The Metropolitan Branch & Takoma Park

The Metropolitan Branch and Takoma Park. . , Geology , This section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail is on the border of two physiographic provinces, the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont Region, displaying traces of two very different times on Earth.

The Coastal Plain stretches south and east from where you are standing to the Atlantic Ocean. This area of the Coastal Plain is composed of gravel, sand, and silt from the Lower Cretaceous Period (150 million years ago), the last period of the dinosaurs and the first period of flowering plants.

The Piedmont Region extends north and west through Silver Spring to Catoctin Mountain. This region is much older, dating back too the Early Cambrian Period (approx. 500 million years ago). Life on Earth existed for 3 billion years before this time, but this period generated the earliest abundance of diverse fossils that represent lineages of most modern animals, leading scientists to define this time as the Cambrian Explosion.

During the Cambrian Period, this area was actually separated from North America by an ocean and was close to or even part of Africa. Gradually, over 200 million years, the land collided with North America, creating the Appalachian Mountains.

History , The Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad completed the Metropolitan Branch in 1873, creating a westward railway connection from Washington, D.C. to the main line of the B&O. Ten years later, Takoma Park began developing as one of D.C.'s first commuter suburbs. The community straddled the D.C./Maryland border, expanding in both directions from the train station (below). Businesses appeared on 4th Street near the rail crossing and soon after at Carroll and Laurel Avenues following the introduction of trolley lines running into D.C. and down to Sligo Creek. By 1913, Takoma Park was the largest city in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Today, the Metropolitan Branch Trail runs for 8 miles from Silver Spring, Maryland to Union Station in Washington, D.C., connectinig numerous vibrant and historic neighborhoods like Takoma Park.

[Caption:] , The site of the Montgomery County campus, across the street, had two previous incarnations as the 140-room North Takoma Hotel (left) in 1892 and the Bliss Electrical School (right) in 1908.