Silver Springs abound

Research reveals: things aren't always as they seem

(Image Courtesy SSHS) Map of Georgia Avenue, c.1936

One of the joys for me of conducting historical research is to come across a piece of information that makes me think, "Wow, that is amazing!"   This was my reaction last year while, when reading issues of the 1939 Silver Spring Standard weekly newspaper on microfilm at the Rockville Public Library, I came across this story leading the "News and Views" column on the front page of the December 7 th issue:

"Georgia Avenue through Silver Spring, with its wide grassy boulevards dividing the flow of automobile traffic, is the first street of its kind constructed in the United States, except for short stretches built in downtown sections of some cities, long before the advent of the motor car.   At any rate, Silver Spring has the first planned street of this kind.   It was developed in 1925 over plans   suggested by the Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce and was the subject of much admiration by other communities.   City representatives came from as far as Milwaukee to see the street and observe its traffic advantages and in the latter city there is a wide avenue named 'Silver Spring Boulevard' in honor of Silver Spring, Maryland."

My in-laws, Richard and Alice Schroeder, live in Wisconsin and about once a year my wife Nan and I fly into Milwaukee to visit them.   Milwaukee is an amazing city, featuring great architecture and even greater food.   On one of our trips there I wanted to eat at a restaurant that I had read about, Heinemann's.   Since 1923 this Milwaukee institution has specialized in made-from-scratch food and bakery items.   On our way out of Milwaukee we stopped at Heinemann's Whitefish Bay location on E. Silver Spring Drive.

As we concluded our lunch with to-die-for cherry pie a la mode, I remember thinking what a coincidence that the restaurant was located on a street that had the same name as the city where we live.   Starting as E. Silver Spring Drive in Whitefish Bay, a suburb north of Milwaukee, and extending west through Milwaukee proper where it is named W. Silver Spring Drive and ending some sixteen miles later as Silver Spring Drive in Sussex, WI, this stretch of road has lots of establishments on it utilizing the name "Silver Spring."   I know, because on subsequent visits I have driven every mile of it and photographed various signs featuring the Silver Spring moniker.

With the discovery in the Silver Spring Standard   that there is a major east-west transportation artery in Milwaukee named after Silver Spring, I began telling participants last year on my walking tours of historic "Main Street" Georgia Avenue about our namesake in the city that Schlitz beer made famous.   Fast forward to this year.   Last June we again visited Wisconsin and I thought it would be a good opportunity to track down the origin of Silver Spring Drive from the Milwaukee end.   A visit to the beautifully restored Neo-Renaissance style 1898 Milwaukee Public Library quickly dispelled this story.

At the Frank P. Zeidler Humanities Room, where is housed the central library's special collections of Milwaukee history, it didn't take me long to learn the truth.   I had previously perused the library's online catalogue from home and found a title in which the answer could probably be found, Milwaukee Streets: The Stories Behind Their Names (Cream City Press, 1995), by Carl and Ellen Baehr.   The entry "Silver Spring Drive, Road" on p. 241 read:

(Images Courtesy Milwaukee Public Library) Then: W. Silver Spring Drive (in Milwaukee) c.1960

"Edward J. Cuyler, an official with the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, named the company's station near Green Bay Road and what became known as Silver Spring Road.   He chose the name Silver Spring Station because a nearby manufacturer advertised using 'silver spring' in his factory.   The business may have been Herman's Silver Springs Mills near Green Tree Road, which produced starch and cereal.   The springs referred to supplied settlers in the area with water before well drilling dried them up.   In 1917, the old Town of Milwaukee made official the name that had been in use for many years."

"Ugh, Oh," I thought.

The librarian then directed me to a photo collectionthat the Milwaukee County Dept. of Transportation had donated containing images of roadway construction.   Two circa 1960 photographs in the collection, reproduced here, shows W. Silver Spring Drive looking west from N. 43 rd Street.   The "Then" photo shows a two-lane road lined with trees to the right.   The "Again" photo shows the same view but this time featuring a double width "wide grassy boulevard" but minus the trees (sorry trees, you were in the way of the two overpasses that needed to be built).

(Images Courtesy Milwaukee Public Library) Again: W. Silver Spring Drive (in Milwaukee) featuring a "wide grassy boulevard" also c.1960

At one time Georgia Avenue did feature slightly wider grassy medians, as delineated in the accompanying circa 1936 map.   A few early photographs in the Silver Spring Historical Society's archives show these medians as being grass-filled.   Perhaps city officials from Milwaukee toured Georgia Avenue and the design concept made such an impression that they decided to eventually replicate it.   What they certainly did not do was to name their street after us.   Further research will need to be conducted to ascertain if downtown Silver Spring's Georgia Avenue was indeed "the first planned street of this kind."   

Oh well, it was a great story while it lasted.

If you can share any information on the 1925 design plan for Georgia Avenue, please contact the Silver Spring Historical Society at sshistory@yahoo.com , write SSHS, PO Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1160, or call (301) 537.1253.   Our web site is www.sshistory.org.

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