MD -- Germantown -- PostSecret house (13345 Copper Ridge Road):
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- Description of Pictures: PostSecret mailings all went to this house -- 13345 Copper Ridge Road in Germantown. I was listening to a TED talk about PostSecret and decided to visit the mailbox. I was surprised to see he was moving.
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- Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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- Wikipedia Description: Germantown, Maryland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland. With a population of 90,676 as of 2013 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Germantown is the third most populous place in Maryland, after the city of Baltimore, and the census-designated place of Columbia, Maryland. If Germantown were to incorporate as a city, it would become the second largest incorporated city in Maryland, after Baltimore. Germantown is located approximately 25–30 miles (40–48 km) outside of the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C., and is an important part of the Washingtonian metropolitan area.
The original plan for Germantown divided the area into a downtown and six town villages: Gunners Lake Village, Kingsview Village, Churchill Village, Middlebrook Village, Clopper's Mill Village, and Neelsville Village. The Churchill Town Sector at the corner of Maryland Route 118 and Middlebrook Road most closely resembles the downtown, or center, of Germantown, due to the location of the Upcounty Regional Services Center, the Germantown Public Library, the Black Rock Arts Center, the Regal Germantown Stadium 14, and a pedestrian shopping that features an array of restaurants. Three exits to Interstate 270 are less than one mile away, the Maryland Area Regional Commuter train is within walking distance, and the Germantown Transit Center that provides Ride On shuttle service to the Shady Grove station of the Washington Metro's Red Line.
Germantown has the assigned ZIP codes of 20874 and 20876 for delivery and 20875 for post office boxes. It is the most populous Germantown in Maryland and is the only "Germantown, Maryland" that is recognized by the United States Postal Service, although there are others: one in Anne Arundel County, one in Baltimore County, and one in Worcester County.
Etymology
In the 1830s and 1840s, the central business area was focused around the intersection of Liberty Mill Road and Clopper Road. Several German immigrants set up shop at the intersection and the town became known as "German Town", even though most residents of the town were of English or Scottish descent.
History
19th century
Early education
Germantown did not have a public school until after the end of the American Civil War. During that time, education was handled at homes. In 1868, a one-room schoolhouse was built on Maryland Route 118, near Black Rock Road, which hosted children from both Germantown and neighboring Darnestown. In 1883, a larger one-room schoolhouse was built closer to Clopper Road. Another, newer school was constructed in 1910, on what is now the site of Germantown Elementary School. This school had four rooms, with two downstairs and two upstairs, with each room housing two grade levels. After the eighth grade, the students would head via train to nearby Rockville, for further education.
American Civil War
Although it avoided much of the physical destruction that ravaged other cities in the region, the American Civil War was still a cause of resentment and division among residents of Germantown. Many Germantown residents, particularly those of German ancestry, were against slavery and had sons fighting for the Union Army. In contrast, other residents of Germantown, particularly those of English ancestry, owned slaves, and even those who weren't slave-owners had sons fighting for the Confederate Army. As a result, many people in Germantown, who were once on friendly terms with each other, made an effort not to interact with each other, such as switching churches, or frequenting a store or mill miles away from the ones they would normally do business with.
Late in the summer and fall of 1861, there were more than twenty thousand Union Army soldiers camped to the west of Germantown, in neighboring Darnestown and Poolesville. Occasionally, these soldiers would come to Germantown and frequent the stores there. In September 1862 and in June 1863, several regiments of Union Army soldiers marched north on Maryland Route 355, on their way to the Battle of Antietam, and the Battle of Gettysburg, respectively. In July 1864, General Jubal Early led his army of Confederate soldiers down Maryland Route 355 to attack the Union capital of Washington, D.C. Throughout the course of the war, Confederate raiders would often come through the Germantown area. Local farmers in the Germantown area lost horses and other livestock to both Union and Confederate armies.
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
On April 20, 1865, George Atzerodt, a co-conspirator in the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, was captured in Germantown. He was assigned by John Wilkes Booth to assassinate U.S. Vice President Andrew Johnson, but did not do it and instead fled Washington, D.C., on the night of the Lincoln assassination. He was captured at the farm of his cousin Hartman Richter, on Schaeffer Road near Clopper Road. Atzerodt was hanged on July 7, 1865, along with Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, and David Herold at Washington, D.C.'s Fort McNair. George Atzerodt had come to the town with his family from Prussia when he was about nine years old. When he was about 14 his father moved the family to Virginia, but George still had many friends and relatives in Germantown. He was living in Port Tobacco during the Civil War, and supplementing his meager income as a carriage painter by smuggling people across the Potomac River in a row boat. This clandestine occupation brought him into contact with John Surratt and John Wilkes Booth and he was drawn into a plot to kidnap President Lincoln. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth gave George Atzerodt a gun and told him that he was to kill the vice president, Andrew Johnson, which he refused to do. George panicked when he found out that Booth had shot President Lincoln and made his way to his cousin's, Hartman Richter's, house in Germantown to hide. He was discovered there by soldiers three days after the assassination and was hanged with other conspirators on July 7.
1910s
The Liberty Mill
The wooden structure of the Bowman Brothers Mill fell victim to a fire in 1914, but four years later, the owners were back in business again, selling the mill to the Liberty Milling Company, a brand new corporation. Augustus Selby was the first owner and manager of the new Liberty Mill, which opened in 1918. Electricity was brought into Liberty Mill and also served the homes and businesses nearby, making Germantown the first area in the northern portion of Montgomery County to receive electricity.
