Montgomery Blair Coming to a Screen Near You?

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?

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!

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"

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

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

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

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.