Silver Spring, Maryland

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Not to be confused with Silver Springs.

Silver Spring is an urbanized, but unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. After Baltimore, Silver Spring is the second most populous place in Maryland. [citation needed]

Silver Spring is a major business hub lying at the northernmost apex of Washington, D.C.. As of 2004, the Central Business District (CBD) held 7,254,729 square feet of office space, 5216 dwelling units and 17.6 acres of parkland. The a population density was 15,600 per square mile all within 360 acres and approximately 2½ square miles in the CBD/downtown area (this did not include areas outside the CBD sharing a Silver Spring address).[1] The community has recently undergone a significant renaissance with the addition of major retail, residential, and office developments in the area.

Silver Spring takes its name from a mica-flecked spring discovered in 1840 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.


Downtown Silver Spring as seen from downtown Bethesda. To the right is the northernmost portion of Washington, D.C.
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Downtown Silver Spring as seen from downtown Bethesda. To the right is the northernmost portion of Washington, D.C.
Silver Spring Fountain
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Silver Spring Fountain

Contents

[edit] Geography

Location of Silver Spring, Maryland
Boundaries of the Silver Spring CDP as of 2003
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Boundaries of the Silver Spring CDP as of 2003

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 Rock Creek Park and Plyers Mill Road 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″N, 77°1′35″W, notably some distance from the Census Bureau's datum. By another definition, Silver Spring is located at 39°0′15″N, 77°1′8″W (39.004242, -77.019004)GR1. 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). Twenty-four point four km² (24.4 km²) (9.4 mi²) of it is land and none of the area is covered with water (although there are numerous creeks and small lakes).

Neighborhoods within the generally conceded "central area" of Silver Spring include:

  • Silver Spring Business District
  • Silver Spring Park
  • Woodside
  • Woodside Park
  • North Woodside
  • South Woodside
  • Woodside Forest
  • Blair Portal

[edit] Parks

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 in Laytonsville, Maryland).

Rock Creek Park is very close to Silver Spring; it offers hiking trails, and good biking on weekends when Beach Drive is mostly closed.

Sligo Creek Park follows Sligo Creek through Silver Spring; it offers hiking trails, tennis courts, tot lots and good biking on weekends when parts of the Sligo Creek Parkway are closed. The bike trails, while adequate, are windier and slower than most area bike trails.

Acorn Park in the downtown area of Silver Spring is believed to be the site of the eponymous "silver spring".

[edit] 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 County, Virginia and Alexandria, Virginia.

As of the 2000 censusGR2, the "central area" of Silver Spring and areas directly adjacent -- but not including North Silver Spring, Forest Glen, Aspen Hill, Colesville, White Oak, Kemp Mill, Hillandale, Burtonsville, and some other "Silver Spring" communities -- there were 76,540 people, 30,374 households, and 17,616 families residing in the area. The population density was 3,137.2/km² (8,123.6/mi²). There were 31,208 housing units at an average density of 1,279.1/km² (3,312.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the community was 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. Hispanic or Latino people of any race consist of 22.22% of the population.

There were 30,374 households out of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.8% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% were non-families. Thirty-two point six percent (32.6%) of all households are made up of individuals and 7.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.21.

In the area the population was 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 were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.

The Silver Spring area is very affluent, especially given its extremely diverse nature. The median income for a household in the area was $51,653, and the median income for a family was $60,631. Males had a median income of $38,124 versus $36,096 for females. The per capita income for the area was $26,357. 9.3% of the population and 6.4% of families were below the poverty line. 11.7% of those under the age of 18 and 9.7% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

[edit] History

[edit] Nineteenth century

The Blair and Lee families, two politically active families of the time, are irrefutably tied to Silver Spring's history. In 1840, Francis Preston Blair, who later helped organize the modern American Republican Party, along with his daughter Elizabeth discovered a spring flowing with chips of mica. Two years later, he completed a twenty-room mansion he dubbed Silver Spring on a 250-acre (one-square-kilometer) 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 the Falkland house in the area. By the end of the decade, Elizabeth Blair married Samuel Phillips Lee, third cousin of future Confederate leader Robert E. Lee, and gave birth to a boy, Francis Preston Blair Lee. The child would eventually become the first popularly elected Senator in United States history.

During the American Civil War, in 1864, Confederate 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. By the end of the nineteenth century, the region began to develop into a town of decent size and importance. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's Metropolitan Branch was completed in 1873 and ran from Washington, D.C. to Point of Rocks, Maryland through Silver Spring. The first suburban development appeared in 1887 when Selina Wilson divided part of her farm on current-day Colesville Road (present-day U.S. Route 29) and Brookeville Road into five- and ten-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 toward developing the region[citation needed].

[edit] Twentieth century

The early twentieth century 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, Washington trolley service on Georgia Avenue (present-day U.S. Route 29) 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.

