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2004.34.02

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Origins II

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Booklet

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Published by the Neighborhood Planning Council #2 and #3

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1976

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Origins II
Published by the Neighborhood Planning Council #2 and #3, 4025 Chesapeake St, NW, Washington, DC, February 1976
Chevy Chase history as told by high school students. Includes nice pictures of the town throughout the years.

INTRODUCTION
Origins II is an example of a nationwide return to local history occasioned by the celebration of our Bicentennial. It includes articles written by a group of high school students who discovered for themselves the particular legends, personalities and events which formed their neighborhoods in northwest Washington, D.C. In a country where the concerns of each individual are supposed to have an impact, it becomes particularly important to study history at its most personal level. It is our hope that all who read this magazine will be able to understand something of individual life in America's history. In Washington, where most of the national Bicentennial celebration will take place, the residents must make special efforts to retain their local historical perspective. The Washington Rediscovery projects, coordinated by the Office of Bicentennial Programs, have played a major role in documenting and publicizing the history of Washington's neighborhoods.

Origins II, as one of these projects, was done by fifteen high school students during the summer of 1975. Armed with tape recorders and notebooks these students spent their summer interviewing older people and doing research in libraries, archives and museums. This process was one of the most beneficial aspects of the project not only to the students, but to the community as a whole. The students employed many of the research techniques used by professional historians. The community benefitted not only by gaining a sense of its continuity with the past, but by experiencing the coming together of old and young people as neighbors with a common heritage.

Included in Origins II will be material never published before. Some of the subjects covered the architecture of upper northwest, the history of the Colonel Joseph Belt family and their land holdings, the early mills which operated in this area, and the Civil War defense of Northwest, D.C. Also, the business development of the area and the evolution of certain community institutions are explored.

The list of people and organizations we must thank is illustrative of the kind of community input and support that Origins II received. First, the project owes its life to Neighborhood Planning Council #2 and #3, who provided funds to pay the students and provided supplies for layout and production. We would also like to thank:
Julie Koczela, Administrative Director for N.P.C. #2 and #3, for her support and patience.
Jane Midgley, who helped with the editing, layout, and production.
Phil Stewart and Ron Geigel, who coordinated the project with the Office of Youth Opportunity Services.
Margaret Murray, for her help with the photography and her valuable advice.
Tony Sarmiento, who coordinates the citywide bicentennial youth projects for the Office of Bicentennial Programs, and who provided the original inspiration for the Origins project, for his continuing support.
Judy Helm, local historian who was kind enough to edit the articles.
Robert Truax, a local historian, who gave valuable assistance.
Mrs. Ann Pope and Mrs. Dorothy Servatius, who helped with lettering and design on projects during the summer.
Rev. Mike Jennings and the Blessed Sacrament Church for the office space they contributed.
The staffs of the Washingtonia division at the Martin Luther King Library, the Archives, the Chevy Chase Branch Public Library, the Columbia Historical Society, and Mrs. Sue Hannan, librarian at Blessed Sacrament.
Dorothy Bowles and her secretarial service, for the typesetting.
And finally, our thanks go to the following people who generously shared their memories with us: Mrs. Edith Jarvis, Mr. Irving Zirpel, Mrs. Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Williams, Mr. Walton Shipley, Mr. Alan Korz, Mrs. Roberta Barnes, Miss Frances Pepper, Mr. Ron Webb, Mr. E. Kent Clark, Miss Gertrude Good, Mrs. Ida Bondareff, Mrs. Helen Feldberg, Mr. William Belt, Mr. Ronald Kline, Mr. Costello, Mrs. J. Dwyer, Mrs. E. Edwards, Mrs. Alice Doolan, and Mrs. Esther Cantrel.
Mark Koczela, Director

NPC 2 & 3 and ORIGINS

The publication you are about to read is not only the product of this past summer's work, but that of the work of the two preceding summers which shaped this area's bicentennial history project.

The program which resulted in the first issue of ORIGINS in 1974 was founded in the summer of 1973 by nineteen high school students under the direction of Mrs. Martha Beshers, with the help of Tony Sarmiento, who is now coordinator for the D.C. Bicentennial's youth local history projects. This group researched and wrote walking tours: two of Chevy Chase,, one of Cleveland Park, and one of Tenleytown. With the exception of the Tenleytown tour, which was published in the Sentry Post newspaper in the fall of 1973, these tours were not published until early 1975, due to staffing and financial problems.

By that time, a staff of ten students had finished the research, writing and layout of the first issue of ORIGINS. With much help from Jane Midgley, publication director, ORIGINS came out in February. Our work proved very successful; we sold close to 1500 copies and created a name and a reputation for the second staff of ORIGINS.

Every publication, however, needs a great deal of financial as well as moral support for staff salaries, supplies and printing costs, and ORIGINS has been no exception. This support, along with the money from the sales of the first issue, has been entirely provided by the Neighborhood Planning Councils 2 and 3. The Neighborhood Planning Council has provided funds for the director's salary, printing and supplies, and has arranged for youth staff members to be paid under the Washington Youth Corps summer jobs program, sponsored by the Mayor's Office of Youth Opportunity Services. Including the fifteen staff members of ORIGINS, N.P.C. 2 and 3 placed 60 youth in WYC positions in the summer of 1975.

The Neighborhood Planning Council is a community service organization established in 1968 by the D.C. Board of Commissioners and the Mayor, to develop and fund programs in Washington to involve young people in the planning and implementation of worthwhile activities. The city is divided in 20 N.P.C.s and this year each area received $30,000 in D.C. funds through the Youth Opportunity Services plus additional funds based on the amount of poverty youth in each area.

These appropriated funds are then allocated to community groups and projects according to the needs of the area's youth. Representatives of any group that serves the young people of N.P.C. 2 or 3 may present proposals to the Neighborhood Planning Council members each spring. The proposals are reviewed, and the board and membership vote to either approve or reject these proposals. Then it is up to the N.P.C. Administrative Unit, in conjunction with the Youth Opportunity Services to administer the funds and evaluate the funded programs. Besides ORIGINS, N.P.C. 2 and 3 support the Blessed Sacrament Teen Center, the popular Ft. Reno concerts in the summer, a youth Video program, and the Lafayette and Murch After School programs, among others. Information about these programs can be obtained from Julie B. Koczela, N.P.C. 2 and 3 Administrative Unit Director, at the new N.P.C. office at 4025 Chesapeake St., N.W. The phone number is 244-7774.

Although N.P.C. 2 and 3 have a joint Administrative Unit, they have separate boards and usually conduct separate meetings. Anyone aged 13 or over living in N.P.C. 2 or 3 (see map) is automatically a member, and if he or she attends their area's meetings, will be placed on the N.P.C. mailing list to receive the monthly newsletter and calendar. Or, if you call in and give your name and address, the N.P.C. staff will make sure you're kept informed of the activities of your N.P.C.

Annual elections are held in the spring to elect officers and board members in each area. The board serves their Neighborhood Planning Council by working with the Youth Opportunity Services and the Administrative Unit director to keep them aware of the needs of its community's youth.

The Neighborhood Planning Council system is unique in that it stresses the participation of young people in community and government affairs and allows them to vote in the N.P.C. elections. By bringing together youth and adults to plan programs, the Neighborhood Planning Council has provided an outlet for the youth's ideas, and has provided the adults with a special insight into the problems and needs of the community's young people.

Margaret Murray, Youth Chairperson, N.P.C. 2

THE BELTS OF CHEVY CHASE
Vincent Brown
Up until the early eighteenth century, the area between Rock Creek and the Potomac River was a land of primitive paradise, a natural wonderland in which man took second place to nature. It was land such as this that the Indian would lay down his life for, and that the white man in all his civilized wisdom would ultimately destroy. It was a land of plenty, thickly forested and abundantly populated with all kinds of game. The creeks and rivers were filled with fish, and wild nuts, berries, and fruits abounded. There were large quarries of soapstone, quartzite, and other stone out of which tools and weapons were fashioned. The Piscataways, a branch of the Algonquin Nation, were the last native Americans to inhabit the Potomac Valley. Their homes stretched northward from the Anacostia River as far as what is now Chevy Chase Circle.

Then in the early 17th century the Europeans came to America. The Piscataways retreated to the West as did most of the East Coast Indians. By the early seventeen hundreds there were no Indians north of the Anacostia River.

In 1722 surveyors for Avalon, Lord Baron of Baltimore, increased his power and possessions by surveying much of the land south of Baltimore including a large tract of land west of Rock Creek.So for the first time Chevy Chase, still unnamed, was officially owned by a white man. The warrant for the 500 acres was dated January 12, 7121.

In 1635, a twenty year old adventurer by the name of Humphrey Belt ended his journey from Gravesend, England, landing in Jamestown. He married and had a family. Twenty-eight years later Humphrey Belt and his family moved to Anne Arundel County, Maryland. This is where the Belt household settled. In 1680 a grandson was born to Belt, who was christened Joseph. Joseph Belt spent his youth in Anne Arundel County with his family. In 1707, the twenty-seven year old Belt married Esther Beall, the daughter of Colonel Ninian Beall of Anne Arundell County.

In 1725 Joseph Belt became a lieutenant colonel of the King's army in the colonies. During the same year, he acquired large land holdings from Lord Baltimore. A patent for the 500 acres, plus sixty additional acres was issued July 10, 1725, in agreement with Avalon, Lord Baron of Baltimore, and Charles, Absolute Lord Proprietary of the province of Maryland, officiated by Richard Tilgham, keeper of the Great Seal. The name was agreed to be Cheivy Chace and was so written on the patent. Thus Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Belt received his estate and Chevy Chase was born.

Wheredid thename "Cheivy Chace" originate? In 1388 Lord Percy of England fought Earl Douglass of Scotland over the ownership of a hunting ground or "chase" in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland, England. The Cheviot Hills were so named because they marked the boundary between England and Scotland. The word "cheviot" is derived from a French word meaning obstruction. So "Chevy Chase" comes from a name meaning "borderline hunting ground." In later centuries, the battle became famous and several ballads were written relating its story. In the English version of the ballad, Douglass questions Percy, "Who gave youe leave to hunte in this Chyviat Chase?"

But why did Belt choose this name for his estate? There are several plausible reasons. For one, the Potomac Valley area was inhabited primarily by Scottish settlers, while the area north of Chevy Chase, including Baltimore, was English. The woods of Chevy Chase provided excellent hunting grounds, as did the Cheivy Chace of England. So Chevy Chase seems to have formed a borderline hunting ground, Scottish on one side and English on the other, as was the chase in the Cheviot Hills of Britain. Belt may have wanted to commemorate the ancient site in honor of the unification of the British Isles eighteen years before establishing Great Britain. It is also interesting to know that Joseph Belt's wife was of pure Scottish blood while Belt, of course, was of English descent.

When Belt first arrived in Cheivy Chace there was nothing but the woodland paradise that the Indians had so hastily left behind. Belt had great plans for Cheivy Chace which he wasted no time in carrying out. His land was to be a large farm and manor with plenty of room for hunting in the extensive area which remained wooded. So he cleared a place for his manor house, one of simple colonial design, and imported bricks and nails from England. Within the same year Belt had completed his new house, a house which would stand for almost two centuries. Belt settled his wife and six children in their new home, bought slaves, planted, and an estate was begun. Colonel Belt quickly rose to a high position in colonial social life, becoming a full colonel in command of a regiment of colonial militia in 1728, a representative of Prince Georges County in the House of Burgesses, a member of the Gentlemen Justices of Prince Georges County, one of the establishers of the Maryland public schools, an accomplished surveyor, and the owner and head of his large estate. He often assisted Colonel Beall in keeping the Susquehanna Indians, to the north, in order. Colonel Belt led his regiment in the French and Indian War. He also founded the Episcopal Rock Creek Parish, one of Washington's oldest.

Belt died in 1761 at the age of eighty one. It is said that he died of grief for his favorite son, Joseph Jr., who died a short time before. The Belt property was divided between two of Joseph Jr.'s sons. The Colonel's grandson Thomas received the half of the property with the house on it, and the grandson William received the western portion. It is not known where Belt was buried; but he may lie in the family graveyard at Chevy Chase.

The manor house was located about 500 yards southeast of what is now Chevy Chase Circle. The present house, at 3734 Oliver Street N.W., stands in the exact spot that the colonial manor house occupied. In fact the present house was actually built on some of the old house's brick foundations. The Belt house remained standing until 1907 when a Mr. Brainard W. Parker bought the plot from the Chevy Chase Land Company, and proceeded to rip down the aged landmark and built a nice summer home for himself. Thus Chevy Chase lost its oldest and most precious landmark.

The Belt home stood through the most important times of American history. Slaves had worked in the fields and house while colonial society held meetings there. Three of Joseph Belt's sons and eight of his grandsons, who had lived in the house, fought for independence in the Revolution. In 1814, when the British captured Washington, members of the Cabinet hid in Chevy Chase with valuable Post Office records and records from other government departments until the city was freed. The inhabitants of the old house heard Union troops marching to nearby Fort Reno during the War Between the States. So the Belt house stood from Colonial times until the age of invention was well under way.

What finally happened to the Belt land? In the 1880s the Belt heirs sold what they still owned of the estate to numerous businessmen and speculators. The formers of The Chevy Chase Land Company methodically bought what they didn't already own of the land from them and eventually obtained all of it. After they owned all of the land, they planned roads dividing it into blocks and later lots on each side of the newly extended Connecticut Avenue. The only previously existing roads were Belt Road and Broad Branch Road. Belt Road, previously called the Brookeville Road, still exists in fragments among the blocks of residential Chevy Chase, D.C. The still existing Broad Branch Road was named for the Broad Branch of Rock Creek. Broad Branch Road ran along the side of a hill with the branch at the bottom. The hill is now striped by streets with rows of houses leading from top to bottom. From the head waters down to its middle, the Broad Branch is now covered by Nevada Avenue.

The Belt graveyard covered a surprisingly large section of land just east of the manor house, between it and the Broad Branch. Gravestones covered an area about as big as five or six medium-sized residential lots until the mid-twenties when they were removed. E. Kent Clark, a resident of Oliver Street in the twenties, wrote:

Just past where we lived on Oliver Street the land dropped steeply. It was a good sledding hill, and one had to make a sharp right turn at the bottom of the hill. If you didn't make a turn you had to dodge the tombstones in an old cemetery.

Around fourteen human skeletons were uncovered during the construction of the house at 5724 Chevy Chase Parkway, also in the twenties. The construction crew refused to work with the pelvises, skulls and other remains lying around the newly dug basement. So the builders picked them up and carted them away.

By 1930, Chevy Chase looked very much like it does now, with the residential section nearly completed. No more evidence of the farm or house was visible. So ended 200 years of history. But, history will never be completely erased, for under the lawns, houses and streets of Chevy Chase, men of a bygone era rest peacefully, unknown by the people who occupy the land they once walked.

SOURCES
1. Baist's Real Estate Atlas of Surveys of Washington, D.C. Volume 3, G.W. Baist, 1903.
2. Baist's Real Estate Atlas of Surveys of Washington, D.C. Volume 3, O.W. Baist, 1968.
3. Belt, William. A private collection of articles, letters, and papers, written and compiled by members of the Belt family.
4. The Chevy Chase News, March 1921. A History of Chevy Chase by Miss Ella Given
5. D.C. Recorder of Deeds, Rec. Lib. Co. 21 Fol. 41.
6. The Evening Star, February 3, 1964. On The Side: Chevy Chase Ballad Tells Story of Fight, by Phillip H. Love.
7. Footsteps: Walking Tours of Chevy Chase and Cleveland Park, Neighborhood Planning Councils #2 and #3, 1975.
8. Kline, Donald C. Teacher, artist, and architect of many Chevy Chase homes, interviewed July '75.
9. Magruder, Caleb Clarke. Colonel Joseph Belt, a paper read before the Society of Colonial Wars.
10. The Montgomery County Story, Volume 2. Colonel Ninian Beall/Colonel Joseph Belt, by Martha Sprigg Poole, Mont. County Historical Society.
11. National Archives. Microfilm census records, National Census of 1790.
12. National Archives. Building permits, record group 351, building permit 1836.
13. The Sunday Star, June 5, 1938. Famed Families in Nearby Suburbs, by John Clagett Proctor.

