Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
1000.101.01 |
Title |
"Chevy Chase Village's First Century" |
Object Name |
Exhibit |
Date |
04/1999 |
Creator |
CCHS |
Description |
"Chevy Chase Village's First Century" Exhibit Produced by the Chevy Chase Historical Society, April 1999 Walking Tour Author: Eleanor Ford Pictures: Chevy Chase Circle, September 1892 Opening of Street car line from Calvert Street to Chevy Chase Lake Chevy Chase Circle, 1999 5804 and 5900 Connecticut Avenue obscured by trees 5901 Connecticut Avenue demolished in 1930's 9 Chevy Chase Cirlce at right As you follow the tour of some of Chevy Chase's oldest houses [1000.101.02-05] , imagine the scene one hundred years ago: Open farming countryside (corn and tobacco), empty except for several farm houses to the east, north, and west; tall trees along fence lines and in wood lots; and a few wind mills for pumping water. Several unpaved dirt farm lanes; the new and grandly named Connecticut Avenue, also dirt, a narrow and single lane remarkable only for its absolute straightness; a few unpaved side streets, wide and empty, alternating deep mud and dust. Ten to twenty new houses, some just begun, some just finished, dominate the scene in height and bulk, scattered along the streets, some lined with small newly planted trees; little shade, no sidewalks, no hedges, no gardens; bare poles carrying single lines for electricity and telephones. Not one automobile, no garages; small barns and outbuildings for horses, carriages, cows and chickens. The Connecticut Avenue streetcar line, the spine of the new community and its link to the city, is the focus of daily life; most of the houses are with one block of it. Chevy Chase Village's First Century Exhibit 1 |