Susan Whitney-Wilkerson/The Gazette Sabrina Baron (left), president of Historic Takoma, and historian Dorothy Barnes discuss a grinding stone believed to be one of the oldest items in the city's historical archives. Historic Takoma hopes to find a permanent place for the archives, which is located in Barnes' basement.

In one corner, she found the city's first ballot box, probably used in 1890 just after the city fathers incorporated the Maryland half of Washington's first railroad suburb. She held out the dinged metal bank box with a narrow slot punched through the lid. "Here it is," she said.

Meanwhile, Sabrina Baron, president of Historic Takoma, searched for city founder Benjamin Franklin Gilbert's business card in the archive boxes that line Barnes' basement walls. She couldn't easily find it among the packed shelves, so she sat at a computer to retrieve a digital image of the card that boasted of Takoma Park's "handsome homes, electric lights, broad avenues [and] delicious water."

The Elm Avenue basement that holds so much of the city's history is, for now, the official home of more than a century's worth of papers and artifacts. But as Historic Takoma celebrates its 25th anniversary, Baron said she hopes to find a proper home for the group's archives.

'We saved the place'

Ellen Marsh, one of the four founding members of Historic Takoma, said she worked to establish the group after feeling frustrated that the organization's predecessor, the Takoma Park Historical Society, was focused on preserving historical records instead of protecting historical assets.

Twenty-five years ago, "the president [of the society] was an amateur photographer, and he thought if you just had a photograph of a building, you didn't need to save the actual building," Marsh said, "and there were some of us who thought you should save the actual place."

When Historic Takoma incorporated in 1978, the memories of fights against development were fresh in the founders' minds. "I think one reason we were so fired up is because we were under attack," Marsh said.

The battle over the North Central Freeway project, which would have built a 10-lane freeway through the city's western and southwestern neighborhoods, began in 1964. In 1971, Montgomery College developed an expansion plan for Block 69, an area of Victorian homes in the North Takoma neighborhood.

And in 1978, as the Takoma Metro Station went into service, community members were fresh off their fight to stop Metro from building a 500-space parking facility.

"Back in the '70s and the early- to mid-'80s, we were in danger of losing a lot of the physical buildings here, and we did lose a lot," Marsh said. "Some people said, 'Why didn't you save more?' Man, it was hard."

After Historic Takoma incorporated, the historical society faded into memory, Marsh said. "That organization kind of folded after Historic Takoma came into being, the Historic Takoma got the [society's] archives, so we started serving two functions."

Even then, she said, members talked about the need for a permanent, appropriate home for the city's archives, but the group couldn't overcome the financial burden. "Sometimes, a beautiful Victorian would go on the market, but we didn't have the money, and of course, an old wood-frame building is not really the ideal place to keep your archives."

The best part of working to preserve the city's historic treasures has been the feeling of accomplishment, the 41-year city resident said, "because, by God, we did it, you know? We saved the place. When we moved here, it was a little rundown, and we saved it."

Promoting community

awareness

In addition to working to preserve the city's historic properties, Historic Takoma also has produced several accounts of the city's history, including "Takoma Park: Portrait of a Victorian Suburb, 1883-1983." The book, which Marsh co-authored with Mary Anne O'Boyle, documents city history using photos from the former historical society's archives.

And in 2001, Historic Takoma board member Diana Kohn wrote an instructional book for fourth-graders at Piney Branch Elementary titled, "Takoma Park A to Z: The Kids' Guide to the Town that Gilbert Built."

For Kohn, instilling an appreciation for the city's history in young residents is an important cause. "The kids don't have very many opportunities to [learn about local history] from a textbook, and 'A to Z' seemed like a pretty simple case of giving them something that they could read like a textbook," she said.

Once the fourth-graders learn their Takoma Park ABCs, they get a walking tour of Old Takoma from Kohn, who recently started offering the tours to the general public during the warm months.

And each spring, people from around metropolitan Washington, D.C., are invited to walk the city's streets during the annual home and garden tour, one of Historic Takoma's signature events that highlights the city's Victorians, bungalows and other significant properties.

"It's about making a connection" between past, present and future, Kohn said, for children and adults alike.

Looking forward

In the next 25 years, Baron said she expects Historic Takoma to continue working to preserve the city's neighborhoods. Having had success in bringing Montgomery College and its North Takoma neighbors together in the past, the group is now working with neighbors of Washington Adventist Hospital as that institution proposes expanding its campus.

But for all of the volunteer hours Historic Takoma receives from its members, and the political support the group enjoys from the City Council, Baron said she is troubled about the issue of space for the archives.

"The problem here is not just space, but it's appropriate space," she said, looking around Barnes' crowded basement. Appropriate space in an ideal world, Baron said, would allow Historic Takoma to host exhibitions while conveniently opening the archives to researchers, preservationists, or even residents who are new to the city and curious about Takoma Park's history.

Where that space will come from remains to be seen. Although they run Takoma Park's unofficial city archive, Historic Takoma is a nonprofit organization which relies on donations and small community-development grants. Baron said while they group hunts for public and private funding for a permanent archive, Historic Takoma and its board remain focused on their mission.

"History is about the community as a whole: what made this community, and what will continue to define this community in the future," she said. The city's history "has to spark something with people. They have to care about it."