LINCOLN PARK History of the Lincoln Park Community, by Sharyn Duffin Written for inclusion in A Study of Historic Sites in the Metropolitan Washington Regions of Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland Importantly Related to the History of Afro-Americans (Washington, D.C.: Afro-American Institute for Historic Preservation and Community Development, August 1978) and posted with permission from Ms. Duffin, Professor Robert DeForrest representing the Institute, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Montgomery County experienced a building boom and the beginnings of suburban development between 1880 and 1900. New communities were built from Chevy Chase to Glen Echo and along the Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad from Takoma Park to Washington Grove. One of these, near Rockville, was called Lincoln Park. The significance of Lincoln Park lies in the fact that it was one of the first real estate ventures in the county intended for sale to blacks. The origins of Lincoln Park, therefore, differ from those earlier black settlements. Some of these predated the Civil War; others traced their origins to a gift or purchase of land by freed slaves. As early as 1793, blacks had owned property in Montgomery County. Sometimes a manumitted slave was able to accumulate sufficient funds to purchase lands. Others received gifts of property along with their freedom. According to James Wright in The Free Negro in Maryland , one Montgomery County master turned over 200 acres to a freed slave. By 1861, there were 51 black landowners with holdings totaling 17,142 acres in Montgomery County. Many had very small holdings, but one had land valued at more than $2,000. [1]Most were located in the Quaker community of Sandy Spring. The others were in the Cracklin, Clarksburg, Medley, and Rockville districts. However, the majority of black communities were established after the Civil War. By 1866, all citizens were permitted to inherit, purchase, lease, sell and hold real and personal property. Members of the white community deeded or sold land to blacks. Newly freed slaves often continued to work for their former owners as tenants, later buying parcels of land from them, which eventually became black communities. These somewhat isolated black enclaves included Scotland, Tobytown, Emory Grove, Prathertown, Stewartown, and Martinsburg. When Lincoln Park was established in 1891, the Rockville Districts black population was living principally in five areas. There were small groups in Janetta (near Baltimore Road) and on Falls Road. Several families were located in the vicinity of Dover Road and in Avery near Rock Creek. The largest concentration was in the city itself, on Washington Street, Middle Lane, and Cairo Street, which are now Rockvilles Central Business District. Another area became available when Nathan Bickford subdivided Samuel Martins real estate along what is now Martins Lane. This was shortly after the first lots in Lincoln Park was sold. Creating a Subdivision William Wallace Welsh purchased 8.06 acres of land at $100 per acre from Chandler Keys on February 3, 1891. [2] This land was part of a tract known as Valentines Garden Enlarged, a low, swampy area with poor soil east of the B&O tracks near Rockville. Nearby was another parcel of 7.1 acres belonging to the estate of Mary Dodd, which Welsh purchased the following year. [3] Welsh divided these parcels into 53 lots of approximately 50 by 200 feet and sold them initially for $80 a piece. The plat of the Keys property bears no date. However, it was apparently surveyed and platted as Lincoln Park prior to May 1891, since the first deed of sale was recorded in that month. The Dodd property was platted on June 27, 1892, and designation The First Addition to Lincoln Park.[4] Welsh, who had been a Union soldier, came to Rockville in 1865. He clerked in John H. Higgins general store, and within a few years, had saved enough money to start his own business. He built a store near the B&O tracks and employed a number of blacks. Some of Welshs employees and regular customers were to become early residents in Lincoln Park. It was Welshs interest in former slaves that prompted him to develop the Lincoln Park area and subdivide it for Negro homes. [5] The choice of location for the new subdivision was neither arbitrary nor random. It was well beyond the Rockville town limits and several black families already owned property in the vicinity. These included Solomon and Sidney Williams, Priscilla Powers, Reuben and Rachel Hill, Susan Hebron, and Horace and Emma Sedgewick. All but the Sedgewicks had been landowners there since the 1870s. [6] Land sale was brisk from the beginning, and by 1904 over two-thirds of the Welsh property was sold. Some of the deeds were executed in the names of couples; most were in a mans name; but eight carried a womans name. In fact, one of the earliest sales was made to Hulda Martin for Lot 3 Block 2.