Laytonsville: From Crossroads to Community

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Laytonsville: From Crossroads to Community

Two previous Laytonsville history books by Maude Burke, Anne Wolf, and Susann Mick presented stories about the town's origins, its churches, clubs, and houses.

Laytonsville: From Crossroads to Community, a history of the Laytonsville, Maryland area and community is available for purchase at the Laytonsville Town Hall and though mail. With this third version, Anne Wolf and Jane Evans have gone more deeply into the history of the area, the development of the town and the larger community, and the life stories of some ordinary people there who made a difference. The book is 120 pages, full color, and 8.5" x 11".

06/23/2026

50 YEARS AGO —THE 1976 BICENTENNIAL

A BIG DEAL, AND LOTS OF FUN

The 1976 Bicentennial is a good lesson in why not to over-plan and over-complicate an event. It wasn’t really political at all. National planning began in 1968, but both Democrats and Republicans on the official committees ran into the same problems — grandiose ideas, financial troubles, and a tendency toward making it a “Buy-Centennial” all about merchandising. Fortunately, in 1974 the new (third) planning committee came up with a workable idea. The Federal government would just provide the money, $30 million, to local planning committees across the nation and let them come up with ideas for what would work well in their areas.

The result was a lot of fun, meaning locally organized parades, picnics, fireworks, museum exhibits, dinners, concerts, plays, and old-time crafts. If you were around in 1976, you remember it seemed as if people painted EVERYTHING red, white, and blue. The Fourth of July on steroids. But there were also large-scale Bicentennial events, like the arrival of the Tall Ships in the Baltimore Harbor, that drew large crowds. The Freedom Train was a 26-car traveling American history museum pulled by steam locomotives.

Patriotic celebrations are usually held on the Fourth of July, but these local committees often moved the date earlier so that schools would still be open. That way kids could plan and participate while learning something about American history.

Let’s take a look back at what a few local planning committees came up with for Laytonsville and other towns around us.

Olney held a Colonial Ball, a variety of folklore programs, and a “Colonial Weekend” during the month of June. There were also a number of fund-raising projects to provide a monetary gift to Montgomery General Hospital as a lasting reminder of the 1976 Bicentennial.

Mount Zion planned to paint the historic school house in town, write a history of the church and the families that live in the ares, and provide a display of handmade items for sale at a local festival.

Montgomery Village had a "Summer Lawn Theater” program featuring the music of America’s past as well as Smithsonian travel exhibits, beautification, and contests.

Sandy Spring planned a Family Day picnic and a photographic essay about "Sandy Spring, Then and Now."

Bethesda - Chevy Chase replaced 200 American flags on Wisconsin Avenue and published a community guide featuring the history of the area.

Boyds planned a whole summer of festivities with a memorial program in May, a camp meeting in August, and a homecoming in September.

Damascus - future post with photos

What about Laytonsville? Mayor Stanley Mills’s wife, Jean Mills, chaired the planning committee. First off there was a Cleanup, Paint, and Plant Day. Everyone in town was encouraged to plant plenty of red, white, and blue flowers. All the town organizations pitched in, including the Woman’s Club, the Lions Club, the Garden Club, PTA, 4-H and Homemakers, Boy and Girl Scouts, and the churches.

Their plans called for a big “Laytonsville Homecoming” festival to be held on Saturday, June 5, 1976 with a parade, picnic dinner, afternoon games and activities, and square dancing in the evening. The Laytonsville Elementary School students were to research the history of the town and learn how life was lived 200 years earlier.

How did all that turn out? There are too many newspaper clippings and photos to put in one post. We’ll put more information in future posts. Maybe you also have photos from the 1976 celebration that you could share here in the comments. If so, please do.

06/22/2026

BEFORE THE 2026 SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL . . .

THERE WAS THE 1876 CENTENNIAL

Here comes the “Semiquincentennial.” 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This year also marks the 250th anniversary of the establishment of Montgomery County, so it’s a double celebration — the USA on July 4 and Montgomery County on September 6. There will be fireworks, speeches, and festivities all summer.

But this is a local history page, so let’s take a look back at the first USA Centennial in 1876 and how local people reacted to the anniversary of their nation and their county.

The center of celebration in 1876 was the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia. It opened on May 10, 1876 and ran until November 10. This was the first major world's fair held in the United States, and almost 10,000,000 visitors came during those six months..

