Photo courtesy SSHSJames H. Cissel, posing in the office of the Silver Spring Building Supply Company, 8222-8226 Georgia Avenue, July 18, 1924.

The changing face of "Main Street": Georgia Avenue

Last month the Silver Spring Historical Society learned that yet another business located on historic "Main Street" Georgia Avenue will probably close next year. The CD/Game Exchange, located at 8236 Georgia Avenue, a two-story brick edifice constructed in 1930, was recently served notice by the building's new owner that the business will have a month-to-month lease beginning in 2007.

Photo: Courtesy of SSHS Then: 8236 Georgia Avenue circa 1930 when occupied by Jack's Lunch & Confectioner, operated by Eugene Corrigan.

This early 20th century commercial building, one of six constructed in the same block between 1923 and 1941, was purchased in February of 2006 by a prominent developer.

This block contains the largest contiguous assemblage of early 20th century commercial structures located on the west side of Georgia Avenue between Wayne and Silver Spring Avenue. First developed by pioneer businessman James Herbert Cissel (1870-1943), these buildings constituted downtown Silver Spring's first commercial/entertainment center.

Cissel was a founder of the Silver Spring National Bank, the community's first, which opened in 1910 on the southeast corner of Georgia and Sligo Avenue. Simultaneously he operated the Farmers Supply Company, Silver Spring's first hardware store, which was rebuilt in 1925 as Hunter Bros. Hardware. This structure remains at 8126 Georgia Avenue, enlivened by the popular Dor-Ne Corset Shoppe. Cissel went on to found the Silver Spring Building Supply Company, located in an attractive 1924 Spanish Colonial Revival structure standing at 8222-8226 Georgia Avenue.

In his "spare" time, Cissel served as a founding member of the original Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce and founding commissioner of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. A large landowner, he donated many acres of his property in the late 1920s for the establishment of the Montgomery County parks system.

Photo: Jerry A. McCoy Again: 8236 Georgia Avenue as it appears today.

In 1924 Cissel's Silver Spring National Bank was forced to relocate when construction began on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad underpass, built to separate Brookeville Avenue (today's Georgia Avenue) from the B&O's Metropolitan Branch railroad tracks (today's Metro/CSX tracks). The current Georgia Avenue underpass, opened in 1948, in turn replaced this underpass. Needing a new location for his bank, Cissel purchased multiple lots on the west side of Brookeville Avenue, just south of Oak Street (today's Bonifant Street) and hired local architect Frank Baker Proctor and engineer/builder John M. Faulconer to design and construct a row of brick commercial structures.

The first structure to be built was the new Silver Spring National Bank, which opened its doors on September 1, 1925. The civic landmark, a two-story brick Colonial Revival structure located today at 8252 Georgia Avenue, paved the way for commercial development of this block. Its presence also contributed towards the repositioning of downtown Silver Spring's commercial center, from the area adjacent to the B&O Railroad Station, to its traditional center today at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road.

In 1938 the Silver Spring National Bank saved the failing Takoma Park Bank by merging with it, becoming the Suburban National Bank of Silver Spring. The merger was marked by expansion completed by Tilghman Moyer Company of Allentown, Pennsylvania, a nationally renowned firm that specialized in the design and construction of bank buildings. Added to the bank's Georgia Avenue elevation was a new, 16-foot-deep Classical Revival limestone façade, which allowed for a new enlarged lobby that featured 11 tellers' wickets, new officers' rooms, and an enlarged vault. Today "ghost" letters forming the outline of "Suburban National Bank" can be seen on either side of the building's Georgia Avenue entrance after a rain when the limestone is wet.

Image Courtesy SSHS Then: Architectural rendering of the Silver Spring National Bank, 8252 Georgia Avenue, taken from 1934 letterhead.

In 1951 the bank was enlarged again with a rear addition and renamed Suburban Trust Company. Featured were state-of-the-art "robotics" for check processing, central air-conditioning, and piped-in music. Suburban Trust later became Suburban Bancorp and was the fourth largest bank in Maryland when it merged with Sovran Bank in the 1980s. Sovran in turn became NationsBank in the 1990s, moving out of the Georgia Avenue location in 1997 when it became Bank of America.

Since 1997 the former bank building has been owned by Bethel World Outreach Ministries, Inc. This church also owns three other properties on this block; the empty lot directly to the south, originally occupied by another 1920s Proctor and Faulconer building destroyed by fire in the early 1970s; 8252 Georgia, originally constructed as the SECO Theater, Silver Spring's first movie theater opened in 1927; and 8238 Georgia, constructed in 1932.

Collectively these buildings, including numerous early to mid 20th century human-scaled commercial structures located on the opposite side of Georgia Avenue, are facing increased development pressures. Property owners are being tempted to sell out to developers who can and will take advantage of the greater zoning density that these lots offer. Together these properties constitute an authentic "Main Street" experience for both residents and visitors alike and offer incredible potential for adaptive reuse and heritage tourism.

Photo: Jerry A. McCoy Again: 8252 Georgia Avenue as it appears today.

Currently occupied by numerous multicultural small independent businesses (SIBs), these unique structures on Georgia Avenue, including those on Colesville Road and nearby Fenton Village (Fenton Street), represent our community's living history. All tell myriad stories of the individuals who came before including those who occupy them today.

These unique structures offer residents and visitors alike with a true "sense of place." Without their inclusion in our community's rapid "revitalization," the homogenization of downtown Silver Spring will continue unabated.

If you can share with the Silver Spring Historical Society any photographs or information about any of the addresses/buildings in this article, please contact SSHS at P.O. Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1160, email sshistory@yahoo.com, or call 301-537-1253. The society's Web site is www.sshistory.org. Current and future residents and historians will thank you!