[7]) (It is said that she baked beaten biscuits daily and sold them door-to-door in Rockville.) Some individuals bought first one lot and later the adjacent one. For example, Wallace Martin bought Lot 5 Block 2 on Lincoln Avenue on May 21, 1891, and Lot 6 Block 2 five months later. [8] Charles Warren bought three contiguous lots on Douglass Avenue over a 12-year period. ([9] The Community and its People The lots had narrow frontage but were very deep, which allowed space behind the house for the well and privy to be situated a safe distance apart. Most landowners planted fruit trees and gardens and tended farm animals on their property. Fewer than 30 houses had been constructed in Lincoln Park by 1920. About seven of these were rental units belonging to Welsh. Among the houses were at least two log cabins, one of which was the home of Tom Sedgewick, a Spanish American War veteran. Other houses were simple, two-story frame structures or bungalows, usually having a front porch. These buildings were designed to allow for later expansion. Larger, more ornate homes followed. These were similar to but less decorative than the newly built Victorian homes in the West End section of Rockville. A townhouse, built by George and Fanny Cook, is unique to all of Rockville. It is a copy of the architectural style they had admired while living in Pittsburgh. Fourteen pre-1920 structures remain. Long-time residents of Lincoln Park remember that many of the men worked on surrounding farms, on the railroad, and at Hickersons mill. At Welshs they loaded and delivered coal, lumber, and grain. A few of the men were skilled carpenters, painters, and barbers. The women were employed as domestics in the large homes in the west end and in the three hotels which accommodated weekend and summer guests from Washington. One of these, the Woodlawn, has been used as a private sanitarium (Chestnut Lodge) since 1908. Although Lincoln Parks origins differed from those of earlier black communities, it nonetheless shared one major characteristic with them: Many of the initial purchasers were related to one another either by blood or by marriage. Some were friends of long standing. For example, Joseph Hicks and Martin Broadneck had escaped together from Virginia by swimming the Potomac to elude pursuing soldiers, Lorenzo Broadneck remembers his father telling him. As in most small towns, available mates were limited and the branches of the family trees inevitably continued to intertwine. This close-knit atmosphere resulted in the sharing of food and other necessities, and in the cooperative performance of major tasks such as butchering. Joyful or tragic events were shared by all. Lincoln Park continued to grow through the 1890s. Although the community was physically isolated form the town, Rockville remained the hub of daily life. Rockville was the county seat, but it was also a small, rural town with Southern attitudes. Residents of Lincoln Park went there to work and to shop and to send their children to a segregated, two-room school there. The Eureka Tabernacle Number 29 of the Order of the Galilean Fishermen, the Odd Fellows, the Elks, the Lincoln Emancipation Club, and other black social and fraternal organizations held their activities there. Since the 1860s, two churches, both also located in Rockville, had served the black population in this area. They were the Jerusalem M.E. and the Clinton A.M.E. Zion. The church had been the only institution the black community had been able to develop during its enslavement, and it continued to play a central part in community life. At the turn of the century, a group held regular worship services under a big oak tree on what was then called Beantown Road (east of Lincoln Park). This group, calling itself the First Montgomery Colored Baptist Church, was able to purchase property in 1902. [10]On this land, adjacent to Lincoln Park, they erected their house of worship, at last bringing an important institution to the community. They called their church Mount Calvary. The present edifice, completed in 1961, is the second to occupy this site. The Griffith Tract The Griffith property extended for some distance north and east of Lincoln Park. Although the deeds conveying this property mention a plat filed November 17, 1906, the plat is yet to be found. The lots were described in terms of courses and distances, metes and bounds, with corners designated by iron stakes. However, the deeds also refer to the public road running from Horners Lane to Westmore Station. Apparently this missing plat recorded the subdivision of land along this road, which was intended to be an addition to Lincoln Park. One purchase of significance to the entire community occurred on June 12, 1917, when the Order of the Galilean Fisherman acquired land from the Griffith tract for a cemetery. [11]This statewide