Fortunately, Philadelphia was an easy train trip from much of Maryland. Our state went into its own exhibit in a big way, emphasizing Maryland’s agricultural productivity and historical participation in the American Revolution.

At that time, Allen Bowie (A.B.) Davis, who farmed along Rt. 97 near Unity and Sunshine, was the president of the Maryland State Agricultural Society. He used his political clout to unite farmers and gather exhibits displaying modernization of farming techniques, the state’s productive soil fertility, and top-notch grain crops. Our local Stabler and Davis families coordinated shipments of Maryland white wheat and other crops to show off at the Philadelphia Centennial.

The big crowd pleaser at the Maryland exhibit, though, was the reassembled skeleton of a baby blue whale that had washed ashore in Crisfield earlier in the year.

What about our local county Centennial festivities? Most of the excitement came on September 6 at Rockville with lots of family picnics, a band playing patriotic songs, and long, long speeches by local leaders.

The theme of the keynote speech was a call for unity and healing of the bitter local wounds left after the Civil War. A. B. Davis acknowledged that local citizens had been fiercely divided during the war, He called on them to remember our long history from being a British colony, then on to liberty and self government after the Revolution. He urged listeners to unite under their shared identity and look ahead to a vision of progress. Years ago Montgomery County had been an exhausted, tobacco-dependent economy . Now new farming methods had transformed it into a thriving agricultural region.

As we said, these are really long speeches, but if you ever want to read the original text, it’s all available online here.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Centennial_celebration_of_the_erection_of_Montgomery_County,_Md._(IA_centennialcelebr00mont).pdf

06/09/2026

CIVIL WAR VETERAN - PVT. WILSON LINCOLN

Montgomery County is celebrating the 250th anniversary of US independence with “The Unfinished Revolution” -- a series of articles about various topics in county history. The current one is entitled “Montgomery County Stories From the U.S. Colored Troops.” It’s a long, informative, and interesting investigation into the lives of several African American soldiers during and after the Civil War. You can read it here.

https://montgomeryhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/UR_Mangin_2026.pdf

But that article is all about down-county residents. There’s nothing in it about our local African American veteran of the Civil War – Private Wilson J. Lincoln of Company G, 28th Regiment, USCT (1835-1895).

So let’s fix that.

The State Archives has already done the historical research on his life in 2010 and posted it here (very historical, lots of footnotes).
https://montgomeryhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/UR_Mangin_2026.pdf

We'll provide just the basic story along with a few photos for Facebook. Wilson Lincoln’s name has a connection to the Enoch George Howard family story. His farm lay directly north of the new Freedman's State Park.

In 1860, just before the Civil War, Wilson Lincoln and his brothers Benjamin and William were free African American men, living in the Unity area near their employer, Henry Dwyer, as pumpmakers. By then Wilson and his wife Eliza (Bond) Lincoln had three children.

In May 1864, Wilson Lincoln was drafted by the Union army. He reported to Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, on June 20, 1864 to be mustered into Company G, 28th Regiment, U.S.C.T. Although the 28th Regiment was actually part of the Indiana Volunteer Infantry, the men recruited in Maryland were counted as Maryland troops by the War Department in Washington, DC.

The 28th Regiment participated in the Battle of the Crater and the Siege of Petersburg. The 28th sustained heavy casualties in the Battle of the Crater at the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia, on July 30, 1864, when nearly half of its soldiers were killed or wounded. The 28th's losses were put at 11 killed, 64 wounded and 13 missing, a total of 88. Wilson Lincoln served with the 28th Regiment as a private for the remainder of the Civil War. His name appears among the 209,145 black soldiers commemorated on the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C. at plaque B-44 on the Wall of Honor, along with the name of his older brother, Perry Lincoln (1820-1864).

A few years after returning home from the war, Wilson Lincoln and Thomas R. Bond jointly purchased 125 acres of farm property known as “Green Spring” or “Green Spring Resurveyed” from Alexander N. and Deborah J. (Warfield) Crowder, part of the Gaither family. The Lincolns lived on at their farm in the years to come, growing corn, wheat, potatoes, and apples.

05/28/2026

PEONY FLOWERS BLOOMING IN MAY

THAT'S A LOCAL THING

Given all the dry farm fields and home gardens around Laytonsville recently, we really needed every drop of last week’s rain. Unfortunately, the rainfall did quite a job on the beautiful blooming peonies. Maybe a few late bloomers will appear this weekend. Peonies have been the flower of the traditional Memorial Day, May 30.

