In 1985, local Bethesda construction company Rozansky &amp; Kay placed a stone historic marker at this site to mark the historic crossroads known as the "Five Points." The marker is dedicated to the citizens of the Montgomery County. The stone plinth marker bears a plaque depicting a map of the intersection and commemorates three hundred years of travel along these routes, 1685-1985.The trails used by Native Americans prior to the seventeenth century evolved over time to become major streets in Bethesda: <ul><li>Edgemoor Lane</li><li>Wisconsin Avenue (Maryland Route 355), traveling north-south through the intersection</li><li>East West Highway (Maryland Route 410) leading east from this location</li><li>Old Georgetown Road (Maryland Route 187), leading northwest from this location</li></ul>Maryland routes 187 and 410 originate at this spot. This intersection continues to be a hub of commerce and community in Bethesda. The Bethesda Metro Station, built in 1984 on the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority's Red Line, sits underneath this intersection and the exit emerges near this spot on Wisconsin Avenue. The establishment of the marker soon followed the opening of this metro station. As a result of this station's construction, one of the roads on the marker, Edgemoor Lane, no longer intersects with the other roads at this location; it now intersects with Old Georgetown Road northwest of the Five Points.

Five Points Historical Marker by Tom Fuchs on HMDB.org (reproduced under Fair Use)

For over 300 years, this intersection has been at the heart of trade and travel in the area that is now Bethesda, Maryland. Originally the roads that meet here were trails used by Native Americans which evolved into five major streets in Bethesda. In 1985, not long after the construction of Bethesda Metro Station underneath this spot, Rozansky & Kay Construction Company placed a stone historic marker at the crossroads to commemorate three centuries of travel along these routes. One of the streets named in the historical marker inscription, Edgemoor Lane, no longer meets the intersection with the other four streets.

Five Points (Bethesda)

This tour starts in downtown Bethesda with monuments and historic buildings before moving north to landmarks related to the National Institutes of Health such as the Tree of Hippocrates and the National Library of Medicine. 

<div>In 1911 the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) set out to mark the “Old Trails Road” stretching from Maryland to California. Initial plans called for painted mileage markers throughout the route. Those plans were later abandoned in favor of pioneer mother statues.&nbsp; </div><div>National DAR Commission chairperson Arlene B. Nichols Moss was inspired by Portland, Oregon’s 1905&nbsp;Sacajawea&nbsp;monument to commission&nbsp;Madonna of the Trail&nbsp;statues to be placed in the 12 states through which the “Old Trails Road” passed. Sculptor August Leimbach envisioned a scene in which she is looking for her husband whom she believes to be in danger. Like other Pioneer Mother statues erected during the late 1920s, the 12 DAR statues balanced strong, active roles for women with softer maternal symbolism.One&nbsp;Madonna of the Trail&nbsp;statue was erected in each of the states through which the National Old Trails Road passed. The statues were cast from algonite (a form of cast stone produced from a mixture of crushed marble, Missouri granite, stone, cement and lead ore) at the cost of $1,000 per statue.&nbsp; The statues were placed along key white migration routes, such as the early-19th-century National Road (later U.S. Route 40) and Santa Fe Trail (later the infamous Route 66). But the precise location of the monument within each state was selected based on both the site’s historical significance and the influence of local DAR chapters. Maryland's statue was placed not at the start of the Old National Road, but the site of the first American military road.The 12 Madonna of the Trail&nbsp;statues are among the best-known of nearly 200 pioneer-themed public monuments in the United States.&nbsp; But many local residents have questioned the placement of a Madonna of the Trail in urban Bethesda,
Maryland. She seems to garner little attention except when she stands in the way of urban redevelopment or threatens to
fall onto passing commuters. A sinkhole that developed beneath the statue in 2004 caused her to lean like the famous Tower of Pisa.&nbsp;Nonetheless, city leaders remain committed to
maintaining the statue within their community’s business district.&nbsp;In 2001, Cumberland, Maryland, sought to raise its own visibility as the
easternmost point on the Old National Road by adopting Bethesda’s Madonna of the Trail.&nbsp;<blockquote>'Not in my lifetime,' responded Bethesda
Chamber of Commerce President Jack Alexander. 'You all are welcome to come look at it,' he said, ‘but you’re not
leaving with our madonna.’1</blockquote>The&nbsp;Madonna of the Trail was so important to civic identity that it&nbsp;was featured on Bethesda's logo, but that logos and the statue it depicts remain largely unknown to residents of what has become a major urban core for the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. </div>

