National Park Seminary

National Park Seminary Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
May Day festivities at National Park Seminary in 1907
Location:	Forest Glen, Maryland
Built:	1890
Architect:	Unknown
Architectural style:	Late 19th And Early 20th Century American Movements, Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Greek Revival
Governing body:	DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
NRHP Reference#:	72000586[1]
Added to NRHP:	September 14, 1972

National Park Seminary — later called National Park College — was a private girls' school open from 1894 to 1942. Located in Forest Glen, Maryland, its name alludes to nearby Rock Creek Park. The historic campus is to be preserved as the center of a new housing development.

History

College

The campus began in 1887 as "Ye Forest Inne," a summer vacation retreat for Washington, D.C. residents. The retreat did not succeed financially, and the property was sold and redeveloped as a finishing school, opening in 1894 with a class of 48 female students.^[2] The architecture of the campus remained eclectic and whimsical. In addition to various Victorian styles, exotic designs included a Dutch windmill, a Swiss chalet, a Japanese pagoda, an Italian villa, and an English castle.^[3] Many of these small homes with international designs were built from blueprints obtained by competing sororities from buildings included in the 1892 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The campus also featured covered walkways, outdoor sculptures, and elaborately planned formal gardens.^[4] In 1936 it was renamed "National Park College" and its focus was realigned with more modern educational trends; it remained one of the most prestigious women's schools in the country.^[5]

Walter Reed Forest Glen Annex

With the onset of World War II, the United States Army began planning for the medical needs of returning soldiers. In 1942, the property was acquired by Walter Reed Army Hospital as a medical facility for disabled soldiers, thus closing the college. The Army paid $890,000 for the land and buildings that became the Walter Reed Forest Glen Annex.^[6] The goal was to provide to seriously injured Servicemembers a quiet, green space for rehabilitation and recovery that was within a short drive from the heavily urbanized neighborhood surrounding the U.S. Walter Reed Army Hospital. Following World War II and the Korean War, the U.S. Army attempted to maintain the space with progressively limited funds; the U.S. Army employed some of the unique sorority houses as base housing for military officers who organized themselves and enlisted soldiers to maintain the Seminary space. Eventually, however, the Army lost sufficient funding from the U.S. Congress during the 1960-1970s to maintain the space and was compelled to declare the property excess, pending transfer to the General Services Administration to find a new owner.

Although the U.S. Army was frequently criticized by local residents during the 1980-1990s for allowing the undeveloped portion of the property to remain economically stagnant, it was largely government ownership that protected the space from over-development. Once relinquished due to base maintenance funding cuts from Congress, the U.S. Army Walter Reed Medical Center ironically lost what once had been a quiet, rehabilitative area for Servicemembers recovering from post-war trauma during the 1940's just as the Iraq War began during 2003. The loss of the Forest Glenn annex as a military medical center for post-war rehab contributed to the necessity of leasing sub-standard space and the subsequent Walter Reed neglect scandal in 2007 that led to firing of the hospital commander and the U.S. Army Surgeon General.

Preservation and Development

On September 14, 1972, a 27 acre (0.11 km²) National Park Seminary Historic District was listed as a national historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. In the following years, the historical integrity of the property was threatened by neglect and vandalism. The Greek Revival Odeon Theater was lost to arson. Local preservation groups took action and "Save Our Seminary" (SOS) was formed in 1988. In the late 1990s, Senator Paul Sarbanes was instrumental in encouraging the Army to make repairs to some of the buildings, and ultimately in releasing the property for development.^[7] With private donations, SOS began an exterior restoration project of the pagoda in 1999, completed in 2003.^[8]

In 2003, a development team led by the Alexander Company began implementing a plan to preserve the campus as the core of a new residential neighborhood. The residential neighborhood as of fall 2009 consists of townhomes, condominiums, and apartments. The townhomes are in a variety of architectural styles from spanish mission to colonial. The apartments, some of which are affordable housing, are located in the main structure. Condominiums are located in several buildings that branch off of the main structure including the Senior House, Senior Annex, and Music Hall. There are also condominiums in the Chapel and Aloha House.

While preserving some of the historic buildings, the Forest Glenn townhouse development in 2003 has fundamentally altered much of the original character of the abandoned Seminary grounds. In the process of rapidly developing the land to take advantage of the United States real estate bubbles of the 2000s, developers cleared old growth forest from the grounds around the abandoned Seminary buildings. Traffic through the area has increased, resulting in elimination of a key green space for the surrounding neighborhoods.

Gallery

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References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ "A Brief History of National Park Seminary". http://www.nationalparkseminary.com/history/. Retrieved October 23, 2006. 
3. ^ Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "Forest Glen Annex". Archived from the original on September 27, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060927032322/http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/forestglen/index.htm. Retrieved October 24, 2006. 
4. ^ National Register of Historic Places. ["Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". [http://www.nr.nps.gov/Red%20Books/72000586.red.pdf. Retrieved October 23, 2006. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "What is the National Park Seminary". Archived from the original on July 8, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060708034852/http://www.saveourseminary.org/News+folder/what_is_the_national_park_semina.htm. Retrieved October 24, 2006. 
6. ^ "The National Park College Years". http://www.operant.com/seminary/davis_era.html. Retrieved October 24, 2006. 
7. ^ "Annex of Walter Reed". http://www.operant.com/seminary/WRAMC_era.html. Retrieved October 24, 2006. 
8. ^ "Pagoda Preservation in Action". Archived from the original on October 5, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061005074141/http://www.saveourseminary.org/PagodaProgress.htm. Retrieved October 24, 2006. 

External links

• The History and Homes of National Park Seminary
• Save Our Seminary at Forest Glen
• The Seminary at Forest Glen
• National Seminary Geocache page
• Forest Glen Info on eastghost.com and many pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Coordinates: 39°0′42″N 77°3′24″W / 39.01167°N 77.05667°W / 39.01167; -77.05667

• National Park Seminary Historic District, Montgomery County, at Maryland Historical Trust