Bethesda Historical Society

January 23, 2024 - Bethesda's 153rd birthday!

Bethesda History Articles and Videos

African Americans
The Forgotten African American Community of River Road by David Kathan, Amy Rispin and L. Paige Whitley (2017
Historic African River Road Connections Collection
Housing discrimination in Bethesda
River Road: A black community struggles to reclaim its history
River Road Bethesda: A Short History of Black and White, 1850 – 1963

Agriculture
Dairy farms (video)

Athletics
Big Train Baseball
Johnson, Walter
Johnson, Walter (video)
Special Olympics

Bethesda
Driving around Bethesda (video)

Buildings
Bethesda Meeting House and the Church that named Bethesda
Pooks Hill and Norway’s Crown Princess Martha
Stone House (Lawton Chiles International House)
Strathmore Mansion
Winona

Churches and religious groups
Bethesda Friends Meeting
Bethesda Presbyterian Church
Bethesda Presbyterian (video)
The Church that named Bethesda

Clubs
Bethesda Country Club
History of Montgomery County Country Clubs
Edgemoor Club
The Woman’s Club of Bethesda
Woodmont Country Club

Histories of Bethesda
Bethesda History by Mark Walston
Milestones in Bethesda History
What’s in a Name? Bethesda

Hospitals
Naval Hospital, Bethesda
Suburban Hospital

Housing
Garden apartments
Housing discrimination in Bethesda

Military
USO, Bethesda
Naval Hospital, Bethesda
Navy

Neighborhoods
Alta Vista Terrace
Battery Park
East Bethesda
Greenwich Forest (Maryland Historical Trust, 2009)
Greenwich Forest (Master Plan for Historic Preservation)
Huntington Terrace
Kenwood Park
Luxmanor
Neighborhood Names
Oakmont

NIH
National Institutes of Health (Montgomery County Historical Society)
A Short History of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Institutes of Health Historical Images (NIH)
How NIH’s Main Campus Came to Be in Bethesda (NIH)

Parks
Bethesda Park (1891-1894)

People, Notorious
William Bradford Bishop

People, Prominent
Johnson, Walter
Johnson, Walter (video)
Offutt, Bill 
Roberts, Cokie
Shriver, Eunice Kennedy
Tuckerman, Walter Rupert
     Walter Rupert Tuckerman, Father of Bethesda by William Offutt
     Washington Post Answer Man keeps up with the Tuckermans (2010)

Public services
Fire Department
Fire and Rescue (video)
Telephones

Schools
County schools (video)
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
BCC High School “important civic monument of pre-World War II”
Leland Junior High School
Little Flower School
Norwood School
Walter Johnson High School (video)

Stores and Restaurants
Farm Women’s Cooperative
Hot Shoppes
O’Donnell’s
Tastee Diner

Streets
Old Georgetown Road
Woodmont Avenue

Transportation
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Bethesda (1910-1985)
Beltway, Capital