The easternmost of 12 identical statues depicting white pioneer women migrating along 19th-century western trails. Commissioned by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), they were dedicated in 1928-29 in 12 states stretching from Maryland to California. The Bethesda monument has been shifted to accommodate urban renewal and is featured on the city's logo.

Madonna of the Trail (Bethesda, MD)

In 1985, local Bethesda construction company Rozansky &amp; Kay placed a stone historic marker at this site to mark the historic crossroads known as the "Five Points." The marker is dedicated to the citizens of the Montgomery County. The stone plinth marker bears a plaque depicting a map of the intersection and commemorates three hundred years of travel along these routes, 1685-1985. The trails used by Native Americans prior to the seventeenth century evolved over time to become major streets in Bethesda: <ul><li>Edgemoor Lane</li><li>Wisconsin Avenue (Maryland Route 355), traveling north-south through the intersection</li><li>East West Highway (Maryland Route 410) leading east from this location</li><li>Old Georgetown Road (Maryland Route 187), leading northwest from this location</li></ul> Maryland routes 187 and 410 originate at this spot. This intersection continues to be a hub of commerce and community in Bethesda. The Bethesda Metro Station, built in 1984 on the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority's Red Line, sits underneath this intersection and the exit emerges near this spot on Wisconsin Avenue. The establishment of the marker soon followed the opening of this metro station. As a result of this station's construction, one of the roads on the marker, Edgemoor Lane, no longer intersects with the other roads at this location; it now intersects with Old Georgetown Road northwest of the Five Points.

Architect John Eberson (1875-1954) was known as the "Dean of American Theatre Architects." Woodmont Development Company was the builder on the project. The Bethesda Theatre was the flagship of a string of independent movie theaters operated by Sidney Lust (1884-1955). Despite the influence of the Great Depression, Washington, D.C. was one of the few American cities that experienced a boom of theater construction during this decade. It opened on May 19, 1938 under the name Boro Theatre, but became the Bethesda Theatre within a year. Blond brick is the main building material for the structure. The theater is composed of rectangular blocks of varying stories: an auditorium block and an entrance block, which included shops. At the entrance is is a sidewalk-facing ticket booth, trimmed in grooved aluminum. A vertical sign crowns the entrance block, spelling "BETHESDA" in vertical letters. Behind the theater is a large parking lot constructed as part of the original building plan, signifying the geological shift in population to car-dependent suburbs and the decrease in importance of downtown cultural centers in the 1930s. Acoustical paneling or plaster in the walls was covered with fabric, and the ceiling was painted with a celestial design on a blue background, indicative of Eberson's work. The original layout and many interior elements, including murals and finishings, remain. The seating, however, has changed over time. When the theater opened, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Tribune published a supplement commending Lust for his vision in building it. This supplement also published congratulations from politicians of other cities where Lust had built theaters, including the mayors of Rockville and Hyattsville, and state and national senators. Film stars Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, and W. C. Fields also wrote greetings for the publication. The Bethesda Theatre was one of the first buildings in the area to have air conditioning. It was the site not only for film showings, but also community events and demonstrations. In 1983, the traditional movie house theater became a restaurant as well under the name Bethesda Cinema 'n Drafthouse; in 1990, it became the Bethesda Theatre Cafe. In 1985, the Montgomery County Master Plan for Historic Preservation included the building, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. In 2007, supported by tax breaks and state and county funding, the Bozzuto Group renovated the theater and built apartments above it. It was auctioned off in June 2010 and reopened as the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club.