1930s
In 1935, professional baseball player Walter Perry Johnson, who played as a pitcher for the Washington Senators (now the Minnesota Twins), purchased a farm on what is now the site of Seneca Valley High School. Used as a dairy farm, Johnson lived there with his five children and his mother, as his wife died, until his death in 1946.
1940s
"Feed the Liberty Way" was used as a slogan for Liberty Mill which, with eight silos, became the second largest mill in all of Maryland, supplying flour to the United States Army during World War II. Cornmeal and animal feed were also manufactured at Liberty Mill, and a store at the mill sold specialty mixes, such as pancake and muffin mix.
1950s
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
In January 1958, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission was relocated from its location in downtown Washington, D.C. to Germantown, which was considered far enough from the city to withstand a Soviet nuclear attack. The facility now operates as an administration complex for the U.S. Department of Energy and headquarters for its Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
1960s
Early development and Master Plan
Marshall Davis owned a farm located where Interstate 270 and Germantown Road intersect today. After Interstate 270 divided his farm in two, Davis decided to sell the last of his land to the International Development Corporation for about $1,300 per acre in 1955. Fairchild-Hiller Corporation bought the land for about $4,000 per acre in 1964, and it built an industrial park on the land four years later. Harry Unglesee and his family sold their farm near Hoyles Mill Road for less than $1,000 per acre in 1959. Other farmers soon sold their land to developers and speculators as well.
The Germantown Master Plan was adopted in 1967. The plan for the 17-square-mile (44 km2) area included a dense central downtown area and less dense development surrounding it. In 1974, the Montgomery County Council approved an amended plan written by the Montgomery County Planning Board. The amended plan included a downtown area and six separate villages, each comprising smaller neighborhoods with schools, shopping areas, and public facilities. The amended plan also included the construction of a third campus for Montgomery College near the downtown area.
1970s
During the 1970s, Wernher von Braun, a German rocket scientist during World War II, worked for the aerospace company Fairchild Industries, which had offices in Germantown, as its Vice President for Engineering and Development. Von Braun worked at Fairchild Industries from July 1, 1972 until his death.
Following the end of World War II, the Liberty Mill went into disrepair, and was finally destroyed by an arsonist in 1971. In 1974, the completion of a sewer line helped the development and growth of Germantown.
Montgomery College
The Germantown Campus of Montgomery College opened on October 21, 1978. At the time, it consisted of two buildings, 24 employees, and 1,200 students. Enrollment had increased to five thousand students by 2003, with eighty employees across four buildings. A steel water tower modeled after the Earth can be seen from orbiting satellites in outer space. As of 2008, a forty-acre bio-technology laboratory was nearing completion.
1980s
Economic growth
Since the early 1980s, Germantown has experienced rapid economic and population growth, both in the form of townhouses and single-family dwellings, and an urbanized "town center" has been built. Germantown was the fastest growing zip code in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and Maryland in 1986, and the 1980s saw a population growth of 323.3% for Germantown.
2000s
In 2000, the Upcounty Regional Services Center (now the Sidney Kramer Upcounty Regional Services Center) opened in Germantown, and a 16,000 square feet section of the first floor was home to the Germantown Public Library for several years.
In 2000 the Maryland SoccerPlex opened in Germantown. The sports complex includes nineteen natural grass fields, three artificial fields, a 5,200 seat soccer stadium with lighting and press box, eight indoor convertible basketball/volleyball courts. Two miniature golf courses, a splash park, a driving range, an archery course, community garden, model boat pond, two BMX courses, tennis center, and a swim center are also located within the confines of the complex. The soccerplex is the current home of the Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League.
In March 2001, Germantown's only movie theater, the Sony 6, located at the Germantown Commons Shopping Center, closed down as part of a closure of 112 movie theaters across the United States by Loews Cineplex, leaving Germantown without a movie theater of its own. As a result, local residents frequented a movie theater in Kentlands or one at The Rio in Gaithersburg. Over a year later, on May 3, 2002, the Hoyts Cinema 14, now the Regal Germantown Stadium 14, opened, and Germantown now had its own movie theater once again. A DSW footwear retail store now sits on the site of the former Sony 6 theater.
In June 2002, it was announced that a Staples and Best Buy store would open at Germantown's Milestone Shopping Center later that fall. Opening later that year, the Best Buy store replaced a Homeplace store that had closed down in 2001 following that company's disbandment.
In 2007, at a cost of 19 million dollars, the Germantown Public Library moved from the Upcounty Regional Services Center to its current location, at a separate 44,193 square foot facility at the nearby Germantown Town Center.
2010s
In 2000, Germantown had a population of 55,419, according to the 2000 United States Census. Ten years later, at the time of the 2010 United States Census, Germantown had experienced a 55.9% growth in population, growing from 55,419 to 86,395.
On August 14, 2011, a 7-Eleven convenience store in downtown Germantown fell victim to a flash mob robbery, in which nearly forty people walked into the store, grabbed merchandise, and subsequently fled with the stolen goods, all without paying. The incident garnered widespread attention in the United States and internationally.
On September 29, 2013, the Upcounty Regional Services Center in Germantown was renamed as the Sidney Kramer Upcounty Regional Services Center, after Sidney Kramer, the Montgomery County executive from 1986 to 1990.
Holy Cross Health opened a 237,000-square-foot (22,000 m2) hospital on the campus of Montgomery College in October 2014. The 93-bed hospital is projected to eventually bring 5,000 jobs to the area.
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