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Takoma Archives
Sligo Creek: Tales of boating, ice skating
and turn-of-the-century gamblers
By Diana Kohn
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 Photo by Morris Bien; Courtesy TPHS
Young boys once took advantage of the cool waters of Sligo Creek on a hot summer’s day. |
Eight point three miles. That is the official length of Sligo Creek as it meanders from its headwaters in Wheaton to join the Northwest Branch of Anacostia River at the western edge of Hyattsville. Two of those miles run through Takoma Park, and they continue to enrich our community. The advantages provided by Sligo Creek were not lost on Benjamin Franklin Gilbert when he was searching for suitable land to create his vision of suburban living in 1883.
In his real estate brochures, Gilbert extolled the charms that border Sligo, comparing it to Tennyson's "Song for the Brook": "It gathers its cool, clear waters from numerous springs as it flows onward over its 'stony ways.' The heavily-wooded slopes of its banks are extremely beautiful and the scenery of its glens is wild and romantic. Here the fern grows in great profusion and wild flowers of every hue abound. The waters of the Sligo glide, rather than rush, over the rocks, [making] this as a place where any well-ordered man should be free from world troubles."
Others had been here before him: Native peoples wandered the waterways along the Anacostia since before 3500 B.C. Charles and Daniel Carroll built a distillery and grist mill (near the New Hampshire Avenue intersection), only to abandon it four years later. Even Francis Preston Blair, who built his mansion near the silver spring he discovered, carved out a bridle path along the creek banks (the first Sligo Creek Parkway) for his wife's use. The first bridge was wood, built at water level in 1878, where Old Carroll Avenue intersects the creek. The 1909 replacement spanned the ravine as it does today.
But the year 1900 brought dramatic changes to the creek.
For one thing, the two natural springs and private wells could no longer provide enough water for the rapidly expanding Takoma Park population. That year the town spent $30,000 to build a filtration plant and pump station at where Maple Avenue met Sligo Creek, and added a water storage tower near Ethan Allen and Sycamore Avenues.
This was also a time when family resorts, like newly opened Glen Echo, were all the rage. Businessman Alva Wiswell made an alliance with the trolley-car operators: If they would extend the trolley-car line from downtown Takoma to Sligo Creek, he would build a grand family resort to attract customers. A new "Dinky Line" trolley carved its way through the woods between Ethan Allen Avenue and Sligo Creek (to the foot of what is now Heather Avenue).
By May 1900, both Glen Sligo Hotel and Wildwood resort were open for the amusement of all, promising "polite vaudeville," picnic parties, boating on Sligo Creek, and dancing in an open air pavilion, built on the foundation of the old grist mill. (Click here for details of the Dinky Line walking tour being offered on Sunday, April 17.)
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 Photo courtesy of Historic Takoma
Wildwood Resort opened on the banks of Sligo Creek in 1900, featuring vaudeville and dancing, but was a short-lived experiment in family entertainment. |
Unfortunately, Mr. Wheeler suffered financial losses little more than a year later, and sold his interests in Wildwood to a group of Baltimore businessmen. They set up race-track betting in the hotel and the families no longer came. The community protested, of course, and one day the Prince George's County Sheriff Ben Hardesty and his posse staged several dramatic raids on the hotel turned poolroom with guns drawn. The raids were illegal, but by 1904 the resort was closed for good; by 1920, the hotel was torn down and houses began to replace the wilderness.
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Learn more about
Sligo Creek
On Sunday, April 17, Clair Garman of Historic Takoma will conduct a free walking tour tracing the route of the Dinky Line and pointing out the sites of the old Grist Mill, Glen Sligo Hotel, and Wildwood Resort. Meet at 1:00 p.m. at the Takoma Park-Silver Spring Co-op, corner of Ethan Allen and Carroll Avenues. Please call 301-270-1254 for more information. This tour is part of Walkingtown DC, a free weekend of walking tours, sponsored by Cultural Tourism DC.
[Also as part of Walkingtown DC, Historic Takoma will offer a free tour of Old Takoma, on Saturday, April 16, beginning from the Takoma metro at 1 p.m.]
Sally Gagne of Friends of Sligo Creek has published a history of the North Hills of Sligo Creek , including a CD of photographs. Contact her at sgagne@erols.com or 301-588-2071 to order.
Friends of Sligo Creek needs volunteers for two days of spring cleanup on the creek . The work day on Saturday, April 16, from 9-11 am, will clean up the area from Piney Branch Road to Wayne Avenue. Then on Saturday, April 23, join them from 10:30 am to 2 pm for the launch of the Removing Invasive Plants Project (RIPP), at Sligo Creek Parkway and Flower Ave. Bring the family for music, activities, and "The Big Pull," a group effort to remove the invasive vines threatening trees along the Creek. Check www.fosc.org for more details. |
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The same year Wildwood closed, the Seventh-day Adventists began their own construction on Sligo Creek, just east of Maple Avenue. At the invitation of Mr. Gilbert, they took over the 100 acres on Sligo that had been cleared by a Boston doctor named Flowers in anticipation of opening a medical complex. Dr. Flowers died before completing his project, but the Adventists saw the cleared land as a gift from God, and proceeded to build a college and a sanitarium.
The school eventually became Columbia Union College, and the Sanitarium quickly earned a reputation for its gourmet vegetarian meals and emphasis on the therapeutic value of rest and clean air. In those days, Sligo Creek was deep enough in spots that the Adventists could built a boat dock next to the sanitarium and encourage patients to go for boat rides.
On two occasions over the years, the Creek has been the scene of tragic deaths. In 1932, three workers attempting to demolish the Carroll Avenue bridge died when the bridge collapsed prematurely and fell 75 feet into the rocks below. Decades later, in 1969, two Prince George's County firefighters died trying to rescue a family swept into the creek during a raging storm. A memorial plaque praising their heroism can be seen at the Carroll Avenue bridge.
In 1927, E. Brooke Lee of Silver Spring used his political power to protect Sligo Creek and the other local streams when he created the Maryland National Capitol Parks and Planning Commission (MNCPPC). Its unusual three-county jurisdiction continues to protect the Creek and guide its rehabilitation.
Older residents still remember when Sligo Creek provided a place for swimming in summer and ice-skating in winter. Those days are long gone--erosion of the creek bed and increased runoff from urbanization has altered the Creek.
In recent years, however, MNCPPC has begun a concerted effort to manage stormwater and rebuild the streambed. Perhaps one day Sligo Creek will again resemble Gilbert's long-ago description. |
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