MILLS and MILLWRIGHTS
Steve Palmer

The mill is one of the rapidly vanishing landmarks of American history. Steam and electricity have made the picturesque watermill nearly obsolete.

At one time as many as eight mills were located within the limits of the District. Many of these grinding establishments existed throughout the Northwest Washington area, most concentrated along the Rock Creek valley with a few scattered just west of Tenleytown along River Road. The latter mills used the power supplied by Little Falls Run and Cabin John Creek in their sharp descent to the Potomac. Milling was one of the first business enterprises in what was then rural Washington, with the exception of farming. Families such as Pierce, Loughborough and Murdock were the prime movers in acquiring land and setting up milling businesses in the upper Northwest area.

WHAT IS A MILL?
There are two basic types of mill that were used in the United States for grain and fertilizer: roller mills and stone mills.

Roller milling is carried out by passing the grain between pairs of specially fluted rollers arranged in a series and followed by pairs of plain rollers. This method was invented in England in 1850. By that time, however, the mills in this area had already been erected using the earlier low or stone milling process.

This method involved two stones, each weighing from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds. We can divide the stone mills into two groups: grain or grist mills, and bone mills.

A stone mill used water power, which was the only available source of energy that could be harnessed by the people of early America. By the end of the nineteenth century we had steam power and soon enough the internal combustion engine.

One of the first applications of the water wheel was in connection with the milling industry. The wheel moves a horizontal shaft which, by means of a gear mechanism, makes the vertical shaft of the grindstone rotate. Compared to the older manual methods, the saving of human energy was enormous and the work was greatly simplified. The diagram illustrates the process used to turn raw grain into the finished product-flour, rye, bran, or cereal.

MILLS WEST OF WISCONSIN AVENUE

The three pricipal mills located west of Wisconsin Avenue were Magruder's Mill, Murdock Mill and Loughborough Mill. In actuality both Magruder and Loughborough mills were beyond the Maryland line but served the Washington area.

Magruder's Mill, built by Patrick and George Magruder in the late 1700's, was located where River Road crosses Cabin John Creek --west of Seven Locks Road. It was of elaborate construction thereby earning the name "Magruder's Folly." In the 1840's it was sold to George Hunter, who changed it to a paper mill. The ruins were still standing in 1917.

Murdock Mill was located near where Murdock Mill Road intersected Massachusetts Avenue (now Yuma and Massachusetts), the actual site being about 400 yards downstream on Little Falls Branch.

The Murdocks were original landholders in this area. John Murdock served in the militia in the French and Indian War and as a colonel in the Revolutionary War. In 1760 he was listed as a merchant in Georgetown. His grandson, Addison Murdock, later sold much of their holdings to the Loughboroughs in 1804. These holdings were known as "Friendship," which has some connection with the present day name of Friendship Heights.

Loughborough's Mill was on the Little Falls Branch south of River Road. It was constructed of native blue granite taken from quarries in Brookeville, Maryland, which operated until 1881, and another smaller quarry at Cabin John. So much damage was done to Loughborough's property and building by drunken Union soldiers during the Civil War that he sued the U.S. government. He also filed suit against the government because he refused to pay taxes without representation. He lost. In 1826, Nathan served as magistrate in the District Court and also served many years as Justice of the Peace. He also was one of the chief financial backers of the C & 0 Canal.

MILLS ALONG ROCK CREEK
Rock Creek was used extensively as a source of waterpower during the 18th and 19th centuries. From Maryland to Georgetown the stream and its branches had enough volume to power adequately any watermill.

The Patterson paper mill was located just above Georgetown where the west abutment of the P Street bridge rests today. Above was Lyons Mill, which was located directly across from the Oak Hill Cemetery. Lyons Mill was built in 1795 by John Knowles.

Adams Mill was located where the zoo is today. This mill was owned by President John Quincy Adams, hence its name. The following description was written at the time of its operation.
The mill is driven by an overshot wheel of 12 feet diameter, the water being conducted over the wheel by a canal from the dam up the creek. The mill, with 3 runs of stones when in full work, makes two hundred barrels of flour daily. It has been this season turning out daily some hundred and fifty barrels.

Two miles north of Adams Mill, at the present-day intersection of Tilden Street, Park Road and Rock Creek Parkway, is Pierce Mill. This was the largest milling operation in Rock Creek. The volume of grain, cost of construction, and size of the mill building itself, were unsurpassed by any other establishment on the Creek.

Blagden Mill, another large establishment, was just north of Pierce Mill, close enough to use the same sawmill. It was owned by Mr. Blagden, a lumber merchant. Large quantities of corn, wheat and rye were hauled by teams of horses from the port of Georgetown to the Pierce and Blagden Mills. Blagden Mill also had a bone mill from which Montgomery County and Washington, DC obtained valuable fertilizer.

Perhaps the first mill on Rock Creek was north of Blagden Mill and south of Military Road. Here Rock Creek falls 75 feet in less than a mile and is a narrow rushing torrent able to generate more than enough power to run a mill. This area was granted by the English Crown in 1634 as White's Mill Seat and was listed as Peter's Mill Seat in 1800. The Rambler, a feature writer for the Evening Star, stated in 1932 that there was no evidence of its use in the 19th century, but remains of a foundation could be seen from quite a distance. These remains were obliterated by the construction of Beach Drive in 1932.

THE PIERCES
Pierce Mill was built by Isaac Pierce in 1820 through 1829. The initials I.B.P. appear on the gable of the mill and are inscribed in stone near the top of the springhouse. Some historians believe that this means `Built by Isaac Pierce" while others contend it means "Betsey and Isaac Pierce."

Isaac Pierce was recorded ' as living in Prince Georges County in what is now Montgomery County. He married Betsey Cloud, daughter of local millwright Abner Cloud, owner of Eads Mill, located halfway between Chain Bridge and Key Bridge along the shores of the Potomac.

The tract of land on which Pierce Mill stands was originally patented to George Read in 1747 as "Re- Survey on New Seat." Read sold his land in Blagden Mill, circa 1890 1762 to William Deakins, a Revolutionary War patriot; Deakins then sold the land to Isaac Pierce in 1794.

By 1800 Isaac Pierce had acquired from 1,600 to 2,000 acres stretching from Chevy Chase to what is now the zoo, interrupted only by 49 acres occupied by the Blagden Mill property.

In 1801 he and his son built a springhouse (which still stands today), several barns, and his residence. When Isaac Pierce first settled, he found a two-story mill very near the site of the present stone structure.

Behind the family dwelling, which was located just across Tilden Street, were the slave quarters. In this building a distillery was later set up by Pierce's grandson, Francis Shoemaker. It produced peach brandy and was commonly called "The Still House."

PIERCE MILL
Pierce Mill is a well-preserved structure made of blue granite which was quarried on Broad Branch Road, about one half mile north of its intersection with Rock Creek. In 1840 the original undershot water wheel was replaced by an overshot one. In 1876 it was again changed to a forty-inch Loeffler Turbine which, as Francis Shoemaker stated, "sucked water and carried it into the mill.

Today there are two mill stones at Pierce Mill, one built of stone and one of flint. The former of stone was purchased in 1880 for $75.00 for grinding flour and wheat. The latter was used for grinding corn.

The dam is at the same site today as it was when Isaac Pierce built it, having been replaced after various floods throughout the centuries.

Contrary to public opinion, the Pierces never operated their mill. They were millwrights, not millers, meaning that they owned the mill. The millers operated the mill and took one-eighth of the proceeds or the equivalent in cash. The millers at Pierce Mill were, in chronological order: Donald, Tennyson, Geskins, Fleckker, Donald again, Geskins again and the White brothers. The latter were there when the main shaft of the grindstone broke in 1897, thereby ending the first era of the watermill on Rock Creek.

The following is a quote by Mr. A.P. White, one of the brothers operating the Pierce Mill in the 1890's:

I was grinding a load of rye for a neighbor, when the main shaft of the mill broke. I was about half through with the work, and the neighbor had to haul his unground rye away, and I guess he never got it ground. That was the last time the mill was operated. I have been told that I might make some arrangements with the park authorities to fix up and run the mill again, but after putting it to work again the government might want to change things around and I would be taking a big chance. A water mill grinding wheat and corn in the capital of the United States would be a strange sight.

Pierce Mill was restored by the Public Works Administration, under the supervision of C. Marshall Finnan, Superintendent, National Capital Parks. Construction work commenced on December 1, 1934. Work was completed on October 1, 1936 and the mill placed in operation in December of that year. Funds allotted for the restoration of the mill by the P.W.A. totaled $29,365.00, according to an assistant for the National Park Service.

"The mill was restored and is being operated as an educational and historical project. The Welfare and Recreational Association of Public Buildings and Grounds, Inc., a non-profit making organization, has been authorized by the National Park Service to operate the mill with the provision that the meal produced be used in the cafeterias in the government buildings, or sold to retail purchasers at the mill. The operators are also authorized to grind grain for farmers from nearby communities on a commission basis. "

On January 10, 1937, the restored mill was first opened to the public.

FOOTNOTE
1 National Intelligencer, August 5, 1967, "The John Quincy Adams Mill."
SOURCES
1. Chevy Chase News, June 20, 1928.
2. The Columbia Historical Society Records, Volume 12, pgs. 40 50; Volume 24, pgs. 1 7; Volume 32, pgs. 37 46.
3."Pierce Mill", Ruth E. Butler, historical assistant for the National Park Service.
4. A Short History of Technology, ed. By Charles Singen and E.J. Holmyard. Oxford University Press, New York and London, 1958.
5. "Historic Rock Creed", Louise Pierce Shoemacher, a lecture presented to the Columbia Historical Society, 1932.
6. The Old Mills, Allen C. Clark. A compilation of Rambler and Proctor articles that have appeared in the Washington Star.
7. The following dates were "Rambler" articles that were used:
Dec. 20, 1912/May 25, Feb. 23, 1913/June 14, Sept. 16, 1914/Feb. 28, June 3, 1915/Feb. 13 & 20, Apr. 2, July 23, Dec. 24, 1916/May 6 & 27, June 3 & 10, July 8, 1917/Apr. 13, Jan. 26, June 22 & 29, 1919/Jan. 22, 1922/March 22, 1925/July 1, and Oct. 28, 1934.

The Civil War in Northwest Washington
Mike Tames

The Civil War has figured into American history as one of the greatest conflicts of the 19th century. It has had an impact on small places such as Shiloh, Tennessee, and cities like Atlanta, Georgia. Just like these places and a thousand others, Washington, D.C. has felt the influence of the Civil War.

The War could be seen throughout Washington, from the Navy yards to the War Department's operations. In this particular study of the Civil War in Washington, however, the upper Northwest section will be the focal point. A part of the system of forts, batteries and entrenchments which constituted the formidable defenses of Washington were located here, and the area saw a wide variety of military activity.

On April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries in Charleston, South Carolina, fired upon Union-occupied Fort Sumter, located in Charleston Harbor. Subsequently, the fort surrendered to Confederate forces. War was imminent. Lincoln called for 75,000 men to strike down the Southern uprising.

In both North and South, towns and cities would become mobilizing points for volunteer regiments. In the North they would embark by steamer and train to ride to Washington, D.C. Here they would gather and constitute the Union Army.

When word of the war reached Washington, the city went up in arms. Bordered on one side by secessionist Virginia, and on the other by a split Maryland, the city was not geographically located in a good position. The elite District of Columbia Militia had recognized that Washington had but few men to defend herself from attack from an enemy force. But before segments of the Militia could muster into the army to come to the aid of the city, the 7th New York Militia arrived and thus took the credit for coming to the defense of the national capital.

It took almost three months for Union commanders to make an offensive move. But on July 21, 1861, after marching to the strategic point of Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first battle of Bull Run was fought. The result was a Union disaster. The army retreated back into Washington. Here the renamed Army of the Potomac went into camp to await the next spring offensive. Again the troops drilled and trained as more regiments poured into Washington from the North.

Now that it was known that the war would last much longer than expected, the defense of Washington was imperative. In the late summer of 1861 a system of defenses was being planned and built. To the engineers (the men who designed the forts), the first concern was to guard the strategic roads that led into the city. In Upper Northwest the engineers had much to contend with. The Chain Bridge, the receiving reservoir, the Rockville and Seventh Street Pikes, and the River Road were of first concern. For the defense of the Chain Bridge and the receiving reservoir, three small forts were constructed. They were Forts Alexander, Franklin, and Ripley. This group of small works occupied a commanding, but advanced position. Its occupation was indispensable to the security of the bridge and protection of the receiving reservoir. The cannon support from these works strengthened the lines in advance of the Chain Bridge. They were located south of what is now Massachusetts Avenue in Sumner Maryland. Near the village of Tenleytown was built Fort Pennsylvania. Situated east of the junction of the River Road and Rockville Pike (Wisconsin Avenue), the fort was designed to guard this strategic junction. To guard the Chain Bridge, Battery Kemble was constructed. A semi enclosed earthwork, the battery mounted two 100-pound Parrott rifle cannon. (Parrott cannon were just one of a dozen different type of cannon employed in the defenses.)

Fort Massachusetts was built beside the Seventh Street Pike (now 13 Street) and was to guard this road which led directly into Washington city.

Work progressed at a fast rate on the forts. Full crews of laborers were working daily. By the autumn of 1861, the war was in full gear. A Washington observer noted that "white tents of the army could be seen as far as the eye could see... A fort or battery crowns every hill." After the Union disaster in the spring Peninsular campaign of 1862, the need for an extremely strong system of defenses for Washington was further noted. The existing forts were strengthened. Forts Alexander, Franklin, and Ripley were connected and renamed Fort Sumner. The last refrains of this fort were destroyed 15 years ago for a housing development. Fort Pennsylvania was strengthened and a battery adjacent to the fort was built. Fort Massachusetts, a wholly inadequate fort, was reconstructed, expanded, and renamed Fort Stevens. But these forts alone could not effectively defend the city from attack. Therefore, it was necessary to fill the gaps between these works with smaller forts and batteries. This is the reason for Forts Mansfield, Simmons, Bayard, Gaines, and Kearny. All of these forts and batteries were connected with miles of rifle trenches. In these trenches the soldiers could fire muskets under relative protection.

The defenses were well built and great consideration was focused on them; but without the proper men to fire the guns and muskets, they would be useless. There was only one type of regiment which served this purpose: they were called heavy artillery regiments, trained in servicing the cannon and firing a musket. But, regular batteries were also detailed along with infantry regiments.

Life in the defenses was entirely different than out in the field campaigns. Camps were set up in and/or near the forts. These were used by the different regiments that came to Washington. Food was in ample supply. A bakery located in the basement of the Capitol produced 21,000 loaves of bread per day for the soldiers in Washington. Indeed, it was a much better life than on the march.

Here is the daily routine of a regiment while in the defenses: At about 5 a.m. a drummer boy beat the long roll. This was called reveille and was the signal for the soldiers to awaken. After reveille, the men lined up for roll call. When each man had been accounted for, breakfast was cooked and eaten. In established camps, the cooking was done by squads. The cook was, as one observer put it, "the one soldier who did poorest in drill and knew the least about cooking." After breakfast was company drill. Then dinner at 1:00, another roll call and then more drill. Another roll call and then supper was served at 6:00. Then, free time when soldiers strolled through the Washington countryside, went to the Potomac to bathe or wrote letters to loved ones.

