Montgomery County sentinel. [volume], August 25, 1960, CENTURY OF PROGRESS EDITION, SECTION A, Image 1

About Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974

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AUGUST 25 SECTION A CENTURY OF PROGRESS EDITION * PAGE A1
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FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR—Thi* picture show* Washing
ton at the Battle for Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh). In
July, 1755, Braddock’s 1400 regulars were cut down and de
feated by the guerilla tactics of a group of 900 French and
Zoning Held Major Factor
In Montgomery’s Progress
By R. Robert Linowes
A community’s future de
pends on its willingness to cre
ate the proper tools for growth,
on its determination to face the
future with understanding, and
on its government’s preparation
for adjustment to the changing
times.
Montgomery County’s reputa
tion as one of the finest subur
ban residential communities in
the country has not come about
by accident. On the contrary, to
day’s residents and residents of
the future owe a debt of grati
tude they can never repay to
those community leaders of
more than a quarter of a cen
tury ago who laid the ground
work for today and tomorrow.
Zoning to control and direct
community development was
brought to this county about
the time of World War I. About
this time, community leaders
were creating the Washington
Suburban Sanitary Commission
to help in the integrated sub
urban development of the com
munity.
Within a decade—l 927 to be
exact—the bi-county Maryland
National Capital Park and Plan
ning Commission was estab
lished and a year later zoning
regulations went into effect.
Pattern Established
These two factors—plus es
tablishment of a tight liquor
control system in the county—
d’’ much to establish the pat
tern of living in this county
where it is a gratifying experi
ence to be rearing our children.
You can’t help but look
around you and see the great
parklands, the park-school sites,
the reservations for future high
ways. and not be grateful to
those of past leadership.
Zoning in those early days
was rudimentary. Until the
complexities of post-Warld War
II growth caught up with the
county, there were four basic
zoning classifications single
family residential A, multi-fam
ily residential C, commercial D
and Industrial E.
Today there are some 15 or
so zoning classifications cover
ing, not 70 square miles, but the
entire 500-odd square miles of
the county.
Residential lot minimums ex
tend from 6000 square feet to
two acres. We find light indus
try, heavy industry and huge in
dustrial parks.
Zoning has become compli
cated. It is going to get more
so with the courts looking less
askance at detailed zoning regu
lations.
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Robert Linowes
The willingness of our coun
ty officials to adjust to these
changing times has helped re
tain the high standard of land
use in the county.
Millions Paid Out
Montgomery County taxpay
ers have paid out literally mil
lions of dollars to provide ex
tensive and needed planning for
the future. And they insist or
getting their money’s worth.
There is no getting around it
though—changes are in the
making and Montgomery Coun
ty must remain prepared for
the changes.
With the vast so-called Lower
County almost to the point of
overflowing with population,
major developments are In the
wind.
We are going to sea the
growth of whole new satellite
communities—communities such
as the Poolesville area, the Lay
tons ville area, and the Damas
cus area.
Industry is no longer relegat
ed to the wrong side of the rail
road tracks. With the coming
of age of the trucking industry,
industry now is looking for
huge tracts of land where there
is room for growth on major
highways such as U. S. 29 to
Baltimore, the Capital Beltway,
the Outer Belt and new route
70S and where such industry
can build and develop in a man
ner compatible with the sur
rounding community.
In addition, dispersal of gov
ernment installations will have
great impact on our County’s
growth. Already, a whole new
community is developing in the
Gaithersburg-Germantown area
as a result of the location there
of tho Atomic Energy Commis
Indians. The regulars broke ranks, and the survivors were
saved by the rear guard. Washington, commanding a small
group of colonials, had two horses shot from under him and
four bullets through his coat.
sion and the National Bureau
of Standards.
Development ef mass transit
and new highway radials com
bined with the plain economics
of a land shortage, a baby boom
and time-distance cost of com
muting is bringing on an apart
ment consthiction program
reminiscent of the 19205.
