Editing Silver Spring, Maryland (section)

===20th century===
[[File:Silver Spring Armory.jpg|thumb|The Silver Spring Armory, constructed in 1917 by [[E. Brooke Lee]]]]
[[File:Silver Theater, Silver Spring, Maryland (1979).jpg|thumb|upright|Silver Spring in 1979]]
In the early 20th century, E. Brooke Lee and his brother, [[Blair Lee I]], founded the Lee Development Company, whose Colesville Road office building remains a downtown fixture. Dale Drive, a winding roadway, was built to provide vehicular access to much of the family's substantial real estate holdings. Suburban development continued in 1922 when Woodside Development Corporation created Woodside Park, a neighborhood of {{convert|1|acre|sqm|adj=on}} plot home sites built on the former Noyes estate in 1923.<ref>{{cite news |title=Work Being Pushed at Woodside Park |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 15, 1923 |page=46 |id={{ProQuest|149333195}}}}</ref> In 1924, Washington trolley service on [[Georgia Avenue]] (present-day [[Maryland Route 97]]) across B&O's Metropolitan Branch was suspended so that an underpass could be built. The underpass was completed two years later, but trolley service never resumed. It would be rebuilt again in 1948 with additional lanes for automobile traffic, opening the areas to the north for readily accessible suburban development.

Takoma-Silver Spring High School, built in 1924, was the first high school for Silver Spring. The community's rapid growth led to the need for a larger school. In 1935, when a new high school building was erected at Wayne Avenue and Sligo Creek Parkway, the school was renamed [[Montgomery Blair High School]]. In 1998, the school was moved again, to a new, larger facility at the corner of Colesville Road ([[U.S. Route 29 in Maryland|U.S. Route 29]]) and University Boulevard ([[Maryland Route 193]]). The former Blair building became a combined middle school and elementary school, housing Silver Spring International Middle School and Sligo Creek Elementary School.

The Silver Spring Shopping Center, built by developer Albert Small<ref name="JewWashRealBoom">{{cite web |url=http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibition/real-estate-boom |title=Jewish Washington: Scrapbook of an American Community &#124; Real Estate Boom |website=[[Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum|Jhsgw.org]] |access-date=May 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604111610/http://www.jhsgw.org/exhibitions/online/jewishwashington/exhibition/real-estate-boom |archive-date=June 4, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[AFI Silver|Silver Theatre]], designed by theater architect [[John Eberson]], were completed in 1938<ref>{{cite news |title=Silver Spring Shopping Center Opens Today: Comprises 19 Stores, Gas Station, Movie |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 27, 1938 |page=SS1 |id={{ProQuest|151050489}}}}</ref> at the request of developer [[William Alexander Julian]]. The Silver Spring Shopping Center was one of the nation's first retail spaces with a street-front parking lot, defying conventional wisdom that merchandise should be in windows closest to the street so that people could see it. The shopping center was purchased in 1944 by real estate developer [[Sam Eig]], who helped attract large retailers to the city.<ref name="Montgomery">{{cite web |url=http://www.montgomeryhistory.org/node/245 |title=Immigration and Success &#124; Montgomery County Historical Society Maryland |access-date=October 18, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022062728/http://www.montgomeryhistory.org/node/245 |archive-date=October 22, 2014}}</ref>

