Well, how many days will we go without power this time?"

After three days of living and trying to sleep in a dark house where the post-storm temperature quickly climbed into the nineties, my wife and I bailed and checked into the Courtyard Marriott. Located on Fenton Street a short three blocks from our house, I couldn't believe that we were paying $199 a night. This was more than we paid last year at this time when we stayed at the historic Sir Francis Drake Hotel off of Union Square in San Francisco! But desperate times call for desperate measures.

I quickly decided to experience our visit as if we were first-time visitors to Silver Spring and to see how well this corporate chain hotel acknowledged the community beyond its Dryvit-covered walls. Walking into the hotel's Fenton Street lobby across from Whole Foods we were greeted with three large framed vintage photographs of Silver Spring. "Nice," I thought.

I should know, as the Silver Spring Historical Society provided them to the hotel when it opened in 2005. Three more framed photographs are located up on the third floor, two behind the registration desk and one next to the fake fireplace in the lounge area. All have descriptive labels indicating what the images show.

Other than these photos, that was it for informing a visitor unfamiliar with Silver Spring what local "attractions" were available. The complimentary USA Today and Wall Street Journal newspapers were on the counter. I guess having copies of the Gazette or the Silver Spring Voice would have taken up too much space. I couldn't even find the traditional hotel rack of brochures publicizing local businesses...a perfect venue for copies of the Buy Local Silver Spring Guide.

I didn't even bother to check the postcard rack in the hotel's small gift shop for a "Greetings from Silver Spring, MD" postcard to send the folks back home. Has it really been 70 years since the last one was published?

Tichnor Brothers, Inc. of Boston published this 1940s Tichnor Quality View postcard. A generic design, the postcard featured a blank pennant upon which a community's name could be overprinted. From the collection of the Silver Spring Historical Society.

I decided to make my own postcard and hereby share it with all.

The photo was taken out of the window of Room 525 at 6:23 am on the morning of July 29, 2010. The steeple belongs to St. Michael's Church. I was really impressed by the tree canopy of our East Silver Spring neighborhood (PEPCO blames the area's prolific trees for all of the power outages in the area that it serves...the third-densest "tree population canopy" in the US behind Atlanta and Portland, OR ).

Why, Silver Spring almost looks like a New England village! Wish you were here.

Dog Days of Summer

2010-07-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

I'm at work today at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G Street, NW in Washington, DC. I just went outside to mail some letters and the temperature is approaching 100* F. Out on the library's plaza I came upon this site.

I felt so sorry for these dogs. The black puppy looked absolutely lethargic. There was a bowl of water.

The owner was certainly inside the library. Gotta wonder where he is peddling from and where he is going.

Acquisition - Silver Spring Society of Model Engineers B&O RR Station Arch. Drawing

2010-07-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

The Silver Spring Historical Society recently received this reproduction of an architectural drawing of the 1945 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, located at 8100 Georgia Avenue.

Donated by Mr. Frederick Dorsey, the 17 1/2" x 23 1/4" copy was drawn by C. F. Wilding in September 1950 for the Silver Spring Society of Model Engineers. The scale is 3.5mm = 1'0" "Full Size for HO Gauge." The location of the original rendering is unknown.

Nothing is known about the Silver Spring Society of Model Engineers, Mr. Wilding, or for what purpose this copy was created. It could have possibly been a souvenir of the station for the members of this society.

If anyone has additional information, please post it to the comments section. Thank you.

See the Fake Children...

2010-07-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

I was pleased to see this recent commentary written on the backside of a LONG FENCE metal sign that had been bent backwards. The sign is attached to the chain link fence that surrounds the empty lot in the 900 block of Thayer Avenue.

The fake children refers to an art installation that appeared in this lot last month and surprisingly is still on display.

"This Used to be a Helluva Town, Officer"

2010-07-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

These were the last words uttered by Lloyd Nolan's character to a Los Angeles police sergeant played by George Kennedy in the 1974 camp disaster flick Earthquake.

Silver Spring may not have been destroyed, but based on all the anecdotes posted on various area listserves, the 3.6 magnitude rumble felt by many this morning at 05:04:47 AM left quite an impression.

Help add to the historical record by taking a few minutes to recount your experience at the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazards Program.

Good Time Had By All at B&O RR Station

2010-06-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

With temperatures hovering in the high 90s, better attendance than expected greeted the 13th Annual Montgomery Heritage Weekend at Silver Spring's historic 1945 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station, June 26-27, 2010.

