maryland historical trust maryland inventory of historic

Maryland Historical Trust Inventory No. PG: 70-009

Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties Form

1. Name of Property (indicate preferred name)

historic Bald Hill School

other

2. Location

street and number 8701 Old Brown's Lane not for publication

city, town Lanham vicinity

county Prince George's

3. Owner of Property (give names and mailing addresses of all owners) name David P. Gordon

street and number 8701 Old Brown's Lane telephone

city, town Lanham state MD zip code 20706-4125

4. Location of Legal Description courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Prince George's County Courthouse liber 8048 folio 406

city, town Upper Marlboro tax map 44 tax parcel 71 tax ID number 20 2196822

5. Primary Location of Additional Data Contributing Resource in National Register District

Contributing Resource in Local Historic District

Determined Eligible for the National Register/Maryland Register

Determined Ineligible for the National Register/Maryland Register

Recorded by HABS/HAER

Historic Structure Report or Research Report at MHT

X Other: Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George's County Planning Department

6. Classification

Category Ownership Current Function Resource Count district public agriculture landscape Contributing Noncontributing X building(s) X private commerce/trade recreation/culture 0 1 buildings structure both defense religion sites site domestic social structures object education transportation objects funerary work in progress 0 1 Total government unknown health care X vacant/not in use Number of Contributing Resources industry other: previously listed in the Inventory

0

7. Description Inventory No. PG: 70-009

Condition

excellent X deteriorated

good ruins

fair altered

Prepare both a one paragraph summary and a comprehensive description of the resource and its various elements as it exists today.

The Bald Hill School, now in a severe state of deterioration and poor structural integrity, is located on a residential parcel in Lanham, Maryland. The Bald Hill School was originally located at 5613 Westgate Lane and moved to its current site in 1906. This 4.01-acre parcel is largely secluded, marked by mature trees, shrubs, and a tall privacy fence. The grassy lot slopes slightly to the south. An early-twentieth-century residential building and various associated outbuildings are also located on this property. Numerous automobiles are parked on the property, linked to the current landowner’s mechanic business. SCHOOL This one-story educational building has a rectangular form. Based on its form and materials, it appears that this building was built just prior to the beginning of the Civil War (1861-1865). The Bald Hill School was originally located at 5613 Westgate Lane and moved to its current site in 1906. The original site is approximately 500 feet to the northeast. The building appears to rest directly on the ground, lacking a foundation. This wood-frame structure is clad in weatherboard siding. A large percentage of the exterior cladding is no longer extant, having been replaced in part either by corrugated metal or vinyl siding. Portions of the structure are exposed to the elements as cladding is missing entirely in places. The gable roof has been covered with both corrugated metal sheets and standing-seam metal. The roof has buckled in the middle. The roof has an open cornice that exposes the rafter ends. The north elevation has a single-leaf entry opening; the door is no longer extant. The upper-gable end of the west elevation is clad in wide weatherboard siding. This elevation has no visible fenestration. The south elevation has a small window opening that has been covered with vertical board and a single-leaf entry opening without a door. The upper-gable end of the east elevation is clad in asphalt sheets. The uppermost portion of the gable end is pierced by a large hole. An addition is located on the east elevation. This addition, based on its form and materials, appears to have been constructed in the early twentieth century. The one-story, one-bay addition has a wood frame clad in vertical and horizontal weatherboard siding. The shed roof is covered with corrugated metal. The north elevation has a large entry opening with no door. This addition was in a deteriorated condition at the time of the 2008 on-site survey. The roof had collapsed and the addition’s structure had been compromised. INTEGRITY The Bald Hill School retains a low level of integrity overall. This resource was moved from its original location, negatively affecting its integrity of location, setting, feeling, and association. This building is in poor condition; it is no longer used as a school. The exterior cladding material, roof cladding, and all of the fenestration has either been altered or is no longer extant. This has compromised its integrity of design, materials, and workmanship.

