Northwood News ♦ June 2004

Our Neighborhood Featured in Gazette Article

By Charles G. Pritchard

In its 19 May 2004 issue, the Silver Spring Gazette published a comprehensive story by Fred Lewis on the 50th anniversary of Maryland’s only member-run cooperative housing project, which began when a group of D.C residents headed by Leo and Alma Gershenson decided to move north to the Four Corners area.  Using their own resources and a co-op loan from the Federal Housing Authority, this determined group established a residential community of individual households.  Several of the original owners still live in those 44 brick ranch-style homes on Cavalier Drive and Belton Road.

The article cited the presence of our own civic association newsletter editor, Jacquie Bokow, who grew up in Northwood and moved back here with her family because of its neighborhood ambiance.  The article also mentioned Mike Diegel, a former president of our civic association and the current president of the Allied Civic Group, an umbrella organization made up of many civic associations in the down county area.  The Four Corners area also includes the Woodmoor-Pinecrest subdivision and the two communities on opposite sides of Colesville Road, which have combined forces many times on issues that affect the area, including public input to the Four Corners Master Plan.

The article cited the particular caretaking role of the Northwood-Four Corners residents for the Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park, a major tributary of the Anacostia river that has been retained with a natural setting and habitat through the efforts of the local citizens, who consider it one of their unique resources.  Residents from the communities along both banks of the Northwest Branch, between Colesville and Randolph roads, participated in construction of east and west bank trails, including the recently dedicated Rachel Carson Greenway Trail, which was named, at our insistance, for the late eminent environmentalist Rachel Carson, who lived on the eastern bank of the stream valley.  Residents also participate currently in periodic trash collection, alien plant elimination, and tree planting along the trails (see article).   ■