Early Takoma

Early Takoma. Laurel and Carroll Avenues. , In 1888 B. F. Gilbert, the founder of Takoma Park, built a log cabin to celebrate the presidential campaign of Benjamin Harrison. The cabin stood on the east side of Laurel at Carroll Avenue until it burned to the ground on Halloween in 1915. It was used by both political parties for rallies and speeches, and later served as a town meeting place, a chapel, a firehouse, a jail, and finally a tool-shed. A 60-foot tower adjacent to it built in 1889, was used by city residents for panoramic views of the countryside and as a platform for speeches and band concerts. By 1893, the tower was judged to be unsafe and was dismantled. , Takoma Park began in 1889 as a railroad suburb, the first on the Metropolitan branch of the B&O. It was not long, however, before the community was served by electric street-cars. In 1893 the Brightwood Electric Railway began running trolleys between downtown Washington and the 4th and Butternut Streets, NW. , Eventually several streetcar lines served Takoma Park. The picture shows streetcars of the "Dinky Line" on Laurel Avenue , looking toward Carroll Avenue. This route originally went to the Glen Sligo Hotel, near Sligo Creek and what is now New Hampshire Avenue. Later the tracks were changed to run from Eastern and Laurel Avenues to a turnaround at Carroll Avenue and Sligo Creek. , The streetcar era ended in January 1960. , Erected by Historic Takoma, Inc., 1988