The Mid-City Project and the changes it brought to Rockville are an on-going research project for Peerless Rockville. Watch this space for periodic articles and posts related to Urban Renewal in Rockville.
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Vanishing Streets
Vanishing Streets
1959 Street map of Rockville
Commerce Lane? Fayette Street? Perry Street? New residents of Rockville have never heard of these street names, but they were once prominent parts of downtown Rockville that vanished after Urban Renewal.
Commerce Lane ran parallel to East Montgomery Avenue. As its name implies, it was once Rockville's main business district. It was eliminated by the Rockville Mall.
Fayette Street connected Middle Lane, Commerce Lane, and East Montgomery. It took its name from Revolutionary War French hero General Marquis de Lafayette.
Perry Street became Maryland Avenue. It may have been named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, a naval hero during the War of 1812.
Bridge Street was located in the area where Americana Centre developed. It crossed over Hungerford Drive.
Cairo and Sarah Streets ceased to exist entirely. Cairo Street itself had once been called Valentine Street. The origin of these names is uncertain.
The Neighborhood on Sarah and Cairo Streets
The Neighborhood on Sarah and Cairo Streets
Peerless Rockville is often asked how the Black community was impacted by Urban Renewal. The Mid-City Project demolitions eliminated an area of Rockville that had been one of the few areas where Black residents were allowed to live: Sarah and Cairo Streets off of Middle Lane. Due to the changes in the street layout, it can be difficult to picture where Sarah and Cairo Streets would be on the modern landscape. A person standing on the current Middle Lane at the intersection of Maryland Avenue looking North would be facing the past location of these streets. By the time they walked to the Rockville Memorial Library, they would have passed the length of these short streets.
The community was located next to industrial businesses, including a lumber company and a sheet metalworks. Developed in the 1920s, the homes in this area primarily consisted of apartments and boarding houses. It was known as a place where low-income Black residents lived, typically in multi-family dwellings. There were more residences on Cairo Street, with only a few structures on Sarah Street. Most of the lots on Sarah and Cairo Street had white owners and Black residents. The industrial businesses were also white-owned.
On Middle Lane was a building belonging to a chapter of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World (IBPOEW), a national African-American fraternal order founded in 1868 after Blacks had been denied entry into the white Elks Club. Among the industrial businesses close to the area was one restaurant: Kelly's sandwich shop. Next door, on the corner of Cairo Street and Middle Lane, Toby's Pool Room and Toby's Barbers Shop offered entertainment and services to residents. The south side of Middle Lane did not have any residences or businesses; it was the back of buildings on Commerce Lane, including the segregated Milo Movie Theater.
The 1950 census identified the Cairo Street residents at that time. Occupations for men included construction workers, janitors, bootblacks, and a garbage truck driver. Most of the adult women were employed as cleaners, either in personal homes or businesses. These were all common occupations for Rockville's working-class Black residents during segregation when lack of educational opportunities and discrimination barred Blacks from higher-earning careers. The landlords who owned the buildings received compensation for the loss of their buildings; most of the Black residents were tenants who received no funds.
1960 Sanborn Insurance Map
Kelly's Sandwich Shop - Middle Lane
2023 Google Map
Congressional Airport
Congressional Airport
It is hard to believe that a shopping center on Rockville Pike was once the site of an airfield. In 1928, the Wagner heirs leased 275 acres to the Congressional School of Aeronautics for a flying school and private airport. In 1929, the Wagners converted the long-term lease to a sale, deeding 269 acres of "Lake View Farm" to Arthur Hyde, President of Congressional Airport, Inc. for $30,000. The Wagners reserved 16 acres south of the "steel airplane hangar" for commercial development. For the next 30 years, the Hyde-owned Congressional Airport flourished on this site. It was the only private airfield in the County, the site of flying demonstrations and races, and later the home field of the Civil Air Patrol. The main hangar was located on the land (now Congressional South) retained by the Hyde family after the construction of the shopping center. The original hangar was leased for a roller skating rink from 1956 until 1983 and was demolished in 1984.
Peerless Rockville / Art Hyde Collection
Peerless Rockville / Art Hyde Collection
Peerless Rockville / Art Hyde Collection
Peerless Rockville / Art Hyde Collection
Congressional Plaza
Congressional Plaza
Congressional Plaza, which opened in 1959, was one of the first retail developments of its size and kind in Montgomery County (Silver Spring was built in the 1930s and Wheaton Plaza •is contemporary to Congressional) and the first homogenous retail area built as an alternative to the traditional downtown commercial center in Rockville.
Parking was a problem from the start. "Parking for 4000 cars" was a pre-construction selling feature on the Congressional Shopping City stationary, but the parking was predicated on undersized spaces and access lanes. Larger parking spaces resulted in only 1,600 available spaces in front and rear. More land was later purchased and parking was redesigned.
Peerless Rockville / Roy Perry Collection
Peerless Rockville / Roy Perry Collection
Peerless Rockville / Roy Perry Collection
Peerless Rockville / Roy Perry Collection
North Washington Street
North Washington Street
Some parts adjacent to downtown Rockville were not part of the Urban Renewal project, but felt the impact. These areas changed with the addition of new strip malls which replaced familiar small businesses. N. Washington Street was home to many Black owned businesses and popular gathering places. Beginning in the 1960s and continuing through the 1970s familiar institutions such as the Galilean Fisherman's Hall and Mr. Ts on the Pike began to disappear.
Galilean Fisherman's Hall, Clarence Israel's House, Mr. Ts and the Metropolitan Bank Building April 1968 (photo by Jack Sullivan )
Approximate location today (October 2024)
Hickman's Cab (corner of Wood Lane and North Washington St.) April 1968 (photo by Jack Sullivan )
Corner Today (October 2024)
The Beginning of the Project
The Beginning of the Project
Demolition and Rebuilding
On May 13, 1963 The Washington Post published this article showing a picture of Rockville Mayor Frank A. Ecker throwing a stone at the first buildings to be demolished at the start of the $2.5 Million "downtown rehabilitation project". Located at 332 E. Montgomery Ave the building had been the offices of the Bogley Real Estate Company.
After Ecker threw the stone, the work of demolition was taken over by the bulldozers. The renewal project eventually encompassed 46.9 acres. At the time of the article it was reported that "three-fourths of the cost would be borne by the Federal Government".
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