Takoma-Silver Spring High School, built in 1924 was the first high school for Silver Spring. The community's 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 school remained at that location for over six decades, until 1998, when the high school was moved to a new, larger facility at the corner of U.S. Route 29 (Colesville Road) and Maryland Route 193 (University Boulevard). The former high school building became a combined middle school and elementary school.) The Silver Spring Shopping Center and Silver Theatre (designed by noted theatre architect John Eberson) were completed in 1938, at the request 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. Conventional wisdom at the time 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. In 1954, after over a century standing, the Blair mansion "Silver Spring" was razed and replaced with the Blair Station Post office. Silver Spring further cemented its reputation as a regional retail center with the opening of Wheaton Plaza in 1960. However, as this shopping center was located north of downtown Silver Spring in Wheaton, the downtown area started a period of decline. Washington Metrorail service into Washington, D.C. helped breathe life into the region starting in 1978 with the opening of Silver Spring station. The Metro line was built on the median of the old B&O Metropolitan Branch right of way, and went downtown, parallel to Georgia Avenue (U.S. Route 29) before descending into Union Station. By the mid-1990s, the Red Line continued north from the downtown Silver Spring core, mostly underground to two more locations in northern Silver Spring, with the opening of Forest Glen and Wheaton stations.

Nevertheless, the 1980s continued the decline that began twenty years previously as the Hecht Company, the last remaining department store, closed in downtown Silver Spring and opened a new store in Wheaton. Furthermore, Hecht's added a covenant forbidding another department store from renting its old spot downtown. 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 thus gained a reputation as a budget mall. In the mid-1990s, developers considered building a mega-mall and entertainment complex called the American Dream (similar to the Mall of America) in downtown Silver Spring, but the revitalization plan fell through before any construction began. Another notable occurrence in Silver Spring during the 1990s included a 1996 train collision on the Silver Spring section of the Metropolitan line. On February 16 of that year, 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 eleven people dead.

[edit] Twenty-first century

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, 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. New shops included many national retail chains, including Whole Foods Market, Borders Books & Music, Bombay Company, Men's Wearhouse, and Pier 1 Imports, as well as many restaurants. In 2003, Discovery Communications completed the construction of its headquarters and relocated to downtown Silver Spring from nearby Bethesda. The same year also brought the reopening of the Silver Theatre, under the auspices of the American Film Institute, as AFI Silver. Downtown Silver Spring continues to develop with the opening of new office buildings, stores, and restaurants, although City Place Mall continues to struggle to fill its interior vacancies despite the explosive growth around it.

[edit] Culture

Downtown Silver Spring's Ellsworth Drive
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Downtown Silver Spring's Ellsworth Drive

Downtown Silver Spring hosts several musical and ethnic festivals. Dining in Silver Spring is also extremely varied, including American, Ethiopian, African, Italian, Burmese, Mexican, Salvadoran, Jamaican, Vietnamese, Lebanese and fusion restaurants, as well as many national and regional chains. Silver Spring has many churches, synagogues, temples, and other religious institutions, including the World Headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Silver Spring serves as the primary urban area in Montgomery County and its revitalization has ushered in an eclectic mix of people and ideas, evident in the fact that the flagship high school (Montgomery Blair 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 cable and satellite programming company, has its headquarters in downtown. Downtown 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; the American Nurses Association; and numerous real estate development, biotechnology, and media and communications companies.

[edit] Transportation

Silver Spring is serviced by MARC Train, Metrorail, Metrobus, Ride On, and the free VanGo.

[edit] Education

Silver Spring is served by a county-wide public school system, Montgomery County Public Schools. Public high schools that serve the region include Albert Einstein High School, John F. Kennedy High School, Springbrook High School, and Montgomery Blair High School. Of the public high schools in the region, Montgomery Blair High School is the only one within the Census Designation Place of Silver Spring. It is known nationwide for its Math, Science, and Computer Science Magnet Program, which perennially produces a large number of finalists and semi-finalists in such academic competitions as the Intel Science Talent Search. Notable private schools in the region include Yeshiva of Greater Washington, Torah School of Greater Washington, Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, and The Barrie School.

Within downtown Silver Spring is a campus for Montgomery College, the community college for all of Montgomery County. (The main campus is in the county seat of Rockville.) Howard University also has its School of Continuing Education in Silver Spring (its main campus is located nearby in Washington, D.C.).

[edit] Libraries

Silver Spring is served by three public libraries of which one – the Silver Spring branch of Montgomery County Public Libraries – is located in downtown Silver Spring. The other two libraries in the region are the White Oak branch and the Long Branch branch.

[edit] Notable current and past residents

[edit] References

  • McCoy, J, et. al. (2003). Silver Spring Timeline. Retrieved August 6, 2003 from "Silver Spring history".
  • McCoy, Jerry A. and Silver Spring Historical Society. Historic Silver Spring. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2005.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgtmpl.asp?url=/Content/RSC/SilSprng/DowntownDevelopment/welcome.asp

[edit] External links

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