Members of the Mount Rainier Volunteer Fire Department pose for this 1911 group photo in front of the department's first home, Klein's Bakery on 34th Street.
OF THE COMMERCIAL CORE
A BRIEF HISTORY D I S T R I C T H I S T O R I C
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Lebowitz opened a clothing store in 1946 at 3408 Rhode Island Avenue, in one of the commercial buildings he constructed. From the beginning and into the 1930s, Mount Rainier remained a small, suburban town of frame residences and consumer-oriented local businesses catering to the preThis 1911 photograph of a girl dominantly white, reading the Washington Post holds middle-class resithe caption “A busy day at the ‘Post’ dent. In the 1940s, Office, Mt. Rainier, MD.” however, a tremendous growth in the region’s population, stimulated by war efforts in Washington, brought physical changes to the small-town character of Mount Rainier. Large apartment buildings, constructed to accommodate increased numbers of residents, and commercial strip development more suited to the automobile, arose along Rhode Island Avenue and Queen’s Chapel Road. During this period of expansion, and despite local opposition, Mount Rainier lost a row of five buildings located at the triangular site formed by the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue and Perry Street. This row of two-story frame houses and a corner restaurant, commonly known as “Chinch Row” was demolished for the construction of a new bus/streetcar terminal and streetcar turn-around. In 1958, the fifty-year old streetcar service to Mount Rainier was replaced by bus service, marking the end of an era in Mount Rainier. Despite these changes, many of the commercial buildings that served Mt. Rainier in its first decades Klein’s Bakery, shown in this circa 1905 survive, primaphotograph, was established by baker John Klein and his family, and still stands rily along 34th at 34th Street and Bunker Hill Road. Street.
M OF
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n 1891, James Estcourt Sawyer, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, purchased an approximately 100-acre tract of land in northwest Prince George’s County at the eastern edge of the District of Columbia with the express intention of developing it into a residential suburb of the nation’s capital. Sawyer, in partnership with his brother and sister-in-law, divided the tract into building lots, platted it with streets, and planted it with trees. According to tradition, these early developers named the subdivision Mount Rainier after the mountain in their home state of Washington. At the time of its initial subdivision, the area around Mount Rainier was sparsely populated farmland. The Washington branch of the B&O railroad, which This circa 1912 view is looking north on 34th Street from Rhode Island Avenue to opened in 1835, Bunker Hill Road. ran alongside the southern edge of Mount Rainier offering commuter service between Baltimore and Washington. As early as the 1870s, station stops along the branch line prompted the growth of several suburbs in Prince George’s County, including Hyattsville, College Park, Berwyn and Beltsville. However, there was no station stop at Mount Rainier, so despite its location adjacent to the railroad line, the subdivision met with little initial success. In 1899, however, the City and Suburban Railroad Company provided the catalyst for change: The company built a railway line out Rhode Island Avenue from the District to nearby Hyattsville, with a stop at Mount Rainier. Clearly recognizing the development potential of Mount Rainier, a syndicate of local real estate investors purchased the 100-acre tract of land that had been previously subdivided by the Sawyers. The company, which began operation as the Mount Rainier Company, recorded a new plat for the subdivision. In a concerted effort to promote its new subdivision, the company then built a sales office, graded the streets, planted trees, built a boardwalk along 34th Street, and erected two houses. The 100-acre tract, located in the angle formed by
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the District line and the B&O Railroad, was subdivided into 52 irregularly shaped blocks. Two main roads ran through the subdivision: Bunker Hill Road—the old road that went from Bladensburg to Georgetown—and Rhode Island Avenue—a muddy road that ran along the streetcar line. Promotional materials directed at middle-income government workers and building trades persons touted Mount Rainier’s rural atmosphere, large building lots, and easy access to the District via the streetcar. Advertisements stressed that Mount Rainier was only one carfare (5 cents) into Washington and that the houses were within a few blocks of the streetcar line. The first streetcar station, called District Line, was located at the intersection of 34th Street and Rhode Island Avenue. Lots in the newly platted subdivision of Mount Rainier sold steadily. This early success of the Mount Rainier Company led other speculative developers to subdivide adjacent tracts of land in rapid succession. By 1910, the Town of Mount Rainier was incorporated, including the various platted subdivisions, and a recorded 163 buildings housing a population of 1,242. COMMERCIAL GROWTH Within its first years of development, a small business district formed at the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue and 34th Street, immediately adjacent to the streetcar station. A post office and several commercial buildings, housing both shops and their owners, clustered around the intersection. This commercial node eventually extended up 34th Street to Bunker Hill Road and along Rhode Island Avenue to the east and west. As residential development spread further out, the intersection became the heart of the community’s downtown. Within a few years of its initial development, commercial Mount Rainier consisted of the streetcar station, the post office, a meeting hall, several dry goods stores, a number of grocers, a bakery, a laundry, a hardware store, a cobbler and a barMount Rainier’s first streetcar station ber. Two churches (behind the streetcar, shown in this circa 1910 and a school stood view) was originally located in the center line just outside this of Rhode Island Avenue, west of 34th Street. business district. The station was demolished in 1929.
The first post office in Mount Rainier, shown in this undated photograph, was established in 1904 and was located on the south side of Rhode Island Avenue, just opposite the streetcar station.
