The Germantown Historical Society Capital Campaign

The Germantown Historical Society is raising funds to create a Museum of Banking History in the 1922 Historic Bank Building that it owns. The funds will be used to provide the required cash match for grants. We have already been awarded a grant from the Maryland Historic Trust for the first stage of our strategic plan – the waterproofing of the building which has been suffering water damage from surface drainage from the commuter parking lot constructed by the County around the building. This stage is complete except for the replacing of the handicap ramp.

The second stage of our Strategic Plan for doing this is to create a design for the museum. We have been awarded a non-matching grant from the Maryland Historical Society to hire a professional museum designer to complete this stage.

When the design is complete we will be looking for a grant to restore for the third stage, the interior, repair the water damage and create the museum. Since this will most likely be a matching grant we need to raise money for the match. The new Museum of Banking History will be a teaching museum, telling the story of how currency evolved to replace the barter system; when interest began to be charged on loans and how it has been applied over the years, how and why savings and loans institutions and banks came into being, the history of banking in America, investment banking, stocks and bonds, credit cards, and predatory lending. It will tell about the Great Depression, its causes and recovery programs. If you want to learn more about the history and importance of the building, navigate to the Did You Know? page.

There will be hands-on activities such as printing money with a hand-cranked rotary printer, manual adding machines from the abacus to electronic calculators, and devices for figuring annual interest accumulation. This will be a great asset to the community serving guests from school groups to bank staff to individuals wanting to learn more about money and banking. It will be the only Museum of Banking History in Maryland, so will have a wide range of visitors.

We hope that you will consider donating to this campaign. All donations are tax deductible and all donors of $500 or more will be recognized on a plaque on the wall of the completed museum. You can e-mail us at: germantownmdhistory@gmail.com, or leave a message at 301-972-2707.

 

Save the Cider Barrel

Laura Richman has completed most of the needed work – electricity installed, heating and air conditioning system in place and working, indoor sink in place, refrigeration unit on the way. The work crew will be painting the inside and outside of the building with paint donated by the Regal Paint Center in the coming weeks.

She hopes to open the Cider Barrel market soon as the state lifts the quarantine. This will be a weekend market serving customers on the outside only and selling local organic produce, cider and kettle corn. Parking is located in front of the Elms office directly above the Cider Barrel, with a handicap ramp leading down to the market. Only workers will be allowed inside the building. Laura is looking for volunteers. Please contact germantownmdhistory@gmail.com to volunteer.

For up-to-date information go to the Cider Barrel Facebook Page

The Cider Barrel has long been an icon for Germantown. It was built in the 1920s to sell apple cider from the Ballincara Orchard in Germantown and took advantage the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting the sale of alcohol by advertising its cider as being “clear and sweet.” People came from as far away as Washington to buy this cider. As an example of roadside novelty architecture there is not anything like it anywhere. It was made a County historic site in 1989. For more information on the history of the Cider Barrel see the Newsletter.

 

Cemeteries

In 2018 the GHS was involved in a county-wide project: “Montgomery County Cemetery Inventory Revisited.” This was a project to re-visit the survey of cemeteries done in 2009 in preparation for the inventory being placed under the jurisdiction of the County Historic Preservation staff. The county was marked out in grids and trained volunteers were assigned a grid to resurvey the known cemeteries and to try to discover new cemeteries within their grid. We all worked in pairs for safety. Germantown, because of its shape, encompassed two grids.

Now, GHS is forming a committee to oversee the cemeteries in Germantown. We cannot actually go out and visit the cemeteries at this time because of the current restrictions on travel. However, we will still be setting up the Committee, choosing cemeteries to oversee, and learning all that we can about cemetery regulations, our cemeteries and the people buried there in preparation for when restrictions are lifted.

If you would like to be a member of the Cemetery Committee email Susan Soderberg, GHS President, at germantownmdhistory@gmail.com. I will send you a map and a description of the cemeteries under our jurisdiction. You will then list up to 3 cemeteries that you would like to oversee.

Your responsibility will be to visit the cemetery at least once a month, pick up any trash, take photos and report back to the chair of the Committee. We prefer that you visit the cemeteries in pairs and that both of you be GHS members to be covered by our insurance. If the cemetery is in need of a major clean-up we will first contact the property owner and report to the Coalition to Protect Maryland Burial Sites. We may, with owner’s permission, schedule a volunteer clean-up day. We do not repair tombstones as this requires a professional.

 

Oral History Projects

The Germantown Historical Society is conducting an oral histories of local residents on an on-going basis. The oral histories will be transcribed and will include photographs and biographies of those interviewed. The interviews will be done by non-professionals who will be trained by professional interviewers. Copies of the finished product will be given to the Germantown Library, the Montgomery County Historical Society, and local schools.

If you know of someone we should interview, or are interested in becoming a part of this project please call 301-972-2707 and leave your name, phone number, and e-mail.

Black Rock Log House

The Black Rock Log House on Black Rock Road is on the Locational Atlas (see “Historic Preservation Process” following) and needs to be placed on the Montgomery County Master Plan for Historic Preservation. It is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications as part of a larger property that contains radio towers. There is a person who would like to have this log house to fix up and live in. If we can place the house on the Master Plan perhaps the owner will then want to donate the property to a non-profit organization, like Montgomery Preservation or the GHS, instead of restoring the house themselves.

The GHS is working on an a Maryland Historical Trust application that will enable the property to be considered for placement on the Master Plan. The property was part of the estate that also included Black Rock Mill, until the early 20th century. The log house was probably built between 1880 and 1895, either by Nicholas Offutt Sr. or his son Nicholas with logs sawn at the Black Rock Mill. It is one of the few two-story log houses remaining in Montgomery County on the original site.

It is a wonderful example, readily visible from the road, of the use of logs sawn at the nearby Black Rock Mill which has been partially restored and signed by Montgomery County for the interpretation of historic mills.