Many soldiers came to Washington throughout the war. It is estimated that in the upper Northwest defenses there were from two to four thousand soldiers at any one time. The figures fluctuated as regiments came and left Washington. Many soldiers came to the Tenleytown area throughout the war. In June of 1862, the 9th and 10th Rhode Island Volunteers were encamped at Tenleytown. Their camp was located along River Road where it joins the Rockville Pike. Captain William M. Hale, of Company I of the 10th Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote that "The country is safe again. The gallant 10th is on the tented field, or rather, a side hill covered with beautiful oaks, so that perhaps it can hardly be called a field. At any rate, here we are in Tenleytown and if you know where that is, your knowledge of geography is more extensive than mine was a week ago, for I must confess that in the whole course of my travels the name of the ancient borough has never greeted my ears. And in fact, I find that even the residents are uncertain of the precise location. The postmaster says it is in Maryland, and the younger inhabitants don't care a copper where it is. As to the personnel of the town, little requires to be said. A few barns and hungry looking houses straggle along a lean and hungry looking street. At the rear of the post office and at the entrance of our camp stands the village church." (The church that Capt. Hale mentions is the forerunner of Eldbrooke Methodist Church.)

Through the course of the war the "ancient borough" that Capt. Hale mentions was subjected to many a misspelling. Contemporary maps and drawings of that time list Tenleytown as Tennallytown. On a lighter note, Oliver Wendell Holmes called it Ten Alley Town, and William Dunn of the 85th New York Infantry Regiment referred to it as Tinley or Ticletown.

Only once has a president of the United States come under fire of the enemy. This occurred when Abraham Lincoln viewed the battle of Fort Stevens July 12, 1864. This battle also marked the only fight with confederates and union forces using the Washington defenses.

The battle of Fort Stevens was by no means a large battle by standards of the Civil War. But on the other hand, it could not be called a mere skirmish.

Confederate General Jubal Early had pushed his men past General Lew Wallace's command at the Monocacy River and had headed toward Rockville, Maryland. There, after attempting to organize his army (the elements had taken their toll that day), he fought a brief skirmish with federal cavalry. Having defeated the cavalry, Early turned east and headed for the Seventh Street Pike. Turning down the pike, the army quickly deployed and started skirmishing with the war clerks, 100 days' militia, and convalescents (the only men Washington had to defend it at the time). The skirmishers probed the defenses as the rest of Early's army caught up. Rebel artillery wheeled into position and started to shell Union positions. Yankee reinforcements from the Sixth Corps arrived periodically during the late afternoon and evening. The Confederates pushed onward and shoved Yankees ahead of them, gaining ground towards the entrenchments that opposed them. Night came and both sides settled down to only occasional shooting.

Dawn came and the entrenchments could be seen filled with newly arrived troops. Relatively no
action took place until about noon, when Early threw out skirmishers followed by a long battle line which stayed far in back of the skirmishers. Rebel infantry gained more ground as their artillery still shelled Union positions. Several hours passed and the Federals were ready to execute a reconnoitering maneuver. At a pre-arranged signal, Union infantry were to move out in battle formation behind their skirmishers. The signal was given around 6 p.m., and the Yankees advanced under protection of the long range cannon at Fort Stevens, Fort DeRussey, and adjacent batteries. As the Yankees advanced they hit a Confederate battle line positioned in a patch of woods. A firelight ensued which ended only when sundown finally came. Confederate sharpshooters used neighboring houses as positions to snipe at Federal infantry and gunners. Casualties on the Federal side were 70 killed and 180 wounded. Seventy badly wounded Southerners were captured at Bladensburg, Maryland. Early retreated on the night of July 12, and headed for the fords of the Potomac.

SOURCES
1. Spicer, William A. History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, Providence, Snow and Farnham, 1892.
2. Barnard, J.G., A Report on the Defences of Washington, To the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, Government Printing Office, 1871.
3. Johnson, Robert U. and Clarence C. Buel, Editors, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, New York, Century, 1887.
4. National Archives, Regimental Post Returns, 1861 1865.

Where the City Meets the Country
Gregory Pope

"Natural country surroundings, City conveniences and accessibility". Thus reads part of an advertising column for real estate in Chevy Chase in a 1922 Sunday paper. Certainly the community was and is a link between city and.country; certainly this accounts for the immense popularity of Chevy Chase. What house buyers in the early 1900's did not consider, however, was that this new suburban situation would embrace and in odd ways combine problems of city and country.

Home-buyers in the early twentieth century were captivated by the great bird population of Chevy Chase; they considered themselves fortunate that the birds of the thick woods now Northwest Washington did not flee at the "advance of civilization" but rather settled in the trees, vines, and shrubbery of the new suburb. With the families from the city came cats: domestic cats and the ubiquitous strays. Having a great ideal more roaming space, the animals were apparently willing to forgo any meals at home for the enormously more appealing pastime of catching their own food. Frogs and rodents suffered not nearly so much as the songbirds. In May, 1920, an article by Susan S. Albertus appeared in the Chevy Chase News imploring Chevy Chasers to control their bird-eating cats. In June of the same year Mr. Ernest Knaebel, Chairman of the Education Committee of the Chevy Chase Citizens Association, wrote a rather sentimental article for the same paper extolling the ecological and aesthetic virtues of birds, condemning cats for their malicious tastes, and suggesting to residents the restraint of their own pets and the painless dispatch of strays.

Chevy Chasers have always been proud of their gardens. In the early years of the community's existence, however, there were a multitude of hazards to domestic plants in the suburbs. The horses which drew trash collecting carts were accustomed to taking polite if not restricted nibbles from hedges along the brick cobbled alleys behind the shops of Connecticut Avenue. Ralph Given, Chairman of the Water Committee, in the summer of 1920, brought the subject up at a meeting of the Citizens Association, and the horses were soon muzzled. Squirrels and rabbits plagued gardeners, but rabbits were exterminated by 1950. In 1912, Japanese beetles were inadvertently introduced into the country in New Jersey; having found 275 different plants they could eat, an ideal climate in which to breed, and with entomologists as yet uncertain of their consuming potential and with no intention of exterminating them, the insects spread at an alarming rate. By 1922 they were a permanent pest in Chevy Chase, their numbers swelling in vacant lots to overflow on to cultivated roses and Japanese beetle traps were developed in 1929 but were notoriously unsuccessful; it was not until after World War II that the "milky spore disease" bacteria were introduced to the beetles, and the problem was more or less under control.

Between 1920 and 1932 Washington had a lot of rain. Houses were built in this period with long, sloping roofs and elaborate gutter systems; stagnant pools of water were constantly being filled in to prevent mosquito breeding, and the sewer system of Chevy Chase was by force of necessity greatly improved and renovated. By far the worst problem caused by the rains was flooding. Natural gulleys like the Soapstone Valley suffered tremendously, the damage to Nevada Avenue alone amounting to $15,000. In many places great sections of pavement and road were washed away, and ten-foot ditches appeared. Moreover, the Japanese beetle thrived in rain saturated soil. It is interesting to note that the trees along Broad Branch Road and Nevada Avenue are much fuller than those around Fort Reno where the rain water runs straight off the hill.

The problems that early suburbanites faced seem minor and almost laughable to us. However, Chevy Chase was organized and planned as Washington's top community, and anything that distracted from this goal had to be dealt with in swift measures.

SOURCES
1. Albertus, Susan S. "The Toll of the Cat," Chevy Chase News, May 1920.
2. Knaebel, Ernest. Response to "The Toll of the Cat," Chevy Chase News, June 1920.
3. A number of articles in the Chevy Chase News with no titles, Notes of Meetings of the Citizens' Association.
July 1920. On horses eating hedges.
April 19, 1922. On horses eating hedges. September 1, 1929. On Japanese Beetle traps. July 1, 1920. On rabbits.
June 20, 1928. On rabbits.U.S. Department of Agriculture. Insects: The Yearbook of Agriculture. Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1952.
4. "Are the Squirrels Becoming a Nuisance?" Chevy Chase News, October 15, 1929.
5. "The Gray Squirrel a Nuisance." Chevy Chase News, January 1, 1930.
6. "Chevy Chase Drive." Chevy Chase News, June 1, 1923.
7. Radcliffe, Lewis. "Help Sell Chevy Chase." Chevy Chase News, October 15, 1929.

CLEVELAND PARK
J. D. Gershan
In the sweltering heat of any Georgetown summer sixty or seventy years ago, respite was sought by many city gentry in the wooded highlands of Cleveland Park. Rolling hills and little streams made this area seem ideal for country homes. Ample and well situated lots could be had for between two thousand and five thousand dollars, so this "prettiest suburb of Washington" bloomed with high society.

Back in 1903, there were only 60 homes in Cleveland Park, no two of which had the same design. Some of the many advantages to living in Cleveland Park were: residents had the prestige of living in Washington, pure water was easily had, the average elevation above sea level is 360 feet and furthermore, a separate police detail patrolled Cleveland Park. These accoutrements quickly brought many to the area.

Cleveland Park was originally part of the vast land holdings of Ninian Beall in this area, called by him "Pretty Prospect". He and his family owned this land from 1720 until 1790 when it was divided between General Uriah Forrest and then Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert. In 1794 Forrest acquired Stoddert's interest and renamed the estate "Rosedale". Out of this he sold two hundred fifty acres to his relative Phillip Barton Key (uncle of Francis Scott Key) who in 1801 and 1802 built his estate "Woodley" on the property.

On adjoining Key property was built Twin Oaks, a twenty-six room mansion now the Chinese embassy, and the old Davies' estate formerly owned by Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell called "Tregaron." 1

In the disastrous real estate crash of 1797, Forrest lost all but twenty eight acres of his holdings at Rosedale. These were left to Forrest's widow who gave them to her son. The property was further divided in 1868.

The remaining portion, named Forrest Hill, was sold to President Grover Cleveland in 1886. The president built a rather palatial house on the square between Newark and Macomb Streets at 36th Street. This house was called by him "Oak View" because of the magnificent view to the river. However the house was much more commonly known as "red top." It is for Cleveland that the area was named.

Today the prices for these desirable homes may range from $75,000 to above $150,000.

Before 1911, when the John Eaton public school was built, there were no public grammar school facilities in the area. Library facilities were wanting until 1944 when the Cleveland Park library was built with $41,000 from Congress and the donations of private citizenry.

Today most of the residents are pleased with Cleveland Park, and people who have lived here tend to remain here rather than move to the suburbs. And if they do move, it's only across the street or around the corner.

FOOTNOTE
1 For a fuller history of Tregaron, see Origins, "The Vanishing Breed."
This is the Grover Cleveland house as it probably appeared while the President was living there. Note the many balconies and spire, and the wide encircling veranda.
The present day boundaries of Cleveland Park extend from North to South between Rodman Street and Klingle Wootlley Roads, and from East to West between Connecticut Avenue and Wisconsin Avenue (some say to Massachusetts Avenue).
Cleveland Park became more and more popular as a residential area. Many of the older houses were built as country homes, and this is reflected in the architecture, especially in the case of verandas and porches. It is not uncommon in Cleveland Park to see . three story homes with balconies and a front and back porch. A typical house might have a pillared front porch, and a stucco or wood shingle facade. In the older houses, you might find overlapping stone roofing, and cupolas or spires as ornaments are common. The architects who designed the type of home found in this area seem devoted to ornament, and there is a great deal of interesting decoration done in wood.

SOURCES
1. Cleveland Park: An Early Residential Neighborhood of the Nation's Capital, Dunlop and Peters.
2. Cleveland Park advertising booklet, 1904.
5. Cleveland Park, John O. Proctor, 1944.
6. The Washington Post, August, 1958 and April, 1969.
7. Interviews with Mrs. Fred Simpick and Mr. Frase, area residents.

Architecture in Chevy Chase
Gregory Pope

"Architecture is to some extent a communal art --at least it depends on a relationship between the user and the maker much closer than in the other arts."
-Sir Kenneth Clark, Civilization

Between 1890 and 1940, the forest and farmland that bordered the city on its northwest side was gradually reduced and finally obliterated, replaced by a residential community. The houses that make up the community are not, as in the case of some less fortunate developments in Maryland, all alike, but rather display a large and fascinating variety of architectural styles. Here is what contends to be a cross -section of these styles, although the rich diversity of the area's houses cannot by any means be entirely reviewed in so small an article. In conjunction with this review, a tour has been produced which should prove much more thorough than this article.

THE TUDOR STYLE
In the years before the Great Depression, many houses were built to look like the Tudor mansions of the days of Henry VIII. There are no fewer than three right near the Chevy Chase Baptist Church, all designed by John W. Kearney, perhaps the most versatile architect of this area. His Tudor detail goes to the point of stone carving on the porches and a coat of arms above the doorway. Here we see medieval features revived in the multiplicity of the roofs and the half timbering.

THE MOCK TUDOR OR ELIZABETHAN STYLE
Houses like the one above were erected around 1930 by a number of building companies, notably the local E.T. Lindner and. Co. With elaborate brick and stone interplay, a second story plaster-and-half timbering facing with a slight overhang, an often complicated roof design, and that attractive form of bay window known as an oriel, the house simulates an Elizabethan inn quite effectively. In many cases, however, the complex roof and oriel are abandoned, and it takes some mental effort to lift the house from its place in an American community and put it in a London street of the sixteenth century!

THE NEO-COLONIAL HOUSE
The Neo-Colonial dwelling looks as though it were built in 1700, about 200 years before it was actually constructed. Simple and vernacular, it is one of the most attractive and unpretentious in the area. Built between 1900 and 1940 are houses with gambrel roofs (two slopes on each side, the second steeper than the first), houses with plain single-sloped ridge roofs, shingled houses, brick houses, frame houses, houses with multiple chimneys, and houses with Classical doorways, all fitting into the same group. The commonest of all these, as a stroll up and down a few streets will show, is the house with a gambrel superimposed on a ridge roof, almost always built of shingle and brick. Also appearing under this type are the Dutch houses, recognized by conspicuously long and steep roofs, and copies of Moravian2 dwellings with their yellow plaster and simple half-timbering.

THE GEORGIAN STYLE
There are quite a number of houses of the Georgian style in the area. All, like the one in the photograph, bear practically the same details: the brickwork, the white doorway with features borrowed from the architecture of Classical Greece, and the symmetrical design. In the century before the American Revolution, houses like this were built up and down the East Coast for wealthy merchants and statesmen. The Georgian house was "the embodiment of genteel formality,"3 in fact, just the sort of house an affluent Chevy Chaser would desire. In nearly every case, the house is surrounded by a considerable space of lawn. Another form of the Georgian style is the stuccoed Southern type with a lower foundation and a wide veranda in front but with the same formal symmetry that characterized the Northern type.

THE FEDERAL STYLE
Perhaps the best example of the Federal style is the White House. A development of the Georgian style common in the years after the Revolutionary War, it could best be described as an attractive happy medium between invention and severe restriction. Circular motifs are the best identifying earmarks of the Federal house: porticos, windows and doors are either crowned with an arch or semicircular in some way or other. Even more formal than the Georgian, Federal symmetry was strict, almost icy; details were fitted into a definite pattern (the house in the photograph is thus austere). Because of the rigidness of its design, the Federal style was not altogether popular to revive, as it allowed the architect almost no room for personal innovations.

