Twenty-nine Years Ago Today at the Silver Spring B&O Station

February 24, 1997 was a bad day for Wayne Lee.

Mr. Lee, a 43-year-old resident of Capitol Heights, MD, was driving his 1991 Ford Escort wagon south in the 8100 block of Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring around 7 p.m. Suddenly he lost both steering and brake control and his vehicle swerved off the road into a parking lot and came to an abrupt halt.

What stopped him was his automobile crashing into the entrance of the historic 1945 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station and coming at rest just inside the front door. Six weeks later, CSX Transportation, owner of the building that was at the time operating as a MARC commuter train station, applied for a demolition permit.

This accident set off a chain of events that, for historic preservationists both local and regional, initiated a years-long effort to preserve a landmark that was pivotal to the establishment and growth of Silver Spring.

In a amazing example of Silver Spring community-wide historic preservation collaboration, ownership of the railroad station was transferred in 1998 to Montgomery Preservation, Inc. Over the next four years, MPI raised over $500,000 in donations and grants. Along with hundreds of hours of volunteer work, the station was restored to its 1945 appearance. In 2002, the station was added to the National Register of Historic Places and reopened to the public.

–Jerry McCoy, MPI Board Member and President of Silver Spring Historical Society