THE STORY OF THE WES FACILITY AT 5600 Little Falls Parkway David Schuessler, Facilities Manager

Transcription

1 THE STORY OF THE WES FACILITY AT 5600 Little Falls Parkway David Schuessler, Facilities Manager First presented at a meeting of WES Retired and Former Faculty, October 10, 2017 Transcribed and annotated by Susan Stern. Additional information concerning Loughborough and Shoemaker Families originally collected by Washington Episcopal School students in 1997 through a grant from the Washington Post to study the Civil War sites in the school s backyard. This history of the property and facility currently occupied by Washington Episcopal School begins with an encounter between the school and the Bethesda Historical Society. Recently, the group s graveyard delegation came to WES looking for abandoned or lost graveyards on the school s property. Why, you may ask. To explain: With the emergence of the Westbard Redevelopment Plan, stories began to come to light about the existence of graveyards in the immediate area of Washington Episcopal School. One of these, a burial site for members of the Macedonia Baptist Church, at 5119 River Road, has received news worthy attention in the local media over the past year. That the WES 11-acre property might also have had a graveyard was suspected. The story of the existence of these graveyards is imbedded in the time before and immediately after the Civil War. These graveyard tales provide a window into WES s own story. At the beginning of the war, much of the land beginning at the District of Columbia s boundary and extending up River Road was owned by two families, the Loughborough family and the Shoemaker family. The Loughborough Family s land dates from 1808 when Nathan followed the U.S. government from Philadelphia and later became chief clerk of the Treasury Department. The family home Milton is located at the end of Allendale Rd., less than a quarter mile from WES, and in the winter parts of the house can be seen from Little Falls Parkway. The Loughborough Family owned seven slaves. The importance of the Loughborough Family to the story is that when the family s slaves were emancipated with the passage of the Maryland State Constitution on November 1, 1864, they remained in the immediate area to establish an African American community. Along with the 18 emancipated slaves from the Counselman plantation, which occupied the land now part of Kenwood Country Club, and others (there were 300 slaves in Bethesda according to the 1860 census), they worked at the nearby quarry, on road construction, or at one of the earthen forts; and they founded a house of worship on River Road and buried their deceased members nearby. Now that the Loughborough connection has been explained in terms of the search for graveyards in the Westbard area, we can look at the Shoemaker connection. This name Shoemaker is important as family members owned our WES property well into the twentieth century. The family s history begins in 1819 when Samuel Shoemaker bought 102 acres of uncultivated woodland from Clement Smith. Samuel was a Quaker from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where his family had been farmers since Part of the land Samuel bought was located in Maryland and part in the District. Over the years the family enlarged its land holdings. In 1839, Isaac bought property along the Maryland border from what now is Wisconsin Avenue to River Road. In 1860 before the outbreak of the Civil War, according to the census of that year, Jesse Shoemaker had nine children at home. He reported real estate valued at $2,800 and

2 additional property valued at $5,000. The Martinet Map shows at least seven Shoemaker Families living in the Bethesda area. Phoebe Roselle Perry was Isaac Shoemaker s niece. According to land records, her father Cyrus Eli Perry owned property along River Road about where Willard Avenue intersects. Phoebe married Jacob Wilbert, a Quaker and recent Prussian immigrant who came to Bethesda from the Philadelphia area. In 1877, according to land records uncovered by the Bethesda Historical Society, Wilbert bought 25 acres of property, believed to include portions of the WES site, from John Councilman, one of the area s largest landowners. Phoebe died in 1908 at her home on River Road according to newspaper accounts. She, Jacob, and their small child were buried on the WES property in a cemetery that Jacob had legally dedicated. The graveyard delegation from the Bethesda Historical Society found the dedication of the cemetery in the Montgomery County land records. Some years ago, the grave site itself was discovered during the excavation of the back parking lot. The discovery included three wooden obelisk-like structures which were remains from fencing originally in place along one side of the cemetery. A 135-year old tree, whose age was confirmed by counting its rings, was recently removed from the site thus dating the graves to about When the graveyard delegation from the Bethesda Historical Society visited the property they confirmed this discovery through evidence of the presence of periwinkle, a plant prevalent at grave sites in the nineteenth century. A later blueprint of the WES property when it was owned by Morton Libowitz lists the graveyard as removed in The remains of another Shoemaker graveyard is at the rear of 4708 Bayard Boulevard in Bethesda. The burial ground was established in 1846 as part of the will of Samuel Shoemaker, Sr. Surrounded by a simple iron fence bearing a gate with the name Shoemaker on it, the graveyard contains six burial sites. Five tombstones, now on their sides, mark the passing of Jesse ( ), Jesse, Jr. ( ), his brother John ( ), and Elizabeth ( ). Two other markers carry the names of Sarah Williams ( ) and Eliza E., wife of Henry Coon ( ). The epitaphs are simple but visible. Also discovered on WES property is evidence that for some time in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century the back of the property was used as a dump. Among the many shards found are bottle pieces and at least one shard of dinner ware from the Cabin John Bridge Hotel. The hotel was built after the Civil War, with construction beginning in 1870 when Joseph Bobinger, an emigrant from Alsace-Lorraine, and his wife Rosa bought 100 acres of land next to the Union Arch Bridge spanning the Cabin John Gorge. The bridge itself had been constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers, who completed it in 1863 as part of the aqueduct system built to ensure a safe supply of drinking water for the city of Washington. At its completion, the bridge was a modern wonder representing the longest stone arch bridge in the world. Joseph worked on the bridge s construction as a stonemason and Rosa sold cigars, snuff, candles, drinks and pies to the workman. The hotel Joseph and Rosa built was an immediate tourist destination. City residents traveled out to it to avoid the malarial infested summers in Washington amid the cool vegetation of the Cabin John Gorge, as well as to marvel at the engineering wonder of the bridge. The hotel included an ornate bridge, public gardens, and 40 guest rooms, and could accommodate 100 diners. It held two parlors, two bars, a barber shop and pool hall. When Rosa and Joseph died, their sons took over the business until the hotel closed in 1926 as Prohibition played havoc with the bottom line. A fire in 1930 destroyed everything but the gas house which is still visible on the right immediately after traveling over the one-lane bridge.

