Twisted History

Several times each week, I walk down Bonifant Street on my way to the Silver Spring Metro station and pass under the massive co-joined structures collectively called the Bonifant-Dixon Public Parking Garage #5. As an historian, I am usually either blessed or depressed (depending on the situation) to be able to see in my mind's eye what downtown Silver Spring used to look like, and I definitely feel the latter when I see these two hulking structures.	All photos courtesy SSHS Leena Warren was preparing to give a bath to two-and-a-half year old Margie Dudley when the wood frame home rose and pitched forward as though it was going to sink into the ground. Warren was thrown through a doorway leading into another room. The youngster was pitched to the floor, and then she slid through the front door to the ground when the house tilted forward. The child was picked up by a passing neighbor and carried to safety.
Eighty years ago, this section of Bonifant was named Oak Avenue (and even before that, Laura Road). Present-day Dixon and Ramsey avenues, which intersect Bonifant, were named Maple and Cedar avenues, respectively. Situated on these bucolically-named streets were once dozens of brick- and wood-frame bungalows constructed during the 1920s and 1930s in what is still known as the E. Brooke Lee Addition to Silver Spring. The occupants of these humble abodes were attracted to many of the same amenities (proximity to jobs, shopping, entertainment, and public transportation) enjoyed by those of us who live today, 80 years later, on the periphery of downtown Silver Spring. Yet, on Thursday, April 5, 1923, many in this small neighborhood feared for their lives. At approximately 3 p.m. that afternoon, an unprecedented tornado tore through the neighborhood, injuring four people, destroying five houses, and partially wrecking a dozen others, but miraculously killing no one. The twister approached Silver Spring from the southwest, arcing across the north end of Rock Creek Park in the District of Columbia. Approaching the Falkland mansion, constructed in 1854 by Montgomery Blair, the tornado only slightly damaged the roof. Damage to the grounds, however, was extreme. More than 50 shade trees that surrounded the hilltop mansion were uprooted. (The mansion, hilltop, and remaining trees suffered far more destruction when all were literally leveled between 1958 and 1959 for construction of the Blair Plaza Shopping Center. See Silver Spring: Then & Again , September, 2003.) Upon leaving Falkland, the tornado reached its greatest velocity, reaching an estimated wind speed of 100 to 200 miles an hour. Jumping the tracks of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (today's CSX/Metro), the tornado slammed into 1108 Oak Avenue, owned by meat-cutter Joseph Stecklein and his wife, Catherine. The destructive force of the winds completely tore off the roof as well as the home's brick facade. At that moment, 16-year-old Florence Davis was walking to her home at 1106 Oak Avenue, next door to the Steckleins, with her friend Delma Stanley. Both girls were lifted from their feet and thrown against a fence more than 50 feet away, but neither was injured. The tornado next hit a house across the street from the Steckleins. Occupied by William M. Cowell, a carpenter, and John C. Cowell, a bricklayer, the roof of 1109 Oak Avenue blew away, as did the west façade facing the railroad tracks. With the bathroom wall gone, a fine al fresco view of passing B&O trains could be had! Far more dramatic was what happened to nursemaid Leena Warren. Warren was preparing to give a bath to two-and-a-half year old Margie Dudley, daughter of Dr. & Mrs. Frederick E. Dudley, Jr., when the wood frame home at 8404 Maple Avenue rose and pitched forward as though it was going to sink into the ground. Warren was thrown through a doorway leading into another room, with Margie flung in the opposite direction. Margie was found moments later toddling on Maple in front of the house. It was thought that the youngster was pitched to the floor when the house shook, and she then slid through the front door to the ground when the house tilted forward. The child was picked up by a passing neighbor and carried to safety. The April 6, 1923 Evening Star reported that Margie was "apparently unalarmed" by the incident while Warren was "scratched and shocked."
Dudley House		At that moment, 16-year-old Florence Davis was walking to her home at 1106 Oak Avenue, next door to the Steckleins, with her friend Delma Stanley. Both girls were lifted from their feet and thrown against a fence more than 50 feet away, but neither was injured. The tornado next hit a house across the street from the Steckleins. Occupied by William M. Cowell, a carpenter, and John C. Cowell, a bricklayer, the roof of 1109 Oak Avenue blew away, as did the west façade facing the railroad tracks. With the bathroom wall gone, a fine al fresco view of passing B&O trains could be had!