GREEK REVIVAL DESIGNS
Between 1810 and 1840, a style known as the Greek Revival swept the country; it was the first style to be born in America. Classical Greek and Roman architecture was cheerfully and shamelessly exploited, and adaptions of the Parthenon sprang up everywhere, complete with anachronistic windows and chimneys. Roman arches and Greek columns were ruthlessly combined, and when an entire Greek temple could not be afforded, builders contented themselves with a Classical porch. Needless to say, twentieth-century architects fell upon the elements of the Greek Revival and adapted them to their own use. Experimentation was widespread and often ingenious; columns were stunted or stretched; pilasters, those flat columns that protrude from a wall, appeared on dormer windows and doors, and even drainpipes were given a Classical air. Rarely, however, does one see such fine use of the style as in the impressive, two story portico on this granite house.

THE VICTORIAN HOUSE
The variety implied by the term Victorian is well represented in Chevy Chase, although all houses of that name have been built after 1880. There were a great number of reproductions of the diverse types of Victorian houses built in the early 1900's: features, design and details were taken from almost every architectural style since the Parthenon. Pleasant Italian villas, weather-beaten "houses by the sea," Steamboat Gothic frame houses and enormous white mansions all bear the name "Victorian" because of the foreign themes in the houses, the eclecticism that architects of the latter half of the nineteenth century thrived on. When most of these dwellings were constructed, Chevy Chase families were quite big and materials cheap. Now that the population rate has slowed down and housing costs have skyrocketed, these homes are either for the marvelously wealthy or are handed down from generation to generation.

THE SHINGLE STYLE
In comparison with the Victorian, this is a very well defined type of house. A rich textural impact is afforded by the wood shingles, and, very important to the style, there is a bold interplay of triangular shapes. The Shingle Style actually came from the Midwest of the 1850's, where the lavishness of Victoriana was replaced by rural charm and dignity. Roughened stone, especially granite, goes well with the woody shingles for chimneys or pillars; Classical columns, on the other hand, completely spoil the rustic beauty of the house.

FAMILIAR STYLES BORROWED FROM INDIVIDUAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Under this heading come all manner of dwellings in Chevy Chase. Placed intermittently with Victorian "mansionettes" and Greek Revival houses are such un-American fancies as Italian urban tenements (with piazzas of decorated columns), magnificent Spanish houses with curved red roof tiles to offset white masonry, and even a Swiss chalet with picturesque shingles and timberwork under a strong eaved roof. Although such buildings seem jarringly out of place in an American suburb (much more so, incidentally, than the Elizabethan Revival), it is that peculiarity which is their strength. Houses that would be commonplace in their native countries are novelties in Chevy Chase, thus appealing to the homebuyer.

THE BUNGALOW
When the British Empire was at its height, it covered large tracts of tropical lands; climates were unpleasantly hot, and any breeze would be a welcome relief. Accordingly, dwellings for local officials and governors, generally unused to the heat, needed to provide both coolness and comfort: the result was the bungalow. A single-story, low-roofed cottage with a wide, usually screened porch was ideal for protection from the unpleasant temperature and mosquitoes, without preventing cooler breezes to circulate through the building. It was not long before the colder and more sophisticated countries adopted the style for country villas; there are quite a few in Chevy Chase, providing a striking but necessary contrast with the taller Colonial and Victorian houses.

Thus we can see how architects before the Second World War used originality and bold experimentation to furnish Chevy Chase with a splendid variety of architectural styles. Reviving old systems and features, combining details from countless types of houses and adapting the beauty and design of the old to the practicality of the new, designers strove to keep the upper Northwest the most attractive part of the city.

FOOTNOTES
1 A typically European facade, with square-cut timber embedded in plaster to produce various geometric designs and patterns.
2 A Germanic group of pioneers in the 1850's who quite incidentally developed their own form of architecture.
3 Williams, Henry Lionel and Ottalie K. A Guide to Old American Homes, 1700 1900. A.S. Barnes and Company, Inc., New York, 1962.
4 A Victorian feature, with columns on a front porch carved and ornamented with fretwork designs and details.
SOURCES
1. Williams, Henry L. and Ottalie K. A Guide to Old American Homes, 1700 1900. New York, A.S. Barnes and Company, Inc., 1962.
2. Greiff, Constance M. Lost America. Princeton, Pyne Paperbacks, 1972.
3. Zerpil, Irving. Local citizen. Interviewed in July, 1975.
4. National Archives. Building permits, 1890 1947.

ENTERTAINMENT Sarah Luria

THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAYED
Living in the world of today we are used to relying on other people for entertainment. We go to movies, plays, circuses and the like, all to have someone else show us a good time. When one is bored, the usual idea which pops into one's mind is "How about watching TV?" or "Let's go to the movies."

Now the only difference today as opposed to the early 1900's is that back then, that same phrase would have been said, if not with three, at least two exclamation points, looking something like this: "LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES!!!" It is easy to deduce from this study of period versus exclamation point that back then a movie was thought of as a rare treat, something to plan ahead for, to decide what clothes to wear and to anticipate. So except those few times people did attend the pictures, they were forced to depend on each other for recreation.

Aside from the enjoyment children always found in playing various games and just romping about, or the assorted garden and bridge clubs which kept parents busy, there was one activity shared by all: the lawn fetes. Although these fetes go under many different names such as "strawberry festivals" or "ice cream socials," they were all generally the same thing, much like the block parties of today. These forms of group entertainment ranged from large dances with familiar tunes being blared out from the long horns of the victrolas to gala parades of wagons, bikes, and homemade floats laden with kids marching down the streets. Whatever or wherever they were, though, they occurred on almost any day or night during the summer months.

Everyday, that is, except Sunday. It was the early years of the century when the "blue laws" flourished and were followed by most everyone. That meant that Sundays were a day of rest. There would be no strenuous activities, no going to the movies or parades. It was a day for dressing up and keeping quiet. In an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Robert Williams, long-time residents of Washington, Mr. Williams remarked on the limited activities of a Sunday:

"One of the things we would do would be to take a streetcar ride. Get dressed up like we were going to a wedding, and the family would get on the car, ride, to the end of the line, ride back, and get off. You couldn't even start a ball game before two o'clock. They had a lot of rules like that."

So people found many ways of doing nothing and just resting. Any day except Sunday, though, the socials were in abundance. Many times the fetes would involve just two families. One would pull out their Sunday clothes and go calling on the other. The minute the visitors arrived the brightly colored Japanese lanterns were strung and refreshments prepared. The adults would sit on the lawn and chat while the children would run about catching fireflies and dragging lightning boxes. The latter was a great pastime at night and consisted of an old shoebox with a hole cut out of it and a candle placed in the "window." The box was attached to a string and dragged all over creation. Evidently, children were much easier to please back then. After the children had tired themselves out and the grownups finished their discussion, everyone would gather round and sing favorite songs or, best of all, "play" a player piano.

Often, when more people were involved and a great abundance of food present, the affair would be a fund-raising party, usually for churches or other charitable organizations. The E.V. Brown Elementary School at Connecticut and McKinley was famous for its strawberry festivals given each year to celebrate the end of school. These were among the largest ever held and a road would be closed for the occasion.

Yet no matter how large the scale of these fetes, one was guaranteed to have a good time.

PARADISE BENEATH THE STARS
In the early 1900's, formal entertainment meant Chevy Chase Lake. It was built by the Chevy Chase Land Company to attract people out to Chevy Chase and hopefully to turn them into prospective buyers of its real estate. Another reason was to get people to ride the trolley cars on the weekends. Though well used by shoppers and people going to work on the weekdays, on the weekends the trolley business subsided. In this aspect the Lake greatly succeeded, as described by Mrs. Edith Claude Jarvis, daughter of Mr. Herbert Claude, who owned the concessions at Chevy Chase Lake:

"People would come out to the Lake and absolutely fill the old open street cars, some even hanging on to the running boards."

Why did all these people flock out to a lake which was out in the middle of nowhere? The question is an easy one to answer. Chevy Chase Lake was like some place you've always read about but never found. It was located across Connecticut Avenue from the recently removed Chevy Chase Lake swimming pool, about a half mile past Chevy Chase Circle. Here the land was largely undeveloped, the only noise being that of the B&O Railroad chugging along not far away and the continuous clacking of the passing trolley cars. The grounds were situated right on the edge of Rock Creek Park, giving the lake a forest-like setting.

There was an endless list of things to do at Chevy Chase Lake; one could never grow bored. You could row around the lake, for only five cents an hour, while licking a double dip of Fussell's ice cream --a mere ten cents. The amusement park surrounded the lake. There you would find a shooting gallery, a bowling alley, and various games of chance. The park also included a carousel, with its ornate and multi-colored horses whizzing around to gay tunes. There were huge swings shaped like boats. Each boat held two people and was suspended from two strong ropes. The passengers would alternately pull on the ropes, causing the swing to fly higher and higher into the sky. Even the first silent movie ever shown in the area was shown at the Lake.

The most popular activity and the biggest crowd drawer was the nightly concert given by the U.S. Marine Band. As Mrs. Jarvis remembers, "A section of the Marine Band would arrive in very colorful uniforms. They had white duck trousers, blue coats trimmed in red, and lots of brass instruments."

Arriving at the Lake, members of the band would take their positions in the enormous aqua blue seashell --the most spectacular bandstand you've ever seen. The band with their shiny brass instruments glittering against the mammoth shell was a beautiful sight for the many spectators arranged on benches dotting the hillside. After an hour of semi-classical music there would be an intermission. The bandsmen then gathered up all their instruments and carted them down the hillside to the rustic dancing pavillion which overlooked the Lake. Here the spectators turned to dancers and would dance away the rest of the evening, under the stars.

The Fourth of July was always a festive occasion at the Lake. A show of fireworks would be displayed from a barge positioned in the middle of the Lake. There would be crazy stunts of people diving from a high platform, while clinging to the back of a horse or to the seat of a bicycle, into the Lake. The shows were always exciting, and Mrs. Jarvis remembers one of the most exciting of all:

"On one occasion all the fireworks caught fire on the barge. It went up all at once in a terrific noise and the man who was working the fireworks had to swim to shore. That was far too exciting."

For quite a few years the Lake remained the same with its air of gaiety and atmosphere of elegance which seemed everlasting. In 1918, however, Chevy Chase Lake fell from the hands of Herbert Claude into those of Meyer Davis. Mr. Davis stripped the Lake of all its concessions, leaving only the dancing pavillion standing. For many years afterwards dancing was the only thing that went on there (only this time there was a fee) and became mainly popular with teenagers as a place to go on dates. Its air of glamour and elegance lingered through its last days when in the late Twenties the dam which held the Lake broke, making it a hazard to the children who played around it. The Chevy Chase Land Company decided they must fill it in. The bulldozers arrived in a few days and buried Chevy Chase Lake, with all its splendor representative of the times.

WHERE THE WILD ONES ARE
Although the Chevy Chase Recreation Club was really just a fancy name for what everyone knows today as the Chevy Chase Playground, at one time it deserved such a name. When plans were first discussed in 1922 for the building of a playground at 41st and Western, it was to have been not only bigger than it is now, but also better.

The subject of the 1300 children of Chevy Chase, and the need for them to have room to play in, became one of grave importance during the twenties. It was thought that in order for children to lead healthy, normal lives a playground was vital. Not only would their children lead abnormal lives without a playground, they might also turn to delinquency. As the Chevy Chase News declared while trying to convince the citizens of the need for a playground, "Leisure time is dangerous time." 1

If that one didn't get them, this one surely would: "Juvenile offenses increase with the distance from a playground."2

In no time the idea of a Chevy Chase Recreation Club had many followers. Each new member was extremely important, as the government was to take no part in the building of the playground and clubhouse; all money had to be obtained from Chevy Chase residents.

The early club's plans were quite idealistic. The playground was to be in the same area and size it is now (2.876 acres), but it was to contain a cinder track, four tennis courts, a croquet court, and a swimming pool (the closest one was at Hains Point) --all in addition to what it contains now. The biggest and most exciting thing about the Recreation Club was the clubhouse itself. The clubhouse was to be located directly across Western Avenue from the playground, occupying 30,000 square feet. The clubhouse would contain a gymnasium, an auditorium, a dance floor, a bowling alley, and a billiard room. The cost: $125,000 --and that didn't even include the purchase of the land. The Chevy Chase Land Company had been generous enough to lease the land for the playground and clubhouse for three years, after which the club could buy it if it was successful.

People had already contributed a good deal of their own money towards the building of the playground and were anxious to see the product of their dollars. Finally on July 2, 1923, the playground opened its gates. This, of course, called for a celebration, and the traditional celebration always called for a parade. The grand opening parade included any child in Chevy Chase old enough to stand on his own two legs. The children, clothed in home-made costumes of brilliant colors, marched to the music of the neighborhood band. There was the ceremonial flag-raising followed by the bonfire, whose blazing flames carried the celebration on into the evening.

The playground's popularity increased greatly when its 25 participants turned into 150 about a month later. Soon various teams were formed. There was an adult men's tennis team. (Much emphasis was put on the fact that the playground should be utilized not only by children but equally by adults.) There were two baseball teams; the senior one was called the "Bearcats," and the mighty "Sluggers" was the junior team. There were no girls' athletic teams, and if girls did participate informally in sports, they were separate from the boys.

Winter came and still no clubhouse. There was no way to shelter any of the activities or equipment in case of bad weather, so the playground was forced to close down from November to March. For the following winters the playground managed to find shelter in one of the nearby churches. This continued for many years. Eventually all hopes for the extravagant clubhouse across the street were forgotten, and the modest one was built that still stands on the playground today. Though the clubhouse does not have a dance floor, a bowling alley or a swimming pool, it has served its purpose well, not only as a clubhouse but as a Sun Dial program center (summer day care), a nursery school, and a popular "hang out" as well.

"LADY, PLEASE REMOVE YOUR HAT!"
Lamar H. Keen unlocked the glass doors. He switched on the lobby lights. Grinning with pride, he scanned the newly laid carpet whose Alexander Smith Crestwood pattern looked quite smart, in a combination of red, black, and grey. "Yes, sir, "he thought to himself, "this theatre has come a long way since its beginnings, fifteen years ago in 1922."

Seven businessmen had collaborated in 1922 to form the Chevy Chase Theatre Company. Together they pooled their money in order to reach their goal: a movie "palace" for Chevy Chase. Misfortune and bankruptcy, however, befell the small group before the theatre was ever completed. Plans for the balcony, which was to hold 250 more seats, had to be erased. The Company was unable to run its own theatre.

During this time of peril and discouragement a new character came onto the scene. The savior, Harry Crandall, had been in the picture business since 1910. He had realized, back in 1897, when the first public showing of a movie in Washington took place, that there was a fortune to be made in this new- fangled invention.

After the showing, movie palaces sprung up everywhere. Old warehouses and empty buildings were converted into theatres overnight. They didn't last long or make very much money but they still kept coming. It wasn't until 1910 that Harry Crandall stepped into the film world, but with a new idea: a chain of movie houses.

Success came quickly to Crandall with a number of theatres scattered downtown in no time; but it left all too soon. On the evening of January 28, 1922, a heavy snow fell while crowds of people were packed in to see George M. Cohan's hit comedy Get Rich Quick Wallingford. The place was Crandall's Knickerbocker Theatre at 18th St. and Columbia Road. At nine o'clock, just after the feature had started, a terrible crash rang through the theatre. The roof, which had been under 29 inches of snow, caved in. Out of the 900 people in the audience, 98 were killed and many injured.

In 1922 Crandall had rescued the Chevy Chase Theatre. The seven men who had spent so much time and money in building their theatre, gave it up for someone else to finish and, eventually, to profit from.

It was ten o'clock. The doors were to open in half an hour to the crowd of anxious children, each one holding in the sweaty palm of his hand the 15¢ ticket, their pass to the Saturday matinee at the Avalon, as it had been renamed.