Designed by renowned architect John Eberson, this art deco-style theater was completed in 1938 and is one of the only remaining art deco theaters in the region constructed during Hollywood's Golden Age. Known as the Boro Theatre during some of its years in business, this theater was part of an independent movie house chain owned by Sidney Lust. The theater's establishment was integral to the development of the business center of Bethesda and therefore also part of the suburbanization of the DC metro area. Though the theater has undergone some renovations, name changes, and new business models over its history, it has operated almost continuously since 1938. In 1999, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and now serves as the home of Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club.

Bethesda Theatre (Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club)

The tree is a plane tree or sycamore, with the Latin name Platanus orientalis. In 1961, Greek Ambassador Alexis Liatis presented the National Library of Medicine with the small tree. It was a clone from a tree from the island of Cos. The ancient physician Hippocrates (ca. 460-375 B.C.), for whom the Hippocratic oath of "do no harm" is named, is said to have sat and taught under the parent tree. The library's new building was dedicated on December 14, 1961. Frank B. Rogers, the library's first director, was part of a planting ceremony in the spring of 1962. The original plaque was on a pumice stone base. A fungal disease to which sycamores are vulnerable took its toll on the tree's health from the 1980s onward. NIH Landscape Architect Lynn Mueller worked to keep the tree alive while also collaborating with the Champion Tree Project (now called Archangel Ancient Tree Archive) to create a clone. During the winter of 2012-2013, the original tree died, but still stood until 2013. The following year, The NIH planted two additional clone trees. One is here in front of the National Library of Medicine (the location of the original 1961 tree) and the other is in front of the NIH Clinical Center. April 25, 2014, Principal Deputy Director of the NIH Lawrence A. Tabak, Greek Ambassador Christos P. Panagopoulos, and NLM Director Donald A. B. Lindberg led the planting ceremony on April 25, 2015. During the ceremony, David J. Lipman, Director of the National Center for Biotechnology Information, also presented the DNA Barcode for the tree, demonstrating it as a clone of the parent tree. Amy Driscoll of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History sequenced a sample from the first NLM tree. The original volcanic stone base for the National Library of Medicine tree's plaque now holds the plaque for the other clone tree in front of the Clinical Center. At the National Library of Medicine site, the plaque has a new stone base.

This tree along the Bethesda Trolley Trail near the National Library of Medicine building is a clone of the tree on the island of Cos, Greece, under which Hippocrates,  the "father of medicine" is believed to have taught his students. In 1961, the Greek Ambassador gave a cutting from this parent tree to the National Institutes of Health on the occasion of the opening of the new National Library of Medicine Building. That tree died in 2013, but the NIH planted a new clone of the parent tree at the same site in 2014. A second clone of the Cos tree was planted in front of the NIH Clinical Center at the same time.

Tree of Hippocrates, National Library of Medicine

In 1956, an act of Congress transferred the Army Medical Library to the Public Health Service and renamed it the National Library of Medicine. Chief supporters of this transfer were Alabama Senator J. Lister Hill and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy, under whose future presidency the National Library of Medicine would move to its current building in 1962. The Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health, largely donated by the Wilsons of the Tree Tops estate, became the home of the new National Library of Medicine building. Its architecture demonstrates the anxieties of military threats during the Cold War; its key features are foot-think limestone walls, a collapsible roof, and underground book storage. The library became a hub for medical information technology with the establishment of the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications in 1968, MEDLINE in the 1970s (with a free service beginning in 1997), and the National Center for Biotechnology Information in 1988. In 2000, both ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed Central opened. Two reading rooms are open to the public in the library: the Main Reading Room and History of Medicine Division Reading Room. Visitors can access reference materials and request books, serials, audiovisual materials, pamphlets, and dissertations. As part of the library's bicentennial celebration in 1976, it planted a garden of healing herbs and other plants. Thomas Cook, Chief of the NIH Grounds Maintenance and Landscaping Section, directed the planting. The layout of the garden echoes the layout of the library. Over 100 different plants now grow in the garden. Standing in the garden is A Totem of Healing, carved by Jewell Praying Wolf James of the Lummi Nation from a 500-year-old Pacific Red Cedar tree. The tree fell naturally in the state of Washington. A cross-section of the tree also resides in the library. The totem depicts a series of symbols, including a healing woman gathering herbs, a tree of life, and the Algonquian figure of the medicine woman in the moon.