Before the 1950s, Silver Spring was known as a [[sundown town]], in part because of influential land owners. The North Washington Real Estate Company designed 63 acres to be [[Housing segregation in the United States|white-only]], [[Racial covenant|written in its deeds]] to prevent the sale of land to anyone else. The [[Fair Housing Act of 1968|Fair Housing Act]] outlawed this practice in 1968, almost two decades after [[Shelley v. Kraemer|''Shelley v. Kramer'']] made racial covenants unenforceable.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Downtown Silver Spring |url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/43fe10da626349a69ce077ffa9911bd2 |access-date=2020-08-23 |website=ArcGIS StoryMaps |date=December 13, 2019 |language=en |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124152914/https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/43fe10da626349a69ce077ffa9911bd2 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rotenstein |first=David |date=2018-09-24 |title=Racial restrictive covenants renounced at celebration |url=https://blog.historian4hire.net/2018/09/24/racial-restrictive-covenants-renounced/ |access-date=2020-08-23 |website=History Sidebar |language=en-US |archive-date=August 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817134105/https://blog.historian4hire.net/2018/09/24/racial-restrictive-covenants-renounced/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Editorial Board |date=2017-06-23 |title=Protesting Invisibility in Silver Spring, Maryland |url=https://activisthistory.com/2017/06/23/protesting-invisibility-in-silver-spring-maryland/ |access-date=2020-08-23 |website=The Activist History Review |language=en |archive-date=September 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924012757/https://activisthistory.com/2017/06/23/protesting-invisibility-in-silver-spring-maryland/ |url-status=live}}</ref> A 1939 deed for a property owned by Rozier J. Beech in the Sixteenth Street Village subdivision of Silver Spring said, "No negro, or any person or persons of whose blood or extraction or to any person of the semitic race whose blood or origin of racial description will be deemed to include Armenians, Jews, Hebrews, Persians, Syrians, Greeks and Turks, shall use or occupy any building or any lot, except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domiciled with an owner or tenant."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mcplanning.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0d26456118d34a14b2d27aec8d6f2b1a |title=Sixteenth Street Village |publisher=[[Montgomery Planning]] |accessdate=2024-06-12 |archive-date=February 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208204158/https://mcplanning.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0d26456118d34a14b2d27aec8d6f2b1a |url-status=live }}</ref> In practice, covenants excluding "Semitic races" were primarily used to discriminate against Jews, as Montgomery County did not have significant Armenian, Greek, Iranian, or Turkish populations at the time.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Mapping-Segregation-Staff-Report-Attachment-A.pdf |title=Attachment A |publisher=[[Montgomery Planning]] |accessdate=2024-06-14 |archive-date=March 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240316164520/https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Mapping-Segregation-Staff-Report-Attachment-A.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

In all, housing in more than 10 square miles of greater Silver Spring was blocked off to Blacks, Jews, Armenians, Persians, Turks, and Greeks, who were considered non-white at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Woldu |first1=Marta Woldu |last2=Ramirez |first2=Christopher |date=2019-12-13 |title=Downtown Silver Spring: Inclusivity Examined Since 1940 |url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/43fe10da626349a69ce077ffa9911bd2 |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=ArcGIS StoryMaps |language=en |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124152914/https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/43fe10da626349a69ce077ffa9911bd2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By the 1950s, Silver Spring was the second-busiest retail market between [[Baltimore]] and [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]; major retailers included the [[Hecht Company]], [[J.C. Penney]], and [[Sears, Roebuck and Company]]. In 1954, the 1842 Blair mansion "Silver Spring" was razed and replaced with the Blair Station post office. 1960 saw the opening of Wheaton Plaza, later called [[Westfield Wheaton]], a shopping center several miles north of downtown Silver Spring. It captured much of the town's business, and the downtown area began a long period of decline.

