“Coinciding with the rapid expansion of Federal employment under the New Deal programs of the Roosevelt administration, the population of Montgomery County swelled enormously during the 1930’s, from 49,206 in 1930 to 83,912 in 1940…. The two lower districts of Wheaton and Bethesda, because of their proximity and immediate access to the city, experienced the greatest burst of construction activity, so much so that by the end of the 1930’s almost 65 percent of the population lived in these two Election Districts.”

Read more at “Montgomery County’s First Garden Apartments” by Mark Walston on the Montgomery County Historical Society website.