organization was founded by Hansley and Harriet Nichols in Baltimore in 1856, at a time when most insurance companies refused to sell policies to blacks. Members paid into the treasury and, when injury or illness prevented work, they received weekly benefits of $4. Funeral expenses up to $100 were paid (a considerable sum in those days). The local chapter, Eureka Tabernacle Number 29, was established February 1, 1912. Among the first officers were Fred Howard, Henry Shelton, William Powell, Asbury Johnson, Evelyn Prather, and Martha Hall, all of whom were early residents of Lincoln Park. Prior to the founding of the Fishermans Cemetery, Blacks had often buried their dead on their own land because there were no organized cemeteries that accepted blacks, says John C. Neel, the Right Worthy Ruler of Eureka Tabernacle Number 29. There had been a cemetery which predated Lincoln Park. On May 12, 1879, Solomon Williams had deeded a portion of his land to Adeline and Mary Harris for use as a burying ground. It was used for about 40 years and was finally abandoned for unknown causes. Crude grave markers from this cemetery could be found as late as the 1960s. Another small cemetery was located on Martins Lane. The Fishermans Cemetery is still in use. There is no longer the overwhelming need that formerly existed for the services once provided by the organization, since most people now have insurance and/or social security, and cemeteries are no longer segregated. Most of the Lodge[s members are now quite elderly and plans are being made to transfer the cemeterys operation to Mount Calvary Baptist Church. The Griffith property was sold between 1910 and 1926. The land that was not platted was also sold, but in acreage rather than lots. The remainder of the Welsh property was also sold during this period. Welsh was a victim of the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. After that, records indicate that his widow disposed of the remaining lots by 1926, including the rental units, with the exception of one. Thus, virtually all of Lincoln Park was under black ownership. Englands Addition To the west of Lincoln Park, extending to the railroad track, was a parcel of land known as the Big Woods, owned by a white man, Harrison L. England. In October 1926, England had this land platted and subdivided into 186 lots [12], as Englands Second Addition to Lincoln Park. At first, Englands real estate company, Suburban Properties, sold only vacant lots, but by the early 1930s and until his death some 40 years later, it was building and selling houses as well. South of Lincoln Park was an England development for whites called Croydon Park. The two communities are situated back to back, but there was no contact between them. Englands Addition more than doubled the area of Lincoln Park and established the present boundaries. The community is bordered by the Chessie System tracks to the west, an industrial zone and a gas field to the north, Southlawn Industrial Park on the east, a residential area on the southeast, and another industrial zone on the southwest. These boundaries make further expansion of the neighborhood impossible. In the 1920s, the only exit from Lincoln Park was by way of Horners Lane to Baltimore or Park Road (then just a path) to the south or to the Westmore Station to the north. What is now Stonestreet was two unconnected segments known as Biltmore and Stonestreet. Frederick Avenue dead-ended at the railroad tracks. Lincoln Park was, for all intents and purposes, physically isolated. This isolation was somewhat beneficial in that it reinforced the cohesiveness of the community. The Board of Education acquired the southwest corner of Englands Second Addition to construct Lincoln High School, which opened in September, 1935. [14] It was constructed from an abandoned building moved from Takoma Park. A brick veneer was added. [15]Thus, for the first time, black students in Montgomery County were able to attend school beyond the seventh grade without having to go into the District of Columbia. Black students from all parts of the county were bused to Lincoln High School. For many years, students used texts discarded by the white schools when new ones were adopted. They were the last to receive new classroom equipment and innovative programs. [16]Until 1938, black teachers were paid according to a separate salary schedule at rates substantially less than their white counterparts. In 1945, two classrooms were added; in 1949, a temporary gymnasium with two classrooms were erected; and in 1950, a temporary shop and home economics rooms were added. Before the gymnasium was available, the students practiced at Fishermans Hall and later, at Jim Davis garage. In 1950, George Washington Carver High School opened near Lincoln Park , and Lincoln was used as a junior high school until it was closed in 1958. Since then the buildings have housed offices of