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Fort Stevens is located in Washington, D.C. at 13th Street and Quacenbons. It is the site of a skirmish between Union and Confederate Forces during the American Civil War. Its significance would be that it would become the only battle where Confederate Forces had managed to bring the war to the District which was then the Union Capital. While often not known as well as other major battles such as Antietam (Sharpsburg, Maryland) or Bull Run (Manassas, Virginia) it holds great significance to the Civil War Heritage of Washington D.C. In fact, President’ Lincoln’s Visit would become the most significant event to occur during the battle.
The Lucinda Cady House, known otherwise as Cady-Lee, is a famed historic house in the Takoma neighborhood of Washington, DC. Named after the mother and daughter who owned the house, Lucinda Cady, and Mary Lee, respectively, the Cady-Lee was a project of well-known Washington architect Leon Dessez and was one of the largest buildings in Takoma for a time. In 2002, the Forum for Youth Investment purchased the home, and it is currently used to house much of the organization’s offices. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in May of 1975.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar's townhouse located at 7700 16th St. N.W. Washington, was donated to his Muslim religion. It was called the "Hanafi Muslim Center". This house was the place where the Hanafi Massacre took place in 1973. Inside the house several people will lose their life to a brutal murder held by members of the Black mafia. Intended to be killed and robbed was Hamaas Abdul Khaalis but was not there that day. Although, Jabbar was not in the house while this took place, many members of his religion family were. After this tragedy, Kareem had high security due to death threats from being apart of his religion, but he held his ground and stood up for his religion no matter the circumstances.
The architect of this building, Walter Monroe Cory, believed that factories could be beautiful. The Canada Dry ginger ale bottling plant, erected in 1946, reflects this vision and the Streamline Moderne style of architecture. It was also part of an industrial boom in Silver Spring. The plant originally consisted of a two-story administrative building, which still stands, and a one-story bottling plant that was demolished. Though the business vacated the site in 1995, the Historic American Engineering Record documented the structure in 2003 and the former administrative structure now houses the Silverton Condominiums.
An acorn-shaped gazebo sits in this small park, all that remains of the large Silver Spring plantation for which unincorporated Silver Spring is named. Newspaper editor Francis Preston Blair, Sr. commissioned Benjamin C. King to build this gazebo in the 1850s. The gazebo marked the location of the original "silver spring," a waterway flecked with mica that Blair has come across in 1840. The acorn shape is a symbol of the oak tree where Blair proposed to his wife Eliza. The park is all that remains of the estate, and the gazebo was moved a short distance from its original location in 1946.
The path of the B&O Railroad's Metropolitan branch assisted in the development of Silver Spring as a suburb. Agricultural products could travel easily from Montgomery County all over the region along this rail line. The original Silver Spring station was built in 1878, five years after the railroad began operations. The current Colonial Revival building at the site dates to 1945 and is a standard B&O design. In addition to the B&O, Amtrak and Maryland Area Regional Commuter service have operated out of this station. Passenger service ended here in 1997, with a new station being built slightly to the northwest. Montgomery Preservation now owns and preserves the station.
The U. S. Postal Service constructed this Georgian-Revival style post office in 1936-1937. It was not the first post office in Silver Spring, but this structure was the first federal building constructed in Montgomery County. Within the post office was the WPA-funded mural "The Old Tavern" by Russian immigrant Nicolai Cikovsky, one of a series of post office murals executed throughout the country. These murals depicted American and regional history, and often hung over the doors of the postmasters' offices. The United States Postal Service operated from this building from its opening in 1937 until 1981, when it left the building. The conserved mural now hangs in the Silver Spring Library.
The Boundary Markers of the Original District of Columbia mark the four lines which form the boundaries between Maryland and Virginia, and the 100 square miles of federal territory that became Washington, D.C. The markers were placed by a survey team led by Major Andrew Ellicott between 1791 and 1792. Thirty-six of the original marker stones are still extant and are the oldest federally-placed monuments in the country. The North Corner Boundary Marker marks the furthest north point of the District of Columbia.
In the midst of the American Civil War, the National Museum of Health and Medicine was founded as the Army Medical Museum in order to house specimens for use in army medicine and surgery research. The Museum always held a focus on research, and its topics of research continually branched out over the years. Today, the Museum still conducts research and is home to numerous exhibits on pathology, anatomy, the advancement of military medicine, and other exhibits dedicated to advancing public understanding of military medicine.
In less than 150 years, this collection of buildings has served many purposes. In 1887, the tourist resort Ye Forest Inn opened. A few years later, the development became National Park Seminary, a finishing school for upper-class girls. The campus took inspiration from plans for the Chicago World's Fair, with buildings based on many types of architecture. The school declined by the Great Depression and became a hospital for wounded soldiers for the next several decades. The Army intended to demolish the decaying campus, but the Save Our Seminary association stopped these plans. A developer converted the buildings into private homes in 2003.
The Polychrome Historic District consists of five Art Deco style houses designed by John Joseph Earley in 1935 and 1935. These single-family homes utilize a stripped concrete technique for their cladding which reveals the colors of the concrete's stone in a mosaic effect. Earley sought to develop innovative building techniques that would allow the construction of small, inexpensive homes during the Great Depression.
This home is where the famed ecologist, naturalist, and author Rachel Carson wrote the influential book “Silent Spring." The book was published in 1962 and helped to spread the modern environmentalist movement. Designed by Carson herself, the unassuming ranch-style house was her home from 1956 until her death in 1964. The house and surrounding landscape have been little altered since Carson’s death and it currently houses the headquarters and library of the Rachel Carson Landmark Alliance (RCLA). This nonprofit organization is dedicated to promoting Carson’s values and legacy. The RCLA occasionally opens the house and grounds for tours and special events. The Rachel Carson House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991 for its association with Carson and “Silent Spring.”
Construction of this home is believed to have begun in 1760 following the purchase by Henry Lazenby II of this land. Lazenby was the descendent of immigrants who arrived in Maryland at the very beginning of the century. Today, the two-and-a-half brick house remains one of the only remaining examples of mid-18th-century architecture in this area. The property is an example of an "upper-middle-class" home for the period, an era where large landowners built mansions while most colonists lived in log cabins, wood-frame homes, or other simple dwellings. Additionally, the home's boxwood hedges demonstrate landscape design contemporary to the period. The house has a Georgian facade oriented west. The National Register of Historic Places recognized the house in 1973. The property is privately owned.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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Once within the city limits of Washington, DC, Silver Spring is now a suburb of the nation's capital. It began as a railroad-centered small town, growing as a bedroom community for DC workers after World War II. This tour highlights a variety of buildings and places of historical significance. For a walking tour in downtown Silver Spring, start with site #7.
