Montgomery County Civic Federation | Welcome to North Woodside

By Genevieve McDowell Owen, President

Have you ever wondered “so what, exactly, is a ‘zoning text amendment’ and how might it affect me?” Or maybe you saw some posts on the neighborhood listserv about Thrive Montgomery 2050 and would like a better understanding of what it means for our community. These and other questions will be answered at a Zoom forum on February 6 at 7 pm. The NWCA Board invites all neighbors to join us for this informative 90-minute virtual neighborhood meeting.

The meeting will start with a brief, factual presentation on current county housing issues and initiatives, tailored to address specific questions submitted by you and your neighbors,* by Montgomery County Planning Board Project Manager Khalid Afzal. Then the meeting will move on to a balanced panel discussion featuring knowledgeable local folks with different perspective on the issue who will answer more neighborhood questions. Scheduled to participate are local real estate expert Liz Brent, founder of Go Brent Realty; President of the Montgomery County Civic Federation Alan Bowser; the Maryland Advocacy Manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth Jane Lyons; and longtime North Woodside resident Gus Bauman.

The link to the meeting will be posted on the listserv. Any neighborhood residents who wish to attend but don’t have access to the listserv, please contact the board’s President or Programs Coordinator.

Talbot Avenue Bridge Candlelight Vigil, on eve of the century-old bridge’s final closure before demolition.

On June 4, 2019, the Purple Line Transit Constructors closed and began demolition of the historic wood and steel Talbot Avenue Bridge. Built in 1918 from an overturned train turntable from West Virginia, the century-old Bridge was the last remaining historically-significant structure of the historically African-American community of Lyttonsville, founded in 1853 by free man of color Samuel Lytton. Originally two-lane, the Bridge served as a lifeline to Lyttonsville residents through a significant portion of the 20th Century, when Silver Spring was very starkly racially segregated and ~50 neighborhoods in Silver Spring, including North Woodside, had racially restrictive deed covenants that prohibited African Americans from owning property or living in them, except as domestic servants. In recent years, current and former Lyttonsville residents have shared visceral memories of racial bigotry they experienced in North Woodside, and how they viewed efforts by North Woodside residents to permanently close the Bridge in the 1990s as racially-motivated.

A year ago, Lyttonsville, North Woodside, and Rosemary Hills neighbors came together to organize the Talbot Avenue Bridge Centennial Celebration at which NWCA President David Cox presented a unanimously-passed NWCA Board resolution acknowledging and strongly denouncing racial bigotry in all its forms, past and present. North Woodside is the first (and only so far) neighborhood in Montgomery County—and one of only a few in the U.S.—to publicly acknowledge and denounce racist deed covenants of the past. Read the resolution in full and view its presentation.

Over the past year, neighbors connected by the Bridge have continued to collaborate, organizing a number of Bridge-related social and educational community events. At sunset on the eve of the Bridge’s closing community members gathered on the Bridge one last time for a Candlelight Vigil to mark this transition and enjoy a final moment in the historic space.

On July 5, 2019, a small crowd gathered for the much anticipated lifting of the Bridge’s steel girders. The girders are currently being stored by the County, along with other saved parts, for eventual placement along the Capitol Crescent Trail in a new County park that will be created in Lyttonsville following Purple Line construction.

For photos, videos and more info about Talbot Avenue Bridge events this past year, go to the Talbot Avenue Bridge Centennial website (click on “Events”).

Thanks to all neighbors, too numerous to list, who have contributed in one way or another to Bridge-related events this past year!

For more information about the history Talbot Avenue Bridge and racial segregation in Silver Spring, watch Silver Spring: A Sundown Suburb in the Capital’s Gateway, a presentation by public historian David Rotenstein or check out his collection of writings on the the topic.