On December 19, 1961, a {{convert|2|mi|km|spell=in|adj=on}} segment of the [[Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)|Capital Beltway (I-495)]] was opened to traffic between [[Maryland Route 97|Georgia Avenue (MD 97)]] and [[Maryland Route 193|University Boulevard East (MD 193)]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Tawes Vows Study of Beltway Impact at Road's Opening: Study to Dispel Myth |first=Wendell P. |last=Bradley |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 20, 1961 |page=C1 |id={{ProQuest|141415305}}}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web |title=Historic Overview: Capital Beltway |publisher=Eastern Roads (Steve Anderson) |date=March 16, 2008 |url=http://www.dcroads.net/roads/capital-beltway/ |access-date=October 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081004175729/http://www.dcroads.net/roads/capital-beltway/ |archive-date=October 4, 2008 |url-status=live}}
</ref> On August 17, 1964, the final segment of the {{convert|64|mi|km|adj=on}} Beltway was opened to traffic,<ref>
{{cite web |title=Capital Beltway History |publisher=Scott M. Kozel |date=November 20, 2007 |url=http://www.capital-beltway.com/Capital-Beltway-History.html |access-date=October 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208035616/http://www.capital-beltway.com/Capital-Beltway-History.html |archive-date=December 8, 2008 |url-status=live}}
</ref> and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held near the New Hampshire Avenue interchange, with a speech by [[J. Millard Tawes|Gov. J. Millard Tawes]],<ref>
{{cite web |title=Executive Records, Governor J. Millard Tawes, 1959–1967 |publisher=Maryland State Archives |date=August 17, 1964 |url=http://aomol.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000082/html/am82b--582.html |access-date=October 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723015942/http://aomol.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000082/html/am82b--582.html |archive-date=July 23, 2011 |url-status=live}}
</ref> who called it a "road of opportunity" for Maryland and the nation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Throng Attends Capital Beltway's Grand Opening |first=Mike |last=Causey |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 18, 1964 |page=A1 |id={{ProQuest|142191843}}}}</ref>

[[Washington Metro]] rail service into Washington, D.C., helped breathe new life into the region starting with the 1978 opening of [[Silver Spring station]]. The Metro [[Red Line (Washington Metro)|Red Line]] followed the right-of-way of the [[B&O Metropolitan Branch]], with the Metro tracks centered between the B&O's eastbound and westbound mains. The Red Line heads south to downtown DC from Silver Spring, running at grade before descending into [[Union Station (WMATA station)|Union Station]]. By the mid-1990s, the Red Line continued north from the downtown Silver Spring core, entering a tunnel just past the Silver Spring station and running underground to three more stations: [[Forest Glen station|Forest Glen]], [[Wheaton (Washington Metro)|Wheaton]], and [[Glenmont (Washington Metro)|Glenmont]].

Nevertheless, Silver Spring's downtown continued to decline in the 1980s. The [[Hecht Company]] closed its downtown location in 1987 and moved to Wheaton Plaza while forbidding another department store to rent its old spot. [[City Place Mall|City Place]], a multi-level mall, was established in the old Hecht Company building in 1992, but it had difficulty attracting quality anchor stores and gained a reputation as a budget mall. In the mid-1990s, developers considered building a mega-mall and entertainment complex called the American Dream, similar to the [[Mall of America]], in downtown Silver Spring, but were unable to secure funding. A bright spot for the city in the late 1980s and early 1990s was the [[National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration]] (NOAA) consolidating its headquarters to four new high-rise office buildings near the Silver Spring Metro station.

A February 16, 1996, [[1996 Maryland train collision|train collision]] on the Silver Spring section of the Metropolitan line left 11 people dead. A [[MARC Train|MARC]] commuter train bound for [[Washington Union Station]] during the Friday evening [[rush hour]] collided with the [[Amtrak]] ''[[Capitol Limited (Amtrak train)|Capitol Limited]]'' train and erupted in flames on a snow-swept stretch of track.

The [[Maryland State Highway Administration]] started studies of improvements to the [[Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)|Capital Beltway]] in 1993,<ref>
{{cite web |title=State officials study HOV lanes for Capital Beltway |work=The Gazette |date=September 24, 1997 |url=http://www.gazette.net/gazette_archive/1997/199739/montgomerycty/county/a61704-1.html |access-date=October 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522185528/http://www.gazette.net/gazette_archive/1997/199739/montgomerycty/county/a61704-1.html |archive-date=May 22, 2011 |url-status=live}}
</ref> and have continued, off and on, examining a number of alternatives since then, including [[High-occupancy vehicle lane|HOV lanes]] and [[lanes|high-occupancy toll lanes]].