8. Significance Inventory No. PG: 70-009

Period Areas of Significance Check and justify below

1600-1699 agriculture economics health/medicine performing arts

1700-1799 archeology X education industry philosophy

X 1800-1899 architecture engineering invention politics/government

1900-1999 art entertainment/ landscape architecture religion

2000- commerce recreation law science

communications ethnic heritage literature social history

community planning exploration/ maritime history transportation

conservation settlement military X other: Local History

Specific dates c. 1861, 1866, 1906 Architect/Builder Unknown Construction dates c. 1861, 1906 Evaluation for: National Register Maryland Register not evaluated Prepare a one-paragraph summary statement of significance addressing applicable criteria, followed by a narrative discussion of the history of the resource and its context. (For compliance projects, complete evaluation on a DOE Form – see manual.)

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Bald Hill School, constructed c. 1861, is significant as one of the oldest schoolhouses in Prince George’s County. The Bald Hill School was the fourth school in the Bladensburg School District and the first in the Lanham area.1 The schoolhouse is an example of vernacular school architecture from the mid-nineteenth century. The school served the community until 1866, when it became redundant as a result of the construction of a new schoolhouse. Around 1906, the Bald Hill School was moved approximately 500 feet to the southwest from its original site at 5613 Westgate Lane to its current location at 8701 Old Brown’s Lane. The building was moved by Edgar Brown for use as a cow shed. This building is in a severe state of deterioration and no longer functions as a school, thusly it does not maintain sufficient integrity to convey its significance as one of the oldest extant schoolhouses in Prince George’s County. HISTORIC CONTEXT The Bald Hill School is located in the unincorporated community of Lanham, Maryland. Located in western Prince George’s County, Lanham became established as a result of the construction of the Washington Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1872. This branch provided service from Washington, D.C. to Huntington City, later known as Bowie, Maryland. Eventually the branch became the main line into the City of Washington, and as such, Lanham was established as a railroad community.2 Amtrak passenger trains now utilize the Washington Branch. As Washington, D.C. grew from its federal city beginnings, it began to spill over into the adjoining counties. The train station at Lanham provided impetus for the growth of suburban Washington, D.C. communities and small neighborhoods established during the first-half of the twentieth century. The Bald Hill School predates this suburban development, representing the rural agricultural nature of Prince George’s County in the mid-nineteenth century. 1 Marina King, “Bald Hill School,” (PG: 70-9) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1985), 8:1. 2 Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Planning Department, Historic Contexts in Prince George’s County (1991), 43.

Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. PG: 70-009 Historic Properties Form

Bald Hill School Continuation Sheet Number 8 Page 1

The Bald Hill School is believed to have been constructed in 1861, before the 1865 establishment of the Board of County School Commissioners.3 This is based on the survival of a Bald Hill School record book dating from 1861 to 1862.4 The first entry, dated February 18, 1861, records the names of twenty-three students.5 However, the school does not appear on Martenet’s Map of 1861.6 A book published by the Lanham Centennial Committee in 1972 credits Basil T. Ridgeway, a local landowner and carpenter born in Maryland, with donating the land and building the schoolhouse.7 The schoolhouse was located near a local crossroads, with several families living in the surrounding area. Although it is not known whether this was a white or African-American school, it is likely that this was a white schoolhouse. This is hypothesized based on the predominant race of the surrounding property owners; white. The surrounding dwellings housed many family members as well as extended-family members. The Bald Hill School was named for its location on a ridge that forms the watershed between the Patuxent River and Potomac River. The ridge apparently was sparsely vegetated at one time.8 The Bald Hill School educated children through the Civil War, beginning in 1861. In 1866, students were transferred from the Bald Hill School to a one-room school, which still stands as part of the Trueman Haskell House on Whitefield Chapel Road.9 With the arrival of the railroad in 1872, it is possible the school board anticipated the need for a larger school. The Hopkins Atlas of 1878 documents the Bald Hill School.10 Although this building no longer functioned as such, it is likely the building continued to be identified by its original use on maps. By 1885, the Board of School Commissioners was attempting to sell the acre of land on which the Bald Hill School was located in order to raise funds to construct another Lanham area school.11 It is likely that the board had no use for the property. The building and lot were eventually conveyed in 1906 to David Fairchild, who had also acquired the property surrounding the school lot.12 David Fairchild was married to Miriam Graham Bell,

