Silver Spring, Maryland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Silver Spring is an urbanized, but unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland. After Baltimore and Columbia, Silver Spring is the third largest place in Maryland. It is also a major suburb of Washington, DC. Silver Spring takes its name from a mica-flecked spring discovered by Francis Preston Blair, who subsequently bought much of the surrounding land. Acorn Park in the downtown area of Silver Spring is believed to be the site of the original spring.
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Culture
Downtown Silver Spring hosts several musical and ethnic festivities. Furthermore, cuisine culture in Silver Spring is also very varied, perhaps not to the extent of nearby Bethesda, but nevertheless extensive with the likes of Ethiopian, Salvadorean, and Vietnamese restaurants. Silver Spring, and the surrounding area, have the largest concentration of new African immigrants in the United States. Ethiopian culture is particulary represented, as upwards of 50,000 Ethiopians claim Silver Spring and the surrounding communities home, with an estimated 200,000 present in the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan Area. Silver Spring has many churches, synagogues, temples, and other religious institutions. Silver Spring serves as the primary urban area in Montgomery County and its revitalization has ushered in a diverse and extremely ecclectic mix of people and ideas, evident in the fact that the flagship high school has no majority group with each major racial and ethnic group claiming a significant percentage. Silver Spring hosts the American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Culture Center, on Colesville Road. The theatre showcases American and Foreign Films. Discovery Communications, a company that has wielded considerable influence in cable and satellite programming, has its headquarters nearby. The downtown area is also home to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a branch of the United States Department of Commerce incorporating the National Weather Service.
History
The Blair and Lee families are irrefutably tied to Silver Spring's history.
In 1840, Francis Preston Blair, with his daughter, Elizabeth, and his horse Selim discovered the spring, flowing with chips of mica. Two years later, the 20-room mansion Silver Spring was built on a 250 acre (1 km²) country homestead situated just outside of Washington, D.C.
By 1854, Blair's son, Montgomery Blair, who became Postmaster General under Abraham Lincoln, and represented Dred Scott before the United States Supreme Court built a house in the area, called Falkland.
Samuel Phillips Lee married Elizabeth Blair, and they bore Francis Preston Blair Lee in 1857. The child would eventually become the first popularly elected Senator in United States history.
In 1864, Confederate States of America Army General Jubal Early occupied Silver Spring prior to the Battle of Fort Stevens. After the engagement, fleeing Confederate soldiers razed Montgomery Blair's Falkland residence.
In the late 1800s, the area started developing. 1873 brought rails to the area, as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's Metropolitan Branch ran from Washington, DC to Point of Rocks, Maryland. The first suburban development began in 1887 when Selina Wilson divided part of her farm on Colesville Road and Brookville Road into 5 and 10 acre (20,000 and 40,000 m²) plots.
In 1893, Francis Preston Blair Lee and his wife, Anne Brooke Lee, gave birth to E. Brooke Lee, who is known as the father of modern Silver Spring for his visionary attitude about developing the region. The Silver Spring Armory, constructed in 1911, housed Company K, 115th Infantry Regiment, Maryland National Guard, which Captain Lee commanded in World War I. Lee eventually retired a Colonel.
The early 1900s set the pace for downtown Silver Spring's growth. E. Brooke Lee and his brother, Blair Lee I, founded the Lee Development Company, whose Colesville Road office building remains a downtown fixture. Dale Drive, a winding roadway, was built to provide vehicular access to much of the family's substantial real estate holdings. Suburban development continued in 1922 when Woodside Development Corporation created Woodside Park, with 1 acre (4,000 m²) plot home sites. In 1924, trolley service on Georgia Avenue across B&O's Metropolitan Branch was temporarily suspended so that an underpass could be built. The underpass was completed two years later, but trolley service never resumed. It would be rebuilt again in 1948 with additional lanes for automobile traffic, opening the areas to the north for readily accessible suburban development. A new Maryland National Guard Armory was built in 1927 on the corner of Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue. The old armory was converted to a fire station. Takoma-Silver Spring High School, built in 1924 was the first high school for Silver Spring. The communities rapid growth prompted the need for a larger school. In 1935, when a new high school was built at Wayne Avenue and Sligo Creek Parkway, it was renamed Montgomery Blair High School.
The Silver Spring Shopping Center and Silver Theatre (designed by noted theatre architect John Eberson) were built in 1938, at the prompting of developer William Alexander Julian. The Shopping Center was unique because it was one of the nation's first retail spaces that featured a street-front parking lot, a feature that was unheard of at the time. Conventional wisdom held that merchandise should be in windows closest to the street so that people could see it, and the shopping center broke those rules.
By the 1950s, Silver Spring was the second busiest retail market between Baltimore and Richmond, with the Hecht Company, J. C. Penney, Sears, Roebuck & Co, and a number of other retailers locating there. In 1954, the Blair mansion Silver Spring was replaced with Blair Station Post office, which opened in 1956. In 1958, Falkland was burned again, to give practice to the local Volunteer Fire Department, and to clear space for Blair Plaza Shopping Center.
Wheaton Plaza, a shopping mall with ample parking spaces, opened in 1960, much to the detriment of the downtown area, which began a period of decline.