Mr. Keen went up to the projection room to see if the films were in order. First the serial would be shown. Today's was to be Chapter Three of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. Part Four would be shown next Saturday. The main feature was a real treat, described by that week's program (distributed each week to tell which films would be shown at the Avalon) as "an event you'll never forget, the Great Walt Disney Festival of Hits " An afternoon of five Disney films! The list was headed by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to be followed by the Three Little Pigs, Donald Duck, The Ugly Duckling, and Ferdinand the Bull. "Yep, the theatre will do mighty good business today," Mr. Keen prophesied.

He stepped into the men's room to change into his manager's uniform. His heels clicked across the black and white tiles as he crossed over to the mirror. Glancing in the glass he saw how distinguished his flannels looked, how the accompanying blue coat hung properly; but his hair could have used a little more grease, he thought. Satisfied, he strolled between the rows of newly upholstered blue mohair seats, picking up the pieces of trash the janitor missed.

This year, 1937, had been a red letter year for the Avalon Theatre and Mr. Keen was proud to have been a part of it. The theatre had just been completely remodeled, replacing its rather rundown appearance with an air of elegance. In. addition, Warner's (the current owner of the Avalon) biggest competitor in the area and former owner of the Chevy Chase Theatre, Harry Crandall, had been forced to sell out to Warner Bros. completely.

There had been two other years of great importance. The first was 1925, when Crandall let the Chevy Chase Theatre fall into the hands of Warner Bros. The original name remained for a while but in 1930, when a new marquee was ordered, the name proved to be too long. A contest was held and the first prize went to the name "Avalon." The second was the year, 1928, when more organists lost their jobs than in any other; "talkies" were invented and sound was installed. The Robert Morton orchestral organ, one of the finest of its kind, which sat at the front of the theatre in a type of pit, was hauled away to be replaced by voices and recorded music.

The heavy doors were flung open as a river of children flooded the lobby. Mr. Keen smiled, tickled at the way kids got so excited over something as common as a movie. He remembered when he was a teenager, when entertainment meant Downtown. Ninth Street, which used to be referred to as "The Gay White Way," once the home of the finest "legit houses" in town. Downtown, glamorously loaded with high-class shops and restaurants, the Fifth Avenue of Washington.

The Chevy Chase Theatre, though, had brought about a great change. It had, in a sense, liberated Chevy Chase's dependency on downtown for entertainment. That's what made his theatre different from all the others, Mr. Keen thought.

The children all settled down in their seats, intently watching as Flash Gordon attempted to conquer the universe. Mr. Keen left the excitement and went upstairs to the ballroom. In the afternoons it was used for dancing and piano lessons given by Mrs. Deaver, and in the evenings it was rented out to different groups for various socials or balls. He walked across the wooden floor, well scuffed by the thousands of shoes that had waltzed across it, and touched the keys of the grand piano and the upright to see if they were in tune. Perfect. He exited through the checkroom, which would soon be filled with furs and hats. Down the stairs to the ballroom's entrance north of the theatre lobby on Connecticut Avenue. When he reached the lobby, Snow White had just finished. Kids made a beeline from the lobby to the door to the south wall. This led to Avignone Freres, the caterer's next door. Inside they scrambled to the fountain in the back, gobbled down a soda or phosphate, and would be back in time for the next show.

This crowd was nothing compared to what it would be a few weeks from now when the Avalon would (along with many other theatres) hold the famous "Toy Matinee." Instead of having to have a ticket to see the movie, each person had to come with a toy. Waving their packages madly, children would be allowed into the theatre, where they would deposit their gifts in a pile. Soon a mountain of trucks, dolls and games was formed until the lobby of the Avalon resembled Santa Claus' factory at the North Pole. Near Christmas, Mr. Keen would proudly donate the presents to a charity or to the poor.

The matinee concluded with Donald's Lucky Day. When the theatre had been emptied, Mr. Keen followed the crowd and locked the door. He turned towards his home on McKinley Street for a quick bite before he had to return for the evening feature. Tonight's would be Mary Pickford's latest film. "Ah," he sighed wearily, a manager's work is never done. "

Time passed and along with it came many other Mr. Keens, each sharing the same type of life, that of a manager, yet in another generation; and generation after generation saw change. One saw the desegregation of all the theatres in Washington, which didn't occur until 1954.

Forty-six years after its birth, another generation saw a change in the oldest policy of the Avalon. From its beginnings the Chevy Chase Theatre had been branded a "35-day theatre". This meant that the Avalon wouldn't get a film until 35 days after it had been shown downtown. The farther out of town a theatre was, the longer it had to wait for a film. The Uptown Theatre only had to wait 28 days. By the time a first-run movie got to the Avalon it was a fifth-run movie! This situation had its pros and cons. Some people would grow impatient waiting for a film to come out to Chevy Chase and go downtown to see it, causing the Avalon to lose business. Yet on the other hand, when a movie came to town you didn't have to worry about missing it. You could go away for five weeks and come back just in time to catch the show. In 1968 the Avalon took a giant step, from fifth-run theatre to first-run theatre. The occasion was celebrated with the premier of The Party, starring Peter Sellers. It was a scene taken right out of Hollywood. The lights flashing across the sky and the crowds peering at the red carpet. The breathless moment when the limousine door opened and he appeared! The star! The cameras! The glamour! The thrill!

That night marked a new era in Avalon history. The theatre attracted more crowds than ever before. Its success led to the building of an additional theatre. In the beginning, in commemoration of the first theatre which formed the foundation for the Avalon's success, the addition was to be called "The Chevy Chase Art Cinema" (showing mainly foreign films). But the name Chevy Chase Theatre had been lost in history, and few would see the sentimentality in giving the name to the second theatre. So once again, the name "Avalon" won, only this time with a "2" stuck on the end of it.

With the invention of the television it seems as if the theatre's full-time job is luring the customer away from the tube and into the theatre. As the present manager, Mr. Costello, put it: "Instead of the people coming to the theatre business, the theatre business has now gone to the people."

In that aspect the Avalon has seemed to succeed. When Harry Crandall was forced to sell out to Warner Bros. he left them owning 35 theatres in the area.

"The Avalon has always been a good theatre," its manager reflects. Maybe that's why, with only six Warner Bros. theatres remaining in the area, the Chevy Chase Theatre still survives. To think of something as everyday as a movie theatre being a community builder is a hard thing to do, but the Chevy Chase Theatre was just that. Not only did it make the community more self-sufficient, it also persuaded many people who came just to see a movie, to stay.

FOOTNOTES
1. Chevy Chase News, May 16, 1923.
2. Avalon Theatre after its remodeling in 1968.

SOURCES
1. The Chevy Chase News,* January 22, 1922; June 1, 1922.
2. The Chevy Chase News, Sept. 15, 1922.
3. The Chevy Chase News, Feb. 1, 1923.
4. The Chevy Chase News, March 21, 1923.
5. The Chevy Chase News, April 1, 1923.
6. The Chevy Chase News, May 16, 1923.
7. The Chevy Chase News, June 1, 1923.
8. The Chevy Chase News, June 20, 1923.
9. The Chevy Chase News, Aug. 1, 1923.
10. Mr. Costello, present manager of the Avalon.
11. The Chevy Chase Savings and Loan Calendar for 1974.
12. The Evening Star, Dec. 21, 1941, "5,000 Gifts for Poor Children Is the Harvest of ToyMatinees."
13. Mrs. Edith Claude Jarvis, daughter of Herbert Claude, who owned the concessions at Chevy Chase Lake.
14. The Montgomery County Story, Montgomery County Historical Society, 1963.
15. Andrew Craig, Theatre Guide of Washington, D.C. Washington: Theatre Historical Society, 1972.
16. The Times-Herald, March 2, 1947. "When Ninth Street Was the City's Gay White Way."
17. The Washington Post, Jan. 29, 1922.
18. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Williams, residents of Chevy Chase, Md.
*The Chevy Chase News was a community paper, like today's Uptown Citizen, from the early twenties to the mid-thirties.

Memories of the Depression
Tim Hannapel

Many historians have said that Washington was not really affected by the Depression of the 30's. To discover how Chevy Chase was affected, I interviewed some older residents of the area during the summer of 1975.

One resident with whom I talked said, "Washington is really not the barometer that other parts of the country might be." It was true that most people had government jobs. And one of the extras that job of this type has is security. According to the same resident, these people even did well. She said, "Even though their salaries weren't great, the economy had dropped to the point where they were pretty well off."

But there were people whom the Depression really did affect. Compared to the rest of Washington, Chevy Chase had fewer people employed by the government. After all, homes in Chevy Chase were quite expensive compared to the rest of the city. In this way, Chevy Chase may have been hit harder than the rest of the city, because the people who could afford to live here were the ones who were hit the hardest.

One couple bought a very nice house on Bradley Lane in 1928 for almost $30,000. This house had annual property taxes of $1,000. That was a very substantial amount of money for those days.

How was the housing market affected by the Depression? Many upper class businessmen and executives were forced to sell their homes, either because they could not pay the property taxes or because the banks foreclosed on their mortgages. Houses could be had for practically nothing. One older resident said, "You could buy almost any house along the Lane (Bradley) that happened to be for sale for, what, five or seven thousand dollars. Big, beautiful houses... all through the old section."

I found that many people moved to Chevy Chase during the Depression because the homes could be bought for so little. One of the persons with whom I talked bought a small frame house on 32nd Street in 1934 for $7,000. Shortly afterwards, a man who lived nearby was forced to sell his $15,000 house for $8,000. "The agent just begged us to take it; but we couldn't. We already had a house." According to one informant, it was the taxes that did many people in. She said, "There were few people who could afford to pay the taxes on a home."

Checking the records, I found that the real estate market had dropped substantially in 1930, which was as low as it ever got. Then prices began to go up again. Although one of my informants bought, in 1934, a small frame house in the District for only $7,000, only four years before he/she could have bought a much bigger and nicer house on Bradley Lane for the same amount of money. Also these homes were in the much sought after Chevy Chase Village.

So how did people get along? Many sold their homes for what they could get and took their families away. Others stayed and tried to make ends meet. One older resident stated, "My husband was a lawyer. ..and nobody had any money to pay. None of his clients seemed to have cash. He represented a butcher, so we had enough meat. He represented a theater manager. A jeweler. People like that. He was paid off in kind. We went to the movies a lot."

AN INTERVIEW WITH MRS. ALICE DOOLANAND HER SISTER ESTHER CANTREL
Q: "What do you remember about the Depression?"
Mrs. Doolan: "I came here in 1929 from Hartford, Connecticut, to live with my sister and her husband and family. My father and mother and I came here from Connecticut. The bank in which my father had worked had closed, and so, at the age of 55, he had no job. Anyway, we came here and he got another job in a bank in town, the American Security and Trust. And I was in Western High School at the time. And, actually, my sister and her family lived very well, so I was not too aware that there was a Depression, as a matter of fact, because I was just. . settled in.
Mrs. Donlan: "Now there were, as the years progressed, say a couple of years... the housing situation was such that people simply couldn't pay their taxes much of the time. ...Yes, friends of my sister who lived just around the corner who had a lovely, lovely home, and didn't he have a government job?"
Esther: "He had a wonderful job.... He lost it, and in order to keep the family together, he didn't know what to do, couldn't find a job; he'd go downtown every morning selling apples. And, you know, on the corner. And he was a man that would compare with any businessman."
Mrs. Doolan: "A very substantial person really."

EXCERPT FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. AND MRS. ROBERT WILLIAMS
Mr. W: "I suppose that we were better off here than almost any place in the country. One man told me years later, that he had come to Washington from Tennessee in the middle `30s, and he thought he'd hit a boom town; well we didn't think we were living in a boom town, I'll tell you."
"Real estate went just nowhere. I way buying a house . . . but after I bought it, the property would have brought less than I owed on it. And this is one of the things that bugs me about this present administration: they tell us we've bottomed out; well we bottomed out `long about `33, but I'll be damned if anybody would want to live through the next six years."

THE BONUS MARCHERS
Mr. Robert Williams: "Do I remember the march on Washington? You're damn right I remember.... At that time I was teaching at Tech High School, at 2nd and T Streets, N.E., and they came in on New York Avenue, which we could see right across the railroad yards. And what a decrepit, sorry lot they were. I mean, you just wondered if they were gonna get to the next block, much less... and you wondered how they ever got here. And these were a bunch of veterans from the first World War who were unemployed; and this is one of the amazing things about this depression, and I think it amazes people who remember the last Depression; that everybody takes this unemployment so quietly, they just are so docile. These people came in demanding a bonus, and they wanted, I think, a $300 bonus. Wasn't very much. And they went down, I think, in Anacostia.

And there was a superintendent of police who had been a brigadier general in the Army, had retired; they'd had one of these times when the police department was crooked, and they brought in a man from the outside to try to straighten it out. Man named Glassford, and I later served under his brother, who was a rear admiral in the Navy, and a helluva good man., But, Glassford was called in by President Hoover, and asked if he had things under control. Well, this man was a real man. These guys had a barricade and the police had a barricade, and they were throwing bricks and every other damn thing. And this guy Glassford just walked right out in the (laughs) line of fire and said, "Now boys, let's talk." And they stopped and they talked. And he, I suppose, had some empathy with them, he'd been an Army man and he could talk to `em in their language. They subsided. Well, Hoover called him in and asked him if he had things under control. He said, yes, he did. And I think he did. And so, for reasons that I cannot fathom, Hoover ordered the 3rd Cavalry out of Fort Myer, down there to put this thing down. And there warn' t anything to put down.

And who goes? That goddamned MacArthur. He was chief of staff, and he gets in uniform with ribbons all over him, and rides; now this is just about the same thing, he was chief of staff of the Army, and can you imagine a chief of staff riding at the head of, at the most, a squadron of cavalry, and probably it was only a troop. Eisenhower was an aide on the staff then, he was a colonel. He's riding with `em. And Patton was the major in command of the 2nd Squadron of Cavalry of the 3rd Regiment, which was what was here. He rode with them. Now after that, I couldn't tell you. But here comes that damned MacArthur, Eisenhower, and Patton. For a bunch of poor guys that haven't even got anything. And so this I've never forgiven MacArthur for, and I don't give a damn what he'd taken, if he'd taken China, Japan, and Russia, all three, I would never have been able to overlook this. So that was the Bonus March."

Residents of Chevy Chase interviewed:
Mrs. J. Dwyer, Mr. and Mrs. E. Edwards, Mrs. Alice Doolan, Mrs. Esther Cantrel, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Williams.

PIGGLY WIGGLY STORES
Julie Jackson

A famous grocery chain with a funny sounding name was very much a part of Chevy Chase life in the first half of this century. Called Piggly Wiggly Stores, Inc., it first moved here in 1920. With the grand opening of 25 stores in a single day, Washington consumers soon found that they liked the idea of quick and easy service without having to deal directly with a clerk.

What made Piggly Wiggly so unusual was its revolutionary concept of self service. Until its debut here, all grocery stores were operated in the traditional "clerk service" fashion in which the consumer would give her order to a clerk who would do her grocery shopping for her. Piggly Wiggly's format in which shoppers could make their own selections was something totally new. And to the small but rapidly growing community of Chevy Chase, it was only the beginning of the food chain revolution to come. As Piggly Wiggly's success grew, other stores in the Chevy Chase area began to adopt the self service method.

Clarence Saunders, the originator of Piggly Wiggly and owner of the Saunders Blackburn Wholesale Grocery Company, first got the idea of a self service store in Tennessee, where he saw a young girl in the corner of a grocery store selling some items so fast that she just told people to leave their dimes on the counter and take one. Saunders was impressed and in September of 1916, he and Thomas L. Good, who was working for Saunders at that time, set up the first self service store in the world --a Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store in Memphis, Tennessee. Store owners all over the country laughed hard at the idea and even harder at the name. But within five years they were laughing no more, for there were Piggly Wigglies coast to coast revolutionizing the food industry. Finally, in 1920, Tom Good, district manager of the Piggly Wiggly Corporation and the man responsible for the opening of a great many Piggly Wiggly outlets, brought them to Washington, D.C.