Old over-the-hill residential
areas near the Maryland-D. C.
line will be razed and big new
elevator apartment houses will
go up. For example, Silver
Spring in a few years will be
virtually ringed with apart
ments. So will be the Bethesda
area.
These older business sections
already are taking on the char
acter of a "downtown” rather
than suburban shopping centers.
Present plans call for some of
these centers to experience a
rapid rise In the number of
multi - story office buildings
rather than those two-story
structures of the past.
In addition, there is now and
will be In the future, need for
apartments at pivotal intersec
tions of our radial highways and
expressways. These should be
located close to work and shop
ping facilities and thus help al
leviate the congestion caused by
the one way flow of traffic dur
ing rush hours.
County officials, quite prop
erly, will try to retain much of
the quiet suburban atmosphere
of the area. They will have
troubles unless they know Just
what they want to do and have
the tools to do it.
In Its move to retain the
green, suburban lushness of
Montgomery against the ever
moving wave of asphalt and
bulldozer, a major tool is likely
to be the average lot size zon
ing which will permit develop
ers to adjust lot sizes within
certain ranges to help retain
trees and top solL
It also is imperative that the
planners and county officials
examine growth on the basis of
its economic impact on the
county. Growth, or lack of it,
is not of Itself good for the
county.
Balanced Economy Needed
The county certainly needs a
more balanced economy—one
less dependent on government
as the source of its income. But
the county also needs to know
whether additional commercial
zoning, or residential zoning or
industrial zoning will demand
more in services than each of,
them produces in taxes.
AD of these things ars im
portant. But regardless of
what might appear to be the
easy answer there is no getting
around the fact that Montgom
ery County is facing a popula
tion expansion during the next
few years that will not be
denied on the basis of simply
maintaining our status quo. .
Most important today is the
need for citizen understanding
of the problems ahead not only
locally but nationally In the
field of growth, if you please.
There have been mistakes
made in the past and mistakes
which have been compounded
by lack of courage in high quar
ters at times.
We know you can find ex
amples of poor planning and
poor zoning. Highways—mod
ernized under the press of auto
mobiles—sometimes are out
moded even before the concrete
is dry because of strip zoning
and development. Inadequate
parking requirements for busi
ness and industry have created
problem children out of some
areas.
However, an objective ap
praisal of the growth of this
county, must necessarily result
In a finding that the Montgom
ery County Council, the Mary
land National Capital Park and
Planning Commission, and the
Washington Suburban Sanitary
Commission have done and are
doing a good, honest, and sin
cere Job in trying to guide the
pattern of development in the
public interest.
Danger Areas Cited
If we had to establish certain
danger areas to be watched in
the future among them would
be these:
1. Master Plan idolatry
There is a growing tendency to
look to an area’s Master Plan
as the cureall for proper
growth and development. Al
though Master Plans are impor
tant guides, and recommenda
tions contained therein, should
be given most careful consider
ation, deviations therefrom or
non-existence of such a plan In
a particular area, should not
result In zoning applications re
ceiving summary treatment
Rapid growth and development
often make a plan outdated a
short time after its adoption.
This is not necessarily the fault
of the planning agency, but
rather the pressures of our dy
namic community. To accept
these plans blindly as the only
solution to our growth prob
lems, may well find us worship
ping obsolete and impractical
Idols.
2. Zoning by plebiscite—Zon
ing is developing in an almost
scientific way, but zoning can
not be subjected solely to the
test of “how-many-people-favor-j
what.
Rockville’s Centennial Is
Second in City’s History
A frank admiration for the
pioneer characterizes our ap
preciation of the American her
itage. For we find perpetuated
in the growth of our townships,
our counties and states the
same rugged individualism and
tough-minded optimism which
we always associate with the
pioneering spirit.
About eighty-three years ago
Rockville held its first Centen
nial Celebration. (The current
Centennial is in observance of
the city’s 100th year as an in
corporated community.) One of
the principal speakers was
OUR NAMESAKE Richard
Montgomery, commissioned a
brigadier general in the Amer
ican Colonial Army, is the
man whose heroism and serv
ice in the American cause in
spired the naming of Mont
gomery County.