Far more dramatic was what happened to nursemaid Leena Warren. Warren was preparing to give a bath to two-and-a-half year old Margie Dudley, daughter of Dr. & Mrs. Frederick E. Dudley, Jr., when the wood frame home at 8404 Maple Avenue rose and pitched forward as though it was going to sink into the ground. Warren was thrown through a doorway leading into another room, with Margie flung in the opposite direction. Margie was found moments later toddling on Maple in front of the house. It was thought that the youngster was pitched to the floor when the house shook, and she then slid through the front door to the ground when the house tilted forward. The child was picked up by a passing neighbor and carried to safety. The April 6, 1923 Evening Star reported that Margie was "apparently unalarmed" by the incident while Warren was "scratched and shocked." Margie was found moments later toddling on Maple in front of the house. It was thought that the youngster was pitched to the floor when the house shook, and she then slid through the front door to the ground when the house tilted forward. The child was picked up by a passing neighbor and carried to safety. The April 6, 1923 Evening Star reported that Margie was "apparently unalarmed" by the incident while Warren was "scratched and shocked."
At that moment, 16-year-old Florence Davis was walking to her home at 1106 Oak Avenue, next door to the Steckleins, with her friend Delma Stanley. Both girls were lifted from their feet and thrown against a fence more than 50 feet away, but neither was injured.		Cowell House (side view)
The tornado next hit a house across the street from the Steckleins. Occupied by William M. Cowell, a carpenter, and John C. Cowell, a bricklayer, the roof of 1109 Oak Avenue blew away, asdid the west façade facing the railroad tracks. With the bathroom wall gone, a fine al fresco view of passing B&O trains could be had! Far more dramatic was what happened to nursemaid Leena Warren. Warren was preparing to give a bath to two-and-a-half year old Margie Dudley, daughter of Dr. & Mrs. Frederick E. Dudley, Jr., when the wood frame home at 8404 Maple Avenue rose and pitched forward as though it was going to sink into the ground. Warren was thrown through a doorway leading into another room, with Margie flung in the opposite direction. Margie was found moments later toddling on Maple in front of the house. It was thought that the youngster was pitched to the floor when the house shook, and she then slid through the front door to the ground when the house tilted forward. The child was picked up by a passing neighbor and carried to safety. The April 6, 1923 Evening Star reported that Margie was "apparently unalarmed" by the incident while Warren was "scratched and shocked."   Margie was found moments later toddling on Maple in front of the house. It was thought that the youngster was pitched to the floor when the house shook, and she then slid through the front door to the ground when the house tilted forward. The child was picked up by a passing neighbor and carried to safety. The April 6, 1923 Evening Star reported that Margie was "apparently unalarmed" by the incident while Warren was "scratched and shocked." All of the homes were eventually rebuilt, but could not withstand that other tornado known as redevelopment. By the 1950s, this neighborhood of bungalows with front porch swings, neighbors talking over back-yard fences, and kids playing out on the sidewalks quickly succumbed to commercial development. The Cowell home is today occupied by the law offices of Greenberg & Bederman, constructed in 1963 with an address of 1111 Bonifant Street. The Stecklein, Davis, and Dudley homes, along with eight others, were torn down in the late '70s to erect the two parking garages.
Only three homes remain from this old neighborhood, yet you would never know if you looked at them. Buried inside today's 8403, 8405, and 8407 Ramsey Ave., across from the Silver Spring Metro parking lot, are three brick bungalows. The original facades have been replaced and the spaces in between filled in, but if you look at the side of 8407, you will see the original chimney of the house.		Stecklein House
Walk around to the back, and the rears of the three bungalows are readily apparent. Bricked-up windows stare out into what had been the deep back yard of 1107 Oak Avenue, now replaced by the multiple decking of Public Parking Garage #5. If you have any information on or photographs of the following individuals who were impacted by the Silver Spring tornado, please contact the Silver Spring Historical Society 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!
Silver Spring Tornado April 5, 1923 Injured: Heath, W. R. (Washington, DC) Hensley, B. Paul (1236 Irving St. NW, Washington, DC) Stecklein, Mrs. Joseph (Catherine) (Silver Spring, MD) Wachter, Harry (Brookville, MD) Warren, Leena Destroyed homes: Carroll, John C. (large, frame barn at rear of property) Cowell, John C. Cowell, William M. Dodge, Vernon Dudley Jr., Dr. Frederick E. Harden (or Hardon), Mrs. Walter Hewitt, Captain Frank L. (small garage at rear of property) Stecklein, Joseph Damaged homes: Alexander, Harry Blair Jr., Montgomery Davis, William E. Hewitt, Captain Frank L. Kronenbitter, Christian Von Hurbulie, William Woodworth, John		Cowell House (front view)