The National Library of Medicine began as a small collection of medical texts in the office of the U. S. Army Surgeon General in 1836. This collection grew into a library for use by military personnel until a 1956 act of Congress established the library under civilian authority. This library building on the National Institutes of Health's campus in Bethesda was completed in 1962 and reflects the Cold War environment with foot-thick limestone walls, underground book storage, and a collapsible roof. In addition to maintaining a massive print collection, the library has been at the forefront of computer innovations in medical information sharing, including MEDLINE, PubMed, and ClinicalTrials.gov. The National Library of Medicine is the world's largest biomedical library.

National Library of Medicine

The National Institute of Health (NIH - then singular) moved from its
cramped and crumbling facilities at 25th and E streets, NW in
downtown Washington after receiving over $1 million in construction funding
from the Social Security Act of 1935 and a generous donation of land in
Bethesda from Helen and Luke Wilson.&nbsp;

At the time of its original construction, Building 1 served a multitude
of purposes. It housed the office of the NIH director, contained the library
and cafeteria, held workshops for carpenters, electricians, and plumbers, and
provided space for the campus’ boiler plant. The basement contained research
laboratories that featured proper ventilation systems and fume hoods and a
special camera which allowed researchers to take pictures of microscopic
subjects. The auditorium, named Wilson Hall in honor of the Wilson family,
served as a gathering place for NIH researchers and featured a film projector. But
the hall wasn’t the only place for staff gatherings – a baseball field was created
behind the building for staff to play games at lunch.Construction of Building 1 was fast, but not without fault. Unfamiliar
with new technology, contractors struggled to install lab equipment. &nbsp;An accident caused a broken water pipe in the
kitchen to leak into the library below doing $7000 worth of damage to the books.
The most dramatic incident happened on April 18, 1938. While digging trenches
for a storm sewer, a crane toppled over. The operator hastily jumped from the crane,
but another worker was trapped underneath. A plumber, surprised by the crash, dropped
a torch and ignited the gas leaking from the crane. Fire trucks rushed to the
scene, extinguishing the flames and rescuing the trapped worker. Amazingly, the
only injury sustained was a cut below the trapped worker’s eye. One contractor
in a letter to an engineer offered his opinion on the construction experience
when he wrote, “This job was one of those unfortunate experiences which all
businessmen go through from time to time. It just seemed everything went wrong
from the start” (Letter from J.S. Dougherty, W.F. Dougherty &amp; Sons, to Mr.
Henry R. Leslie, Construction Engineer, NIH, May 2, 1940). Despite the
difficulty, construction of the building was completed in a mere eleven months.Roosevelt Dedication:In October of 1940, construction of the original NIH campus (Buildings
1-6) was nearly finished. Wayne Coy, Acting Federal Property Administrator,
thought the President should dedicate NIH’s new campus. He wrote to President
Roosevelt, suggesting, “It seems to all of us that in this time of our great
efforts toward military preparedness, that it would be most appropriate for you
to bring to the attention of the people of the country the fact that peacetime
preparedness against diseases is not being neglected” (Letter to President
Roosevelt, dated October 15, 1940). &nbsp;On
October 31st, speaking from the portico of Building 1, Roosevelt
dedicated the NIH to “furthering the health of all mankind”. &nbsp;At the bottom of this page, you will find
links to both audio and video recordings of the speech.Dedication to James A. Shannon:On January 18th, 1983, Building 1 was renamed in honor of
Dr. James A. Shannon. &nbsp;Well known for his
antimalarial research during World War II, Shannon was recruited to be
Associate Director of the recently founded National Heart Institute, part of
the NIH, in 1949. &nbsp;He quickly went to
work setting research priorities and recruiting staff; within three years, he
was put in charge of all intramural research at NIH.&nbsp; In 1955, Shannon was appointed director of
the entire NIH. At the dedication of Building 1 to Shannon, Dr. James Wyngaarden
(NIH Director, 1982-1989) recounted that Shannon’s appointment was rather
informal, stating, “Surgeon General Scheele approached Dr. Shannon asking if he
would like to head NIH. Responding affirmatively, Dr. Shannon asked when. To
which Dr. Scheele replied ‘How about Monday!’ And it was done” (Building One Renamed for Dr. James A.
Shannon, NIH Record, Feb. 1st, 1983).



















