November 2008
by Jerry McCoy
This past summer marked the 50th anniversary of a redevelopment project that not only destroyed a historic building of local, state, and national importance but forever altered the natural topography of our community. The structure was Montgomery Blair's post-Civil War mansion Falkland, which sat on the crown of a tree-covered 360 ft. hill overlooking downtown Silver Spring.
by Jerry McCoy
This past summer marked the 50th anniversary of a redevelopment project that not only destroyed a historic building of local, state, and national importance but forever altered the natural topography of our community. The structure was Montgomery Blair's post-Civil War mansion Falkland, which sat on the crown of a tree-covered 360 ft. hill overlooking downtown Silver Spring.
If you've ever patronized any of the businesses at the Blairs Shopping Center, located at the corner of East-West Highway and Colesville Road, you might find it hard to believe that this was where such an estate stood. On September 7, 1958, at the request of Blair family descendents who wanted to develop the property, the mansion was burned downed by the Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Dept. Prior to the conflagration, hundreds of century-old trees that graced the hill upon which the house stood were cut down. In short order the hill was graded into oblivion and in its place was created a blank slate for construction of a shopping center.
Southwest elevation of Falkland Manor taken circa mid-1950s by Don Fugitt Studio, 914 Thayer Avenue. Collection of SSHS.
Oddly enough, this wasn't the first time that Montgomery Blair's house was burned down.
The
original Falkland, constructed circa 1852, was the third of three
country estates constructed in the mid 19th century by members of the
Blair family in what would become downtown Silver Spring. The other
two were Silver Spring, constructed 1840-45 by Francis Preston Blair,
Sr., founder of Silver Spring and Montgomery's father, and the
Moorings, constructed in 1850 by Montgomery's younger brother James.
Montgomery
Blair was born in Franklin County, Kentucky in 1813. An 1835 graduate
of West Point, Blair studied law in St. Louis, Missouri where he became
a U.S. attorney for that state. At the age of 29 he became the mayor
of St. Louis. Blair moved to Washington, DC in 1852 and established
his residence at Blair House, located on Pennsylvania Avenue diagonally
across from the White House. In 1857 he served as counsel in the case
of slave Dred Scott, who wanted to sue in federal court for his freedom
and that of his wife after their owner had moved them to Missouri, then
free territory (the case, argued before the Supreme Court, failed).
Same southwest elevation of the mansion with porch fully engulfed in flames. The third floor, attic, and roof have already collapsed. Note the drop-off to the left of the hill upon which the house sat. Photo taken September 7, 1958 by John O'Brien. Collection of SSHS.
Blair
served as President Abraham Lincoln's United States postmaster general
from 1861 to 1864 and is credited with founding the Universal Postal
Union. The UPN created an agreement between nations, which
standardized postal rates and services. During his term Blair also
originated prepaid postage, free mail delivery in cities, money orders,
and railway postal cars.
Shortly after 1852
Blair began construction of his country estate on land adjoining his
father's home, Silver Spring, located a quarter of a mile to the
southeast. Blair named his mansion after Lord Falkland who had owned
the land as part of a royal grant. In July of 1864 tragedy struck when
the house was burned to the ground in the aftermath of the retreat of
Confederate troops following the Battle of Ft. Stevens in Washington,
DC.
A crowd gathers on the east side of the mansion. The pathway led down the hill to East-West Highway. Note the man on the right with arms on hips standing atop one of the felled trunks of one of the many massive oak trees that dotted the hilltop. Photo taken September 7, 1958 by John O'Brien. Collection of SSHS.
Who
was to blame for the fire? Here is who Montgomery's son, Gist Blair in
"Annals of Silver Spring," (Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
Vol. XXI, 1918, p. 176), accused:
"(Confederate) General
(Jubal) Early burned my father's house, known as Falkland, which
adjoined that of Silver Spring. It was a total loss, because although
insured it was not insured against the public enemy. General Early
afterwards denied having authorized this vandalism, when it was
criticized by good people everywhere."