3 Marina King, “Bald Hill School,” (PG: 70-9) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1985), 8:1. 4 Marina King, “Bald Hill School,” (PG: 70-9) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1985), 8:1. 5 Unknown Author., “Bald Hill School,” Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Files, n.d. 6 Simon J. Martenet, “Atlas of Prince George’s County, Maryland, 1861,” Adapted from Martenet’s Map of Prince George’s County,

Maryland (Baltimore: Simon J. Martenet C.E., 1861). 7 Marina King, “Bald Hill School,” (PG: 70-9) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1985), 8:1; 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Spaldings, Prince Georges, Maryland, Series T9, Roll 513, Family History Film 1254513, Page 142.1000, Enumeration District 126, Image 0285, Basil T. Ridgeway. 8 Marina King, “Bald Hill School,” (PG: 70-9) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1985), 8:1. 9 Unknown Author., “Bald Hill School,” Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Files, n.d. 10 G.M. Hopkins, Atlas of Fifteen Miles Around Washington, Including the County of Prince George Maryland (Philadelphia: G.M. Hopkins, C.E., 1878). 11 Marina King, “Bald Hill School,” (PG: 70-9) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1985), 8:1. 12 Board of County School Commissioners to David Fairchild, Prince George’s County Land Records, 29:279.



youngest daughter of renowned inventor Alexander Graham Bell.13 The Fairchilds did not live at this property. Rather, it is possible that Fairchild acquired the Bald Hill School property and surrounding parcels on speculation of its agricultural potential. Fairchild was a plant expert, working chiefly in the discovery and importation of seeds to America. Fairchild and Barbour Lathrop spent seven years circumnavigating the globe twice, visiting every continent and important archipelago, and sent to America thousands of specimens ranging from a single cutting in a tin tube to a ton of some Arabian or African grains.14 Fairchild was employed by the Department of Agriculture as head of the Department of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. It is possible that Fairchild utilized the property as a testing facility for his own devices. Fairchild served as president of the People’s Gardens Association. This incorporated organization, formed in 1910, sought to plant seeds along city highways and suburban streets in aims to beatify the nation’s capital and surrounding areas.15 With a broad exposure to the globe it is not surprising that Fairchild discovered interesting species in his travels. The “Dictyophora” was discovered by Fairchild growing in the jungles of Java. This organism is remarkable for its rapid rate of growth. Fairchild is perhaps best remembered for his involvement in the cherry trees lining the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. In 1906, Fairchild imported 75 flowering cherry trees and 25 single-flowered weeping types from the Yokohama Nursery Company in Japan. These trees were planted on a hillside on his own land in Chevy Chase, where he tested their hardiness. The Fairchilds, pleased with the success of the trees, began to promote Japanese flowering cherry trees as the ideal type of tree to plant along avenues in the Washington area.16 In March of 1906, Fairchild conveyed the property to John Minton Westgate and Inez Wheeler Westgate.17 The Westgates lived in Washington, D.C. and sold the property the next day to Edgar Brown and Harriet T. Brown.18 Around 1906, the Bald Hill School was moved from its original site at 5613 Westgate Lane to its current location at 8701 Old Brown’s Lane. The building was moved by Edgar Brown for use as a cow shed.19 Brown