To the people of Chevy Chase, the most important Piggly Wiggly outlet was at 5526 Connecticut Avenue, the present site of Magruder's Grocers, Inc. This branch later moved to 5546 Connecticut Avenue and Tom Good took great pride in his store's success. Tom's good fortune was overwhelming and soon there were over 40 stores in the Washington area. By that time, however, Tom was now responsible for the opening of Piggly Wiggly stores all up and down the East Coast, and was managing 62 outlets.

The name Piggly Wiggly, unusual as it may seem, was intended to be so. Clarence Saunders originally decided upon the name to make people laugh and put them in a good humor. Saunders figured that because of the uniqueness of the name people would remember it better and, their curiosity aroused, would come in to see what it was like. Saunders first thought of the name as he was devising the physical layout of the store. He wanted to do away with the clerks so as to lower the cost of operating and thus enable the people to buy more cheaply. He then conceived the idea of a turnstile leading into the aisles which would allow the customers to move through all parts of the store, passing in turn each variety of produce conveniently arranged on the shelves. And in Saunders' mind the idea of people strolling through the winding aisles suggested "little piggies wiggling through the fences in search of food." Saunders was pleased with the name and it stuck. The possibility of "Hoggly Woggly" arose, but Saunders did not care for it as much as the original "Piggly Wiggly." As the success of Piggly Wiggly became better known, more and more people began to shop at Piggly Wiggly Stores. Soon hundreds of stores were springing up all over the country.

To the small community of Chevy Chase, the coming of Piggly Wiggly to Connecticut Avenue was significant. Native Chevy Chasers were fascinated by the idea of self service, and soon almost all of the housewives did their shopping there. So great was the success of Piggly Wiggly in Washington alone that in 1924, on the fourth anniversary of Piggly Wiggly's coming to Washington, D.C., Mr. J.C. Bradford, President of Piggly Wiggly at that time, sent a telegram to Tom Good commending him on his fine work and thanking the housewives of the Nation's Capital for their support which had helped make Piggly Wiggly the success that it was. Mr. Bradford said that he was especially gratified over Piggly Wiggly's success in Washington because "Washington is the capital and heart of the nation," and that through Piggly Wiggly's success "there is proof that America has taken Piggly Wiggly to its national heart."

The Piggly Wiggly markets carried much of the same items as grocery stores today do. They did not, however, carry meat until later years. It was Tom Good who finally approached Saunders one day and said "Don't you realize that almost all housewives arrange their menus around meat?" Saunders was pleased with this idea and promptly placed Tom Good in charge of supplying each outlet with meat daily.

People shopping in Piggly Wiggly did not use today's traditional grocery carts. Instead, straw baskets were used. They were available for use within the store or were for sale "finished in three colors" for home use also. Another service furnished the customer in all Piggly Wiggly grocery stores were the "weigh it yourself" scales found at the back with the meat, and in the front with the vegetables. Customers could weigh out the exact amount they needed. Also furnished with the meats in the back were the "Kleen Kut" slicers for use with cold cuts. They too, were self service. Each Piggly Wiggly outlet was also furnished with the latest in cash registers to insure quick and effective service for their customers.

Once Piggly Wiggly had proved its lower prices and quicker service were better than any of the other grocery stores, its managers set out once more to please Washington housewives. In the National Daily, along with its regular advertisements, Piggly Wiggly stores began to feature other items: helpful hints to the housewife on cooking, feeding a family of four on a budget, choosing foods wisely, arranging menus, and even short paragraphs explaining the origins of special names of foods. In 1924, for example, Piggly Wiggly advised housewives to divide their food dollar into fifths --spending approximately twenty cents of each dollar for vegetables and fruits, twenty cents for milk and cheese, twenty cents for meat, fish and eggs, twenty cents for bread and cereals, and twenty cents for sugar, fat, tea, coffee, chocolate and flavoring. There is, however, some doubt as to whether such advice would be profitable to today's modern housewife.

All of these factors helped to contribute to Piggly Wiggly's well known success. Advertisements everywhere proclaimed, "One hundred people can serve themselves at Piggly Wiggly in the same time as ten people can be waited on at an ordinary grocery store!" Saving time and money was important to the housewives of Chevy Chase. Piggly Wiggly offered both and more.

The Piggly Wiggly system was known to cut the family food bill from 5 to 25%. According to the United States Government figures, "the cost of operating the average retail grocery store was from 17 to 20%, while the cost of operating a Piggly Wiggly store was only 8 to 12%." This enabled Piggly Wiggly to give their customers more for less. Each Piggly Wiggly store was, in fact, from two to five times as large as ordinary grocery stores.

In 1935, due to fluctuations in the stock market, Piggly Wiggly was forced to sell out to the Sanitary Grocery Store Franchise, another popular grocery chain. This chain was bought by Safeway Stores, Inc., which formed in 1928. With them went the Chevy Chase branch of Piggly Wiggly.

Of the 40 Piggly Wiggly stores that were once in the nation's capital, 4 of them were located in upper northwest. They were a totally revolutionary concept in their time, and although they have gone, traces of their ingenuity and imagination have remained. Each Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store provided an important service to its community and a glimpse of things to come.

SOURCES
1: National Archives, District of Columbia. July and August, 1975.
2. U.S., District of Columbia. Washington City Directory, 1919 1938.
3. Washington Times. (National Daily), Tuesday, May 27, 1924.
4. Personal interview with Miss Gertrude Good, daughter of Mr. Thomas L. Good, the original co-owner of the Piggly Wiggly Corporation. July 22, 1975.

Business Development In Chevy Chase
Nicholas Kuttner
and
Danny Newman

Business is essential to the Chevy Chase community, for it makes the community self-sufficient, and serves as an attraction to shoppers outside the area who help make Chevy Chase one of the fastest growing and most valuable sections of the city. In this article we deal mainly with a five-block section of Connecticut Avenue between Chevy Chase Circle and Legation Street, N.W.

The commercial development of Chevy Chase reveals an interesting and necessary insight into the development of the overall area.

In January of 1890 Colonel G.A. Armes, Senator Stewart of Nevada, and Francis G. Newlands made a deal to extend Connecticut Avenue to the District line and possibly further. Forming the Chevy Chase Land Company, the three of them had secretly bought 1750 acres of land along what is now Connecticut Avenue by 1892. Since then the Land Company has developed most of what is now Chevy Chase, D.C.

In those days there was plenty of room for expansion. Chevy Chase at that time was nothing more than a handful of summer homes for wealthy Washingtonians and at the turn of the century consisted of a mere fifty or sixty houses, many of which were in Maryland. However, by this time the trolley car line to Chevy Chase Lake had been built, giving easy access to downtown jobs and living in Chevy Chase became practical. Thus Chevy Chase began to grow, and in 1914 the first commercial enterprise, Jo Ferraris' Grocery, opened at 5600 Connecticut Ave.

Early Chevy Chase was an excellent location for business, a rapidly growing community with plenty of space to build. Or so it seemed. The Chevy Chase Land Company had originally planned for Chevy Chase to be strictly residential and they took steps to prevent any commercial development.

Every move by developers to establish any business in the neighborhood was fought by the Land Company along with the newly formed Chevy Chase Citizens Association and was invariably defeated. The only area in which commercial enterprises could be established was a small stretch on the west side of Connecticut, south of the circle.

However it was enough; by the mid-twenties well over a dozen new enterprises had opened, including two of the most well known establishments in Chevy Chase, the Chevy Chase Arcade and the Chevy Chase Theater.

Edward H. Jones of Edward H. Jones Co., Inc. started real estate work in Chevy Chase in 1903. Twenty -two years later he built the Chevy Chase Arcade at 5522 Connecticut Avenue which was in his own words "a modem office building to house our own organization and to give room for needed enterprise in this community" and "a building in which all Chevy Chase may take pride." At the time of its opening, the Arcade housed the E.H. Jones Co. in the same first floor offices it occupies today, a dentist, a beauty parlor, and the respected Village Inn. This was run by Mr. & Mrs. W.C. Brooke, who were both "well and favorably known and well acquainted with the culinary arts."

The Chevy Chase Theater was built in 1922 by the Chevy Chase Amusement Co. It contained not only the theater but a dance school and a radio repair shop. It is now owned by Warner Bros. and has since been renamed the Avalon.

Piggly Wiggly, Washington's first self-service food store, which stood where Chevy Chase Liquors now stands, the Chevy Chase Supply Co., Chevy Chase Savings Bank, which stood where Riggs now stands, Athanas Deli, Ulman Wolf Tailors, A&P, and Kresges, all at one time or another stood on the avenue in these years.

Chevy Chase continued growing, and by the mid-thirties it was a respected and wealthy community, and the business showed it. There existed a large variety of shops and stores at which anything needed was available as exemplified by the following quote: "Enjoy an evening at the Avalon with entertainment for the young and old... Someone you know has a birthday? Why not remember them with a card from Haskins? Clothes or furniture need freshening up a bit --send them to Ulmans or to Waxburg Tailors, or for service from head to foot call on the Presidential Valet Shop.. .Are your shelves getting low? Replenish them from the Pure Food Store, Chevy Chase Supply Co., Broad Branch, or Circle Liquors..."

By now and in the years immediately following, 1936-40, the avenue as we know it started taking shape. Haskins gift shop at 5604 Connecticut was replaced by the Novelty Shop in 1939, Chevy Chase Hardware, which was itself replaced by the Paint & Wallpaper store in 1974, came in 1937, and the Ho Toy Restaurant, which later became the Peking, replaced the Village Inn.
While all this was going on on the west side of Connecticut Ave., the east side, with the exception of the old E.V. Brown School, was undeveloped property thanks to the Chevy Chase Citizens Association. This was not a serious problem for developers as long as there was other space for development. However, there was soon little or no space. The building of apartments at Connecticut and Legation Sts. halted development further down Connecticut and this left only the east side.

Safeway and Esso in particular were determined to build here. Safeway wanted to build a supermarket and parking lot, while Esso had plans to erect an eight-story copy of their downtown offices with a service station on the ground floor.

Neither was able to, however, for the zoning laws forbade commercial use of that particular land and they were being bitterly fought by the Chevy Chase Citizens Association. Then the National Bank of Washington asked permission to build a branch on Connecticut between Oliver and Northampton, the same plot of land on which numerous attempts to build an apartment building had been made. The citizens saw no problem in having a bank there and so in 1958 the NBW completed their Chevy Chase branch. Safeway and Esso, on hearing about this, went to court and on the grounds that a precedent had been established, Safeway was given permission to build its supermarket and Esso, while it had to drop its original plans, was allowed to build a service station.

With the exception of the Paint & Wallpaper store, and the new office building at Livingston and Connecticut, the avenue as we know it today has changed little in the past few years. Most of the stores there now have been there 10 years or more. Peoples came in 1942, the Bicycle Shop and Pottery Fair in 1960 and High's, Drug Fair, Circle Florists, and Washington National Permanent Savings & Loan came in 1962. However, the once vacant lots on McKinley, Ellicott, Van Ness, Chesapeake, and Yuma Streets have since been developed into apartment buildings and shopping centers. The once spacious residential and park areas along Connecticut Avenue have given way to a booming business district. In the past ten years monthly rentals of business locations here have gone up 300%. Plans for a new shopping center at Connecticut and Yuma Streets (where Hot Shoppes used to stand) include the main branch of the National Bank of Washington and space for ten stores on the ground level. New townhouses now being built on Kanawha Street will be sold for $100,000 per unit. Despite the fears of some businessmen that Metro Transit will draw present local buyers downtown, the general consensus of local bankers and real estate experts is that the Chevy Chase community is a commercial goldmine in the making.

SOURCES
1. Origins, "Chevy Chase Land Company", Carl Hoffman & Sharon Moran.
2. Chevy Chase News, October, 1925.
3. Chevy Chase News, June, 1922.
4. Chevy Chase News, Sept. 1936.
5. Chevy Chase News, November 1937.
6. City Directory, Washington, D.C.: 1914, 1922, 1934, 1935, 1936.
7. Exxon Corporation: McKinley Street and Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
8. Hannan, Thomas: 5801 Nebraska Avenue, N.W., interviewed August 1975.
9. National Bank of Washington: 5701 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
10. Safeway Stores Inc., Consumer Information: 6700 Columbia Park Road, Landover, Maryland.

Broad Branch Market
Laura Wilkoff

The Broad Branch Market has seen many a change in its 56 years of existence. Mr. Sauer, the original owner of the market, never even gave it a name. In 1926, when he decided to sell, Ida and Abraham Bondareff were looking for a place to open a store. Mr. Bondareff's brother told the couple of the frame store on the corner of Northampton St. and Broad Branch Rd. After going to look at it, they decided to buy the store and Mrs. Bondareff called it the Broad Branch Market.

By 1930 the Bondareffs and their two children, Daniel, age 16, and Helen, age 10, were well settled into their new home above the store. Things had changed since they moved in, but they changed more after 1930. In fact, they changed so much that the era of the Great Depression is a time that is completely unfamiliar to many of the present-day customers of the Broad Branch Market.

Mr. Bondareff always started his day at 5:00 a.m., except on Sundays. He came downstairs into the living room dining room, which is now the frozen foods room. A light breakfast was ready for him in the kitchen (now the ice cream room). Mrs. Bondareff always made junket at night for her husband's breakfast. This was a powder mixed with milk to make a custard-like pudding. She put it in the ice box, and he ate that along with some cereal. This sustained him until he returned from the Center Market.

By 5:30 Mr. Bondareff was on his way downtown in his truck. The market was in Southwest, near the present location of the Arena Stage. It was a wholesale market which sold produce and meat. Mr. Bondareff, however, bought only fresh produce there. His wife remembers his insisting upon its being fresh.

"Now he says, `Look. I've got to have either a bushel of yellow squash or green squash. So whatever your price is, I'll give you a little more, but you save me the best.' And he was well known for that. They trusted him. And they really saved corn, and everything that was fresh. They would save it for him and when he was ready they'd put it in the truck and he went."1

Instead of buying his meat at the market, Mr. Bondareff hired a meat broker. Every evening he called the broker and let him know what was needed for the following day. The man then went to all the different wholesale meat houses and picked out what he wanted. As soon as he finished picking out the meat, he delivered it to the store. Canned goods, sugar, flour, and other packaged goods came from a warehouse which was also in Southwest. A weekly order was delivered to the store, and Mr. Bondareff went to the warehouse only when the store ran out of something. On Fridays fish was delivered by the Washington Fish Exchange. This was the only day that the market carried fish, for the neighborhood was predominantly Catholic. Eggs were received from Mrs. Bondareff's father's farm. On Sundays, when the family went out to visit the farm and spend the day, the children often collected strawberries, corn, lima beans, and peas. These were also sold in the store.

In order to get a good price on food, Mr. Bondareff belonged to a type of cooperative called the United Food Stores. Because their buying power was so great, food became less expensive for them.

While Mr. Bondareff was down at the market, things were happening at home. About 7:00 or 7:30, one of the clerks came to open the store. At that time the store consisted of the front room only, as far back as the meat counter. The counter was in approximately the same place as it now stands. The room behind the meat counter, which had previously been a porch, was the storage area. The side porch facing Northampton St. was closed off to be an ice box for meat.

