This is a great one. We finally dug up a few good maps of the surrounding area, outside the District line. This shows Bethesda and a chunk of Montgomery County (why is it named Montgomery County?). Click on it for a larger map.

Map of Bethesda District in 1878

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Ah, kids will be kids. Even your grandparents and great-grandparents were kids once, and they too got themselves into trouble. So don’t feel so bad about what you did in high school or college.

26 Grafton St. in Chevy Chase – August 19th, 1923 (Washington Post)

The evidence is in this article from the Washington Post on July 13th, 1929. Throwing a party while your parents are out of town is a tactic that is generations old. Read about this flapper-era “whoopee” party at 26 Grafton St. (built in 1918 and $1 million according to Zillow — sweet house).

Twenty-nine members of the younger set early yesterday morning were taken to the Bethesda substation of the Montgomery County Police when a “whoopee” party at the home of Maj. R. T. Morris, 26 Grafton street, Chevy Chase, Md., became too boisterous for the staid old Chevy Chase neighborhood. The party was held in the absence of the major and his wife by their son and daughter, David Morris, 19 years old, and Marjorie Morris, 21, to celebrate the birthday of Marjorie Morris.

Maj. and Mrs. Morris have been away since last Wednesday when they started on a trip which was planned for the major’s health. Since then the Bethesda substation has been besieged by neighbors who declare that the parties in the house have been disturbing their slumbers. Fortunately for the flaming youths at the party, the policeman arrived in most instances to investigate after the racket had subsided.

Thursday night shortly before midnight, the police again were told that the peace of the neighborhood was being rudely shattered by the youngsters making “whoopee.” Led by Sergt. Leroy Rodgers, County Policeman Watkins, Darby, McAuliffe, Gaither and Dosh descended upon the house and found, according to the report made to police headquarters, a boisterous gang of youngsters in the middle of a pajama party.

The police were considerate and waited until the young folk had donned more suitable clothing before they took them to the substation. David Morris and Marjorie Morris were charged with “running a disorderly house,” and were released on bond of $200 each by Justice of the Peace William Burrows, of Rockville. Hearings were set for Tuesday.

One of the guests was charged with being disorderly and collateral of $7.50 demanded for his appearance in Rockville Police Court. He gave the name of Robert Thomas, 21, 2011 Columbia road northwest. Police say he was on the party, but the Morrises claim that they id not know him although they admit that he might have been there.

The young people yesterday declared that the party was intended to be a quiet masquerade affair at which a select group of their friends was to be present. Some of the friends arrived with friends of their own and all through the evening other young people that they knew or had met dropped in and joined the party, they said.

The party finally because of such proportions that they were not sure of just how many were present, and the merriment waxed boisterous. The long-suffering neighbors then called the police, and they party moved from the fashionable home of the Morrises to the police substation, where the merriment wasn’t so eloquent.

According to the young Morrises, the party had grown to such proportions that they had called a conference on the upstairs floor to consider ways and means of giving some of their guests “the gate.”

Just as they went into a huddle over the situation, the police swooped down on the house and solved the problem for them.

Miss Marjorie Morris achieved some publicity November 17, when she eloped to Rockville with Frederick Stanley Nishwitz, 3801 Fulton street northwest, wealthy tire distributor of Washington, as the result of a football game bet.

The marriage was subsequently annulled in the District Supreme Court when the bridegroom declared that he had raised his age enough to pass muster at the license clerk’s office in Rockville.

Amazing story, and this young lady Marjorie sounds like a little bit of a wild one. We need to dig a little more into her story and see what else we can find.

The father of the family, Maj. Roy T. Morris, was a physician in the U.S. Army, originally from Ohio and 51 years old in 1929. His wife Helen was 50 years old and originally from Maryland. Their Chevy Chase home was owned at the time and valued at $18,000 according to the 1930 U.S. Census.

Maj. Roy Morris household in the 1930 U.S. Census

Take a look at the house and the block today on Google Street View.

I dug up another article which mentioned Marjorie and her seemingly colorful personality. This one is from December 9th, 1928, appropriately titled “Make Mischief at the Strand.”

Strand Theater advertisement from 1927 (Washington Post)

Much mischief is being made at the Strand Theater this week by the “Mischief Makers,” one of the live wire burlesque productions on the mutual circuit.

Harold Raymond, producer of this innovation, enjoys a reputation second to none for honest endeavor. In “Mishcief [sic] Makers” the company contains the names of a host of prominent players in various lines of comedy. Among the principals are Bob Startzman, Ruth Price, Bobbie Eckard, Marjorie Morris, Billy Lee, Arthur Mallon and George F. Reynolds.

The Strand Theater was located at 9th and D St., right next to the current FBI building.

