Historic Silver Spring (MD) (Images of America) Review

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(More customer reviews)Years before I ever thought about doing a book on Silver Spring's history I was talking to a woman during the course of trying to raise awareness of the need to restore Silver Spring's 1937 post office mural, "The Old Tavern" (it had been removed from the post office over a decade earlier and placed in storage). I remember her telling me, rather adamantly, "Silver Spring has no history!" I could only think to myself, "My, what an ignorant remark to make about ANY place."
That brief exchange always stayed with me. If this one person thought that way, there were probably many more people who thought the same as she did. Thus was the "seed" planted for eventual publication of "Historic Silver Spring."
As founder and president of the Silver Spring Historical Society, this book justly falls under our organization's mission of "creating and promoting awareness and appreciation of Silver Spring's heritage through sponsorship of educational activities and the preservation and protection
of historical sites, structures, artifacts and archives." My hope for the book is that local residents (and their kids!) or even visitors will use the book as an actual guide to their exploration of the fascinating history of downtown Silver Spring.
The book is divided into four chapters of photographs:
1. Through the Lens of Willard R. Ross: Silver Spring in 1917 and 1928
Willard R. Ross (1860-1948) was a Washington, DC post card photographer who was the first to systematically document downtown Silver Spring, first on June 21, 1917, and nearly eleven years later on March 28, 1928. Twenty real-photo post cards views depict how the original "silver" spring (named for the mica specks in the water) and Georgia Avenue looked when the area was still mostly rural.
2. From Country Estates to Light Industry to Urban Towers: South Silver Spring
South Silver Spring is the area of our downtown community that borders the District of Columbia. Depicting views of the summer estates belonging to founder Francis Preston Blair and his two sons, all constructed in the mid 19th century, photographs show how the area quickly became industrialized in less than 100 years. Today this same area is experiencing an unprecedented building boom of apartments and condominiums due to the area's close proximity to public transportation and the downtown Washington, DC core.
3. Main Streets of History: Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road
These two primary arteries that serve as downtown Silver Spring's "Main Streets" are visually documented as one walks north on Georgia Avenue from Eastern Avenue (at the District of Columbia line) and proceeds to Colesville Road. Incredibly, many of the early to mid 20th century commercial structures located on these two streets still survive and have been restored (the 1938 Silver Theatre and Shopping Center are examples) but far more many structures are in danger of demolition as the "revitalization" of downtown Silver Spring begins to reach out from the central business core of Georgia Avenue at Colesville Road.
4. East Silver Spring's Forgotten Origin: Silver Spring Park
This 100 year old residential neighborhood, located two blocks east of Georgia Avenue, is the second oldest neighborhood build adjacent to downtown Silver Spring. A leafy neighborhood of bungalows, its recent surge in popularity (as well as real estate prices!) has begun to exhibit threats from "McMansionization" (tearing down of original smaller homes to consruct larger ones), encroaching commercial zoning, and potential routing of state of Maryland-subsidized light rail public transportation.
To get a better idea of what is contained in "Historic Silver Spring," an index has been prepared and is viewable at http://www.homestead.com/silverspringhistory/bus.html.
If you grew up or lived in Silver Spring and have stories to share, please send them to [...]. The society would also love to see photographs, post cards, advertising memorabilia, etc. for possible use in a future companion book.
Thanks for looking!
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Images of America: Historic Silver Spring celebrates the community's past, beginning with founder Francis Preston Blair's 1840 discovery of the mica-flecked spring and the 1873 arrival of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Vintage photographs document the progressive growth of the "Main Streets," Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road, and the construction of the Silver Spring Armory and National Dry Cleaning Institute in 1927 and the Silver Theatre and Silver Spring Shopping Center in 1938. The volume culminates with modern pictures of downtown Silver Spring's 21st-century revitalization, which continues to preserve the past and secure the future of the area. In a pictorial journey through the community's Central Business District and bordering residential neighborhood, East Silver Spring, Historic Silver Spring honors the people and places that have come before.

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