Evening star., 1925-07-26

by Mr.. Whedtley His article on
nearby Maryland tCiH appear Mon
day and that discussing the orototh
of Virginid's suburbs 1CiH appear
Tuesday tCith maps.
BY WILLIAM j. WHEATLEY.
Millions of dollars are being spent
annually, with the indications of rapid
increases being made from year to
year, in that part of Maryland and
Virginia adjacent to the National
Capital. In this territory, which fore
sighted city planners are scanning
with a view to making it a great met
ropolitan district, to grow up as an
integral part of the Capital City, yet
each retaining its autonomous gov
ernment as it has now, dwellings are
rising with boom-like rapidity. But
1t is a substantial growth, forced by
homeseekers who are to become an
integral part of the great commu-
mites.
This growth to the north. south,
east and west of the Capital City, in
Guiding what eventually will be the
great metropolitan area of the Capt.
tai, in accordance with the plans of
the regional planning committee. is
largely an expansion of this city's
own population, crowded out of the
urban sections Those who are
IN this section say, too, that for the
most part they are employees of the
Federal Government.
Growth From City.
Columns have been written on the
great developments in this area, and
various claims made of the rapid ex-
panSlon of this section and that, but
there have been few concrete facts
printed to give a statistical picture of
this material growth of the Capital,
for 1t is a growth of the Capital City,
though beyond its legal bounds. Fig
ureS have now been compiled for The
Star which will show conServatively
this phenomenal growth in these CON-
munities. The figures which will be
presented in this series of articles
were compiled from the official records
in the land recorders offices of the
courthouSes at Rockville, for Mont
gomery County; Upper Marlboro, for
Prince Georges County, and Arlington
for Arlington County. Va. In the
compilation of the statistics 1t was
necessary to examine the records of
approximately 1000 building permits
covering building throughout these
counties in order to select those of
buildings in the area adjacent to
Washington and what generally, in
Maryland, is included in the Wash
ington Suburban Sanitary District
Facts also were collected from the
Washington Suburban Sanitary Com
mission, with offices in this city, show
ing the number of subdivisions which
had been approved by that body in the
past two years, which the figures will
cover.
Figures Are Conservative.
The figures are conservative. if any
~
mated cost of the construction of each
building, and as these figures are used
by the county commissioners as the
basis for assessing the taxes against
the buildings, it is quite certain that
the estimated cost of the construction
is low, if anything. The increase in
land values is not taken into con-
sideration, and the figures given in
clude only dwelling houses. They
do not include erection of garages,
barns, henhouses, repairs to dwellings
or additions to buildings already up,
but new construction of dwellings
only. The permit system for building
was put in effect in the Maryland
counties for the purpose of aiding the
assessors in locating new construc-
ton. and. While 1t has been in effect
in Montgomery County for several
years, 1T has only been in effect in.
sessment figures in these counties for
period of years do not give a fair
index of the increase. because of the
many changes which the assessors
make from time to time
Boom in MONTGOMERY.
The figures show that during the
past year there has been a sudden and
rapid rise in building in Montgomery
compared with $1,301 1925 the previous
year. During the year ended July 1
last the records of the Washington
Suburban Sanitary Commission show
large increase in the number of plats
of new subdivisions approved, as we'll
as subdivision of these. While there
are no figures available for the year
previous to this, it is believed that 1t
would be conservative to estimate that
the amount of building each year pre-
vious would be in the neighborhood of
81 100000. Although the increase of
building construction for the year
ended July l last will probably be sur
priSing to many, those who are famil-
lar with the rapid strides being made
in these sections believe that this year
will show even a greater increase than
last, and this is borne out by the
rapidity with which building permits
are ALREADY DelnS requested.
Millions i'm Building.
During the last two fiscal years in
Montgomery County and the last year
in Prince Georges County there were
built l ,243 houses, having an estimated
value of $6,570,783. AS explained,
these figures include only the terri
tory adjacent to Washington, run
ming in a general line as far out as
roI T@I nrl-. Io
road about midway between Wash
ington and Rockville; on the Seventh
street or Brookeville pike as far as
Glenmont; on the Washington Balti
more boulevard as far as College Park
and on the Marlboro road as far as
Seat Pleasant and Greater Capital
Heights. They include such commu
mites as Cabin John Park, Glen Echo,
Bethesda, Edgemoor, Battery Park,
Leland, Chevy Chase. West Chevy
Chase, Fairmount Heights, Norwood
Heights, Kensington, Garret Park,
Woodmont, Woodside, Woodside Park,
Seven Oaks, Blair, Silver Spring, Ia
koma, Hyattsville, Riverdale, Bladens-
burg, Colmar Manor, Cottage City,
Berwyn, College Park, University
Park, Mellwood. Bradbury Heights.
Seat Pleasant, Cedar Heights, Greater
Capital Heights, Mount Rainier and
Brentwood. Detailed figures on each
of these will be presented in future
articles in this series.
Construction is Higher Grade.
In Montgomery County, the figures
show for the year from July l, 1928
to July l, 1924, there were constructed
254 houses having an estimated total
value of s1,3o1,925. The figures for
the six-month period from July l, 1924.
to January 1, 1925, while showing an
Al, I,,A Of In limo