Under Dr. Shannon’s administration, NIH’s
operational budget soared from $65 million to $1.3 billion. The number of
research grants disbursed by NIH increased from 3,300 to 12,600, and the value
of each grant increased from $10,000 to $50,000. NIH added 7,000 members to its
research staff, and over $1 billion dollars were given to the NIH for new
construction.

Building 1 is the administrative center of the NIH. It was built in 1938 by the George A. Fuller Company and its red-brick construction, colonnade, and slate roof is based on colonial Maryland architecture.  From the top of the staircase on October 31, 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the NIH to “…the underlying philosophy of public health, to the conservation of life, to the wise use of the vital resources of our nation” (audio and video links below).  The building currently houses the Office of the NIH Director and provides space for many of NIH’s administrative offices.  The first floor hallway is lined with portraits of every NIH director since its founding as the Hygienic Laboratory in 1887, as well as portraits of a few early scientists.  Special attention is given to the portrait of Dr. James A. Shannon (NIH Director, 1955-1968), under whose leadership NIH staff doubled and the budget grew 20-fold, and for whom the building was renamed in 1983.

NIH Building 1 (James A. Shannon Building)

Mines without proper ventilation are filled with dust, truck drivers get
tired when driving long distances, and mercury is poisonous.&nbsp; This information is readily available to us
today, but, in the early 1900s, these facts were relatively unknown.&nbsp; In response to the rapid industrialization of
those years, the NIH (National Institute of Health – then singular) began
emphasizing research into the causes of workers’ illnesses.&nbsp; Furthermore, the looming crisis of World War
II led to a boom in the number industrial workers and an urgency to keep them
healthy. &nbsp;This research into the health
and safety of workers is called industrial hygiene. &nbsp;

Building 2 contained the first laboratories in the U.S. dedicated to
industrial hygiene research, and NIH researchers were involved in the design
process.&nbsp; These state-of-the-art labs
provided scientists with hot and cold running water and proper ventilation. &nbsp;Built-in fume hoods and air hoses kept noxious
chemicals from building up in the air. &nbsp;Electricity
was wired through conduits contained in service panels (see photo above) which allowed
researchers to easily patch in cables for various pieces of equipment. <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow"></a>&nbsp;Each
piece could be controlled as necessary.&nbsp; Even
the venetian blinds were designed according to researcher’s specifications: wood
with metal tape to ensure that corrosion would not be an issue. &nbsp;

There were labs in Building 2 built to study air and water quality in
factories, workers’ exposure to chemicals, and worker fatigue and
metabolism.&nbsp; During World War II, there
was even an altitude chamber for research on how altitude affected the
performance of airplane pilots.&nbsp; Footage
of some of these labs, including the altitude chamber, can be seen below in the
1941 Public Health Service (PHS) film “Save a Day”.

The Industrial Hygiene
scientists often invented their own research instruments. &nbsp;Newer industries such as airplane construction
had hazards never seen -- or studied – before. &nbsp;And new technology allowed the hazards in older
industries such as mining to be studied more completely.&nbsp; One such dangerous older industry, which the
division tackled in the late 1930s, was hat-making. Mad as a Hatter:

Mercury poisoning had been an
issue in the hat-making industry since the 17th century when mercurial
salts were introduced as a method of matting wool fibers to make felt for hats.
Among other symptoms, mercury poisoning causes
tremors, irritability, depression, and possibly suicide. &nbsp;These mental health problems in the hat-making
trade are the reason for the phrase “mad as a hatter”.

Despite legislative bans in
other countries such as Britain and France, the use of mercury salts in
American hat-making continued well into the 20th century. &nbsp;Because most Americans then wore hats every
day, hat-making was a massive industry. &nbsp;Mercury poisoning among these workers was
still common in the 1930s, when Dr. Sanford Rosenthal, a researcher in the
Division of Industrial Hygiene, developed a treatment for the disease. &nbsp;He discovered that sodium formaldehyde
sulphoxy could be used to degrade mercury into less toxic compounds.&nbsp; His treatment, hailed in newspapers all over
the country, was used until the development of Dimercaptosuccinic acid and
chelation therapy to remove the metals from the body.

