Takoma Archives

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.

While Takoma Park residents are awaiting the April opening of Old Takoma Ace Hardware, it seems an appropriate time to look back at how Old Takoma came to be. Thanks to Lloyd Gosorn who published the Takoma Record weekly from 1920-1922 and Frank Skinner who printed the Takoma Enterprise twice a year from 1928-1942, we can fill in many details.

Photo by Julie Wiatt

On July 2, 1923, the corner of Fourth and Butternut was jammed with people eagerly awaiting the official opening of Takoma Theatre, and its inaugural showing of "The Ne'er Do Well." High above the crowd, the simple neon sign spelled out "TAKOMA."

Act One: Heyday

Motion picture fever had come to America early in 1906 when nickelodeons introduced the wonders of moving pictures. Within 17 years the District boasted 47 theaters with the most grand and opulent palaces centered along F Street NW.