MERCHANTS THEIR
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BUILDINGS
Mount Rainier attracted a variety of residents, but the majority were skilled workers employed by the Federal government or working in the building industry as carpenters, painters, plasterers, electricians, plumbers and craftsmen to name a few. In addition to the government clerks and building trades-persons, a good percentage of the residents worked in retail. While most of these retailers had to go to the city to work, an increasing number of them found jobs in Mount Rainier. As the population continued to grow, business thrived. As business boomed, local merchants began to exercise their increased spending power in entrepreneurial ways, becoming builders and pillars of the Mount Rainier community. Merchants including Perry Boswell, William B. Spire, Harry Lebowitz, and Charles and Maud Lightbown not only expanded their old businesses, but financed and built new ones. Perry Boswell was one of Mount Rainier’s and Prince George’s County’s most prominent citizens. He established himself in Mount Rainier around 1906 as a grocer, and soon became active in local business and political affairs, eventually becoming Mayor of Mount Rainier (1916—1918). In 1915, he helped establish the Prince George’s Bank and Trust Company in Hyattsville. In 1922, the successful Prince George’s Bank expanded its presence by building its first branch bank in Mount Rainier, still standing at 3800 34th Street. Dr. William Spire contributed greatly to Mount Rainier’s commercial and social vitality with the construction of the Cameo Theater at 3822 34th Street. Residents of Mount Rainier enjoyed three decades of entertainment at the Cameo Theater. Harry Lebowitz, who established a dry cleaning and tailor shop at 3817 34th Street around 1909, eventually purchased several town lots and built at least two commercial buildings in Mount Rainier—3402-3412 Rhode Island Avenue around 1937 and 3225 Rhode Island Avenue in 1939. While maintaining his tailor shop on 34th Street,
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PRINCE GEORGE’S BANK BUILDING 3800 34th St
The Prince George’s Bank Building was completed in 1922, from a design by Washington, D.C. architect Frederick E. Hill. The bank was occupied by the Prince George’s Bank and its successors until 1949.
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CAMEO THEATER 3822-24 34th St
Erected circa 1927 by the Crawford-Spire Theater Corporation, the Cameo Theater building included a theater and two street-front shops. Spire’s Pharmacy, run by Dr. William Spire, occupied the southernmost storefront in the Cameo building. The northern storefront became the site of the Mount Rainier Branch of the U.S. Post Office. The post office remained at the site until 1953.
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THE LIGHTBOWN BUILDING 3842-56 34th St
The Lightbown Building was built by 1927 by Charles M. and Maud E. Lightbown and remained in the family until 1943. The building includes five storefronts on the first
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floor and five apartments above. Over the years, the building has housed a variety of businesses, including a grocery, a dry goods store, a confectionary and a butcher shop.
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3809-3817
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These three modest commercial buildings were constructed in the early 20th century and have served a variety of local businesses, including a barbershop, a shoe repair, and the well-established Lebowitz Tailor Shop. The Lebowitz Tailor Shop, considered Mount Rainier’s longest operating business, was located in the end building at 3817 34th Street from about 1909 until at least 1946.
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KLEIN’S
BAKERY
The still standing, though altered, Klein’s Bakery at 3849 34th Street is one of the oldest surviving commercial buildings in Mount Rainier. Constructed circa 1905 by baker John Klein, this early mixed-use building was designed to accommodate the ovens and bakery in the basement, a bakeshop in the first floor, and the Klein family living quarters in the rest of the house. In addition to its local fame as the Klein Bakery, the building became the site of the first meeting of the Mount Rainier Volunteer Fire Department in 1911.
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4005-4009
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Built in 1935, this three-part buff brick commercial building is typical of the simple and relatively unadorned commercial development of the inter-war period of development in Mount Rainier. The center and most prominent store housed a pharmacy; the far end building was the neighborhood five and dime, run by Howard Meincke from 1948 until 1979, and commonly known as Howard’s.
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MOUNT RAINIER DRUG STORE
This 1912 corner building historically housed the Mount Rainier Drug Store, operated by Cordelia Mikules.
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SANITARY GROCERY COMPANY BUILDING 3401 Perry St
The Sanitary Grocery Company built this circa 1930 grocery store as one of several Sanitary Grocery stores in Mount Rainier. The building currently serves an ecclesiastical use.
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STARR/POTT’S
HALL
Erected by local businessman Robert E. Potts in 1910, this much altered building at 3405 Rhode Island Avenue originally housed a movie theater and community hall. In 1921,
the ADAH Chapter #25, Order of the Eastern Star, purchased the building for use as a lodge hall. Founded in 1915, ADAH #25 is one of the community’s oldest and enduring organizations.
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3204-3208 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE
Beginning in 1942 and for more than forty years, Bass’ Restaurant occupied the east storefront of this modest building. This family oriented establishment became something of a Mount Rainier institution. Suggested Reading: Berger, Howard. Downtown Mount Rainier Survey Project, Final Report, June 1988 (MarylandNational Capital Park and Planning Commission—Prince George’s County); Berger, Howard. National Register of Historic Places Nomination, Mount Rainier Historic District, 1989; George, William, ed. City of Mount Rainer, Maryland, 75th Anniversary Book, 1910-1985. Background: Lebowitz Tailors, which operated out of 3817 34th Street from 1909 until at least 1946 and highlighted in this 1942 advertisement, is considered Mount Rainier’s longest-operating business.; The Prince Georgian newspaper, advertised the shows at the Cameo Theater.
Unless otherwise noted, all historic images courtesy of City of Mt. Rainier, Maryland, 75th Anniversary Book, 1910-1985). Photos this page: Kim Prothro Williams. Brochure written by Kim Prothro Williams. Design by Hennessey, Ink.