Town History
The
Town of Chevy Chase is a self-governing municipality located in
Montgomery County, Maryland. The incorporated boundaries of the Town
extend to East-West Highway on the north, Connecticut Avenue on the
east, Bradley Lane on the south and one block east of Wisconsin Avenue
on the west. Today, there are 1,032 homes and approximately 3,000
residents in the Town.
In the 1890s, the Chevy Chase Land
Company was formed and set the stage for the development of Chevy Chase
in the 20th Century. The Company was founded by two gentlemen, Francis
G. Newlands and William M. Stewart, who had made their fortunes in the
gold and silver mines of the west. After purchasing thousands of acres
of land in the area just north of Washington D.C., the Company began a
massive development project which included extending Connecticut Avenue
north into Maryland, building a $1.5 million electric railway,
installing a water and sewer system, and building roads and other
infrastructure. Newlands' key early purchase was Chevy Chase, a 305-acre
plot of land straddling the line between Maryland and the District of
Columbia. The name, which he subsequently adopted for the entire new
subdivision, can be traced to the larger tract of land called "Cheivy
Chace" that was patented to Colonel Joseph Belt from Lord Baltimore on
July 10, 1725. It has historic associations to a 1388 battle between
Lord Percy of England and Earl Douglas of Scotland. At issue in this
"chevauchee" (a Scottish word describing a border raid) were hunting
grounds or a "chace" in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland and
Otterburn.
Real development in the Town did not come until after World War I, as
the use of the automobile finally began to make living outside of the
District a viable option. It was during this boom that the building lots
in Chevy Chase Section IV began to be filled.
Section IV was incorporated as a municipality in 1918. The Enabling
Acts of Section IV (later renamed the Town) gave the Town government the
legal authority to govern to preserve and protect the general plan of
development first envisioned and specified by the Chevy Chase Land
Company. The members of the first government levied taxes to provide
services to the residents.
The decade of the 1920s saw booming growth in Chevy Chase. As the
lots were improved and the population increased, additional
infrastructure was needed. The 1930s ushered in a decade of
improvements, which included sidewalk and street repair, macadam
application to streets, installation of storm sewer catch basins, and
implementation of a tree-planting program in the public spaces.
Many of the Town's government and service provision functions have
remained the same since this time. The Town is responsible for sidewalk
and street repair, retains a tree-planting program, is responsible for
trash collection and numerous other services. The Town has, however,
grown in the interim by annexing other sections of the Chevy Chase
development. After the annexation of Sections 8, 8A and 8B in 1976, the
sections were renamed Town of Chevy Chase. In the general election in
1983, the new name was officially approved.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Town witnessed incredible growth and
changes to its neighbor, the Bethesda Urban District. The Council
continues to monitor how these changes affect the quality of life in the
Town and actively seeks solutions to the problems caused by the growth.
A listing of homes in Town deemed historic follows: 4201 Bradley Lane, 4209 Bradley Lane, 6704 Connecticut Ave., 6800 Connecticut Ave., 6812 Connecticut Ave., 7200 Connecticut Ave., 7202 Connecticut Ave., 7204 Connecticut Ave., 7610 Connecticut Ave., 6709 East Avenue, 3910 East-West Hwy., 4312 Leland Street, 4500 Leland Street, 7205 Meadow Lane, 7320 Meadow Lane, 4015 Rosemary Street (Chevy Chase Elementary School), 4101 Stanford Street, 4103 Stanford Street, 4105 Stanford Street
