Glenmont, Maryland

Geography

Due to its unincorporated nature, the boundaries are difficult to precisely define, but the center of the community is located at the intersection of Randolph Road and Georgia Avenue (Maryland State Highway 97).

History

The village of Glenmont (sometimes spelled Glenmount) in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries contained a few houses and small farms lining the Washington-Brookville Turnpike, as Georgia Avenue was then called. The area had a post office since at least 1900.

Glenmont's first school opened in 1926. Located on current-day Georgia Avenue, the school served students from Glenmont, Aspen Hill, Layhill, and Wheaton.

The area remained largely undeveloped until after World War II, when suburbanization began with the construction of subdivisions in Glenmont. The State Roads Commission began planning to widen Georgia Avenue in 1948. Commercial and residential development began transforming the rural area known as Glenmont in 1949 with two major developments, Glenmont Village and Glenmont Forest.

In 1947 the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission built the 189-foot (58 m) tall Glenmont Water Tower, which is a multi‐columned elevated water tank with a 500,000-U.S.-gallon (1,900,000 L) capacity.

Transportation

Glenmont is a suburban crossroads of sorts. Georgia Avenue (Maryland Route 97) passes through the community. Southbound along Georgia Avenue is Wheaton, downtown Silver Spring, and the District of Columbia. North of Glenmont on Georgia Avenue is Aspen Hill (another unincorporated community) and Leisure World, a large retirement community. Route 97 continues north through Howard and Carroll counties to Pennsylvania.

Meeting Georgia Avenue at the heart of Glenmont is Randolph Road. The intersection of Georgia Avenue and Randolph Road is heavily congested, and there are plans to replace the current, at-grade intersection with a grade-separated interchange. Georgia Avenue is under study as a bus rapid transit (BRT) route in the Countywide Transit Corridors Functional Master Plan. The State Highway Administration is also studying BRT along Georgia Avenue between Glenmont and Olney.

Layhill Road (Maryland Route 182) has its southern terminus at Georgia Avenue, just north of Randolph Road.

The Glenmont Metro station serves the area. This underground station, which opened in 1998, is at the east end of the Red Line, and has two large parking garages. From Glenmont, the Red Line heads south to downtown Silver Spring and to the District of Columbia before re-entering Montgomery County and terminating at Shady Grove.

Government

The Kensington Volunteer Fire Department has a fire station at the intersection of Randolph Road and Georgia Avenue. The station was designed by architect Ted Englehardy as a large Colonial Revival wing-and-gable building. the exterior of the building is of brick construction and contains an exterior chimney and clock tower.

Montgomery County Police District 4 headquarters is also located at the intersection. The police station was designed by Bagley, Soule & Associates of Chevy Chase in 1958. The construction was completed in 1959. The building has several additions, which reflect a change from the original Colonial Revival design. The complex features traditional details including denticulated cornices, brick laid in American bond course, molded brick surrounds, and double hung sash windows.

The Maryland-National Capital Park Police has its headquarters in an old elementary school on Layhill Road.

Civic associations

In October 2008, the Greater Glenmont Civic Association was founded to address crime rates in Glenmont and to encourage the Montgomery County government to revitalize the Glenmont area, just as the county had done in the neighboring Wheaton and Silver Spring areas. According to Greater Glenmont Civic Association documents, crime decreased in the Glenmont area by about 15% as of June 2010. The Greater Glenmont Civic Association won several awards and grants for its activities. The group became defunct in 2014.

Glenmont Exchange was incorporated in 2013 to promote community in the area.

Economy

There is a large shopping center on the northeast corner of Randolph Road and Georgia Avenue. It has a Shoppers, CVS Pharmacy, Staples, local pub, convenience store, barber shop, sporting goods store, numerous small markets and restaurants, a Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Subway, a discount beauty supply store, and a branch office of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration. There are also other restaurants and stores scattered along Georgia Avenue.

The Glenmont Land and Development Corporation began construction of the shopping center in 1956. The center was not constructed in one building campaign. It was expanded as the developers were able to bring in new businesses. In its original construction, each store had large plate glass display windows held in by tubular aluminum, known as an "open design." One portion of the shopping area, known as the "Arcade," included a 24 lane bowling alley. The alley was named for Alphone "Tuffy" Leeman, who played for the New York Giants in the 1930s and 1940s. By 1957, the shopping center included the bowling alley, a dry cleaner, a hardware store, and a restaurant. By 1962, the shopping center included a hairstylist, barber shop, shoe service, insurance agency, Glenmont Inn Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, a hardware store, a saving a loan association, a High's Dairy Store, a glass and mirror store, a bicycle store, a People's Drug Store, a post office, and a Grand Union Supermarket.

