Silver Spring

History

Before European settlement, present-day Silver Spring had been inhabited by various Indigenous peoples for about 10,000 years. Among them were the Piscataway, an Algonquian-speaking people who may have established a few villages along Sligo Creek and Rock Creek. In 1840, Francis Preston Blair, who later helped organize the modern Republican Party, along with his daughter, Elizabeth, discovered a spring flowing with chips of mica believed to be the now-dry spring visible at Acorn Park. Two years later, Blair completed a 20-room mansion he dubbed "Silver Spring" on a country homestead. In 1854, Blair moved to the mansion permanently. By 1854, Blair's son, Montgomery Blair, who became Postmaster General under Abraham Lincoln and represented Dred Scott before the U.S. Supreme Court, built the Falkland house in the area. By the end of the decade, Elizabeth Blair married Samuel Phillips Lee, third cousin of future Confederate leader Robert E. Lee, and gave birth to a boy, Francis Preston Blair Lee, who went on to become the first popularly elected Senator in U.S. history. During the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln visited the Silver Spring mansion several times, where he relaxed by playing town ball with Francis P. Blair's grandchildren. In 1864, Confederate States Army General Jubal Early occupied Silver Spring before the Battle of Fort Stevens. After the engagement, fleeing Confederate soldiers razed Montgomery Blair's Falkland residence. At the time, there was a community called Sligo located at the intersection of the Washington-Brookeville Turnpike and the Washington-Colesville-Ashton Turnpike, now named Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road. By the end of the 19th century, the region began to develop into a town of size and importance. The Baltimore and Ohio…

Geography

As an unincorporated census-designated place, Silver Spring's boundaries are not consistently defined. As of the 2010 census, the U.S. Census Bureau gives Silver Spring a total area of , which is all land; however, the CDP contains some creeks and small ponds. This definition is a 15% reduction from the used in previous years. Silver Spring contains the following neighborhoods: Downtown Silver Spring, East Silver Spring, Woodside, Woodside Park, Lyttonsville, North Hills Sligo Park, Long Branch, Indian Spring, Goodacre Knolls, Franklin Knolls, Montgomery Knolls, Clifton Park Village, New Hampshire Estates, Oakview, and Woodmoor. The U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Postal Service, Silver Spring Urban Planning District, and Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce, each use their own slightly different definitions. The Postal Service in particular assigns Silver Spring mailing addresses to a large swath of eastern Montgomery County sometimes called "Greater Silver Spring", including Four Corners, Woodmoor, Wheaton, Glenmont, Forest Glen, Forest Glen Park, Aspen Hill, Hillandale, White Oak, Colesville, Colesville Park, Cloverly, Calverton, Briggs Chaney, Greencastle, Northwood Park, Ashton, Sandy Spring, Sunset Terrace, Fairland, Lyttonsville, Kemp Mill, a portion of Langley Park, and a portion of Adelphi. The area that has a Silver Spring mailing address is larger in area than any city in Maryland except Baltimore. Landmarks in the downtown area include the AFI Silver Theatre, the former headquarters of Discovery, Inc., a branch of The Fillmore, and the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Greater Silver Spring includes the National Museum of Health and Medicine, the headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Food and Drug…

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Montgomery Blair High
  High · Silver Spring · 3,204 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• Walter Johnson High
  High · Bethesda · 2,942 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Wheaton High
  High · Silver Spring · 2,599 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• Richard Montgomery High
  High · Rockville · 2,390 students · 17.8:1 ratio
• Bethesda-Chevy Chase High
  High · Bethesda · 2,335 students · 18:1 ratio
• Winston Churchill High
  High · Potomac · 2,234 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Paint Branch High
  High · Burtonsville · 2,135 students · 16.4:1 ratio
• Walt Whitman High
  High · Bethesda · 2,018 students · 17.4:1 ratio