Returning again this year was the Northern Virginia N-Trak Model Railroad Club with their impressive scale model train layout.

This year they added a dramatic trackside building in flames that all too much reminded me of my place of employment, the Georgetown Branch Library, when it went up in flames in 2007!

Musician Rick Franklin performed and sang wonderful acoustic Blues music on his impressive 1929 guitar and old timers (L-R) Rick Nelson and Robert Davis discussed trains.

The highlight of Saturday was the opening of the Moose Lodge "time capsule." Stay tuned for the results!

Time Capsule Reveals Further Silver Spring "History Mystery"

2010-06-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

Today's time capsule opening was reported by the Associated Press. If you didn't attend, you'll just have to wait until the video is posted here (and on YouTube) to see what was inside!

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1989632

Love a Local Business (Kefa Cafe)

2010-06-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

Intuit Small Business is sponsoring Love a Local Business, "Where praise pays your favorite local business." Please vote for Kefa Cafe on Bonifant Street!

•Voting is easy. Just share a few brief sentences about why you love the business.

•Your vote is like a raffle ticket. The more voes a business gets, the more chances they have to win one of three grants awarded each month that are worth $5,000.

•Your words matter! Our judges will review the 9 businesses who win between April and June to select one who will win the Grand Prize, small business grants worth $30,000.

Since 1996 Kefa Cafe has occupied a wonderful 1928 structure located at 963 Bonifant Street. This organic coffee/tea and sandwich business has become a beloved neighborhood institution, offering not only drink and food but art displayed in the connected “Space 7:10” gallery, named for the clock on the wall perpetually stopped at 7:10. Owned and operated by (L-R) sisters Lene and Abeba Tsegaye, the below photograph of them will appear in my new book, Downtown Silver Spring.

Please vote for them!

Elysian Fields

2010-06-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Sometime over the past week four whimsical foam core and cardboard figures were placed in the empty lot on the south side of the 900 block of Thayer Avenue. Considering that there is a chain link fence around most of the property, someone scaled the 6 ft. cinderblock wall at the rear of the lot (as I did to take these photos) to install figures of three Dick and Jane era figures as well as one Man in the Gray Flannel Suit businessman.

What does this art installation mean? Perhaps pending loss of green space represented by the children running through grass (well, actually weeds) while being observed by the businessman in the distance who personifies continued redevelopment of downtown Silver Spring.

A year ago this same field really represented its natural potential. Two Mallards appeared to have set up home in a pond that formed in a depression in the lot after heavy rains. The "pond" was where two wonderfully maintained early 1920s bungalows (razed in 2007) used to be located. This free duck lodging was short lived when debris from brick and cinderblock garages, that were located around the corner on Mayor Lane, was used to fill in the low spots.

The rest of this lot was occupied by an important piece of Silver Spring's history. Located at 958 Thayer Avenue was a rare example of an intact 1946 pre-fabricated facade designed by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. The Silver Spring Historical endeavored to have the facade preserved and installed, complete with Roadhouse Oldies sign and 45 rpm records displayed in the windows, in the new Silver Spring Library. This effort was greeted with disinterest by library officials. SSHS disassembled all of the aluminum trim and still has it in storage for recreation of the facade elsewhere.

I'd like the thank the artist who brought a smile to my face with their figures and for a moment made me forget about all of the lost Silver Spring history that this empty lot represents.

Rolling Down the River...

2010-06-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

Today I did something I never did before in the 32 years I've lived here...kayaking on the Potomac River. My friend Patty and I launched from the delightful Jack's Boathouse in Georgetown.

I knew immediately where I wanted to head, Analostin Island/Mason's Island, known today as Theodore Roosevelt Island. What I particularly wanted to see up close are large outcroppings of rocks on the north side of the island (facing Georgetown). This was the location of a well-known Civil War photograph taken by George N. Barnard that shows Union soldiers sitting and standing on the rocks as well as riding on the Georgetown ferry-boat.

The ferry-boat is leaving the the island and transporting a couple of wagons. The docking site was at the foot of High Street, today's Wisconsin Avenue. In the far background is the Aqueduct Bridge, an amazing feat of structural engineering (1833-43) that transported canal boats across and above the river from the District of Columbia side to Virginia.

What is even more amazing is what the wagon on the left is transporting. Not military armaments or supplies, as one might think, but snacks! Stenciled on the side canvas flap of the wagon is:

SUPERIOR

HULLED CORN.

POPPED CORN & CORN BALLS.