Coming in from outside, one went through the swinging doors that are there now. To the left of the door, along the front wall, were the baskets of vegetables and fruits. In the front of the room, where the shelves now begin, there was room to make up orders for delivery. Beyond that were lots of tables with the groceries on them. These tables filled the remaining area of the room, leaving only aisle space. Lining the walls were wooden shelves filled with more food. There was no counter in the front of the store. The cash register was in the back near the meat counter.

A little after 8:00 Mrs. Bondareff came downstairs. Helen and Daniel came down and got their own breakfasts, and then they went to school. In 1930 Helen was in the sixth grade at E.V. Brown, while Dan was a senior at McKinley Tech. About 8:30 or 9:00 Mr. Bondareff came home and ate his main breakfast.

By this time customers were calling the store to order their groceries. Not many people came to shop for themselves. The store was mainly a delivery service.

"I know of one, I can't remember who. But she had to have her groceries three times a day. Something for breakfast, something for lunch, and then something to cook dinner...She'd call up and want to have it delivered. And then if the drivers didn't come in, I would have to go because it was one street over. We're on Northampton and that was on Oliver. But I would have to go and deliver the breakfast because there was nobody else over there. Sometimes I'd have to close the store and go over there and deliver... Three times a day she would have to have an order. "

Nevertheless, there were people who preferred to come in to the store to shop. Yet even these people did not serve themselves like they do today.2 Among the staff at the market, which included anywhere from nine to twelve people, were clerks who served the customers, picking everything out for them. There were also at least three or four drivers. One of them was Percy Edwards, better known as Curly. At that time he was in his late teens or early twenties. In the mornings the drivers kept busy re-stocking the shelves, while others were making up the orders. After the orders were made, the drivers started their deliveries. Most of the customers were neighborhood people. Nevertheless, there were customers on 16th St., in Bethesda, in the Cathedral area, out towards Silver Spring, and down Connecticut Avenue as far as Van Ness St. This was due to the fact that many of the neighborhood people moved away when they became more affluent.

The delivery service at the Broad Branch Market made the store more appealing to those with no means of transportation. The closest store was Sonneman's Market on Brookeville Road. The only other stores in the area were on Connecticut Ave. Since none of the stores was very close to the market, there was not much competition among them. Mrs. Bondareff remembered one time when they almost had some competition.

"There's one time the Safeway wanted to build on Utah Avenue. And a couple of our customers used to come into the store and say, `Don't worry. We're not going to allow them.' And they didn't."

Mr. Bondareff was strict about the orders which were made for delivery. Helen remembered her father's policy well.

"And my dad used to say, `For those people who you deliver to, you must pick out the best. They're leaving it up to you to give them the best merchandise.' "

Mrs. Bondareff continued the illustration.

"And they knew they never got anything bad. `Now you've got to give the best because if they were here themselves they would pick out the best. So that's what you have to do. You've got to make an order, and you've got to have everything just right. Don't take any chances on sending something that isn't good.'"

There were others working in the store besides the Bondareffs, the drivers, and the clerks. Helen explained.

"My two uncles worked and my aunt worked in the store too. My father's two brothers and my mother's sister worked in the store. In fact, even my mother's brother worked in the store...It was a real family affair. I had a couple of cousins who worked in the store also."

They were not necessarily working all at the same time. Between taking the orders over the phone, making them, waiting on people, and delivering, it took a large staff to run the store. Daniel and Helen worked mostly on Saturdays and during the summer, and occasionally after school. The staff worked six days a week, with one week's vacation a year. From time to time Mrs. Bondareff took a day off and rode the trolley car downtown to go shopping. Days like that, however, were few and far between.

The staff of the Broad Branch Market was not completely free of the effects of the Depression. Mrs. Bondareff explained the situation.

"I don't remember if we had three men or four men working, colored men, drivers for the truck to deliver the orders. So my husband went out there and he had a talk with them. He said, `Look. You know the times are hard. And I will either have to fire one of you or if you want to get a cut in each one of your pay, then I'll keep all of you.' So they decided to take the cut so that they could stay on, all of them. And then when times got better they got more money."

Nor did the market itself escape the crushing blows of the Depression. The seemingly outrageous prices of 1930 appear to be just as outrageous in 1975. Mrs. Bondareff and Helen gave some examples.

"What was a quart of milk, 11¢? I remember hamburger like 15¢, 25¢ a pound. My gosh, we used to give hearts and livers away practically... We used to give soup bones to people without any cost at all...Sugar was like 5¢ a pound ...And bread. It started with 5¢ and went up to 9¢. It was nine cents a long time. The fresh vegetables and fruits depended upon what the crop was like so it's kind of hard to say. But like sugar, and milk, and bread, and flour. My goodness, I don't even remember what flour used to cost...Quaker Oats, 10 cents a box...And Coca Cola, 5¢ a bottle...I remember soap used to be a nickel a bar too."

One brand called Sweetheart Soap was so pure that the company could not afford to make it anymore.

At lunchtime children came to the market from the portables that stood on the present site of Lafayette School. They were only allowed to come for the second half of the lunch period, after they had had something substantial to eat. Despite this fact, exceptions were made to the rule. Mrs. Bondareff remembered one exception.

"I went to see a play that the children put on...The little girl in the skit had a dream. And she forgot her lunch. She lived a little too far to go home for lunch. So, of course, the best thing that they did is come to the store and explain what happened. And then always they had a good lunch. If they had no money, it didn't matter. I tell you, I really did enjoy that...We would never let them go hungry."

The store was also a spot for the neighborhood children to assemble. The Bondareffs made sure that there was always a large supply of food for them. Ice cream was in constant demand. It was kept in a box somewhat like a cooler. Cones were never sold, just pre-wrapped ice cream such as Dixie Cups. Cookies came in large boxes instead of the small packages used today. The tops of the boxes were taken off and glass tops were put on. The cookies were weighed and sold in bags. Of course, candy was kept in stock. Each piece was a penny, so a child with a nickel was rich.

The store was constantly invaded by happy and hungry children, and continued to be invaded until closing time at 6:00. A woman was hired to cook and clean every day because Mrs. Bondareff stayed in the store. After dinner was served the cook went home. When the table was cleared, the Bondareffs sat down and started adding up the daily sheets. Every evening the money had to be counted and laid into piles of one, two, five, ten, and twenty dollar bills. Next, all the money in the cash register had to be accounted for. This often became a difficult task because the clerks were constantly forgetting to record what was spent or how much of a bill a customer paid. This process lasted until 9:30 or 10:00 every evening. When it was completed, Mr. Bondareff had to go to bed so he would be able to get up at 5:00 the next morning.

There was no time for recreation or any type of social life. Yet this might be considered beneficial since it gave the family a chance to accumulate a little money.

Throughout the years the Broad Branch Market has been of tremendous value to the neighborhood. It has served the community well, and hopefully it will do so in the years to come. Although the store has changed in many different ways, one thing has never been altered. When a customer walks in, he is still treated with that neighborliness that has characterized the Bondareffs and their staff since the day they opened the store.

FOOTNOTES
1. Two taped interviews were done with Mrs. Bondareff and her daughter Mrs. Feldberg, and a transcription was made of the first tape. All additional quotes will come from one of the two tapes.
2. For information on the opening of self service stores in the Chevy Chase area, see the article on the Piggly Wiggly stores.

SOURCES
1. Baist 's Real Estate Atlas of Surveys of Washington, D. C. Vol. 3. G.W. Baist: Philadelphia, 1917.
2. Bondareff, Ida. Owner of the Broad Branch Market.
3. Boyd 's Directory of the District of Columbia, 1910 1930. R.L. Polk & Co.: Washington, D.C.
4. Feldberg, Helen. Daughter of Mrs. Bondareff.
5. Lusk's D.C. Assessment Directory, 1917 1929. Rufus S. Lusk & Son, Inc.: Washington, D.C.
6. National Archives. Record Group 351. Building permit #2948, April 23, 1918 and #9612, June 22, 1928.

Lafayette School
Sharon Moran

Lafayette School is described in the parents' manual as being located among "12 acres of rolling parkland." Although almost half of the land belongs to the Department of Recreation, the campus is considered the largest of the public elementary schools in Washington.

The land, roughly bounded by Broad Branch Road, Northampton, 33rd, and Quesada Streets, was purchased in 1928. Some of it was farmland owned by the late Mr. Horace Jones. The original farmhouse, built in 1859, still stands today as 3326 Quesada Street. Its size and design is decidedly different from the houses built around it. In back of the house, where the swing sets and sandboxes are, there were numerous sheds and barns, and a cornfield. Most of the land for the school, however, was purchased from the owners of several small houses near Broad Branch Road and Oliver Street. This area was one of the few settlements of blacks in the Chevy Chase area. Older residents recall hiring domestic workers who lived in the area in the late 1920's. The houses were razed to make way for the new school.

The first school on the site of Lafayette was a "portable," a collapsible frame building with a malfunctioning heating system. Windows provided the only light. The E.V. Brown School, formerly at Connecticut Avenue and McKinley Street, had become so overcrowded that portable classrooms took up the whole playground and the children had no place to play. Mrs. Harry P. McKenna (teacher at Lafayette until 1965) recalls the day in 1931 that the brick school building was finally opened. "It was very exciting. There were no desks or chairs. We sat on newspapers." She also recalls the land around the school. "Some woods, a barn, and several houses were on 33rd Street. The children loved it. It was almost like a farm down in that region."

Mrs. McKenna remembers victory gardens ("we called them victories") along the south part during World War II. Miss Frances Pepper, one of the first principals, recalls that in 1944 the superintendent ordered the building manned 24 hours a day. Although never told why, she assumed this was to make the building readily available in case of a civil emergency. This task was agreeably undertaken by the staff, who often brought food, family, and friends to make for a more pleasant vigil.

For a few years following the Cuban missile crisis (early 60's) the teachers conducted air raid as well as fire drills. As a student, I can recall crouching in the hall, with my head between my knees, and my arms crossed over my head, wondering what good it could possibly do if the area was bombed, or the roof fell in. Mrs. McKenna recalls crowding children in front of TV sets to watch the astronauts (and all those ads for Tang).

By 1971, a modern version of the portables was back again at Lafayette. Even with the extra room, hallways are still used as offices for the special teachers (French, science, etc.).

Lafayette does not fit in any of the traditional molds of schools. Although a public school, it does not run on the energy of the school board. The parents are the driving force behind the school. Mrs. Roberta Barnes, principal in the 60's, says that of all the schools she has visited in her world travels, Lafayette has "by and large the most parent involvement." Current principal Ron Webb says the executive board of the Home and School Association "actually serves us as a little school board."

Lafayette is not a typical suburban school. It's not the kind of place where parents dutifully come to PTA meetings, then sit back and leave the educating to the teachers. Parents there teach kids in such specialized courses as horticulture, baby care, and economics. Roberta Barnes says parents there are special "because they realize the value of an education and want to be helpful in providing the best possible one for their children." (Perhaps they also realize that the school system cannot be trusted to educate their children.) "Not to sound snobbish," says Ron Webb, "but I think there's more of a sophistication of people who elect to live in the city. They're involved. It's a very urban group of people." These people have organized English tutoring programs for foreign students, French for elementary children, bookbinding and repairing labs, general tutoring programs, and a guidance department; recently they raised money for and installed carpeting in classrooms. In the 40's, they built permanent playground equipment of cinderblocks that provided "a creative atmosphere," and was considered quite progressive in its time. Miss Pepper, principal at that time, says "I always said that if the Lafayette School needed anything and we didn't have it, it was because I hadn't asked the parents for it."

"The priority of the Board of Education in D.C. now is modernization. It [what gets modernized] is up to pressure groups, citizens groups, and the government," says Ron Webb. The four million five hundred thousand dollar job to modernize Lafayette is scheduled to begin in October 1975 and be completed in about three years.

Arthur Cotton Moore Associates specialize in modernization and renovation (they created Canal Square shopping mall in Georgetown around several old buildings). They are planning a community center building, gym, cafeteria, and day care center for Lafayette School. The present auditorium will receive a semicircular addition on the back, and be turned into the school library. The hall is to be opened to the roof and light will filter down through the window of the cupola. Twenty-four classrooms will be turned into four large learning centers with exposed brick walls. "Everything you're supposed to have for modern education," says Mr. Webb, with a wry smile. When told of plans for the learning areas, Miss Pepper, former principal, said "Well, for heaven's sake, what do you call what you've had before? Why, it's been a learning area all these years!"

People interviewed:
Miss Frances Pepper, former Lafayette principal
Mrs. Roberta Barnes, former Lafayette principal
Mr. Ron Webb, Lafayette principal until September, 1975
Mrs. Harry P. McKenna, former Lafayette teacher
Mr. Francis Moore, Mr. Warren Moore, residents who live near Lafayette
Mr. Mason Moore, former area resident
Mr. Robert Truax, a local historian
Mrs. Nancy Early McLaughlin, area resident
The people at the D.C. Board of Education

BEN W. MURCH
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Laura Wilkoff

The population of the Chevy Chase area increased greatly in the mid 1920's, resulting in the overcrowding of the E.V. Brown School, at Connecticut and McKinley. To remedy this situation, portables were erected in the area.

In 1927 the Grant Road portables were set up at the intersection of 36th and Ellicott Sts. More than once the roofs had flown off in storms, and the children were constantly scorched or frozen by the stoves, depending on the feelings of the stove at any particular moment. Yet these minor irritations were excusable when one stopped to think of the nice home that a portable made for a menagerie consisting of dogs, cats, rats, mice, roaches, and an assortment of other bugs. Accordingly, everyone was relieved when the new school was ready for occupancy on February 1, 1930.

Actually, the only sections that were ready were the south wing (eight classrooms and a kindergarten) and the auditorium of the new Ben W. Murch Elementary School, named after a supervising principal of the public schools. On October 22, 1931, a month before the specified date on the contract, a twelve- room addition was completed. Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota spoke at the "housewarming" in honor of the opening of this new wing. Part of it was to be used as a lunchroom and a playroom.

In 1932, the western section of the block (near Reno Rd.) was purchased to be used as a playground. The latest addition to the school is an outdoor classroom, consisting of three or four rows of benches and a small bench for the teacher, erected in 1960 near the northwest corner of the school grounds, on top of the hill.

Over the past forty-five years the children of the Murch School have participated in some events that they will probably never forget. On October 26, 1930, Mrs. Herbert Hoover planted a maple tree bearing the name "Lou Henry Hoover." It was the first of a series of trees to be planted in front of the school. In 1933 Walter Johnson, star pitcher for the Washington Senators, attended a party for the patrol boys where he autographed baseballs. On April 30, 1947, some of the children from Murch were among the more than 600,000 people who went to the District Building to greet President Aleman of Mexico. The children made Mexican costumes in class and helped with the festivities to honor Aleman. And finally, when Columbia University held its nationwide school newspaper contest in March, 1959, Murch won first prize on the elementary school level, and in 1975 the paper won second prize.

But the thing that the graduates of Murch School will remember better than anything else is Ben Murch's favorite quotation, which is now the school motto --"Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you."

SOURCES
1. Baist's Real Estate Atlas of Surveys of Washington, D.C. Vol. 3. G.W. Baist: Philadelphia, 1931, 1937, and 1954.
2. Lusk 's D.C. Assessment Directory, 1923 1937. Rufus S. Lusk & Son, Inc.: Washington, D.C.
3. Murch School
Essays:
"Background of Naming Murch School" and "Ben Wilton Murch"
Minutes of the Home and School Association: Evening Star, May 2, 1930.
Scrapbook Clippings
4. Vertical File of the Washingtoniana Division of the Martin Luther King Library.
5. Evening Star, October 24, 1931 and March 25, 1960.

