Sunday, October 21, 2012
During World War II Prisoners of War from Germany helped farmers in Germantown plant the seeds and harvest the crops. Many of the farmers said that they could not have done it without them because so many of their workers had gone to war.
When the United States entered World War II on Dec. 8, 1841 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, thousands of men and women volunteered for the armed forces. Thousands more were drafted into service. This left many farms and peacetime industries short of manpower. Often, women stepped in to fill the vacancies, but farms, especially at harvest time, were feeling the pinch. Farms all over the nation were struggling to produce more crops to feed both the nation and the armed forces. Here in Germantown, Liberty Mill—the second largest mill in the state—ground local wheat into flour that was bagged and sent directly to the Army. So in the fall of 1942, when the local farmers found out that more than 2,000 prisoners of war were being held …
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Politics and Passion Lead to Tragedy in Germantown
Editor's Note: Occasionally, Patch will highlight notable stories from our archives. This story was originally published Oct. 31, 2010. — It was just before the election in 1920 and several men were gathered informally at the Waters General Store in Germantown discussing the pros and cons of the various candidates. When it came up that a local citizen, John Bolton, was refusing to vote, one of the men, Guy Vernon Thompson, volunteered to try to persuade him to do his civic duty. What was not known to the others was that Thompson had more on his mind than the election. He had a suspicion that Bolton was having an affair with his wife. When he knocked on the door of the miller's house for the Waters Mill where Bolton was living, Bolton …
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The Maryland Humanities Council commemorates the bicentennial of the War of 1812 starting Wednesday at Montgomery College's Germantown campus.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Renovation plans for Germantown farmstead includes historical immersion workshops that depict plantation life in Montgomery County.
Tucked away at the edge of Germantown, Button Farm simulates 19th century plantation life. But instead of what you’d expect at a historical site — historic buildings, docents in period attire — the farmstead proposes extending the “living history” experience to the visitors. A nearly half-million dollar makeover expected to wrap up by next season includes plans for an “immersion experience” in which visitors could live out what it was like to be a slave in Montgomery County, according to the farm’s founder Anthony Cohen. “When you walk into that field you will be walking back in time,” Cohen told Patch. To get a sense of what this means, Patch caught up with Cohen and toured the property with the CSA manager Cara Light, ahead of the farm’s…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Button Farm Living History Center simulates 19th century plantation life; $80,000 would be used to restore and renovate the farmhouse and other sites
Montgomery County Council approved on Tuesday funding for renovation efforts at Button Farm Living History Center. The council approved $80,000 in matching funds, more the $47,500 that Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett recommended for the project. Located within Seneca Creek Park, Button Farm simulates 19th century plantation life and hosts educational events throughout the year. The farm also grows fresh produce and is a supplier to Manna Food Bank. The money would be used to restore and renovate the farmhouse and other sites on the property, according to documents submitted to the council. Additional funding for the project would come from a $300,000 state bond bill and $220,000 from in-kind donations, bringing total funding to $…
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Is your street’s name historical or an invention from a developer’s imagination?
Anyone in Germantown today can tell you a story of getting lost in a maze of streets in a development. Looking at a map of the city is like looking at a bunch of connected spider webs. But there was a Germantown before development. The roads of old Germantown are still there, but hidden within the labyrinth. How can you tell the old roads from the new? In the past 40 years Germantown has grown from about 600 people to a population of nearly 85,000. With this growth has come a myriad of new roads and streets. But despite tremendous growth, Germantown still has many of its original roads. Many of these roads have been widened, shortened or lengthened, but some retain much of their original appearance. On the western edge of Germantown Black …
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Learn more about the place that was once a cornerstone of Germantown tradition.
When the Volstead Act prohibiting the sale, use, import or export of intoxicating beverages was passed by Congress in 1919 and became the 18th Amendment to the Constitution many viewed it as a disaster and some viewed it as a way of making money illegally, but a few industrious entrepreneurs took advantage of the Volstead Act to promote a purely honest business. One of these enterprising men was Andrew Baker of Germantown. Baker had an apple orchard on his farm near the Germantown train station and made his own cider. He wanted an outlet on the main road to sell his cider—something that would catch the eye of the passer-by and advertise his product at the same time—a product that was, incidentally, free from alcohol. So, in the early …
Monday, September 20, 2010
Learn about the beginnings of the Germantown you now know.
This being our inaugural issue of the Germantown Patch, one might wonder about the beginnings of Germantown itself. Where did we as a community come from? I did some digging and extracted this brief sketch of the roots and growth of our town. The more I've read of the rich body of material on the subject, the more I've realized just how minimal this account will be. The earliest human residents of what would become Montgomery County were the native tribes of "paleo-Indians," who hunted buffalo, mammoths, mastodons, and other game, supplementing their diet with wild plants. They were nomads, following the migrations of the herds, and having no permanent settlements. By the time of the arrival of the first Europeans in the early 1600s, …
Fran Asbeck
8:56 am on Monday, October 22, 2012
It would be interesting to hear about the after-war experiences of the German workers from employer-families that stayed in touch with them after repatriation, or from the descendents of the workers who stayed here after the war. more ›