There is an address underneath that appears to be somewhere in Washington, DC but is not legible. Perhaps some later research will reveal the location of this important war-time purveyor of victuals.

Not all of the rocks appear to have survived 150 years, but most of them are still there. The Aqueduct Bridge survived until 1933 when it was removed. One of its rusticated piers remains near the Virginia side and on the DC side the bridge's abutment that includes two of its arches is intact (left of the green Potomac Boat Club).

Patty and I heading ashore after our two hour tour.

Silver Spring Heritage Trail Map

2010-05-26T09:41:00.001-07:00

The Silver Spring Heritage Trail was dedicated on April 17, 2010 and is Montgomery County's first trail dedicated to the exploration of a community's local history. The first six of twenty planned signs are located on a four block stretch of historic "Main Street" Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring. Each sign relates unique stories of the men, women, and places that contributed to making Georgia Avenue a rare surviving example of an early to mid 20th century commercial street scape.

Click on the map to make larger.

"Early Family Businesses" heritage trail marker located in front of

8223 Georgia Avenue. Photo by Jerry A. McCoy

Dedication day crowd gathers around the "Lumber, Lunch & Lyrics" heritage trail

marker at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Ripley Street. Photo by George French.

(Left to right) Charlotte Coffield, Jerry A. McCoy, and Patricia Tyson pose next to the

Maryland News/Gifford's heritage trail marker at the corner of Georgia Avenue and

Sligo Avenue. Photo by George French.

Loyal Order of the Moose "Time Capsule" Uncovered!

2010-05-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

You have probably walked or driven past 926 Wayne Avenue lots of times and never realized that the former 1938 house was the longtime headquarters of the Loyal Order of the Moose Silver Spring Lodge 658. The house and several other structures was recently demolished to make way for construction of the new Silver Spring Library.

I was inside the lodge only once to hear live music being performed. While I enjoyed the "down home" atmosphere and camaraderie, I didn't enjoy the smoking and never returned. A few weeks before the headquarters was demolished a couple of Silver Spring Historical Society colleagues and I toured the inside to take photos and to search for any Moose artifacts for the society's archives (with permission of the Montgomery County government, owner of the building).

The bar was covered with signatures left by, I presume, lodge members who had raised a toast at truly the last last call. The pool tables had been left in place, water pouring through the holes in the ceiling (it was raining the day of our visit) that had been made by the Silver Spring Fire Department as part of their training exercises.

One item that I really would have like to have acquired for SSHS was the large Loyal Order of the Moose logo that had been painted onto a sheet a opaque Plexiglas. It would have been extremely difficult to remove from the wall and besides, with no place to store it, was left to the wrecker's ball.

SSHS was fortunate to be able to retrieve the 1969 cornerstone that had been set into the rear addition added onto the original house. This was where the bar, pool hall and dance floor was located. I suspected that there might have been a "time capsule" placed behind the corner stone and, sure enough, workmen found a small metal band-aid box wrapped with black electrical tape (shown sitting on top of the cornerstone). Something is inside

As part of the 13th annual Montgomery County 2010 Heritage Days weekend, join the Spring Historical Society for our community's first time capsule opening in the 21st century! The time capsule's big reveal will take place on Saturday, June 26th, 3:00 pm, at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station, 8100 Georgia Avenue. Come and see what has been hidden for 41 years.

Historic Silver Spring Building Feaured on New Web Site

2010-05-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

The 1958 Perpetual Building Association building (aka SunTrust Bank) at 8700 Georgia Avenue is featured on the new web site, Defining Downtown at Mid-Century: The Architecture of the Bank Building & Equipment Corporation of America. Perpetual appears under the Architecture tab in "Featured Buildings."

Co-designed by BB&ECA architect W.G. Knoeble and Washington, DC architect Robert O. Scholz, this structure is the finest example of postwar International Style architecture in Silver Spring. The building is currently threatened with demolition as the owner has submitted a project plan to construct a 14-story apartment building on the site. To learn more about this important structure, click HERE.

This Walter Oates photograph appeared in the March 4, 1961 Evening Star. Photo courtesy Star Collection, DC Public Library, © The Washington Post.

R.I.P. Winsor the Plaza Art Cat (1992-2010)

2010-05-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

I was saddened to see the pictured flier hanging in the front door of Plaza Artist Materials (8209 Georgia Avenue) when I walked by this morning. Even if you've never patronized this businesses (Shame!) but only walked past the store front, you have undoubtedly seen either Winsor or his sister Newton lounging in the display windows.

