bikingjenn
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3-14-24 SINCE soon after WWI, the Battery Park Neighborhood (c 1923) was developed and highly desirable area of Bethesda. I could tell that the clubhouse was an old home. Turns out, it’s over 100 years old.
<h2>Battery Park History
After World War I, four military officers formed a real estate development company. Major H.C. Maddux assumed the presidency of Maddux, Marshall, Moss & Mallory. From their company headquarters located at the National Capital Building (923 15th Street), they controlled and managed five of Washington’s most prominent hotels as well as Washington Gardens, Garrett Park, a group of homes in Luzon Heights, and a community of small farms near Waldorf. By March of 1923, Maddux, Marshall, Moss & Mallory had purchased the 53.59 acre farm wedged between Wilson’s Lane and Georgetown Road and developed the site for the construction of new homes. The subdivision was formally approved on May 1, 1923.</h2>
The developers intended to create a restricted community reserved only for military personnel. Tradition holds that the name “Battery Park” derives from early residents who were World War I veterans from the same artillery battery. This attractive neighborhood, however, soon drew the attention of the general public who also sought to settle in the area. As a result of this interest, the developers finally relented and opened access to civilians “who would measure up to the standards required to live in Battery Park”. The development and sales of Battery Park properties were so successful that the Maddux Company was called upon to take over real estate sales in Edgemoor.Prior to Battery Park’s initial residential development, there was a vegetable truck garden on some of the land, and a few stands of trees, but the area was largely bare of houses, streets or utilities. The first houses (5203, 5205, 5207, and 5211 Wilson Lane) were completed by the end of 1923, and in the next year another 40 were added. Growth was steady, though slowed by the stock market crash of 1929. By the time of Pearl Harbor in 1941, there were houses built on almost 90 per cent of all the lots.
Construction was not typical of the mass-produced housing of today. Foundations were excavated by a horse-drawn metal scoop. Galvanized pipe was threaded by hand. There were no electric saws to cut the full-size 2×4’s. Covenants required that houses cost at least $6,500 and some were in the $9,000 to $12,000 range. The Dutch Colonial with its gambrel roof was a favorite in Battery Park, as it was all over Washington DC and the whole eastern U.S. Bathrooms in the basement bespoke a day when servants were expected and affordable.
School was at Bethesda Elementary and the B-CC High School on Leland Street, until the first of the new high school buildings on East-West Highway opened in September 1937. As is today, there was an annual 4th of July parade at the Clubhouse with bunting-decorated bicycles. Battery Park remains a desirable neighborhood in bustling DC suburbs
Downloaded from batteryparkmd.org on 3-14-24 at 22:35
3/13/24 LOCAL Official third Wed Irregulars ride so they say I am in. Alternate ride today was to a local institution, Firehook. Shop local!
This croissant was flaky, savory, and delicious.
3/12 Shop (coffee) I pondered, is a bakery that serves coffee and coffee shop but their sign says it is.