Strand Theatre in 1952

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The post Cops Bust Up “Whoopee” Party in Chevy Chase (1929) appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

A familiar site on 495 (Maryland SHA)

Love it. Hate it. It has some of the most confusing terminology for out-of-towners. Inner loop of what? Outer loop? But there’s only one Beltway. Wait, I’m on 495, but also 95, and that’s 295? That’s not confusing.

Super GoDC reader, DrCapsFan (if we make t-shirts, he might get the first) suggested doing a little research into the Capital Beltway. This one will likely be a challenge, but I’m sure some interesting history is laying dormant. So, thanks for the suggestion and let’s get down to it.

In 1919, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia were pushing Congress to pass a bill and consolidate the Civil War forts around the city into a “Fort Circle” system of parks. The bill failed to pass both houses of Congress.

A similar bill passed in the 1925, authorizing the purchase of the now privately owned forts around the city. Land was beginning to be acquired and the first reference I find to any ring road or circumferential highway in the newspapers is in the Baltimore Sun on March 30th, 1930. A small mention of it came up in an article about the ambitious park plans of the nation’s capital.

One of the most ambitious plans for park improvement within the District is the proposed acquisition of all of the twenty-four remaining Civil War forts which circle the city … Fourteen of the twenty-four already have been bought and when funds are available to purchase the rest a parked drive will be constructed joining them all. This park drive would extend in a circle around the city, but well within the District line, and in addition to providing a pleasure route for motorists, would be a highly practical circumfierential highway counted upon to facilitate the movement of traffic along the rim of the district.

Decades of bureaucracy, politics and World War II slowed the acquisition of the property and by the 1960s, President Kennedy was pushing Congress to seal the deal and build Fort Circle Drive. By this point, urban development in Washington had outgrown the circle of forts and surface streets had reached them. The planned road had little use at that point and the grand drive to link the forts was dropped.

The genesis of urban circumferential highways was in the 1930s and evolved through the explosion of automobile transportation in 1950s, coinciding with Eisenhower’s push for an interstate highway system. Postwar America was hungry for their piece of the American dream, and that included a house in the suburbs and a car. America needed roads, and a lot of them.

Senator Spessard Holland (Wikipedia)

The next major mention of it in the Washington Post is March 8th, 1951. The Senate Public Works Committee was asking for a proposed road to encircle the city and the Public Roads Bureau pulled together an initial map showing where the road could be built. The road would be a limited-access, high-speed loop to facilitate the travel of dispersed government employees throughout the metropolitan area as the city population expanded into the suburbs.

A bill was proposed and debated on the Senate floor in April of 1951 with the goal of moving several Federal agencies outside of the District to Maryland and Virginia. The size of government had ballooned dramatically as a result of World War II and had outgrown the buildings in D.C. Senator Spessard L. Holland of Florida was the loudest advocate, claiming it would solve space shortages, beautify the city (by razing the temporary World War II buildings on the Mall) and reduce the attractiveness of Washington as an enemy target (wow, what foresight … and still relevant) by dispersing agencies and help solve the region’s traffic problems by building a high-speed circumferential highway in an “arc about 11 air miles from the White House zero mark.”

There was a slight sense of urgency to get started on an outer ring road as the suburbs were starting to accelerate their development. And the more development, the further out the road would have to go due to the cost of acquiring the right-of-way.

In December of 1952, the Washington Post published the recently disclosed plan of the Regional Highway Planning Committee for Metropolitan Washington. The proposal included a new four-lane ring road encircling the nation’s capital as well as significant improvements to the major thoroughfares into the District. The total price tag was whopping $328 million for this giant public works proposal.

Included in the proposal was the $26,200,000 Rock Creek Parkway. Who doesn’t love that road? It’s almost like you’re not in a city when you’re on it.

Proposed greater Washington circumferential road in 1952 (Washington Post)

It’s a little difficult to compare, but the proposed route is a close match to the actual route below (thanks Google Maps).

Current Capital Beltway (Google Maps)

When you build a road, the goal is obviously to efficiently use tax-payer money. And to keep land costs down, the Maryland State Roads authorities attempted to route the highway through as little developed land as possible.

It was possible to stick to this plan through Prince George’s County. In Montgomery County, it was a different story. Bethesda and the surrounding areas were quite developed with affluent subdivisions and large homes. Carving a path through expensive property was not something that was financially or politically possible.

Countless properties had been acquired in Prince George’s county, but this was going to be a fight. The only way to complete the proposed highway was to cut a three-mile pass through federally owned Rock Creek Park (probably political suicide today).

As with any project on this scale, there were some major opponents … especially to that Rock Creek Park move. This was one of the most controversial decisions and a number of opponents took their grievances to court in trying to block NCPC or at least reroute the planned highway.

Labeling the opposition as anything less than vitriolic would be an understatement. Below is a letter to the editor from the Washington Post in May of that year.

Your paper tells us of the determination of the Maryland State Roads Commission to wade into Rock Creek Park with its highway program in spite of protests. So, score another point in favor of arrogant defiance by public officials in the war against law, orderly procedure and the public interest.