Named after the manufacturer of art materials founded in London in 1832, Winsor was the one who had a patch of white on his chest while Newton's coloration is all orange. Suspecting that no other Silver Spring business has a resident cat so visible to the public, I always enjoyed seeing either one lounging on the counter while a purchase was being made.

When I asked an employee if Newton, who was sleeping in the front window, was acting differently the response was that she seemed "happy!" Perhaps sibling rivalry extends to the animal kingdom as well.

2009-10-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

Figuring that I needed to take a more aggressive approach to getting the public interested in preserving Silver Spring's history before the developers knock it all down, I enlisted the help of the below "volunteer" to work at the Silver Spring Historical Society's booth, set up last Saturday at the Fenton Street Market.

Actually, he (she?) belonged to the folks next door who were selling dog treats. While looking a bit intimidating, the dog was actually quite friendly and never once barked during the entire five hour time that the market was opened (as opposed to my back, which was barking from sitting and standing that long)!

A group of high school students, whom market manager Hannah McCann had enlisted to help vendors set-up, stopped by and started thumbing through a copy of Historic Silver Spring. They became very enthusiastic as they recognized photos of various places in Silver Spring and couldn't believe how it used to look.

They even proclaimed that I had the 'coolest" booth at the market. I felt heartenend that perhaps there is a chance that the current generation might take an interest in preserving our community's history.

Picturing Old (and Not So Old) Silver Spring

2009-10-02T06:17:00.000-07:00

Appearing next year at a bookstore near you...if there are still any in business by then...will be Then & Now: Silver Spring, to be released by Arcadia Publishing. This will be a follow-up to my 2005 book, Historic Silver Spring, published in 2005.

While my first book was released as part of Arcadia's "Images of America" series, this one will be part of its "Then & Now" line (even though I would love to have it titled Then & Again in acknowledgement of my column, which has appeared in the Silver Spring Voice since February 2003). The "Then & Now" series consists of about eighty paired photographs arranged in thematic chapters that illustrate how a community has changed over the course of half century or so...for better or for worse.

My hope is to have very little repetition of images in the two books and to do this I need your help. It took me almost a decade to assemble the 200 images that appeared in the first book and then many of the photos were contemporary views that I took. When the book came out, several folks complained about such and such a place not being featured. When I asked them if they had an old photo of said place (for I didn't), they replied that they also didn't...except the one person who said that he did!

A huge gap in the visual documentation of downtown Silver Spring as it appeared in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s still exists. I know these photos are out there, probably still in scrap books, photo albums, and shoe boxes and being stored in basements or attics (never good places for materials like this) or under beds or in closets (better). If you have any photographs of downtown Silver Spring taken during this period (or even earlier) that you would like to be considered for use in the new book, please contact me.

One of the chapters in the book will be devoted to Silver Spring Park, better known today by its generic moniker East Silver Spring. Surveyed in 1905, the borders of this now over 100-year old neighborhood were originally Bonifant Street on the north, Cedar Street and Carroll Lane on the east, Sligo Avenue on the south, and Georgia Avenue on the west.

I hope to feature many pairings of "Then & Now" photos of houses located in this historic neighborhood, both extant and lost. Two of the houses for which I have located vintage images are reproduced here.

Situated at 732 Thayer Avenue is a unique residence whose simple lines belie its age. Constructed around 1905 by James Edward Faulconer with help from his father John Benjamin Faulconer, the house was originally to have been one story. Father convinced son that he needed more room and should add another level. Together they framed the second level which afforded much needed space for the five children that would eventually be raised there.

732 Thayer Avenue, constructed ca. 1905 by James E. Faulconer
and his father John. Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.

The same house as it appeared in the 1940s. Photo courtesy
Deborah McGreevy.

Design and construction ran in the Faulconer family for John's other son, also named John, became a professional architect. Standing at 805 Silver Spring Avenue is a wonderful circa 1918 bungalow that he designed for John and Estelle Crawford. Mr. Crawford was a signal man for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and later an electrician. The house has been beautifully restored and appears nearly identical to the way it did nine decades ago

805 Silver Spring Avenue, constructed ca. 1918 from a design by

John M. Faulconer. Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.

The same house as it appeared in the 1920s. Photo SSHS Archives.

There are probably more vintage photographs yet to be found of the many historic homes constructed in the early 20th century in Silver Spring Park. If you have an early image of one of these houses, please contact me at (301) 537-1253, email sshistory@yahoo.com, or write Silver Spring Historical Society, PO Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD, 20910. Our web site is www.sshistory.org.

