Embedded Files
This 30” red-and-white felt pennant celebrated the opening of four new Metro Red Line stations in Montgomery County on December 15, 1984. The pennant, a form connoting victory, is printed with the Metro logo, “Red Line” in a circle, and the text: “Montgomery County Welcomes Metro Red Line/ December 15, 1984/White Flint Rockville Twinbrook Shady Grove.”
Montgomery County is home to stations on both ends of the U-shaped Red Line. The first station in Montgomery County, at Silver Spring on the eastern arm of the line, opened in 1978. In 1984, the western arm was extended into the county in two increments, with stations from Friendship Heights (straddling the District Line) to Grosvenor opening on August 25th, and the final four stations from White Flint to Shady Grove opening on December 15th. The eastern arm was eventually extended as well, with Forest Glen and Wheaton opening in 1990 and Glenmont in 1998.
Metro’s 1984 arrival was seen as a boon for Montgomery County’s commuters and shoppers, and county and municipal governments took the opportunity to revitalize development, improve roads and infrastructure, and entice new suburban residents to the area. There was also some residential and commercial displacement attendant on station construction. Nonetheless, opening day was a time for celebration with a live radio broadcast from White Flint Mall and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Rockville station. Giveaways included balloons, cardboard train conductor hats, and red felt pennants, which, judging from photos in the Washington Post, were particularly popular among the children on hand. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority estimated that 26,500 people tested out the four new stations on opening day.
Notice that the Red Line stops at the bottom of the pennant are in wrong order.
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