The Maryland State Roads authorities defied not only the thousands of friends of Rock Creek Park but the congress, the Department of the Interior, the Courts of the District and Maryland, and the law itself. “Here we go,” they seemed to say, “try and stop us.”

The residents of Parkwood Drive in Bethesda were vehemently against the Rock Creek plan and 21 neighbors unified behind a petition to halt development in the park. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brownell were two major opponents and residents of Parkwood. They filed suit to stop development of the highway in April 1955, but they were unsuccessful in stopping development.

The alternative to the Rock Creek segment was to route the highway a mile to the north, which would have been better from a traffic engineering perspective, but as stated before, a political impossibility due to the affluent neighborhood it would have to cut through. The path of least resistance was unfortunately through Rock Creek Park.

On September 28th, 1955, the Federal Government gave the final blessing to being the city’s new “Belt Highway.” This improvement was part of Eisenhower’s push for a nation-wide 40,000-mile network of interstate highways.

Controversial Capital Beltway route through Rock Creek Park

The battle over this segment of the highway was one of the most contentious debates during the entire project.

Nine years after final approval, on August 17th, 1964, the full ring road was complete and dubbed the Capital Beltway (segments of the road had been opening since 1957). A number of alternate names were proposed and considered, all of which were required to easily fit on reasonably sized road signs. Proposals considered were “Colonial Beltway” and “Colonial Parkway.” The Maryland side settled on the name “Capitol Beltway” and the Virginia side agreed to the name “Capital Ring,” but state officials wanted a name that would honor favorite sons George Washington or George Mason. In the interest of uniformity, Virginia adopted “Capitol Beltway” as the official name.

But wait, that’s not the end of it. Officials and citizens were complaining that “capitol” referred only to the building housing Congress and “capital” referred to the entire city, so it would be more accurate nomenclature using the latter. On June 22nd, 1960, the highway was officially renamed the “Capital Beltway” by both Maryland and Virginia and the name has remained since then.

Imagine if you were stuck in traffic on the Colonial Beltway or the Capital Ring instead. Ya, I don’t think that would change anything. It would still be a soul-sucking experience.

On April 2, 1964, Administrator Rex Whitton participates in the dedication of I-495, the Capital Beltway from U.S. 1 to the Shirley Highway-the last segment in Virginia.

In Maryland, the final link in I-495, the Capital Beltway, was opened after ceremonies on August 17, 1964. Ribbon cutters (l. to r) are Rex Whitton, Governor J. Millard Tawes, and Chairman John B. Funk of the Maryland State Roads Commission.

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Yosef Alon and family. Photo: Courtesy of Alon family

Late at night on July 1st, 1973, Colonel Yosef Alon and his wife, Devora, returned from an Israeli embassy party. They pulled into the driveway of their Bethesda, MD (5519 Trent St.) and exited the vehicle. Alon stopped for a second to grab his jacket from the back seat. Immediately after, a white sedan appeared and several shots were fired, five of which hit Yosef. He was dead, murder in his driveway in the presence of his wife. The normally peaceful, suburban community of Bethesda was rocked by a brazen act of terrorism in their backyard.

Alon was one of the first pilots in the Israeli Air Force, having been commissioned in 1951, and earlier that year he made a special trip back to Jerusalem to fly an F-4 fighter plane with his squadron in celebration of Israel’s 25th anniversary. He had been stationed in Washington for the last three years as the Israeli air and naval attaché, responsible for determining what military hardware was to be procured by his government.

Colonel Alon served during the 1956 Sinai campaign and was a commander of an air force base in the south of Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. His prominence in the Israeli Air Force was theorized to be the motive for the murder, and the suspected organization was Black September (the group responsible for the kidnap and murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972).

Something I noticed in one of the Post’s articles was this excerpt below:

Within an hour after a gunman’s bullets cut down Israeli Col. Yosef Alon in his darkened driveway early Sunday, federal agencies began putting into effect for the first time a nationwide surveillance procedure worked out last year to determine the whereabouts of potential Arab terrorists or terrorist sympathizers.

The procedure was one of two plans formulated late last year by a Cabinet Committee on Terrorism headed by Secretary of State William P. Rogers. It was designed, according to sources familiar with the plans, as a response to terrorist acts of international stature committed in the U.S.

This is notable because it was the first time the nationwide surveillance procedure was put in place, given the world we live in today. I think a lot of the younger folks reading this probably don’t know, but acts of terrorism were rampant in the 1970s. There were numerous cases of hijacked airliners (domestic and international), hostage situations in Washington, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, embassy bombings and murdered diplomats.

After a year-long investigation, all leads were exhausted and no charges were filed. The local police and the FBI were unable to gather enough evidence to make a case, so it was dropped that year.

It remains unsolved to this day.

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