Evening star., 1951-01-01


Lse, Md.
purchaser was buying all the prop
erty. There were some hold-outs.
Newlands never did succeed in
buying all the property but he got
almost all Of it. Sometimes he had
to wait until the death of the
owner. He was always in the mar
ket for property in the area until
his death in 1917.
Land Company Formed.
In 1890 he announced the for
nation of the Chevy Chase Land
Co. He took the name from one
of the properties he had acquired.
Chevy Chase was the estate of
Col. Joseph Belt who died before
the Revolution and whose house
was near the present Chevy Chase
Circle.
Newlands returned to Nevada
and got himself elected to the
House Of Representatives here in
1892 and to the Senate in 1908. In
the meantime he spared no ex-
pense in the development of the
properties. He organized a trac-
ton company and built what is
believed to be the first or second
electric railway In the country to
get its power from a third rail
underground.
It connected with the cable cars
at Seventh and U streets. It fol-
lowed the present route along U
to Eighteenth and north in Eight
eenth across Columbia road and
Adams Mill road to a steel trestle
bridge which he built to span Rock
Creek where the present Calvert
Street Bridge stands.
He built an overhead trolley line
out Connecticut avenue, building
a bridge across the Klingle Valley.
He built Connecticut avenue all
the way through to the District
line. cutting through hills and fill
! ing gulleys.
Edward Z. Hillyer, former presi-
dent of the Chevy Chase Land Co.,
who was an associate of Senator
Newland, says he started his vii
lage so far out because he felt
people would want to move out
where they could vote.
He got Frederick Law Olmsted,
jr.. the famous landscape archi-
tect of New York. to plan the
development. He was instrument
tai in organizing the Chevy Chase
Hunt-to give his development an
aura of class. He imported an
English riding master named
Rider to teach the residents to
ride to the hounds, and an Eng
lish huntsman named Holloway.
Holloway was installed in house
on the Belt property near the
circle and the stables used to
stall the hunters (horses).
Too Many Wire Fences.
To young George Thomas Dun
lop of Hayes Manor 1762) on
the edge of the Newlands pur-
chase, in which the Dunlop fam
lily has lived since 1887, the hunt
ing was a lot of fun. He was just
home from Princeton (class of
'92). But as the real estate sales
continued the hunting was de-
feated; too many wire fences.
Mr.. Dunlop. now 80, remembers
how friend named Holloway Gee
came back from a summer in
England in 1894 and showed him
a new game-golf played with a
feather ball. It was not until the
next year that he played with
a gutta percha ball.
He recalls that it was Henry
May who took the leading role
in forming the Chevy Chase Club
as both hunt and a golf club.
The old Abraham Bradley farm
house on the site of the present
club was used as a clubhouse. 1t
burned in the 1920s but the CHM
ney is still preserved in the pres
ent structure. Newlands was first
president.
Mr.. Dunlop remembers that of
all the people who enjoyed the
club in the old days, William How
ard Taft was foremost. He was
Solicitor General then and his
Office gave him no immunity in
the small locker room from a
constant ribbing over the failure
OF exercise to reduce his weight.
When he became President wing
to the building had been added
and a presidential suite was in
stalled to give him privacy.
When Woodrow Wilson became
President he was informed that
he had been made an honorary
member Of the club, as are all
Presidents and Vice Presidents
and justices of the Supreme Court.
But he never availed himself of
its privileges. He played at the
SOAAAAA04d tSOA44t1y S1uU W1llCll
had purchased its property from
the Chevy Chase Land Co. about
1907.
One reason that Chevy Chase
was slow in developing was that
Senator Newlands actually hated
to let the land go. Anything he
sold was covenanted with restric-
tions against commercial use and
calling for a relatively expensive
type of house. The restrictions
have been successfully worked
against tourist homes in the vii
lage. The land company never
paid dividends until 1922, five
years after his death and 80 years
after it's organization. That's
why it was not one of the most
profitable developments in history.