Architectural Surprise on Thayer Avenue

2008-06-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

For me the best part of conducting historical research is the serendipity of discovering a really interesting piece of information while looking for something completely unrelated. Such was the case recently while scanning through newspaper microfilm of the 1946 Silver Spring Standard. I was looking for stories about the opening of Tastee Diner that year when I came across “Silver Building Gleams in Glass At the Busy Bonifant Corner” on the front page of the April 19th issue.

The article was about the tenants occupying 8248 Georgia Avenue; a two-story commercial structure originally built in 1927 but, according to the article, newly remodeled and renamed the Silver Building. The building is no longer extant. Sometime around 1972 the structure was heavily damaged by fire and razed. Today the lot is occupied by a playground and parking lot owned by the Bethel World Outreach Ministries International.

One of the tenants of the Silver Building was “well-known businessman” August F. Kohlman, an optician and jeweler. Mr. Kohlman was occupying room number 200 but only temporarily while work was underway on his new shop at 922 Thayer Avenue that “was designed and is being erected under the supervision of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Corporation.” As I read this I could literally feel my eyes open wide with excitement!

For years I’ve walked past 958 Thayer Avenue (originally numbered 922), the long time home of the landmark “oldies” record store Roadhouse Oldies, and I instinctively knew that there was something special about the store front’s architectural design. Featuring a center entrance flanked by two protruding glass display cases, the bulk of the façade is constructed of intricately cut and installed metal trim, molding, sash, and fluted panels.

Above the entrance and display cases, and extending the full width of the store front, is an expanse of opaque glass blocks. This light source easily takes up a third of the store front’s overall design before it is vertically cut short by a small projecting canopy.

What also makes the façade of 958 Thayer unique was my suspicion that it was the only “survivor” of what had probably been three identical store fronts, the other two with the addresses of 956 and 954 and located directly to the east. All three businesses are contained within a single structure built in 1946. At some time over the past six decades the owners of the other two businesses decided to “update” the look of their shops. This involved tearing out the original store fronts and replacing them with new glass windows set into brickwork.

Aware as I am of the architectural detailing of commercial buildings located in Silver Spring’s Central Business District, and knowing that there were no other structures similar to this design, I felt it prudent to set aside my original research on Tastee Diner and see what I could find out about the fabricator of the 958 Thayer Avenue façade.

The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company was founded in 1883, oddly enough not in its namesake city but in Creighton, Pennsylvania, located twenty miles northeast on the Allegheny River. Known since 1968 as PPG Industries, Inc., the company today has 125 manufacturing facilities and subsidiaries around the world.

In 1936 the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, in an effort to promote wider use of its products, inaugurated a traveling exhibit of twelve architectural model store fronts featuring the latest developments in commercial design, construction, lighting, and color schemes. Meant to encourage retailers to modernize their establishments, these one-seventh scale models had their debut in New York City on September 8th of that year and went on a “caravan” tour of 75 cities in the United States.

Commenting on the exhibit, PPG Co. Representative Edward L. Patton stated, “…the final test of whether or not a store front is successful depends on whether or not it ‘pulls.’ Instance after instance may be cited where sales increases have followed or a new tenant secured that made the modernized property a worth-while investment” (“Improving Store Fronts: Demand Far Exceeds the Supply, Edward L. Patton Says,” New York Times, August 30, 1936). Three months later the caravan arrived in Washington, DC and set up in the display rooms of the Electric Institute, located in the Potomac Electric & Power Co. Building, 929 E Street, NW.

The following year Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. published in 1937 Pittco Store Fronts: 12 Suggestions for Store Front Modernization. Pittco Store Front Metal was a subsidiary company of PPG Co. and produced the trim, molding, and sash materials that were utilized in these store fronts. Likewise another subsidiary, Pittsburgh Corning Glass Block, manufactured the glass block that was frequently incorporated into the store fronts.

Throughout the 1930s and ‘40s these three companies heavily advertised in the architectural trade journals of the time. A double page PPG Co. advertisement spread that appeared in the May 1944 Architectural Digest trumpeted “Interesting Ways to Use Glass in Commercial Buildings.”

