Takoma Archives

The most visible landmark of Takoma Park's Victorian past is the grand three-story Queen Anne residence sitting on the hill at the corner of Eastern Avenue and Piney Branch Road. Constructed in 1887, it survives into the 21st century thanks to the dedication of recent owners to preserve this architectural gem.

In its early decades it was known as Lucinda Cady's house, though today it is popularly called the Cady-Lee, reflecting the lives of both Lucinda and her daughter.


The story begins in 1886 when Takoma Park was a fledgling suburb of 100 people and 16 completed houses. Lucinda and her husband Henry A. Cady arrived from Ashland, Virginia, and commissioned Leon Dessez, an up-and-coming Washington architect, to create a residence modeled on their Virginia home.

Local builder Frederick Dudley turned the design into a family home, with 12-foot ceilings, ornate mantles, carved woodwork and an elegant curved staircase.

Takoma Park founder Benjamin Franklin Gilbert was thrilled to have such an imposing residence visible from the railroad tracks acting as a gateway to his sylvan suburb. A row of large houses soon joined the Cady along the street then called Magnolia.

In 1887 Henry and Lucinda settled in their new house with five young children: three girls (Mary, Elizabeth, Ida) and two boys (John and Smith). Henry A. Cady sold insurance and real estate from offices at 520 10th Street NW, just a few blocks from Gilbert's Washington office.

On November 24, 1883 Benjamin Franklin Gilbert bought the first 90 acres of what became the sylvan suburb of Takoma Park. But what about the years before Gilbert? Who left their mark here?

You might say that this place officially enters history in 1792 when Andrew Ellicott arrived with his surveying crew to lay out the boundary for the newly created District of Columbia. First they determined the correct path through the woods, cleared 20 feet of land on each side, and finally set up a granite pillar. Our pillar--one of 40 that designated the 10-mile-square territory--can still be seen on what is now Maple Avenue just north of Carroll Avenue.

On November 15, friends and family of Belle Ziegler were joined by city officials at the park formerly known as Jequie, to unveil a new sign renaming the park in her honor.  Belle was being recognized for her community activism, most notably her work on the Independence Day parade.

Helping with the unveiling is Henry Zimbrunes (at the podium), one of the original exchange students from Jequie, Brazil, flanked by Belle's daughter Dolores and son Doug.  

For more on Belle's story, see the August 2010 Takoma Archives article: http://www.takoma.com/takoma_archives/2010/09/the-shared-legacy-of-jequie-an.html.

In the aftermath of this year's street festival, I found it intriguing to look closely as a photo I recently uncovered showing the Fourth of July, 1950 celebration. The site is the intersection of Carroll and Laurel Avenues, only then becoming the heart of the Old Takoma business district.  The crowd was gathered to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the city's incorporation.

Anniversaries may have faded in the decades since but new traditions have risen to take their place, like the September Folk Festival and the Street Festival held October 3.

The first street festival dates to August 1981, when Mayor Sammie Abbott resolved to support local merchants. What began as a Victorian Festival emerged as the Old Town Street Festival in June 1986. The winning mix of local musicians, international food, crafts, and kids activities like the moonbounce remains the formula to this day.

By Diana Kohn

With little fanfare this summer the park former known as Jequie Park officially became Belle Ziegler Park, heralded by the posting of a new sign.

Jequie is a small town in Brazil and Belle Ziegler was the indomitable spirit of our Fourth of July festivities and all things recreational. Yet the town and the person shared a history.

Takoma Park's connection to Jequie came about as "sister cities" under the international People-to-People program initiated by President Eisenhower. The idea was for American towns to pair up with foreign ones for the purposes of cultural exchange. Takoma Park jumped in wholeheartedly, choosing Jequie, a city of 51,000 in the state of Bahia, Brazil, over more famous cities.


 

The renaming of Jequie Park honors Belle Ziegler shown here in an Independence Day parade from yesteryear. 

by Diana Kohn

CASA de Maryland celebrated its 25th anniversary with the grand opening of its new Multicultural Center in Langley Park. The three-story brick building sits four blocks east of University Avenue at the end of 15th Avenue, in the midst of the 400-unit Willowbrook apartment complex.

CASA's new headquarters was originally built in 1924 as the country residence for American heiress Henrietta McCormick-Goodhart and her British nobleman husband on 565 acres of Prince George's County farmland they dubbed Langley Park, after the Goodhart ancestral lands in Kent. The $13.8 million renovation of the 28-room Georgian Revival house brings Langley Park's past and present full circle.

Henrietta McCormick was born into wealth in 1854. Her grandfather Robert McCormick was the tinkerer who created the first reaper that enabled farmers to mechanize the harvesting of grain. Her uncle Cyrus and her father Leander perfected and patented the invention that laid the groundwork for the family's fortunes.

photo courtesy Casa de Maryland

CASA director Gustavo Torres addresses the assembled politicians and crowd; "Maryland is not Arizona."

by Diana Kohn

In 1921, extravagant headlines in the Takoma Record announced the construction of the Takoma Theatre on the corner of Butternut and Fourth Streets NW. Today this building is at the center of a controversy over demolition versus renovation.

The battle continues in the wake of a decision on May 21 by the D. C. Mayor's agent in the Office of Planning barring the owner from razing the Takoma Theatre to make way for 43 apartments. Milton McGinty, who purchased the theater in 1983, failed to convince the Mayor's agent that he had grounds for a demolition permit.

The decision keeps alive plans by the Takoma Theatre Conservancy, a community group, to resurrect the building as a space for local arts performances.

by Diana Kohn

More than 35 hearty souls turned out on a drizzly Sunday morning to explore the history of Old Takoma as part of Walkingtown DC's weekend of free walking tours May 22 and 23.

Led by Diana Kohn, the group stopped at a series of historic sites to hear the tales behind the founding of Washington DC's first suburb. Landmarks included the Bliss House on Maple Avenue, built in 1888.

Social networking is not an invention of the 21st century. Every generation of Takoma Park residents has made use of the tools at their disposal to connect with their neighbors.

You could argue that the railroad provided Takoma's first important social network. The Baltimore & Ohio Metropolitan line, which linked the Federal City to the rural farmland to the north, opened the way for new lifestyles. 

For those gathered at the train station every morning in those early years, the daily commute turned into a network of its own. The complaints and debates mirrored what we read nowadays in our emails. The Citizens Association that evolved out of these morning gab sessions guided the civic life until well into the 1940s, ensuring schools, churches, and civic organizations would be built.

On Sunday May 2, Takoma Park's annual house and garden tour celebrates the return of spring. For three decades the annual pilgrimage has explored neighborhoods in both Maryland and the District, but has never visited the site of this year's tour, Hodges Heights.

Sitting on the last parcel of land in the heart of the city to be developed, Hodges Heights takes its name from the dairy farm that occupied these acres until the mid-1930s. In addition to family homes, the farm provided the land for what is now the community center, the library, Takoma Park Elementary, Takoma Park Middle School and both Ed Wilhelm and Lee Jordan parks - a compact civic space.

The residential neighborhood is compact, too. The ten homes and gardens on the tour are clustered along Hodges Lane, Holly Avenue and Philadelphia Avenue, putting them in easy walking distance of each other. They will be open for exploration from 1 to 5 p.m.