the Board of Education. Until recently the site also served as a depot for school buses and other equipment. Incorporation and Improvements By the late 1940s, there were 50 black settlements of about 100 persons each in Montgomery County. According to Hiebert and MacMaster, the better black homes were in Lincoln Park, but even there there was no sewerage system. A number of homes in Englands Addition had indoor plumbing, but in the older sections, privies were still common. Despite periodic protests, the county had never provided water, sewer facilities, paved streets, sidewalks, or street lights. Because the frequent protest continued to fall on deaf ears, representatives of Lincoln Park decided to cast their lot with the town of Rockville. They presented a petition to the Mayor and Council of Rockville on January 6, 1949, requesting incorporation into the Town of Rockville. According to the minutes of this meeting, the Mayor indicated that legislation was being prepared for the presentation to the State Legislature with favorable recommendations from the Mayor and Council. Residents of West End Park, Rockwood, and Haiti (Martins Lane) also petitioned for incorporation at that time. By the spring of that year, Lincoln Park was incorporated, and the Town Council levied taxes for town benefits. Rockville was changing from a small town to a suburban community. Even after incorporation, the hoped-for improvements were slow in coming. By 1954, there were a few street lights, only a few of the houses were hooked to the water system, and unpaved streets were regularly graded just before each election. Dickran Y. Hovsepian, who ran for Mayor with a new group, Citizens for Good Government (CCG), recalls, We made the inadequate streets, paving, curbing, guttering and the serious drainage problem issues in the campaign. CGG swept the incumbents from office in 1954. The new officials immediately began providing the much needed services. Where the long-term improvements could not be made at once, temporary measures were adopted. For example, crushed stone was laid on the dirt streets until paving could be completed. Multiple-Family Housing As early as 1948, the Citizens Council for Community Improvement urged county officials to take steps to improve the substandard housing conditions of many of the countys black residents, particularly those in the Middle Lane and Cairo Street area in Rockville. The Montgomery County Housing Authority denied a public housing project but urged the County Council to acquire land for public housing sites. No action resulted from these proposals. [17] In 1953, Morris Stern, a local businessman, opened the eight-unit Lenmor Apartments in a converted movie theater on Frederick Avenue in Lincoln Park. This was the first true multiple-family dwelling in the community. Although this changed the character of the neighborhood, it also helped alleviate overcrowding in extended-family households. The post-World War II building boom had little or no effect on the housing supply for blacks. Even those who could afford homes outside of black communities could not buy them because of legal restrictions. Young couples found it necessary to continue living with relatives or leave the county altogether. Housing was also a major issue in the 1954 CGG campaign. Hovsepian continues, We endeavored to encourage developers and builders to build in the Lincoln Park area. George Kimmel (a developer) began to put up a few houses, and then we got the apartments when Mr. Stern felt that he could go in and provide some decent housing. In 1956, Stern opened the first of the Carver apartments on Lenmor Avenue. These spacious one and two-bedroom units rented for $79.50 and 89.50, respectively. Over the next eight years, five more buildings representing 46 units were constructed. Stern also built one single-family house and two duplexes and remodeled an existing house into a duplex. Since the Middle Lane/Cairo Street area mentioned in the countys 1948 Housing Report was in Rockville, the Rockville City Council created the Rockville Housing Authority to address the problem. In order to provide adequate housing, there was no other way except to go to the public housing, says Hovsepian. Lincoln Terrace, a public housing project which opened in 1959 was built by the Rockville Housing Authority on land bought from the Fishermans Lodge. [18]The project consists of 65 units of two-story row houses. Some of the new residents of this development had been moved from the Middle Lane/Cairo Street area. In 1960, the Mayor and Council and the Housing Authority proposed building an additional 375 units of public housing in Lincoln Park. This would have uprooted six families who owned their homes. Also, other landowners would have lost over half of their property to the project. The residents of Lincoln Park resisted this proposal, pointing out that they were not