Thomas Anderson, prominent
Montgomery County lawyer for
nearly a half century. He spoke
eloquently and with deep feel
ing for the American past,
when he said “. . . The colonist
in a new country exiles himself
from home and friends and all
the comforts and amenities of
social life, and buries himself
in the wilderness, where, by
hardy toil, he carves out a
home and prepares the way for
less adventurous spirits. He, in
fact, Immolates himself on the
altar of progress. It was such
men who subdued this whole
material continent. ... It was
of such men the hardy virtues
of our revolution were bom. It
was essentially such men who
founded this State and county.”
These words must have in
spired many images in the
minds of those assembled for
the Centennial on September 6,
1876. For the people then were
closely related to the events
which influenced their times.
The fearful days of the French
and Indian War, the awesome
struggle for national independ
ence were the knowledgeable
experiences of their parents
and grandparents. History was
Just yesterday and told today
in the warmth of green mem
ory.
Dates Back to 1748
On* hundred years earlier
Montgomery County had been
the lower part of Frederick
County, which, in turn, had
grown out of Prince Georges
County In 1748. This was the
period when the maelstrom of
European geopolitics was inti
mately bound to the destinies
of the colonies In America. In
the Ohio Valley and to the
north in Canada, the French
were strongly entrenched.
Added to this powder keg were
the volatile Indians. People
Uving in lower Frederick Coun
ty (now Montgomery County)
were quite concerned with the
perils of the situation as were
neighboring counties in both
Maryland and Virginia. And as
with all peoples on the crest of
a pioneering wave, the sound
of horsemen at night, a faraway j
dust in the twilight, or thej
sharp rwpptnc mi bmvy d^wri 1
i jt'*°
CENTURY hn
EDITION
at dawn—were the sounds of
uncertainty.
In 1754 the French snatched
the site of a British fort at the
junction of the Allegheny and
Monongahela rivers and erected
Fort Duquesne there. In April,
1755, the British retaliated when
General Edward Braddock, com
mander in chief of the British
forces in America, marched out
of Virginia with 1400 British
regulars and 450 colonials un
der Lt. Col. George Washington.
Their mission was to take Du
quesne from the French. Por
tions of the 111-fated army
passed through Rockville on
April 20, camping there for one
night. Three months later Brad
dock was mortally wounded Just
eight miles below the Fort, cut
down with most of his forces,
because his military tactics
were unsuited to the terrain.
Braddock’s aide, Captain Orme,
quoted Washington as saying:
"instead of pushing on with
vigor without regarding a little
rough road, they were battling
to level every mole hill and
erecting bridges over every
brook.”
Four years later a man who
never set foot In Montgomery
County fought valiantly with
General Wolfe to defeat the
French at Quebec. He was Rich
ard Montgomery, bom in Rap
hoe, Ireland, In December, 1736,
and commissioned an officer in
the English Army at the age of
18. He had revisited Europe In
1763 and emigrated to New
York In 1772. There he married
the daughter of Judge Robert
R. Livingston and settled in
Rhinebeck. His thoughts on the
political developments of his
time must have been similar to
those of the people who would
take his name for their County.
In 1775 he represented Dutchess
County in the Provincial Con
gress, and the same year he
was commissioned a Brigadier
General In the Colonial Army.
His assignment—-to take Que
bec again—this time in the
name of the American colonies.
Killed By Cannon
His attack on the fortress it
self was daring, because his
men were greatly outnumbered.
If he had lived, some historians
say the very audacity of the at
tack would have made it suc
cessful. The gallant Montgom
ery was killed by cannon fire
in the snowy, predawn hours
of December 31, 1775.