Blair then goes on to quote from "General Early's interview:"
"...when
in front of Washington some of my troops were very determined to
destroy the house of Mr. Francis P. Blair and had actually removed some
furniture probably supposing it to belong to his son, a member of the
Federal Cabinet. As soon as I came up I immediately stopped the
proceeding and compelled the men to return every article so far as I
knew and placed a guard to protect it. The house of his son,
Montgomery Blair a member of the Cabinet, was subjected to a different
rule for obvious reasons."
Montgomery Blair was commemorated on this 15c air mail postage stamp issued by the United Stated Post Office Dept. and first sold on May 3, 1963 in Silver Spring, MD. Collection of Jerry A. McCoy.
However,
according to Blair Lee, a nephew of Montgomery Blair, retreating
Confederate troops were not to blame. Lee recalled that Confederate
Major General John C. Breckenridge, a distant relative of the Blairs
and participant in the Battle at Ft. Stevens, had sought shelter at
Blair's Silver Spring mansion. Breckenridge had set guards around
Blair's home to protect it from the host of camp followers, civilian
vandals, looters, and pillagers who had followed in the wake of
retreating Confederate troops. Early did not take this precaution at
Falkland and it was these camp followers--not Confederate troops--who
set fire to Falkland.
Whoever
was responsible for setting the fire, the resulting ruins were
dramatic. An engraving titled "Ruins of the Blair Mansion, Near
Washington--From a Sketch by our Special Artist," appeared in the
August 6, 1864 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. This publicity
undoubtedly spurred tourists to journey out from Washington to view the
ruins.
Montgomery Blair's original Falkland Mansion in ruins in the months after the July 11-12, 1864 battle at Fort Stevens in Washington, DC. Note the tourists who journeyed out from the city to view the devastation. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Montgomery
Blair rebuilt Falkland and lived in the house, passing away there in
1883. The house passed on to Montgomery Blair II, a lawyer, who raised
his family of seven children in the 30-room mansion. By 1934 the
structure, by then referred to as Falkland Manor and owned by the Blair
Management Corp., was being run as a guest hotel operated by Mr. And
Mrs. Oliver E. Ragonnet. Mr. & Mrs. David P. Tinley took over
operations in 1950 when the 25-room mansion was turned into a boarding
house for professional men and women.
The
28-acre wooded tract of land upon which the estate sat was sold by the
Blair Management Corp. in 1957 for $1 million to the Tower Construction
Co. who planned to develop the site for construction of apartments and
a "modern" supermarket.
The hilltop upon which both of Montgomery Blair's homes sat is today the parking lot for the Blairs Shopping Center. This view is looking south. Photo taken 2003 by Jerry A. McCoy.
Hundreds
of area residents came out on September 7, 1958 to watch the mansion go
up in flames from the comfort of their lawn chairs. Said Mrs. Adolphus
Staton, a granddaughter of Montgomery Blair's who spent time at the
house as a child, "I guess burning the mansion down to make way for
progress was about as dignified a way to go as any." Four years
earlier "progress" had also taken Francis Preston Blair's mansion
Silver Spring, which stood for nearly 110-years at the intersection of
Kennet and Newell streets in south Silver Spring.
Only
James Blair's the Moorings has managed to survive into the 21st
century. Listed on Montgomery County's Master Plan for Historic
Preservation, the house is located in Jesup Blair Park (named after
James' son), and is situated at the southern gateway into Silver Spring
on the corner of Georgia Avenue and Blair Road. Owned since 1991 by
Montgomery County's Housing Opportunities Commission, the property is
utilized as a residence for single mothers.
If
you can share with the Silver Spring Historical Society any photographs
or memories of any of the Blair estates, please contact SSHS at PO Box
1160, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1160 or email sshistory@yahoo.com. The
society's web site is www.sshistory.org. Future historians will thank
you!
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