3 To return to the WES property itself, the property was passed through the Shoemaker Family until 1922 when Sarah and William Shoemaker sold it to Robert F. Freer. According to the deed the family s burial ground was exempted, and Sarah and her heirs had the right of ingress and agress to and from said burial lot for the purpose of burying ground. The deed further stated that The land (burial plot) hereby conveyed was devised to said Sarah E. Shoemaker by said Jacob Wilbert according to his will recorded in Montgomery County. The WES property, loosely labeled as part of the Friendship Tract, on land documents, was purchased by the George E. Fuller Company in 1926, according to research done by the National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC). Earlier in the century, Fuller s company was responsible for the construction of many of the first skyscrapers populating the landscape of Chicago. He championed using steel beams to support construction and thus built the first skyscraper with non-load bearing curtain walls. Fuller s firm handled all aspects of construction except for design and thus created the modern concept of general contractor. Among the most famous of his company s efforts were Chicago s White City, built to house the World s Fair of 1893, and the Flatiron Building in New York City. By the time of the sale of the property to the company, Fuller s son-in-law was its CEO. The George E. Fuller Stone Plant rising on the WES property in 1926, now enclosed as the Deighton Alleyne Gymnasium, was originally built as a place to cut stone, which would be used in the construction of the Washington National Cathedral and, according to recent information from M-NCPPC, the Supreme Court. Built next to a railroad spur destined to Georgetown, the structure included a set of tracks actually running through the building. Flatbeds of quarried Indiana limestone arrived by rail to the Bethesda site, were unloaded inside via a system of permanent cranes, cut by skilled workmen, and then transported to the Cathedral or Court. By 1944, as World War II dragged on, the building was no longer used for stone cutting. In 2003 when the rear of the building was renovated and the outdoor sheds demolished, at least one discarded filial from the cathedral was found. In 1955 the Fuller building was purchased by the Marriott Corporation which added the contemporary looking so-called A building to the front of the Fuller structure. Within the A Building, the Marriott Corporate Headquarters included an office suite on the third floor for J. Willard, who had an unobstructed view of his flagship Roy Roger s fast food restaurant directly across the street. With the relocation of the Marriott Corporation to North Bethesda, the building passed into the hands of local businessman Morton Lebowitz. Lebowitz owned a chain of department stores called Morton s located off Route 50. A local philanthropist, he did much to return money back into the community. Lebowitz purchased the building in the mid-seventies, leasing it back to the Marriott Corporation for two years during the transition of the corporate headquarters to its current Democracy Boulevard location. As mentioned, Lebowitz was responsible for removing the graveyard in The final owner of the property before WES was WILLCO Corporation which inhabited the Marriott portion of the building prior to WES moving into the A building in Below is a history of the major renovation events that have occurred since Washington Episcopal School purchased the property from WILLCO. 1987: WES moves into Building A and the upper floor of Building B renting from WILLCO. Between 1987 and 1994, several summer renovation projects adapted the space to meet the needs of the growing school. WES students walked to the Kenwood park for physical education classes.

4 1996: WES purchased the main building and about half of the property, from WILLCO with WILLCO retaining a lease on space to several occupants for fifteen years. Middle School construction starts on upper level of Building B. The parking lot at the rear of the building is converted into a grass playing field. The gym and stage are claimed out of the original Fuller Building. 1999: Major renovation of A Building including expansion of Early Childhood Wing. Colonnade, Library, and Bell Tower constructed. Playground created off Early Childhood Wing replacing original main entrance circle. 2000: Renovation front parking lot. 2001: Gazebo built. 2003: Maintenance sheds removed. Rear of building improved. Rear parking lot created adding 40 spaces. 2004: Founders Park created; Charles Fooley of Great Falls does stonework. 2011: Purchase of remaining acres of site consolidates property. Leased rental space reverts to school. 2012: Demolition of adjacent buildings. 2013: Turf field built and opens. 2015: Construction of band room in master lease space begun; opened January New programming brings new demands. There are still 12,000 square feet of master lease space remaining. Ideas for this space include a new ceramic studio for art department, second STEM lab; and after school club space. There are also plans to rehabilitate the playground with new surface materials and new equipment. The evolution of Mr. Marriott s carport from castle to gazebo to some future configuration summarizes the ongoing challenges to facility development. Today s structure continues to evolve as new programming initiatives emerge and need to find homes within the facility.

5