13 "Social and Personal: Mr. David Fairchild Weds Miss Bell at Twin Oaks. Witnessed by Many Friends" The Washington Post (1877-1954), April 26, 1905, http://www.proquest.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/ (accessed January 13, 2009). 14 From Appleton's Magazine. "Vegetable Immigrants: Some of the Eatables Brought to This Country in Various Ways.." The Washington Post (1877-1954), July 30, 1907, http://www.proquest.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/ (accessed January 13, 2009). 15 "Garden Sites in Streets: Planting Party Sows Flower Seeds in City Highways. New Association Aims to Beautify Capital and Suburbs -- First Expedition Is Successful." The Washington Post (1877-1954), May 7, 1910, http://www.proquest.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/ (accessed January 13, 2009). 16 National Mall and Memorial Parks, http://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/cherry-blossom-history.htm 17 David and Marion Bell Fairchild to John Minton and Inez Wheeler Westgate, Prince George's County Land Records, 34:160. 18 John Minton Westgate to Edgar Brown and Harriet T. Brown, Prince George's County Land Records, 34:162. 19 Marina King, “Bald Hill School,” (PG: 70-9) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1985), 8:1.



was employed as a seed botanist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture from at least 1910 until 1930.20 A professional connection between Brown and Fairchild could not be confirmed, although it is likely that these men were colleagues. In 1927, Brown served as vice president of the Red Cross Chapter of Prince George’s County.21 Brown also served as the town bailiff of Brentwood.22 In 1941, Brown conveyed the property where the Bald Hill School was moved to Walter H.A. Coleman and Phyllis Wood Coleman.23 Information related to the Colemans could not be located. In 1944, the Colemans sold the property to Thomas Hammond Welsh, Jr. and his wife, Mildred Berry Welsh.24 The Welshs were married in 1940 and lived in College Heights before purchasing the Bald Hill School property. The couple had two children, Milly B. Welsh and Thomas H. Welsh, III. Thomas Hammond Welsh, Jr. served as president of the Maryland League of Building, Savings and Loan Associations as well as the State League, which had 118 associations as members. Welsh was a member of the Lawyer’s Committee for Judicial Standards. In 1968, Welsh served as a director of the Suburban Trust Company. At the time this was suburban Maryland’s largest bank; a company with over $500 million in assets in 1968.25 Welsh was also an avid supporter of Ducks Unlimited. Mildred Welsh’s family owned Graden (PG: 73-13), a 1760 plantation. Although Graden is no longer extant, its octagonal milk house was salvaged and moved to another property.26 In 1949, the Welsh family conveyed the property where the Bald Hill School now stands to Harry R. and Helen D. DuChaine.27 The DuChaines had two storied events prior to their purchase of the property. DuChaine worked for the Soil Conservation but is perhaps best known for swallowing a ¾-inch long lead fishing sinker when he was 9 years old. The sinker was lodged in DuChaine’s lung for 35 years until 1939 when it was

20 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Kent, Prince George's, Maryland, Series T624, Roll 567, Page 14B, Enumeration District 74, Image 520, Edgar Brown. 21 "Abandoned Schooner Menacing Navigation." The Washington Post (1877-1954), October 21, 1927, http://www.proquest.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/ (accessed January 13, 2009). 22 "Washington Man’s Jail-Break Foiled: Bladensburg Officers Find Inside Door Opened by Charles F. Wilson. Held as “Drunk” Driver.” The Washington Post (1877-1954), January 24, 1929, http://www.proquest.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/ (accessed January 13, 2009). 23 Edgar Brown and Elizabeth G. Brown to Walter H. A. Coleman and Phyllis Wood Coleman, Prince George’s County Land Records, 628:43. 24 Walter H. A. Coleman and Phyllis Wood Coleman to T. Hammond Welsh, Jr. and Mildred Berry Welsh, Prince George’s County Land Records, 745:331. 25 "Display Ad 178 -- No Title." The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), January 12, 1969, http://www.proquest.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/ (accessed January 13, 2009). 26 Colonial Williamsburg, "Cool, Calm, Clean," Colonial Williamsburg, http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/Winter05-06/dairies.cfm (accessed January 13, 2009). 27 T. Hammond Welsh, Jr. and Mildred Berry Welsh to Harry R. DuChaine and Helen D. DuChaine, Prince George’s County Land Records, 1137:183.



