Author Jerry A. McCoy, founder and president of the Silver
Spring
Historical Society and a special collections librarian at the D.C.
Public Library's Washingtoniana Division and Peabody Room, offers
readers a tour of this dynamic central business district and
surrounds.
Title: Book opens new window into history of Silver Spring
Author: Alison Bryant
Publisher: Gazette.net
Date: 10/27/10 Panera Bread now fills the storefront once inhabited
by Wright's Jeweler-Optician on the corner of Georgia Avenue and
Colesville Road. McDonald's has replaced the Continental Oil
Company. And The Portico Apartments mask the footprint of a row of
bungalows on today's Fidler Lane. Old and new images pair up,
sometimes in stark contrast, in Jerry A. McCoy's new book of
historic images titled Then & Now: Downtown Silver Spring.'' It's a
good market to be able to educate these folks as to what makes
Silver Spring unique and what things are important and what things
we should hold onto and incorporate into a new, revitalized Silver
Spring, said McCoy, president of the Silver Spring Historical
Society. The book takes the reader on a photographic journey
through the history of Silver Spring, comparing images from the
past with images of the present-day bustling urban center. It's an
extremely compelling book with stunning images, and many of the
photos show how then is now, '' said Marcie Stickle, longtime
Silver Spring resident and advocacy chair of the Silver Spring
Historical Society. ... We are luckily able to retain and repurpose
many of our original buildings, especially along main streets, ...
and that's very exciting, Shortly after McCoy published his first
book, Images of America: Historic Silver Spring'' in 2005, which
documents the area from 1840 to the 21st century revitalization, he
began receiving questions about why he excluded certain images, he
said. I knew there was a lot missing from the first book that I did
want to include, McCoy said. It took about five years to accumulate
enough new material, and I was very adamant. This was my own self
goal that I didn't want to repeat any images in the second book
that were in the first. It took McCoy five years and significant
historical detective work to complete his latest book. Tracking
down historic materials involves contacting descendants of early
Silver Spring residents and Internet research, McCoy said. The
online auction site eBay proves a valuable source for finding items
that originated in Silver Spring, he said. Some of the Silver
Spring Historical Society acquisitions fund goes to buying back
bits of history for the community, he said. It's always magic to my
ears when someone says, 'Oh, I have an old scrapbook of Silver
Spring photos, and I never knew what to do with it, ' McCoy said.
It's really hard to find, though. Digging up historic items from
Silver Spring is no simple task, McCoy said, though he can't quite
pinpoint why. I think it's a combination that we're not
incorporated, and it's a very transient community where people are
always coming and going, he said. And, I hate to say it, but
there's sort of a lack of pride in the identity of the community as
a unique place. Those of the World War II generation provide much
of McCoy's material, he said. Now, many of those former residents
live in Florida. I think there's probably more Silver Spring
history in Florida than anywhere else in America, McCoy said. The
book aims to inform the community about what came before and inform
new residents about the rich history of Silver Spring, he said.
There's such new lifeblood moving into the community, McCoy said.
New couples, new singles, and they just have no concept or idea of
what history evolved in Silver Spring. And these folks are very
intelligent and probably very inquisitive, and they want to learn
more about their new community and new neighborhood.
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