The first human habitation of the area we now know as Takoma Park was some twelve thousand years ago, with scattered hunting and gathering by various early peoples. By the arrival of Europeans in the early 17th century the predominant population was the Piscataways, largely based around Accokeek, Maryland during the warmer months and making hunting trips to the Takoma Park area during the winter.
On June 20, 1632, by virtue of the Maryland Charter, Charles I, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, and Defender of the Faith granted the lands in the area to Caecilius Calvert, the Second Lord Baltimore. By the latter part of the 19th century the lands fell into three jurisdictions: Washington County, District of Columbia; Montgomery County, Maryland; and Prince George’s County, Maryland and was occupied by scattered farms and houses and a handful of roads.
The Civil War Battle of Fort Stevens had taken place a scant mile away in July 1864. The western branch of the B&O Railroad, the Metropolitan Branch, saw its last rail laid in February of 1873 and service starting in May.
Benjamin Franklin Gilbert
Montgomery County circa 1865, Library of Congress
Future Takoma Park
Into this world stepped Benjamin Franklin Gilbert, a real estate developer and promoter in Washington, purchasing 93 acres from the heirs of Gottlieb Grammer – lots 1, 2, and 3 of the “Grammer Farm” – straddling the Maryland-DC line in November of 1883.
He subdivided this land into streets and lots, selling his first lot on the same day he bought the land from the Grammer heirs.
Shortly more lots were sold, houses began to be erected, and the small community of Takoma Park emerged in Maryland and DC centered on the small railroad station (first called Brightwood by the B&O and then changed to Takoma). The name “Takoma” is attributed to a suggestion by a friend, Ida Summy, as an Indian name meaning “high up, near heaven.” Gilbert later added the word “Park”; he and his fellow residents often referred to the community as the Park.
The Grammer Farm lots
Gilbert subsequently purchased additional lands further to the east and north, expanding into Prince George’s County. In 1890 the State of Maryland incorporated the portion in Maryland as the Town of Takoma Park. Today’s city boundaries largely reflect those original purchases and subdivisions.
Takoma becomes a place to live…
Gilbert heavily promoted Takoma Park as a sylvan suburb, high above (350 feet) Washington, with clean fresh air and water. Many of the early homes were summer places, with people commuting daily on the B&O to government jobs downtown. In 1888 the Baltimore Sun reported 75 houses, ranging in price from one thousand to five thousand dollars with some under construction costing up to ten thousand dollars. Gilbert is reputed to have spent over $150,000 to layout and grade streets and make other improvements. Read More
In 1890 the Town of Takoma Park (Maryland) was incorporated by the State of Maryland. An election was held in April; a Mayor and members of the Town Council were elected. Mayor Benjamin F Gilbert and took office along with four Councilmembers on May 15, 1890 and began creating the town – building sidewalks, enacting ordinances, and collecting taxes.
Over time businesses arrived, more houses were built, streets opened and cleared, a school was built, along with churches. At the turn of the century the city built a water and sewer system. The source of the water being an impoundment on Sligo Creek just upstream from what is now Maple Avenue; a water tower on Ethan Allen Avenue just east of Sycamore, and a “sewer farm” near the current intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and Sligo Creek Parkway. With the installation of street car lines from downtown Washington Takoma Park became increasingly convenient for year-round residents.
In 1903 the Seventh Day Adventist Church relocated to Takoma Park from Battle Creek, Michigan. They constructed a Sanitarium (later Washington Adventist Hospital) and Missionary College (now Washington Adventist University) on Flower Avenue near Carroll Avenue.
Town of Takoma Park in 1906 (HTI)
In 1908 trustees from the Grammer estate sold a large parcel essentially bounded by the District line, Carroll Avenue and Maple Ave.. Much of this was purchased by the Church or its members. The area of Carroll and Willow became the focus of the Church (General Conference, Review and Herald newspaper, and other ancillary functions) until the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Takoma Park, 1930 (Library of Congress)
Through the 20th century Takoma Park grew – though not geographically. In 1948 the “Town” of Takoma Park becomes the “City” of Takoma Park – a change of symbolic importance only (under state law there is no difference between cities, towns, and villages; what matters is the authorities delegated to the municipality by the state).
Houses continued to be built into the latter part of the century, businesses came and went, more schools arrived. In 1951, the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission made major changes to the naming and numbering of streets in Takoma Park as part of larger undertaking to adopt the Washington, DC grid system. Many streets were renamed to be consistent with adjacent streets in Washington and all north-south streets had a leading digit (6, 7, or 8) added to addresses.
The city built its municipal center in the early 1970s. The 1970s also saw the arrival of the Metrorail system, dramatically changing the character of streetscapes around the Takoma Station and driving, at least in part, a renaissance as a deteriorating housing stock has been reclaimed and more and more new businesses arrive. In 1997 the Prince George’s County portion of the city was unified with Montgomery County, ending over a century of a city split between two counties.