On July 2, 1776, Congress
voted for independence; the fol
lowing August 31, Dr. Thomas
Sprigg Wootton, a member of
the Maryland State Convention,
introduced a bill in Annapolis
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DEATH OF MONTGOMERY—When British
Sergeant Hugh McQuarters touched his lin
stock to the breech of a Quebec blockhouse
caimun, he did not realize General Montgom-
which led to the creation of
Montgomery County.
These were the beginnings,
and in those times things moved
as fast as men’s duties, modes
of travel and the burden of re
sponsibilities permitted. After
the first of the year in 1777
John Murdock, Nathan Magru
der and Zadok Magruder to
gether with Henry Griffith,
Thomas Cramphin, Jr., Allen
Bowie and John Wilson were
appointed Commissioners by
t/ie County to purchase a tract
of land (approximately four
acres) on which to build a court
house and a prison. The first
governmental meeting held In
the newly constructed building
took place in 1779. In 1801 it
was formally designated as
Rockville.
Aside from the fertility of the
soil and the luxuriant forests
which rolled from the Bay to
the Piedmont country—two
other factors greatly Influenced
the rapid settlement of what
was to be Montgomery County.
First, the rivers were inviting
highways to tha interior. Sec
ondly, the development of Mary
land was not typified by the
raids, massacres and general
blood letting associated with
Indian relations in many other
colonies.
Tha grant to Calvert, First
Lord Baltimore, came after his
death in 1632 from Charles L
The second Lord Baltimore be
came the first Proprietor of the
Colony, and his brother, Leon
ard Calvtrt, governed as his
deputy.
When the first 200 settlers ar
rived on Maryland shores In
dians inhabiting the territory
along the line of the Potomac
and In the general area of
what would be Montgomery
County belonged to the Piscata
way Confederacy. Their em
peror was the chief of the tribes
along the Potomac (approxi
mately six) Including the Pa
munkeys, Piscataways and Ana
costans. Leonard Calvert met
first with the Piscataways be
fore permitting his people to
settle. After a satisfactory con
ference, he returned to St.
Mary’s on March 27, 1634, and
purchased from the Yoacoma
cos, a tributary tribe, a village
and the surrounding country
for 30 miles.
As the years went by, settle
ments continued west along the
Potomac and Patuxent rivers.
By 1695 two new counties were
created, Charles and Prince
Georges.
One of the earliest settlements
within the future territory of
Montgomery County was begun
in 1650 by Robert Brooke, who
ery was with the small reconnaisance party
wiped out by the ensuing rain of grapeshot.
Tho above is a detail from tha painting by
John Tr'umbuU.
established a community of 40
people, Including his wife and
10 children at Della Brooke on
the Patuxent River.
Beginning In 1688 the first
settlements were made on Rock
Creek as far up as Rockville.
Other pioneers moved east and
west of Rock Creek to the Pa
tuxent and the Potomac. Tha
land grants further north of
Rockville toward Clarksburg
and Hyattstown ranged through
the years of 1740 to 1775. Tha
settlers found no open country,
but dense forests and excellent
hunting.
.S"
MARYLAND GOVERNOR
Leonard Calvert governed
Maryland for his brother.
Lord Baltimore.
Gama such as deer, buffalo,
bear and wild turkey provided
the best meat available. Un
doubtedly, tha bountiful re
sources of this land amazed
these Europeans. Henry Fleet,
who In 1625 (nine years before
the settlement of St. Mary's)
ascended the Potomac to its
headwaters, wrote in his Jour
nal: “The Indians will In one
night catch 30 sturgeon in a
place where the river is not 12
fathoms broad.”
Wild cats and wolves also
prowled the countryside, and
wolves, particularly, continued
to be indigenous to the area re
quiring special control legisla
tion as late as 1797 when Mont
gomery County passed an Act
of Assembly awarding S3O for
the head of every wolf over six
months old.
When Rockville was selected
as the county seat for the new
Montgomery County, it consist
ed of Hungerford Tavern and
“only several other houses.”
(Reprinted through courteey
of Woodward & Lot hr op J