Uncovering a Forgotten History: A New Park for the Westbard Sector

Plantations, Slave Life, Civil War, Emancipation, and the Jim Crow Era in the Westbard Sector

Little Falls Watershed Alliance has started a history committee as part of our advocacy for the new Willett Branch Park in the Westbard Sector.  The Park would honor the local history and we were curious to learn more about the neighborhood.

What we found was that the area north of what is now Little Falls Parkway on either side of River Road was once a vibrant African American community settled by freed slaves.  The plantations were located south in the Green Acres and Brookdale areas and the slaves settled on land off of River Road after emancipation.  There was also a Rosenwald School (one of over 5,000 schools in the south funded by the CEO of Sears, Julius Rosenwald) which shut down in 1954 when schools were desegregated.  The students went to Somerset Elementary School, Western Junior High or BCC High School.  And there was a cemetery where the HOC parking lots are.  It was sold in 1958 when the area was redeveloped but oral history suggests that the graves are still there under the asphalt.  

The African American residents were displaced by development in the early 1960s, the houses bulldozed for apartments and commercial buildings.  The Rosenwald school was torn down and a communication tower built on it site.  All that remains to remind of us of this forgotten history is the Macedonia Baptist Church at 5119 River Road.  This historic church was built in 1932 on land deed to them by the Clipper Family and still hold services and Bible study every week.  

You can find more information about the history of the area in the Westbard Sector plan appendix.

Preserving History in a New Park for the Westbard Sector

Please write to the Planning Board and Staff and the County Executive expressing your support for a new Willett Branch Stream Valley Park which honors and highlights the rich and forgotten history of the area. Ask that no new buildings be allowed in the stream buffer and on top the cemetery - the heart of the park where early African American residents were buried.

John Marcolin, Project Manager 

Montgomery County Park and Planning

8787 Georgia Ave.

Silver Spring, MD 20910

john.marcolin@montgomeryplanning.org

Casey Anderson, Chair

Montgomery County Planning Board

8787 Georgia Ave.

Silver Spring, MD 20910 

MCP-Chair@mncppc-mc.org 

Ike Leggett, County Executive

Executive Office Building

101 Monroe St., 2nd Floor

Rockville, MD 20850

Ike.leggett@montgomerycountymd