Takoma Recreation Center

Takoma Recreation Center. founded in 1958. , Takoma Recreation Center sits on the outskirts of the Takoma Park Historic District, Washington's first railroad suburb, straddling the border with Maryland and developed by Benjamin Franklin Gilbert beginning in 1883. A resident had proposed adopting the Native American name of the majestic Mount Ranier for the suburb, with the spelling altered from "Tacoma" to "Takoma" to distinguish the village from the city in Washington State., Gilbert envisioned a garden suburb of villas, and Takoma Park Historic District did develop mostly as single-family frame cottages on ample lots. Its development was driven by the attraction to the peacefulness and picturesqueness of the landscape, its healthful springs, and the easy access to the employment and commercial center of Washington City, provided by the proximity of the suburb to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad tracks., The Takoma Recreation Center stands in an area that had been crisscrossed by streams that fed Piney Branch. Native American artifacts have been unearthed in the vicinity. The property was originally cultivated for tobacco and then wheat during the Colonial era. Thereafter, diversified small farms gave way to today's development., Through the endeavors of the Takoma Park Citizen's Association, part of the land was acquired by the National Capital Park and Planning Commission for the development of the park, parkway, and playground system. A swimming pool was opened in 1933 at what is now the Takoma Recreation Center, which was then owned and managed by the National Park Service. In 1958, the current recreation center field house was constructed. By the time it was transferred to the Department of Parks and Recreation almost 20 years later, the center had already been dedicated to recreational uses for quite some time.