Episcopal Home for Children
Jane Tao

We are living in an era in which sixth grade children seem adequately prepared to play an important role in society. At age eleven, the elementary school graduates come fully equipped to face the world with girlfriends, boyfriends, long division and new math all at their disposal. In five years each will be legally permitted to drive and in seven years will be of voting age. But for many children new math is not enough for survival in this complex society. How do we deal with children who 'do not fit into our society and are not mentally retarded or physically handicapped? It is a problem that is often overlooked, most probably because in order to fully understand this particular type of child it is necessary to probe into the relationship between parent and child, which is often too personal a subject.

There is an institution located at the corner of Utah and Nebraska Avenues which since its beginnings in 1895 at Colonial Beach, Va., has dealt with this problem. The institution was a home for convalescent and undernourished children. These children, because of their problems, did not function well in the average environment and could be described as misfits in society.

The home was originally located on 14 lots of land in Colonial Beach given by Professor Bell of Georgetown and run by a group of Episcopal women called The Daughters of the King. It operated only during the summer months since those were the most trying of the year for the children. Many were dying under the city heat and were in need of such a home, for medicine at that time was not advanced enough to prevent those deaths. The institution grew to include a branch in Anacostia, Washington. It was located in the "Bell House" donated by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ewing. In 1907, the name "The Episcopal Home for Children" was adopted. By 1928, the Home was ready to move to its present location.

In the 1928 issue of the EHC's Annual Report was an article called "An Urgent Need" written by Episcopal Bishop James Freeman of the District of Columbia. In it he said:

The present buildings [of the Episcopal Home] are in such a state of disrepair and the environment in which they are placed has so greatly changed and not for the better, that it has become urgently necessary to undertake the building of a new and up-to-date group of houses on the splendid property given by an anonymous donor in Chevy Chase.

The organization moved into its new location on the 23rd of December, 1930. The occasion was described by Georgia C. Lea in the Report of the President:

"On January 28, 1930, Mrs. Herbert Hoover, always intensely interested in any work for children, came out in spite of the snow and wind and turned the first shovel of earth for the new Home, which started at once. We had expected to move in by September. . . , but did not actually move in until December 23rd just in time for the Christmas tree and carols on Christmas eve.... The Bishop [came and] gave the children a lovely understandable talk and was thrilled by the splendid way in which they sang their carols. The children were bountifully remembered and had a very happy Christmas. Mr. Edwin Gould, donor of our site, sent roller skates for every child of skating age, and something for all. They had never been able to skate before because we had no place to skate, but now, until Utah Avenue, in front of us, is widened, they are quite a safe distance from the highway, and I really believe we're almost consoled for the lack of snow and opportunity to use their sleds by the great happiness they have had skating on our lovely smooth sidewalks."

In 1937 the Home was the subject of a series written by Elwood Street which was broadcast over the station WRC. The series was entitled "A Little Journey to the Home of a Great Service to Orphan Children":

"We walked westward to the girls' building. We find there a lovely living room with a fireplace, piano, and home furnishings. Beyond it is the sunroom, full of little girls. Here are three sisters, Patsy, Betsy, and Janice. Patsy comes up, holds our hands and says she wishes we would stay here all the time. This we would be inclined to do if we didn't have twin girls of our own.

"...Back downstairs we go into the yard. Here we meet the dog Sharkey, who has adopted the Home as his own. He is named after Jack Sharkey the pugilist; on the hopeful superstition that he too is a fighter. Sharkey takes good care of the children. First, he escorts to the bus the high school children. Then, he comes back, and gallops to the Alice Deal Jr. H.S. with those who go there. Finally, he comes back and escorts the younger children to the Lafayette School.

"...The room is furnished with tables and chairs made of oak in the mountains of Virginia and finished so they will not show scratches. The tables are all set for dinner and even now the girls, followed by the boys, troop cheerfully into the dining room with excited chatter for their meal. They come to silence while they sing together `God is Great...' They follow it by repeating together `Christ is the ruler of this household, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation.' Then they sit down with a clatter of chairs."

In 1942 the population at the Home began to noticeably decrease, largely because of the expansion of social services; foster homes, etc. Between 1932 and 1955 it had decreased to 65.2% of total occupancy, while between the years `45- `55, the cost of child care had risen 75%. With certain recommendations made by the Budget Committee of the United Community Services with respect to future financial support, an independent survey was launched by the Board of Directors. The survey, which began in 1957, was directed by Elsa Castendyk. Its purpose was to reevaluate the service the Home had provided during the past three years and the extent to which the Home was meeting the most urgent need, and to recommend a future plan. The Home at this time dealt more with semi-orphans who were unable to stay with their families than true orphans, because the advancement of medicine had helped the number of true orphans to decrease significantly. The results of the survey revealed that the Home was meeting a child care need but not the most urgent. Therefore it was recommended "that the Home enrich and broaden its services to meet the needs of children with moderate emotional or personality problems whose difficulties, as determined by careful diagnosis, could be more adequately treated in a controlled therapeutic group setting rather than in their own or a foster home."

In view of the troubled situation and the results of the survey, the Board of Directors endorsed a new program which provided residential care for emotionally disturbed children.

The Episcopal Center (the presently preferred name) as it stands today is housed in three large red brick buildings on the corner of Utah and Nebraska Avenues. There is an old grandfather clock which has sat in the main hall of the administration building and its chimes announce its presence every half hour. The children still run into the dining room, clattering chairs as they enter.

When I first approached the administration building, its uniformity in addition to its large size gave it an unfriendly appearance. I felt as though I were intruding upon a world that would much rather dwell in secrecy and welcome no visitors. However, after entering the building, I found my first impressions to be completely wrong. I was greeted instead by a warm and friendly atmosphere, accentuated by a faint murmur of activity and childish screams of anger or joy. The people I encountered there were friendly and helpful.

During a visit in the courtyard, I was met with the usual questions and observant stares one might expect from curious school children. As an inexperienced onlooker, I could not distinguish these boys from any other, although they are very different. Their views of people and people's intentions are frequently distorted. The distortions prove to be problems in the classroom which in turn interfere with the children's learning; but emotionally disturbed children are not mentally retarded.

Referrals to the Center are received from agencies, clinics, schools, and parents. There is a day program and a residential program. The former takes children from ages 4 1/2 to 7 1/2 approximately. The latter accepts children 6 to 9 1/2 years old approximately. The ability of the family to pay tuition or religious status of the family is not taken into consideration. In reference to what kind of children constitute the majority of the current enrollment, the director, Alan Korz, explained the "actors outers" or overly aggressive children who are dominant merely because that kind of child calls more attention to himself while those who sit in the back of the room and bite their nails nervously but quietly are often overlooked.

The children enter the general program which consists of four steps according to their individual needs. The first step is for children who spend 20% of their normal school day in one of the Center's simulated classrooms and spend the rest of the day doing other activities. Step two is for children who spend 40% of their time in a classroom, and so goes the program through step four, at which time they spend 80% of their day in a classroom and are almost ready to leave the center. Recreation is abundant with the newly acquired swimming pool heading the list. There are also bumper pool tables, scattered games, a workshop, and more.

The Home's past shows it to be an institution which is deeply concerned with children and their particular problems. Hopefully, it will be able to continue to provide its excellent child care services to future generations.

SOURCES
1. Freeman, James E., Bishop, "An Urgent Crisis and an Urgent Need", Annual Report, 1928, written and distributed by the Episcopal Home for Children.
2. Lea, Georgia C., President of Episcopal Home for Children, "Report of the President." Annual Report, 1928. Written and distributed by the Episcopal Home for Children.
3. Lea, Georgia C., President of Episcopal Home for Children, "Report of the President." Annual Report, 1929 1930. Written and distributed by the Episcopal Home for Children.
4. Street, Elwood, "A Little Journey to the Home of a Great Service to Orphan Children," broadcast over WRC October 23, 1932.
5. "The Episcopal Center for Children": Written and distributed by the Episcopal Home for Children.
6. Korz, Alan, Director of Episcopal Center for Children. Interviewed in July, 1975.

Chevy Chase
Park and Shop Center
Eileen Mulcahy

On April 25, 1938, George B. Williams sold a tract of land on Connecticut Avenue below Albemarle Street to the Chevy Chase Park and Shop Stores Corporation, owned by Mr. Garfield I. Kass. Mr. Kass was the president, owner and proprietor of the Kass Realty Company, which owned many other commercial projects throughout the greater Washington area, including apartment buildings and homes.

The Chevy Chase Park and Shop Stores was to be a shopping center with space for seven shops: Best and Company, A&P, Peoples Drug Store, a Woolworth's, a bowling alley with forty-one lanes, an indoor skating rink, and two other stores not occupied at the time of the official opening. At the time of the land purchase it had not been decided whether to build an ice skating or roller skating rink.

The structure of the new shopping center was designed by the Kass Company architect, James F. Hogan. It was 345 feet long with a depth of 140 feet. The rear of the shopping center was eight stories high, while the facade was only four. It was made of brick and concrete and was, therefore, fireproof. At the time of construction, the estimated cost was $200,000.

The shops were located on the street level and the forty-one bowling alleys occupied the second, third and fourth floors. The ice rink was on the second floor above the stores. At the formal opening of the shopping center on Wednesday, November 23, 1938, the ice rink was opened to the public for the first time, although most of the stores had been in operation prior to the official opening. The Chevy Chase Park and Shop stores complex was one of the largest in the country at that time and it was anticipated that such a complex would bring new businesses of all kinds to Connecticut Avenue.

In the late 1930s ice skating was an extremely popular sport and recreational activity all over the United States. Mr. Kass' addition of the rink in the new Connecticut Avenue shopping center was the main attraction of the shopping center. Under the surface of the ice lay seven miles of ¼-inch pipes welded together continuously. After the pipes had been covered with water, a calcium chloride brine was pumped through them and thus froze the water. Maintenance was an important factor in the success of this venture, and in the machine room responsible for the refrigeration of the ice rink, was a duplicate of every piece of machinery needed to operate the rink efficiently and smoothly. A staff of experts worked on a twenty-four hour basis to make sure nothing went wrong.

As might be expected, the ice rink soon became a major form of recreation and entertainment in Chevy Chase. It was open to the public every day of the week and Sunday afternoons. On Sunday mornings the Figure Skating Club met and practiced. There was no hockey playing allowed on the ice rink.

Mrs. Edith Jarvis, of East Melrose Street in Chevy Chase, Maryland, was a member of the Figure Skating Club. She remembers that they had "canned" organ music as their accompaniment and that a professional skater was hired to teach the group. The club produced several ice shows, and Mrs. Jarvis said that some of the members went on to success in the Ice Follies, an ice show popular at that time. Other members of that early Figure Skating Club became professional skaters. Although many people used the rink for pleasure, the members of the Figure Skating Club were more serious about their endeavors and accomplishments.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hannan of 5801 Nebraska Avenue, N.W., went to the ice skating rink on dates. With nostalgia they both remembered the quiet, congenial atmosphere that prevailed. Mr. Hannan recalled that the afternoon attendance was usually made up of school children --both grade school and teenagers, but in the evenings it was a popular spot with the young twenty-five to forty age group.

Frequently the Alice Deal Junior High School physical education classes held duck pin bowling classes at the center, and the students received a credit for this.

On April 5, 1963, the Chevy Chase Park and Shop Stores, Inc. sold the property to the Westminster Investing Corporation, who currently own the property. Westminster now leases the building to the television station WMAL.

SOURCES
1. THE WASHINGTON POST-Sunday, November 20, 1938.
2. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hannan, residents of Chevy Chase.
3. Mrs. Edith Jarvis, resident of Chevy Chase.
4. Several deeds relevant to the history of the Chevy Chase Park and Shop Stores Corporation at the Recorder of Deeds Office, Government of the District of Columbia.
5. Information on the construction of the Chevy Chase Park and Shop Stores, Inc. at the National Archives.

6. Washington, D.C. Telephone Directories 1947 1964 for information on the Kass Realty Company.
7. Plat Maps Volume 3 -- 1938.

The Good Old Days
Steve Kuttner

What was it like to live in Chevy Chase 50 years ago? There was swimming in Rock Creek, coal in the furnace and trolley tracks on the avenue. Daily life has changed much since the mid-twenties.

Purchasing a house was easy if you were neither Black nor Jewish. Running a household was more difficult. There were no dishwashers, clothes dryers or refrigerators. Clothes were handwashed on a wooden scrubboard and then hung to dry. Houses were heated by coal furnaces. The average house used two tons of coal in the winter, and one fourth that amount in the summer. Coal was delivered by the trucks of the Thos. E. Perry Co. of the Griffith Consumers Co. Ice for the refrigerator was also delivered by truck, usually in 25-pound blocks. During the summer the delivery man would hand out slivers of ice to neighborhood children; they were the forerunners of the Good Humor trucks.

Summers were just as hot fifty years ago, but to cool off you could go swimming in Rock Creek. Just above Pierce Mill was a swimming hole that was deep enough to dive in, and there were changing houses on the shore. The water was cool and muddy, and especially good for swimming after being swollen by the frequent summer rainstorms.

At the time, Chevy Chase was still referred to as being in the "country," although it was only a 45-minute trolley ride from downtown. The trolleys were utilized not only by the men who worked in the city, but also by women going downtown to shop. Except for groceries, almost everything was bought downtown, usually between 10th and 15th on F Street, and going shopping was a weekly outing for many otherwise homebound women. Grocery shopping could be done at any of a number of shops on Connecticut Avenue, or you could have it delivered. Sonneman's Market on Brookeville Road made their deliveries in an electric cart with solid rubber tires.

The mail was delivered twice daily, at ten and again at four. The Post and the Times Herald were delivered in the morning and the Star was delivered in the afternoon.

At the time the area was serviced by only one school-the E.V. Brown School on Connecticut between Northampton and McKinley. The school held classes for grades one through eight. During the twenties, the Chevy Chase Citizens Association held their meetings in the E.V. Brown building. The Citizens Association put out a bi-weekly newspaper, the Chevy Chase News.

One of the landmarks in the area was the water tower at Rosemary Circle, just west of Connecticut Avenue. Rising up almost 200 feet, it had a steel staircase that spiraled up on the outside all the way to the top, and doubtless this stairway was climbed by thousands of children who had been forbidden to do so. The tower was unfortunately torn down in 1934.

The twenties were the days of the Prohibition, but according to several older residents, there were numbers one could call and have liquor delivered to the door anytime. There was also a speakeasy on Rittenhouse Street called the Purple Iris Inn. (An ad for the Inn follows):

At THE PURPLE IRIS INN, so conveniently located in the heart of bevy Chase, it is our aim to provide food and service of a quality unsurpassed in the Washington area. We use only the best quality meats, and our vegetables, always fresh, are selected as carefully as you select those for your own table.
Our pies and cakes are all baked in our own kitchen, as well as our bread and hot biscuits, which in themselves make a meal at THE PURPLE IRIS INN something out of the ordinary.
We are open for luncheons from 12 to 3, and for dinners from to 10. Luncheons are from $1.00, full course dinners from $1.50. We have full facilities for private parties in our five dining rooms.
We're pretty proud of the new PURPLE IRIS INN, and we think you will like it too. Won't you drop in and try us?
For reservations or information call WOodley 1135.
3200 Rittenhouse Street, N. W.
Six blocks east of Chevy Chase Circle.

There was, however, little fear of crime. Doors were left unlocked and people were not afraid to walk home late at night. The day had to end at midnight, for the electricity shut off and the trolleys stopped running.

Many of these things have changed in a half century, but Chevy Chase retains its relaxed, congenial atmosphere.

SOURCES
1. The Chevy Chase News, 1924 1927, published by the Chevy Chase Citizens Association.
2. Origins; published 1974 by NPC 2&3, Washington, D.C.
3. An interview with Donald C. Kline, a longtime resident of Chevy Chase.
4. An interview with Ms. Edith Jarvis, longtime resident and local historian.