A Little Bethesda History
from William Offutt's Bethesda - A Social History
"In 1944 the
publisher-editor of the Record, Bethesda's newest
weekly newspaper, described what the town had been like
twenty-five years before when the Bank of Bethesda first
opened its doors. The village was then, she wrote, little
more than 'a wide place in the road.'
In the whole
of the district running from Rock Creek Park west to the
Potomac river and north from the District Line to and
including Grosvenor lane there were only 5,000 souls, or
approximately 1,000 homes.
The bank was
located on the southwest corner at the intersection of
Georgetown road and Wisconsin avenue, in the rear of what is
now People's Drug Store. Looking toward the District Line on
the opposite side of the street one could see only four
business establishments - Wade Imirie's garage, the Ice
Plant Lewis Keiser's real estate office, and Bill
Counselman's Feed Store. To get to these businesses one had
to cross the street car tracks and drive down a cinder path.
There was no paved street on the eastern side of Wisconsin.
Looking
toward the Capital on the western side of Wisconsin a few
more business houses were visible. Wilson's store near the
railroad underpass housed the Bethesda Post Office.
Mr. Wilson
was the Post Master and Will Dawson was the mail carrier. He
used a horse and buggy. Walter Perry conducted a feed store
farther down the street; there was a Sanitary Grocery near
the underpass, a garage at Hampden lane and the avenue and
farther down was Charlie Miller's coal yard.
Up Wisconsin
avenue toward Rockville, M. E. Peake operated a dairy
business in the rear of his residence and down Georgetown
road Mrs. Maud Barton and Mrs. S. E. Shackleford ran small
general stores. E. E. Dellinger had a store at the District
Line; Mr. Sonnemann had one on Brookeville road in Chevy
Chase; Mr. Canada and Mr. Tuohey each had a store on Conduit
road; Tom Perry had set himself up in the coal business at
Chevy Chase Lake; and Frank Wilson served the country folks
from his merchandising house on Georgetown road near
Grosvenor lane. Walter Tuckerman's real estate office was in
the same building with the bank. With such an enterprising
business community the Bank of Bethesda felt fortunate in
taking in a total of $1500 on its opening day from four
different depositors.
The town was
proud of its schools. There was the brick building on Wilson
lane (a part of the present structure); the first section of
the present building at the Rosemary street school; a small
frame school house on Wilson lane near Conduit road and one
out near Zion Baptist Church. If young people craved a high
school education they went to Rockville or the District...
The lot on
which the bank now stands had been cleared of its old
blacksmith shop by the Masons in preparation for the
building of the Masonic Hall. Sheep and cattle roamed the
fields up and down Wisconsin avenue, out Georgetown road and
through Battery Park. Transportation was furnished by a
street car line which ran on a single track from just north
of the District Line to Rockville. Cars ran hourly except at
rush periods when 15 minute schedules were observed. There
was no kicking about crowded cars.
Dr. Benjamin
Perry had just come down from Frederick to take over the
practice of the late Dr. John L. Lewis, but if one wanted a
dentist it was necessary to go to Washington or Rockville.
Yes, it was
a great young town and as the promising young cashier,
Walter Bogley, built a fire and thawed out the ink well that
cold December morning before slipping behind the second-hand
counter to become the town's only cashier for a period of
nearly 24 years, he thought to himself, 'Great prospects
here, Walter, my boy. Let's stick to it and see what
happens.'"