Since this is a historical page, let’s take a look back 100+ years to Edward Schwartz’s peony garden in Gaithersburg. When you’re driving though Old Town Gaithersburg, the City Hall you see on South Summit Avenue used to be his house, along with 10.5 acres of land around it. Today where you see the post office, the Shell station, the City Hall offices – all that used to be thousands of peony plants, six acres of them in full bloom at this time of year.

How did that happen? Here’s the story from a 1923 interview in the Washington Herald newspaper with Edward Schwartz, a DC realtor.

“Ten years ago Schwartz bought a home and ten and one-half acres of land out at Gaithersburg. He noticed a bush planted near the house, but could not identify the variety of flower.

“Taking some of the foliage, he repaired to the Department of Agriculture. There he was told it was a peony plant – one of good variety. He returned home, divided the root into thirty-two units, which he planted. It happened to be a fine variety – white and light pink petals and a red center.

“So interested became Schwartz that he made further inquiries at the Department of Agriculture. He learned that of 2,000 varieties only 400 are worth planting.

“So he gathered together the 400 highly rated varieties. He has imported them from England, Japan, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Today his collection is envied throughout the United States.”

If you live in one of the older homes in the Laytonsville-Gaithersburg area and have peonies in the garden, as our Town Hall does, the original plants probably came from the Schwartz garden. The Laytonsville cemetry used to have many peony plants.

People traveled to Gaithersburg to buy bouquets to decorate family graves in cemeteries as well as to take home and enjoy. May and June weddings at St. Martin’s Catholic Church often featured peony bouquets from the Schwartz gardens across the street.

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Incidentally, Edward Schwartz bought that house, the one that is now the Gaithersburg City Hall, from a man from Laytonsville. Israel G Warfield, Jr. (1869-1918) grew up on the family farm, which is now the Rolling Ridge homes on Brink Road. His father told his three sons that a 250-acre farm was not enough land to support them all. They each must go out and build a career. Two of the sons became dentists. Israel Warfield lived there on South Summit in Gaithersburg and practiced dentistry for many years.

05/24/2026

THE NEW FREEDMEN'S STATE PARK OPENS

NEAR LAYTONSVILLE AND UNITY

Maryland’s newest state park, the 1,042-acre Freedmen’s State Park near Laytonsville, was officially opened on Friday, May 15, 2026. The park honors the legacy of the Howard family, who owned the land after emancipation from slavery, and became major contributors to black communities in Maryland, including by founding the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper.

State officials said that they were able to create the new state park thanks to the Great Maryland Outdoors Act, which the legislature passed in 2022 after a historic surge in state park visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The law allowed for the park’s dedication and allocated funds for its branding and additional park rangers.

05/21/2026

DON’T FORGET THE GHS MAJORETTES

After we posted on Tuesday about Miss Frieda Price, the band director at Gaithersburg High for 23 years, there was some interest about the majorettes of that time. GHS majorettes were busy girls, appearing at (and practicing for) parades, pep rallies, and football games along with the marching band. Majorettes at Gaithersburg in the 1960s were part of the transition from the baton twirling of the 1950s toward the dance team routines of today.

Majorettes add visual entertainment to the performance of the band, connecting the music to the crowd with their routines. Here are a few photos of the GHS majorettes from the early 1960s. One problem — the yearbooks did not give the name of the faculty sponsor. Does anyone remember which teacher sponsored the majorettes back in the 1960s? Did Miss Price sponsor them too?

Please feel free to add your photos from those days in the comments.

05/20/2026

STRIKE UP THE GHS MARCHING BAND

WITH FRIEDA PRICE

Hello to all you Gaithersburg High School graduates of yesteryear, especially if you marched in the band. We're passing along a change-of-address message about the indomitable Miss Frieda Price. At the age of 98, Miss Price has finally given up driving and moved from her longtime home in Gaithersburg to a new location in Virginia.

We've included a couple of photos from a 60s "Sail On" yearbook to take you back to those days.

- - - - - -
Hello GHS Classmates:

We have received information as to Frieda Price – “the instrumental leader” of the GHS Band Marching band from its beginning with her arrival at GHS in 1947 until her retirement from leadership at the end of the 1970 school year. Frieda has been a bit under the weather health wise, and the family and her doctors have directed her to take a rest from her active life.

Frieda, who is going all speed ahead into her 99th birthday year (Feb. 5, 2027), is currently in assisted living, letting others assist her in the day-to-day chores of living.

