page_title: Whiskey Bottom Road
section_title: The 1900s
hierarchical_section_title: Whiskey Bottom Road / History / The 1900s
caption_attribution_description: English: Turf Motel Laurel Maryland
context_page_description: Whiskey Bottom Road is a historic road north of Laurel, Maryland that traverses Anne Arundel and Howard Counties in an area that was first settled by English colonists in the mid-1600s. The road was named in the 1880s in association with one of its residents delivering whiskey after a prohibition vote. With increased residential development after World War II, it was designated a collector road in the 1960s; a community center and park are among the most recent roadside developments.
context_section_description: A 1-mile (1.6 km) dirt oval racetrack once operated in the early 20th century at the southeast corner of Whiskey Bottom and Brock Bridge Roads. During prohibition, the road hosted speakeasies with houses outfitted with hidden rooms and liquor storage in the walls to hide supplies from stills along the Hammond Branch river (Patuxent).
  The road became the link for communities such as Highland to the nearest train station in Laurel. After the great depression, many family farms were sold to pay back taxes and were subdivided into lots for owner-built homes. Construction of these homes peaked after World War II. Shortly after city water was provided to the Howard county residents in the 1960s, Whiskey Bottom Road was designated a collector road. The majority of home construction from that point on has been in the form of developments on subdivided property managed by homeowners associations. Only one house on the historic road is listed in Howard County's Historic property inventory: The Joseph Travers House, a Folk Victorian dwelling built on land called "Sappington's Sweep" in 1890 over the site of an earlier 1862 house.
  Between 1936 and 1940 the construction of the Patuxent Research Refuge displaced all residents along the southeast section of the road. The construction of I-295 cut off access to the road, and its remaining sections were renamed. The cut-off-road sections were used to train troops and tank operators during WWII, and were returned to the wildlife research center in 1991.
  After WWII, Israel Kroop operated Kroop's Goggles on Whiskey Bottom behind the racetrack. He developed innovative semi-disposable vented goggles that have become the standard for jockeys and skydivers. The business continued after Kroop's death in 1991; the family sold it in 2008, and its product remains locally produced in Savage, Maryland.
  In 1959, the plans for construction of the I-95 highway that eventually bisected Whiskey Bottom Road were met with protests.
  On the northwest corner of U.S. Route 1 and Whiskey Bottom Road, Crickett's California Inn hosted live bands from the 1960s until its relocation in 2008. The bar hosted various formats, switching to country in the 1990s and karaoke in the first decade of the 21st century.  The bar was previously known as Randy's California Inn, and The California Inn.
  The Edy's Ice Cream plant on the northeast corner of U.S. Route 1 and Whiskey Bottom Road is the second-largest ice cream manufacturing facility in the world. A smaller plant was originally built by Clifford Y. Stephens at the site in 1961. The factory packaged goods for High's Dairy Stores. In 1987 the facility was acquired by Southland and later by Nestle, which owns the Edy's and Dreyer's brands. In 2003 a $210 million expansion was built on land previously operated as Pfister's mobile home park. Seventy three families were moved out of the trailer park that had operated since World War II. Prior to that, the land was operated as a chicken farm.  The adjoining office complex once occupied by High's management is now the Phillip's School for Contemporary Education.
  In 1958, Melville W. Beardsley founded National Research Associates company and settled on Whiskey Bottom Road in 1961. NRA developed and tested over 30 air cushion vehicles, with the Air Gem Air cushion vehicle produced as their first product. NRA also sold Disney's Flying Saucers attraction under license. The Company went out of business in 1963.
  In 1962, 47 acres (190,000 m²) were rezoned at the corner of Whiskey Bottom and All Saint's Road to form the Whiskey Bottom Apartments, the first development along the road.
caption: The Turf Motel, a 1950s Route 1 motel still operating in 2012
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