National Park Seminary

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May Day festivities at National Park Seminary in 1907.

National Park Seminary (later National Park College) was a private girls' finishing school open from 1894 to 1942. Located in Forest Glen, Maryland, it was named for nearby Rock Creek Park. The historic campus is to be preserved as the center of a new housing development.

1 College
2 Walter Reed Forest Glen Annex
3 Preservation
4 References
5 External links

[edit] College

The campus began in 1887 as "Ye Forest Inne," a summer vacation retreat for Washington, D.C. residents. The retreat did not succeed financially, and the property was sold and redeveloped as a finishing school, opening in 1894 with a class of 48 female students.^[1] The architecture of the campus remained eclectic and whimsical. In addition to various Victorian styles, exotic designs included a Dutch windmill, a Swiss chalet, a Japanese pagoda, an Italian villa, and an English castle.^[2] The campus also featured covered walkways, outdoor sculptures, and elaborately planned formal gardens.^[3] In 1936 it was renamed "National Park College" and its focus was realigned with more modern educational trends; it remained one of the most prestigious women's schools in the country.^[4]

[edit] Walter Reed Forest Glen Annex

With the onset of World War II, the United States Army began planning for the medical needs of returning soldiers. In 1942, the property was condemned by Walter Reed Army Hospital as a medical facility for disabled soldiers, thus closing the college. The Army paid $890,000 for the land and buildings that became the Forest Glen Annex.^[5]

[edit] Preservation

The U.S. Army abandoned much of the property in the 1970s. On September 14, 1972, a 27 acre (0.11 km²) National Park Seminary Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the following years, the historical integrity of the property was threatened by neglect and vandalism. The Greek Revival Odeon Theater was lost to arson. Local preservation groups took action and "Save Our Seminary" (SOS) was formed in 1988. In the late 1990s, Senator Paul Sarbanes was instrumental in encouraging the Army to make repairs to some of the buildings, and ultimately in releasing the property, clearing the way for historic rehabilitation.^[6] With private donations, SOS began an exterior restoration project of the pagoda in 1999, completed in 2003.^[7] Also in 2003, a development team led by the Alexander Company began implementing a plan to preserve the campus as the core of a new residential neighborhood.