Frieda would like to return home and being able to get behind the wheel of her “band mobile”, what else would she drive - (yes, she was still driving); but with the reality of approaching her 99th birthday that is more in the wish column then a real reality.

I thought you would like to know, and you would like to send Frieda a card with your wishes for good health, encouragement, and good thoughts. In addition, tell her what you have been doing as well. Perhaps, don’t just send one card, correspond throughout the year: it is simple: a card, an envelope, and a stamp. Please share this message with fellow GHS Classmates for whom I do not have email addresses.

Ms. Frieda Price, Resident
English Meadows
15089 Harmony Hills Lane
Abingdon, VA 24211

05/17/2026

2026 LAYTONSVILLE TOWN PARADE

As always, we try to get photos of everyone in the parade, but we always miss a few and need a little help. So please feel free to add any photos or names or comments in the comments. Thanks

05/10/2026

REMEMBERING OUR AGRICULTURAL ROOTS

One week till the 2026 Laytonsvile Town Parade, and this year the theme is “Remembering Our Agricultural Roots.” If you are an old-timer from this area, you’re thinking “Grandpa would love this.” But if you are more of a newcomer, you may be wondering exactly what are Laytonsville’s agricultural roots supposed to be? "Is something supposed to be different about farming around here than farming back where I grew up in Wisconsin, New York, Colorado, etc.?"

Here’s a short history along with a few photos of our beautiful local farms and a video about “Farming for Two Centuries,” located in the comments for this post.

The agricultural roots of Laytonsville run very deep and are central to why the town exists at all. Its history reflects a classic pattern in Montgomery County. Fertile land → successful farms → crossroads market community → small rural town that still retains agricultural character today.

Fertile land made farming the foundation

First, the fertile land. Laytonsville developed in an area with exceptionally productive soil, especially clay loams. These soils are:
- well-drained but moisture-retaining
- supported by a red clay subsoil that helps crops survive dry summers
- This made the area ideal for grain, livestock, and general mixed farming, and farming success was one of the primary reasons the settlement grew.

A farming crossroads (“Cracklintown”)

Before it was Laytonsville, the community was known as “Cracklintown,” a name tied to local food culture (cracklin cornbread). But more importantly, it sat at a key transportation crossroads in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

- Roads connected western Maryland farms to Baltimore markets
- Livestock—especially cattle and pigs—were driven through the area.
- The town became a natural stopover for drovers and traders

This positioned Laytonsville as a service hub for surrounding farms, with taverns, blacksmiths, and stores supporting agricultural commerce.

A true farming community in the 19th century

By the mid-1800s, Laytonsville was unmistakably an agricultural town:
- Dozens of farmers formed the backbone of the population
- Supporting trades included blacksmiths, wheelwrights, harness makers, and merchants
- The town functioned as a local market center for nearby farms

Farms shaped the landscape and architecture

Many historic properties in and around Laytonsville—such as Layton House and area farmsteads—originated as working farms or were tied to agricultural families.

Continued agricultural identity into the present

We are very fortunate. Unlike many Washington, D.C. suburbs, Laytonsville has retained a strong rural and agricultural identity:

- It sits on the edge of Montgomery County’s agricultural areas
- Farmland still exists around the town
- Local planning emphasizes preserving its “rural town” character and proximity to agriculture

Another bonus for us — Nearby places like the Agricultural History Farm Park help interpret and preserve this broader farming heritage.

In short
Laytonsville began as a fertile farming district, grew into a crossroads market town serving farmers, and has remained a small rural community shaped by agriculture for over two centuries. Its identity today still reflects those origins—something increasingly rare in the Washington suburbs. Our Town Matters!

05/08/2026

SATURDAY IN LAYTONSVILLLE

Join your neighbors in collectively taking a day to make Laytonsville cleaner & greener:

- residential & business yard maintenance
- trash walks in parks, trails, sidewalks and tree lines
- planting of flowers

Is town beautification a new idea for Laytonville? Actually, it's 100 years old. It was 1926 when town residents first organized a Community and School League and held a town cleanup. Good idea. Now we're getting ready for the Town Parade to be held the following Saturday, May 16. Help us show our hometown pride.

Our Town Matters!

Address

P. O. Box 5158
Laytonsville, MD
20882

Website

http://laytonsvillehistory.com/, https://cyberpackventures.sharefile.com/share/view/s143f27072539445c8200b1bb7f4566d2

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