A caption in this advertisement accompanying an illustration of a modern store front proclaimed, "Store fronts must have sales appeal...the ability to turn sidewalk traffic into store traffic. Pittsburgh Glass Products are calculated to supply the beauty and appeal you demand in the execution of your store front designs. Carrara Structural Glass in many colors, PC Glass Blocks, Herculite, Pittsburgh Plate Glass and Pittco Metal work as a team to help you create exteriors of distinction." The facade of 958 Thayer incorporates the latter three of these PPG Co. products.

Perhaps Mr. Kohlman learned of the availability of these ready-designed store fronts via any one of the many advertising venues and decided that should he ever have the opportunity to own his own ground-floor business, he would make sure it had a Pittsburgh Plate Glass store front.

The first listing for Kohlman’s Jewel Shop at 958 Thayer Avenue (phone SHephrd-7272) appeared in the September 1946 Washington Metropolitan Yellow Pages. Subsequent listings appeared in the June 1947 and March 1948 editions. The next business to occupy the address was Maternity Lane; “Smart Fashions for Every Occasion and Every Budget” touted an advertisement that appeared in the December 19, 1948 Washington Post).

Below is a list of subsequent businesses that occupied 958 Thayer Avenue (published years obtained from Polk’s Silver Spring City Directory):

1960 - Davis & Carmack Inc. (sound equipment).
1962 & 1964 – Deaner & Son (electronics).
1966 – Vacant.
1968 – Keyser-Deaver (audio electronics repair).
1969 & 1971 – Universal Tailoring Co. & Voula’s Dressmaking Studio.
1973 – Sam Lim’s Lighting Design Co.

By late 1974 the little store front whose façade never changed, only the businesses inside, saw the arrival of a tenant who must have liked the neighborhood because it is still there 34 years later…Roadhouse Oldies! Originally located at 946 Sligo Avenue, this establishment was started by then WGTB-FM radio jock Alan Lee and encyclopedic record collector Les Moskowitz. The record store originally specialized in 1950s rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues recordings.

Still owned today by Lee with the assist of longtime manager and disc jockey Warren “Scooter” Magruder, Roadhouse Oldies has deservedly earned its reputation as a landmark Silver Spring small independent business. Today their stock encompasses 1950’s and ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll, doo-wop, Motown, and ‘70s and ‘80s soul music on 45s, LPs, CDs, DVDs, and cassettes. Its patronage extends far beyond the local community, having a national reputation for being able to procure hard-to-find collectible recordings. Unfortunately, Roadhouse Oldies’ current location with its original store front is endangered.

The owner of 954-56-58 Thayer has plans to raze the structure to construct an office and retail development project. Doing so will not only destroy this historic 1948 Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. store front, but also displace Roadhouse Oldies along with the two other small independent businesses in the building, the Silver Spring Mart and TravelCo International.

While the Silver Spring Historical Society fervently hopes that the developer of this project will assist these business owners to remain in downtown Silver Spring, it is also our desire to see the developer preserve the store front of 958 Thayer Avenue, an effort that I have no doubt would prove to be incredibly newsworthy by the public at large.

The SSHS would like to suggest to the developer that this store front, including the current contents of its display cases and the Roadhouse Oldies sign, be systematically disassembled and reconstructed as a permanent exhibit in the new Silver Spring Library!

Imagine it. Patrons who visit the “Popular Library” area of the new library, where videos, music CDs, audio books, etc. will be housed, could walk past the Roadhouse Oldies store front in whose display cases reside the artifacts of a 20th century sound reproduction medium… 45 r.p.m. (revolutions per minute) and 33 1/3 r.p.m. LPs (“long” playing) record albums.

An entire generation has come of age never having played a record album on a turntable much less having seen either in person. What an incredible opportunity this installation would be to not only teach visiting library patrons about our society’s technological and architectural past but to also serve as a exhibit of Silver Spring’s history.

A similar historic preservation project has already been accomplished at Rockville’s new library, located at 21 Maryland Avenue. Installed in one of its meeting rooms is a complete 1914 marble soda fountain that at one time graced Vinson’s Drug Store, a popular Rockville business. Owned by Peerless Rockville, that city’s historic preservation organization, the soda fountain was never previously assembled and displayed because of lack of space. Now all can see, enjoy, and learn about Rockville’s past when visiting the library.

Why shouldn’t Silver Spring’s residents and visitors be able to readily do the same?

If you have any information/photographs on any of the individuals/places profiled in this article, please contact the Silver Spring Historical Society at PO Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1160, email sshistory@yahoo.com, or call 301.537.1253. The society’s web site is http://www.sshistory.org/. Silver Spring's heritage can only be preserved if you share it with us. Thank you!