removed utilizing a bronchoscope and X-ray machine.28 The couple’s dog Laddie, a ten-year old police dog, is credited with saving their lives in 1931 when he awoke the family to a fire that had started in their home at 1249 Ecarts Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.29 Whether or not Harry DuChaine served as a policeman could not be substantiated. In 1983, Timothy S. Williams purchased the property containing the Bald Hill School from the representatives of the estate of Helen D. DuChaine.30 In 1982, Williams ran briefly in the Maryland Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. In 1991, Timothy S. Williams conveyed the property to the current owner, David P. Gordon.31 Gordon is an automobile mechanic, operating his business on the property. The Bald Hill School has been utilized as storage space for Gordon’s business.

28 "Science Removes Sinker Lodged in Lung for 35 Years." The Washington Post (1877-1954), January 31, 1939, http://www.proquest.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/ (accessed January 12, 2009). 29 "Vanished Hero Dog Found, Sent Home." The Washington Post (1877-1954), August 7, 1937, http://www.proquest.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/ (accessed January 13, 2009). 30 Robert P. Burnett, personal representative of the Estate of Helen D. DuChaine, to Timothy S. Williams, Prince George’s County Land Records, NLP 5663:631. 31 Timothy S. Williams to David P. Gordon, Prince George’s County Land Records, VJ 8048:406.

9. Major Bibliographical References Inventory No. PG: 70-009 Hopkins, G.M. Prince George’s County, from Atlas of Fifteen Miles Around Washington. Philadelphia: G.M. Hopkins, C.E., 1878. King, Marina. “Bald Hill School” (PG: 70-9) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form, 1985. Martenet, Simon J. Martenet's Map of Prince George’s County, Maryland. Baltimore: Simon J. Martenet, 1861. Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and Prince George’s County Planning Department, Historic Sites and

Districts Plan, 1992. Prince George’s County Land Records.

10. Geographical Data Acreage of surveyed property 4.01 Acreage of historical setting 63.875 Quadrangle name Lanham Quadrangle scale: 1:24,000 Verbal boundary description and justification

The Bald Hill School is sited on a 4.01-acre parcel. The northern boundary is formed by Old Brown’s Lane as well as Westgate Lane. The eastern boundary follows a chain-link fence running north to south behind the single-family dwellings along Kinzer Street. The southern boundary follows a chain-link fence extending east to west along the northern terminus of Belva Place and Belva Street. The western boundary of this property extend along a north-to-south chain-link fence, which runs through dense vegetation and mature trees. The Bald Hill School was moved from its original site at 5613 Westgate Lane to its current location at 8701 Old Brown’s Lane. The Bald Hill School, since its relocation in 1906, has been associated with Parcel 71 as noted on Tax Map 44.

11. Form Prepared by name/title Paul Weishar/Architectural Historian

organization EHT Traceries, Inc. date January 2009

street & number 1121 Fifth Street, NW telephone (202) 393-1199

city or town Washington state DC

The Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA, 1974 supplement. The survey and inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only and do not constitute any infringement of individual property rights.

return to: Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Department of Planning 100 Community Place Crownsville, MD 21032-2023 410-514-7600



CHAIN OF TITLE PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY LAND RECORDS

ORIGINAL LOCATION

Indenture FS 4:115 Basil Ridgeway and Margaret Ridgeway to George W. Durity, 2 tracts of September 10, 1866 land, a part of Waring’s Lot and a part of Williams Ridge. Containing

101 acres; Grantor selling 63.875 acres. Mortgage JWB 11:243 By Edward R. Wilson to Mabel G. Bell. Said Wilson owes Bell $2,850 – March 1, 1888 to be repaid as follows - …and Wilson assigns to Bell that property

containing 64.167 acres, being the same property conveyed in FS 4:115 and WAJ 2:135. Wilson may possess the property until default.