The Glenmont Shopping Center fell into some disrepair in the early 1990s. Residents of the Glenmont area have repeatedly asked the county and store owners to make safety improvements to the parking lot and to upgrade the facades of the stores.

Housing

There are three large garden apartment complexes and a condominium in the center of Glenmont. The rest of the area consists of single family homes and a few townhouses. Most of the housing stock west of Georgia Avenue is older and smaller; east of Georgia Avenue, the homes are newer and larger. However, there are a few sites west of Georgia Avenue where homeowners have demolished small, older homes and built larger, newer homes in their place. About 62 percent of the area's housing units are owner-occupied, although this is less than the countywide homeownership rate of 75 percent.

Glenmont Village is a residential subdivision of single family homes on the west side of the center of Glenmont. Financed by the Minneapolis-based Investors Diversified Solutions, Inc., the homes were built in 1949 and 1950. Glenmont Village originally included 30 blocks and approximately 350 buildings. Two-bedroom houses originally sold for $8,890 each. Glenmont Village advertised the two-bedroom Cape Cod-style houses as "modern bungalows". The houses featured full basements, gas heat, hot water, and an expandable attic level with a full-width dormer in the rear. There were four basic varieties of houses. Over the years, the houses have been customized.

Demographics

According to the United States Census Bureau's estimates for 2014, Glenmont had a population of 15,412. The population was 35% White, 26% African American, 0% Native American, 10% Asian American, 0% Pacific Islander, 25% from another race, and 4% of multiple races. 36% of the population was Hispanic or Latino.

Of Glenmont's residents age 25 or older, 18% have earned a graduate or professional degree; 40% of the population has a bachelor's degree or higher; 81% has a high school diploma or higher.

Four percent of Glenmont's adults are civilian veterans.

Glenmont's mean family income was $111,149, and its median family income was $85,946. Nine percent of Glenmont's residents' income is below the poverty level.

Of Glenmont's residents who are employed, 58% drive alone to work, 13% carpool to work, 23% use public transportation, 1% walk, 2% use other means, and 4% work at home. Of Glenmont's employed residents, 73% work for a private employer, 20% are employed by the government, and 7% are self-employed. Of Glenmont's residents who are employed, 40% work in management, business, sciences, or arts; 23% work in service occupations; 20% work in sales; 11% work in construction or maintenance, and 5% work in transportation. Nine percent are enrolled in college or graduate school.

Of Glenmont's population, 25% were born in Maryland; 30% were born in another state or U.S. territory; and 45% were born outside the U.S. Of Glenmont's residents, 55% were U.S. citizens at birth, 21% are naturalized U.S. citizens, and 24% are not U.S. citizens. Most frequently reported ancestries were 9% Subsaharan Africa, 5% German, 4% Irish, 4% English, 3% West Indian, 3% American, 3% Italian, and 2% Russian.

Education

Public schools in Glenmont are operated by the Montgomery County Public Schools. Glenmont's high school students may attend (John F. Kennedy High School, Wheaton High School), or another school in the Downcounty Consortium. Glenmont's middle school students attend Argyle, Col. E. Brooke Lee, and A. Mario Loiederman. Glenmont's elementary school students attend Georgian Forest, Weller Road, Glenallan, or Arcola. Barrie School is a private school teaching stundets in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Glenmont Elementary School was originally constructed at the intersection of Randolph Road and Georgia Avenue in 1935. A gymnasium designed by V.T.H. Bien was added in 1946. Another addition was built in the 1950s. The school's grounds included a play area and a large grassy field. The original school has since been demolished and another nearby school now uses the name.

Terrain

The area consists of modest rolling hills broken by small streams, all of them fed mainly by run-off from storm drainage, although the community contains at least one natural spring still producing aquifer-fed water. All streams to the east side of Glenmont are part of the Anacostia River watershed; they flow into the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia, which empties into the Potomac. Streams to the west of Glenmont generally reach the Potomac River by way of Rock Creek, with Georgia Avenue serving as a rough dividing line between the two drainage areas.

Parks

There are three public parks near the center of Glenmont: Glenfield Local Park, Saddlebrook Local Park, and Glenmont Greenway Urban Park. Glenfield Local Park is 11.3 acres and features a diamond/rectangular field overlay, a playground, two tennis courts, a picnic shelter, and a petanque court. Saddlebrook Local Park is nearly 15 acres and includes a rectangular field, playground, and a basketball court. Glenmont Greenway Urban Park is approximately three acres, and includes an eight‐foot wide asphalt trail and sitting areas. The land is owned by WMATA, but operated and maintained by the Maryland‐National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M‐NCPPC) as parkland.

In addition to these three parks, there are 11 parks within a few miles of the core Glenmont area, totaling over 1,100 acres. Chief among these is Brookside Gardens and Wheaton Regional Park, both managed by Montgomery County.

Points of interest