Evening star., 1951-02-05
Prosperous Bethesda Run by Women While Men Work Wosnqton
By George Kennedy

and Gettysburg, is an outstand
ing example of a recent trend il
suburbia.
1t is a matriarchy. The men
for the most part. go to work
in Washington each day and the
women run the place.
The businessmen of Bethesda
a minority of the male popula'
ton left as sort Of a hostage tx
wait upon the women, are no
all ready to admit the shift O.
power.
They even ignore such straw.
in the wind as this item on tn,
front page of last weeks Recort
and Bethesda Journal:
Cakes and cookies baked b.
members of the Mems Gardel
Club of Montgomery County will
be exhibited tonight (Thursday
at a meeting Of the club in st
Johns Church, Bethesda. Wive
of members will be special guests.
Banker Makes Admission.
But S. Walter Bogley, presi'
dent of the Bank of Bethesda
is too astute a businessman u
deny prevailing condition.
"Of course, the women run thi:
town." he says. I'D be a foo
not to realize it. Eight of 1C
patrons who stop in this bank
are women. When I try to get
anything done in a civic way
appeal to Mrs. Edith Whalen.
She's one of our most active club
women. If she approves it, some
how or other within "a hours
every woman Of the community
knows about it."
The businessmen have discov-
cred who runs the community
every time they have tried to ex-
pand. Business is so good that
the stores are over1owing. 1t
might be said of Bethesda that
lit is experiencing boom but not
enjoying it. The majority of the
population. spanked by the women,
is against further encroachment"
of business.
Every attempt at rezoning to
allow construction of apartment
houses on Wisconsin avenue (Be-
thesda calls it Main street, north
of the District line has been de-
feated. So also have most at
tempts to allow business on the
side streets in the blocks just of
Main street and Old Georgetown
road.
This inner conflict is causing
a condition in the community
which in an individual, psychol-
ogists would call a personality
disturbance. Businessmen rise in
the Bethesda luncheon CKiwanis
Lions, Civitan) and demand that
Bethesda be put on the map.
Map Makers Discover Town.
It will surprise Washingtonians
to know that until recently, be-
cause they are not incorporated
villages, map makers ignored both
Bethesda and Silver Spring.
On the other hand there are
residents of areas which the busi-
nessmen would like to have termed
Bethesda who do not care whether
it is on the map or not. They
prefer to have their addresses
listed as washington IA" OF
Edgemoor or Chevy Chase.
Not being Incorporated, Bethes-
da has no definite boundaries. II
is primarily the area around the
juncture of the Rockville Pike
(Route 240) and the Old George
town road, now a major traffic
intersection because the East
West highway has been cut
through to that point.
There are several maps with
conflicting boundaries. The
Bethesda voting district (Mont.
gomery County, District y in.
cludes the village of Chevy Chase
The Chevy Chase Post Office area
includes much of the area between
the District line and Bethesda
The fire departments have still
other maps. The high school ane
the library are called Bethesda.
Chevy Chase which will be tht
name of the shopping center
planned for Wisconsin avenue
and the District line just across
from the new Woodward &
Lothrop store. Perhaps the by.
phenated name will prevail in tn,
area in the future.
The name Bethesda certainly
has been put on the maps by thu
Bethesda Rescue Squad, thu
Naval Medical Center and. thu
National Institutes of Health, Uncl,
Sans research center. The clini.
cal center at the institute nov
under construction is one of the
largest buildings in the Wash.
ington area. 1t will be the frs
hospital entirely devoted to re.
search. The patients in the 5O(
beds will be admitted because thu
researchers want to work on theil
type of malady. They will bt
special types of heart, cancer anc
mental cases. The hospital will
take up only one-fourth the foo
space, research the rest. Five
thousand persons will work ther,
each day.
Attractive Residential Area.
| With the great increase O.
workday population, it is doubt
full whether the residents of Be
thesda will be able to keep bust
ness from expanding. Bushes.
men tell them new business will
ease tax burdens but they will
have none of it. Why they ar
resisting is readily apparent t,
any one who will turn off Wiscon
sin avenue and tour Bethesda
''lanes" and roads" 1t is one o
the most attractive sections in tn
entire Washington area.
The Edgemoor section west O
4 Wisconsin ovpn11n or1d co1Yfn of ~,