Mortgage JWB 11:241 Elizabeth Angerman and J. George Angerman to Edward Wilson – to March 1, 1888 grant to the party of the second part that land in Kent district containing

64.167 acres. Interim Deed Missing Deed 29:279 Board of County School Commissioners to David Fairchild, for $25. The February 13, 1906 Grantor sells to Grantee all that land situated near Lanham Station which

used to be used for a school, containing approximately 1 acre of ground, being the property to be sold by order of June 10, 1885 (see old records 214) but which was not sold. Said land adjoins land described in a deed from Elizabeth Angerman and husband to Edward L. Wilson in JWB 11:241, now the property of the Grantee.

Deed 25:391 Fillmore Beall to David Fairchild, whereas in March 1, 1888 Edward L. January 18, 1906 Wilson made mortgage JWB 11:243 to David Fairchild, and whereas

default was made and the real estate sold at public auction on December 9, 1915 and bought by Fairchild ($3,000), recorded in Equity #3236 in which Beall was made Trustee to convey the property to Fairchild, a parcel of 64.25 acres.

Deed 34:160 David Fairchild and Marion Bell Fairchild to John Minton Westgate and March 12, 1906 Inez Wheeler Westgate.



CURRENT LOCATION

Deed 25:391 Fillmore Beall to David Fairchild, whereas in March 1, 1888 Edward L. January 18, 1906 Wilson made mortgage JWB 11:243 to David Fairchild, and whereas

default was made and the real estate sold at public auction on December 9, 1915 and bought by Fairchild ($3,000), recorded in Equity #3236 in which Beall was made Trustee to convey the property to Fairchild, a parcel of 64.25 acres.

Deed 34:160 David Fairchild and Marion Bell Fairchild to John Minton Westgate and March 12, 1906 Inez Wheeler Westgate. Deed 34:162 John Minton Westgate to Edgar Brown and Harriet T. Brown. March 13, 1906 Deed 443:115 Edgar Brown and Elizabeth G. Brown to Dorothy R. Richmond. February 20, 1936 Deed 443:117 Dorothy R. Richmond to Edgar Brown and Elizabeth G. Brown. February 20, 1936 Deed 628:43 Edgar Brown and Elizabeth G. Brown to Walter H. A. Coleman and Phyllis September 15, 1941 Wood Coleman. (34.9 acres) Deed 745:331 Walter H. A. Coleman and Phyllis Wood Coleman to T. Hammond Welsh, Jr. August 15, 1944 and Mildred Berry Welsh. (34.9 acres) Deed 1137:183 T. Hammond Welsh, Jr. and Mildred Berry Welsh to Harry R. DuChaine and July 5, 1949 Helen D. DuChaine. (34.9 acres) Deed NLP 5663:631 Robert P. Burnett, Personal Representative of the Estate of Helen D. February 8, 1983 DuChaine, surviving tenant by the entirety of Harry R. DuChaine, surviving

tenant by the entirety of Harry R. DuChaine and Robert P. Burnett, Leslie D. Burnett, Royal J. Burnett, and Timothy S. Williams, sole heirs-at-law of Helen D. DuChaine to Timothy S. Williams.

Deed NLP 6442:315 Timothy S. Williams to Timothy S. Williams and Kandace Brezina Williams. August 29, 1986



Deed VJ 8048:406 Timothy S. Williams to David P. Gordon. August 29, 1991



Photo: Bald Hill School, looking southeast. (December 2008)



Photo: Bald Hill School, looking southwest. (December 2008)



Photo: Bald Hill School, south elevation, looking northeast. (December 2008)

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