Planning Board unanimously recommends historic designation for Edward U. Taylor School in Boyds; County Council will make the final decision
WHEATON, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Board, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), recommended the Montgomery County Council designate the Edward U. Taylor School in Boyds as historic by adding it to the county’s Master Plan for Historic Preservation at a public hearing on Thursday, February 23. The County Council makes final decisions on historic designations of properties in the county.
“We commend the Planning Board’s recommendation that the County Council designate the Edward U. Taylor Elementary School as a historic site,” said Acting Planning Director Tanya Stern. “This school is a landmark in the history of the Black community in Boyds and served as a community anchor. The Taylor School represented the efforts of individuals like Edward U. Taylor and Black organizations, parents, and teachers to obtain quality educational facilities for Black children in Montgomery County in the mid-20th century.”
During today’s hearing, the Planning Board also voted separately to not recommend historic designation for the former Weller’s Dry Cleaning site in Silver Spring. These two sites were part of a proposed amendment to the county’s Master Plan for Historic Preservation.
Read the amendment
Watch the video from the February 23 Planning Board public hearing
The Planning Board also voted to add the Edward U. Taylor School to the Locational Atlas & Index of Historic Sites but declined to list the Weller’s Dry Cleaning to the Atlas. For more information on the Locational Atlas see below.
Historic designation criteria are established in Chapter 24A in the Montgomery County Code. The Planning Board evaluated the sites against the criteria and found that the Edward U. Taylor School met the following criteria:
- A Historical and cultural significance. The historic resource has character, interest, or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the county, state, or nation.
- D Historical and cultural significance. The historic resource exemplifies the cultural economic, social, political or historic heritage of the county and its communities.
- E Architectural and design significance. Represents an established and familiar visual feature of the neighborhood, community, or county due to its singular physical characteristic or landscape.
About the Edward U. Taylor School site
The former Edward U. Taylor School (19501 White Ground Road, Boyds, MD) was built as an elementary school for Black students at a time when Montgomery County used legally sanctioned racial segregation to prohibit Black children from attending white schools. The Modern Movement-influenced building was completed in 1952, and features several additions built between 1954 and 1969. The facility was built to modern school design standards and represents the cumulative efforts of the county’s Black community to obtain better facilities and opportunities after decades of public underinvestment in educational facilities for Black children. The building currently serves as the Taylor Science Center for the processing and storage of science kits for Montgomery County Public Schools. The recommendation to study the school was brought forward in the MARC Rail Communities Plan, which was approved by the County Council in April 2019. View a short video on the Legacy of the Edward U. Taylor School. View the September 2022 Edward U. Taylor Elementary School Master Plan for Historic Preservation Designation Form.
About the former Weller’s Dry Cleaning site
The former Weller’s Dry Cleaning site (8237 Fenton Street, Silver Spring, MD) was originally identified for evaluation as an historic resource over twenty years ago in the 2002 Historic Sites Survey Report: Silver Spring Central Business District. The 2022 Silver Spring Downtown and Adjacent Communities Plan directed Montgomery Planning to evaluate the Weller’s Dry Cleaning site designation as a Master Plan Historic Site. This site consists of a Googie-styled commercial store and sign constructed in 1961 within the Thayer Avenue commercial area in Downtown Silver Spring. The Googie style is a popular, but relatively rare, mid-20th century roadside commercial architecture that is a subset of the Modern Movement of architecture. Architects popularized the style in California where the intention was to attract motorists traveling at 35 miles per hour or more to stop and patronize roadside businesses. The design of the former Weller’s Dry Cleaning building and sign engaged the everyday consumer with modern and popular architecture in lieu of the high-style austerity of the International, Brutalist, and Expressionist styles. Very few examples of this architectural style remain intact in the county or region. View the December 2022 Weller’s Dry Cleaning Master Plan for Historic Preservation Designation Form.
Background
In 2022 the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) found that both sites met the requirements in the County Code to be designated through its evaluation process. The HPC then recommended the Montgomery County Planning Board review and recommend that the County Council designate both sites as historic. The County Council has the final authority on the decision to designate a site as historic.
About the historic preservation process
Designating a place for historic preservation is based on criteria set forth in Chapter 24A-3 of the County Code. The decision to designate a property begins with a completed research form from The Maryland Historic Trust and is reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), the Montgomery County Planning Board, and the Montgomery County Council. The County Council has the final say on what gets designated historic. When the County Council includes a property in the Master Plan for Historic Preservation, all changes to the outside of the property must be reviewed by the HPC before issuing any permits. Examples of current Master Plan Historic Sites and Districts include:
- Archeological sites and mill ruins along stream valleys
- Farms, banks, and meeting houses, associated with the Quaker heritage
- Lock houses, aqueducts, mines, and quarries, boarding the Potomac River and the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) canal
- Rivers fords and encampment sites of the Civil War
- Early African American communities
- Early suburbs developed along the route of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) railroad
- Small-scale commercial blocks and gas stations from the early automobile era
- Major government complexes such as the Bethesda Naval Hospital and the National Institute of Health
- Postwar housing that shaped suburban development
The Locational Atlas and Index of Historic Sites
The Locational Atas and Index of Historic Sites is the Planning Board’s inventory document of sites that are potentially significant and should be considered further for listing in the Master Plan for Historic Preservation. The Planning Board may take action to list a site to the Atlas pending further review of its historic significance by the Council. Locational Atlas listing protects a property from demolition and substantial alterations under Chapter 24A-10 of the County Code.
About the Historic Preservation Office
The Montgomery County Planning Department’s Historic Preservation Office (HPO) identifies, protects, and explores historically significant built places throughout the county, ultimately preserving the past to enrich the future. HPO is responsible both for administering regulations around designating and maintaining historical sites and for digging into the county’s history to better inform the decision makers planning our future.
As part of Montgomery Planning, HPO constantly strives to help improve the natural and built environments of Montgomery County. The county’s historic fabric has irrevocably informed every corner of the county, from the Ag Reserve to Silver Spring, and understanding HPO’s role is a critical part of planning. Americans are aware of such public history in ways that they have not been in a generation, and HPO aims to share that history as broadly as possible.
Though the Historic Preservation Office focuses on the built environment (which distinguishes us from other historic societies), HPO also has resources for genealogy, tax credits, and more. From restoring and promoting specific sites to painting a more complete picture of the diverse people and places that shaped—and continue to shape—the modern Montgomery County, HPO helps ensure that future plans are informed by and reflected in a thorough, critical appreciation of what came before. History lives with us in the present.