Rosenthal was aided in his
research by other Division of Industrial Hygiene scientists who developed
methods to measure mercury in the air and spectrographically measure mercury in
urine. &nbsp;Using these methods, the Division
was able to determine how much mercury could be in the air before becoming
dangerous. &nbsp;They determined that any
amount greater than 1mg of mercury per 10 cubic meters of air could lead to the
development of symptoms. &nbsp;

In 1940, the Division issued a
Public Health Bulletin which described these findings and recommended methods
for the control and prevention of mercury poisoning. &nbsp;One year later, on December 1st,
1941, the Public Health Service used the Division’s findings to negotiate a ban
on the use of mercury in the hat-making process.

Building 2 was built for the NIH’s Division of Industrial Hygiene.  It contained the first labs in the U.S. built solely for the study of the health and safety of workers in the workplace, responsibilities which now belong to OSHA, NIOSH, and the EPA.  Construction of Building 2 was handled by the George A. Fuller Company and completed on December 15th, 1938.  The red-brick walls, slate roof, and double chimney “pents” are based on colonial Maryland architecture.  Currently, there are no labs in Building 2.  Instead, the building houses the Office of Intramural Training and Education, the Office of Loan Repayment and Scholarship, the Office of AIDS Research, and the Office of Equal Opportunity.

NIH Building 2

Luke I. Wilson (1872-1937) and Helen Woodward Wilson (1877-1960) built their Bethesda estate after Luke Wilson's retirement in 1924. Helen Wilson had purchased the land on the former Britton farm tract the previous year. "Tree Tops" was one of many grand estates constructed along Rockville Pike in this period. Unlike many of these other estates, which tended toward the Georgian Revival style, Tree Tops exhibited English rustic architecture. The Wilsons were interested in fostering international relations through donating land for the establishment of a diplomatic school. The Great Depression interfered with this plan as well as several other offers the Wilsons made to donate land for office space, think tanks, or a park. In 1934, Wilson, a progressive Democrat, wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to offer a land donation. The letter circulated among government officials, catching the interest of Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, Hugh Cumming and NIH Director Lewis R. Thompson. NIH facilities had become crowded by the 1930s. The NIH first thought of using the land as an animal farm for test subjects, but then considered moving all NIH operations to Bethesda. The Wilsons agreed to donate the land to the NIH in 1935. Neighbors opposed the construction of an NIH campus in the area, fearing the risk of infectious diseases. Additionally, the residents of the area wanted to avoid encroachments on the prestige of the neighborhood. The NIH moved to Bethesda in the 1930s, establishing a campus on land donated by Luke and Helen Wilson. Bethesda had been growing as a suburb for several years. The Wilsons donated land to the federal government from their estate between 1935 and 1948. After Luke Wilson's death in 1937, his widow Helen continued living in one of the smaller Tree Tops houses, The Lodge, a structure which incorporated part of the former Britton farmhouse. Buildings 15A and 15K remained in use by the Wilson family. Building 15K was the mansion, now used by the National Institute of Mental Health. The Tree Tops estate includes several residential buildings on an eight-acre site, formerly residences for the Wilson family and now part of the NIH campus. Edward Clarence Dean is most likely the designer of the site. Washington architect Arthur B. Heaton may have also contributed to the design of the house, completed in 1926.

Luke and Helen Wilson purchased the land that would become their Tree Tops estate in the 1920s, during a period of growth for Washington suburb Bethesda. The Wilsons were philanthropists and interested in donating land for government use. Over the 1930s and 1940s they donated parcels of land to the National Institutes of Health, and eventually donated the Tree Tops house as well. The Tree Tops mansion, an English rustic style structure designed by Edward Clarence Dean and Arthur B. Heaton, is also known as the Wilson building. It is designated as Building K or Building 15K in NIH documents and maps.

Bethesda and the National Institutes of Health Tour

Five Points (Bethesda)

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources