Photo: Courtesy SSHS

Photo: Jerry A. McCoy

Willard R. Ross (1860-1948) was a Washington, DC photographer who specialized in the publication of real-photo postcard images of what could be called "Hometown Washington." Not catering to the desires of early 20^th century tourists, who would purchase postcard views of federal buildings such as the White House and the U.S. Capitol by the tens of thousands, Ross capitalized on a niche market for local views. For 15 years, circa 1910-1925, he documented neighborhood businesses, churches, street scenes, and local events. These resulting images were printed up as postcards, which Ross then wholesaled to local establishments such as pharmacies.

Seeking a wider market in which to distribute his postcards, Ross set out from his home at 39 Q St. NE with a plan to document the burgeoning community of Silver Spring, MD. Carrying his heavy view camera and supply of glass-plate negatives, Ross probably traveled to Silver Spring via streetcar, where he captured this Silver Spring Then image on Thursday, June 21, 1917.

Of the thirteen surviving postcard images he took that day of the community, "Brookeville Ave, Silver Spring, Md. ­ 1" is the only one of Brookeville Avenue (today's Georgia Avenue) looking south.

On the left can be seen the residence of Hugh F. O 'Donnell. Mr. O'Donnell was a contractor and built the two-story wood frame house with a wrap-around front porch. He probably enjoyed sitting out on it in the evening, talking to passing neighbors, watching the occasional "gasoline buggy" putter by (but probably not enjoying the dust that they kicked up from the unpaved road) and waving to the conductor operating the passing Washington, Woodside & Forest Glenn Railway streetcar.

His side yard and swing separated his property from his commercial next-door neighbor, a business whose name is not known but featuring a sign upon which can be deciphered "Ajax Tires Guaranteed 5000 Miles."

Surely a sign pointing not only to the availability of tires but also to the future direction that downtown Silver Spring was heading.

Across from the corner at Silver Spring Avenue, where children can be seen playing on a tricycle and wagon, is the Silver Spring Armory. Erected in 1914, the structure became the home of the Maryland National Guard, Company K, 1st Maryland Infantry. When the Armory's neighbor, the Silver Spring Post Office, was destroyed by fire on May 5, 1915 (because there was no fire department to extinguish the flames!), one was organized ten days later at the urging of the Ladies Cooperative Improvement Society. Thus was born the Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Dept. #1, which was originally housed in a shed located to the rear of the Armory. On June 11, 1918, the SSVFD incorporated and purchased the Armory for $5,000, sharing the structure with the National Guard until 1927 when the latter moved to their new building on Wayne Avenue.

Separated by a span of 82 years, the Silver Spring Again photograph was taken on November 11, 2000. An absolute thrill went through me when, while standing on the median strip in the middle of Georgia Avenue and looking through the viewfinder of my 35mm camera, being held in one hand while the other was holding the original 1917 postcard, I suddenly knew that I was standing in the exact spot where Ross was standing when he pressed the cable release of his camera eight decades earlier. In the postcard image on the roof of the Armory can be clearly seen a triangularly shaped ventilation gable just "touching" the corner of the Ajax Tire building (today's Bell Flowers). Looking through my viewfinder and spotting the same gable, I kept taking a few steps back on the median strip in order to get the gable to touch the edge of Bell Flowers. A few more steps... a few more... BINGO!.

"Wow," I thought, "this is as close to time travel as I will ever get."

Ross would have been amazed to see the changes that have taken place. Mr. O'Donnell's front porch was filled in to eventually become Plaza Artist Materials (look for the resident cats, Windsor and Newton, lounging in the front display windows). His side yard houses an addition to Bell Flowers.

The site of the original Silver Spring Post Office is currently vacant, although its current neighbor, Miller's News Stand, recently suffered a devastating fire to its interior.

Looming over everything is the behemoth "World Building." Constructed in 1961 it served as the long-time home of radio station WGAY-FM.

The postcard images that Willard R. Ross documented offer an unparalleled photographic legacy of life in downtown Silver Spring as it existed almost a century ago.

If you can share with the Silver Spring Historical Society any photographs or memorabilia of the downtown area for use in a future book, please contact SSHS at PO Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1160, email sshistory@yahoo.com, or call 301.565.2519. The society's web site is www.sshistory.org. Future historians will thank you!