Metrorail service began in 1978 with the opening of Silver Spring Station. The red line was built on the median of the old B&O Metropolitan Branch right of way, and went downtown, parallel to Georgia Avenue before descending into Union Station. By the mid-1990s, the red line continued underground to two more locations in northern Silver Spring, with the opening of Forest Glen and Wheaton Stations.
By the late 1980s, the downtown area was in decline, and the Hecht Company, the last remaining department store, closed as a new store in Wheaton opened. City Place, a multi-level mall, was established in the old Hecht Company building in 1992, but it had trouble attracting quality anchor stores and gained a reputation as a budget mall.
On February 16, 1996, during the Friday-evening rush hour, a MARC commuter train bound for Washington Union Station collided with an outgoing Amtrak train and erupted in flames on a snow-swept stretch of track in Silver Spring, leaving 11 people dead.
In 1998, the National Guard Armory was demolished, against opposition by concerned citizens, who later formed the Silver Spring Historical Society.
In 2000, downtown Silver Spring began to see the results of redevelopment. Several city blocks near City Place Mall were completely reconstructed to accommodate a new outdoor shopping plaza. The shops included many national retail chains, including Whole Foods Market, Borders Books, and Pier 1 Imports, as well as many restaurants. In 2003, Discovery Communications completed the construction of its headquarters, and relocated from neighboring Bethesda. 2003 also brought the reopening of the Silver Theatre, under the auspices of the American Film Institute (see AFI Silver). Downtown Silver Spring continues to develop with the opening of new office buildings, stores, and restaurants, although City Place continues to struggle to fill its interior vacanies despite the explosive growth around it.
Brookside Gardens is a 50-acre (20,000-m²) park in Silver Spring, located within Wheaton Regional Park, on the original site of Stadler Nursery (now located in Laytonsville, Maryland).
Geography
As an unincorporated area, Silver Spring's boundaries are not officially defined. However, residents of a huge swath of Montgomery County have Silver Spring mailing addresses. This area extends roughly from the Washington, D.C., Prince George's County, Maryland and Howard County, Maryland lines to the south, east and north, and Sligo Creek Park and Georgia Avenue to the west and north-west.
The United States Census Bureau defines Silver Spring as a Census-Designated Place whose center is located at 39°1' North latitude, 77°1' West longitude. It is larger than any city in Maryland except for Baltimore. The United States Geological Survey locates the center of Silver Spring at 38°59'26" North, 77°1'35" West, notably some distance from the Census Bureau's datum. By another definition, Silver Spring is located at 39°0'15" North, 77°1'8" West (39.004242, -77.019004)1. The definitions used by the Silver Spring Urban Planning District, the United States Postal Service, the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce, etc., are all different, each one defining it for their own purposes.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the community has a total area of 24.4 km² (9.4 mi²). 24.4 km² (9.4 mi²) of it is land and none of the area is covered with water.
Demographics
When the entire portion of Montgomery County, Maryland using Silver Spring addresses is taken into account, the population can swell to over 250,000 people, comparable to mid-sized American cities such as Buffalo, New York and St. Paul, Minnesota. In the Washington-Baltimore region, Silver Spring is the third-largest community, behind the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C., and ahead of Arlington, Virginia and Alexandria, Virginia.
As of the census2 of 2000 for ONLY the downtown area of Silver Spring and areas directly adjacent, NOT including North Silver Spring, Forest Glen, Aspen Hill, Colesville, White Oak, Kemp Mill, Hillandale, Burtonsville, and other Silver Spring communities, there are 76,540 people, 30,374 households, and 17,616 families residing in the area. The population density is 3,137.2/km² (8,123.6/mi²). There are 31,208 housing units at an average density of 1,279.1/km² (3,312.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the community is 46.61% White, 28.07% African American, 0.44% Native American, 8.22% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 11.55% from other races, and 5.04% from two or more races. 22.22% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Silver Spring has become a haven for thousands of Modern Orthodox Jews most of whom are highly skilled professionals with government-related employment. They have established a thriving network of synagogues and yeshivas highly commited to Religious Zionism.
There are 30,374 households out of which 29.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.8% are married couples living together, 12.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% are non-families. 32.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.50 and the average family size is 3.21.
In the area the population is spread out with 23.0% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 37.0% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 9.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.5 males.
The median income for a household in the area is $51,653, and the median income for a family is $60,631. Males have a median income of $38,124 versus $36,096 for females. The per capita income for the area is $26,357. 9.3% of the population and 6.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 11.7% of those under the age of 18 and 9.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Education
- Springbrook High School
- Montgomery Blair High School
- Northwood High School
- John F. Kennedy High School
- Paint Branch High School
- James H. Blake High School
In addition to these high schools located within Silver Spring, there are a few others which cater to students who live in the city. These include:
- Albert Einstein High School
- Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
- Wheaton High School
There are large numbers of public elementary and middle schools in Silver Spring, as well as a large collection of private K-8 and high schools.
References
- McCoy, J, et. al. (2003). Silver Spring Timeline. Retrieved August 6, 2003 from
http://www.homestead.com/silverspringhistory/timeline.html
External links
- Silver Sprung
- Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce
- The Silver Spring Gazette newspaper
- Montgomery County Planning Board, Maryland National Capital Area Parks & Planning Commission
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Local or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Local or Microsoft Virtual Earth
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