objecting to the public housing per se, but that they felt that to crowd so many low-income rental units into Lincoln Park would be detrimental to the neighborhood. After a protracted struggle, the residents were successful in persuading the Council to adopt an alternate location. During the discussions, the lack of recreational facilities in Lincoln Park was pointed out. As a result, the city later acquired some of the land in question for a Community Center and recreation area, with tennis and basketball courts, ballfields and playground equipment. There was also a push for an open-housing ordinance. Lincoln Park Today Lincoln Park is a low-to-moderate income, predominately black community of approximately 320 households. Most residents own their own homes, but some of the single-family houses are rented, in a number of instances from other residents or former residents of Lincoln Park. There is a pride in the community which is reflected in the well-kept appearance of the houses. The eclectic architecture reflects the history of the community, a striking difference from the standard subdivisions, where every fourth house is alike. In 1970 the population was about 1,200. In 1975, the same area had the largest percentage of skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers, compared with other areas in the city, but the second lowest percentage of professional and technical workers. [19]A large number of the residents are retired, living on fixed incomes, or semi-retired, having part-time jobs. Many newcomers have settled in Lincoln Park in the last decade as additional housing has become available. At least three realtors have built several houses in the last two years, and the city contracted for others under a Housing and Urban Development Department-sponsored program. Other houses have become available as residents have increasingly taken advantage of open housing ordinances to move into other areas of the country. Also, as older residents pass away, their homes go on the market. Nonetheless, family ties remain strong. Some lots are occupied by the third, fourth, and even the fifth generation of the original owners family. The closeness of the community is still evident at times of illness or death, when neighbor comes to the aid of neighbor. Numerous improvements and benefits have come to Lincoln Park, making it a better place to live, since its incorporation into Rockville. This account must end on a sad note, however. When Metrorail is extended north of Rockville, two of the three western access roads will be closed, further isolating the community. Pressure to rezone land around the Metro station poses a threat as well to the existence of Lincoln Park. It is hard to predict the future of a community, even one that traces its roots back to 1891, in the face of such pressures. FOOTNOTES [1] Hiebert, Ray Eldon and MacMaster, Richard W., A Grateful Remembrance(Rockville, MD: Montgomery County Government, 1976). [2] Montgomery County Deed. Liber J.A. 23, Fol. 291. [3] Ibid., Liber J.A. 33, Fol. 265 [4] Montgomery County Plats B34 and B35. [5] Hopkins, G.M., Atlas of Montgomery County, Maryland, 1879(Rockville, MD: Montgomery County Historical Society, 1975) p. 8-9. [6] Talbot, Bill, Recollections of Rockville, Washington Star Magazine, August 28, 1966. [7] Montgomery County Deeds, Liber J.A. 36, Fol. 193. [8] Ibid., Liber J.A. 29, Fol. 428 and J.A. 33, Fol. 292. [9] Ibid., Liber T.D. 19, Fol. 256; Liber 206, Fol. 279; and Liber 234, Fol. 217. [10] Ibid., Liber T.D. 22, Fol. 400. [11] Ibid., Liber 264, Fol. 199. [12] Ibid., Liber E.B.P. 20, Fol. 265. [13] Montgomery County Plats 342. [14] Montgomery County Deeds, Liber 578, Fol. 489. [15] Clarke, Nina, et. al., Notes from an unpublished manuscript. [16] Hiebert and MacMaster op. cit., p. 280. [17] Ibid., p. 338. [18] Montgomery County Deeds, Liber 2330, Fol. 308. [19] Montgomery County Sentinel, July 28, 1977. BIBLIOGRAPHY City of Rockville, MD. Minutes of council meetings. January and June, 1949. Clarke, Nina, et al., notes for an unpublished manuscript. Hiebert, Ray Eldon and MacMaster, Richard W. A Grateful Remembrance. Rockville, MD: Montgomery County Government, 1976. Hopkins, G.M. Atlas of Montgomery County, Maryland, 1879. Rockville, MD: Montgomery County Historical Society, 1975. Montgomery County Sentinel, July 28, 1977. Montgomery County Deeds and Plats, Montgomery County Courthouse, Rockville, MD. Roberts, Carey C. and Williams, Peggy, editors. Montgomery Almanac. Rockville, MD: Montgomery County Bicentennial Commission, 1976. U.S. Census 1850, Free Inhabitants of Montgomery County. U.S. Census 1970. Walking Guide to Peerless Rockville, Rockville, MD: Peerless Rockville, 1975. Welshs Hardware Store ledger book, circa 1890. Talbot, Bill. Recollections of Rockville. Washington Star Magazine, August 28, 1960. Comments (0)
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