TAKOMA ARCHIVES DIANA KOHN From Model T to Taliano’s and … · Henry Ford’s Model T put cars...

TAKOMA ARCHIVES • DIANA KOHN

10 TAKOMA VOICE • January 2006

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One of the seven local sites caughtup in the past year’s developmentfervor lies on the Maryland side of

Carroll Avenue. The parcel, encompassingthe Taliano’s/Rerun storefront andextending in an “L” shape over toWestmoreland Avenue, is slated for condosand additional retail space. However, for six decades before thearrival of Taliano’s, this site served as theautomotive center of Takoma Park. Thelarge bay window once proudly displayedthe latest model Ford automobiles.

Before 1888, the intersection at Carrolland Laurel Avenues was a wooded expansefour blocks from the commercial activitysurrounding the train station. Takoma Parkfounder Benjamin Franklin Gilbert was thefirst to build here, constructing a rustic logcabin. Modeled after the iconic symbol of

William Henry Harrison’s presidentialcampaign, the cabin was the firstincarnation of a Takoma Park “communitycenter.”

Gilbert soon added a 10-storyobservation tower next door so prospectivebuyers could survey the land available forpurchase. When a new streetcar lineopened in 1898, the second to link TakomaPark with downtown DC, the log cabinmarked the trolley turnaround.

Twenty years later, the cabin and towerwere gone, replaced by two blocks ofstorefronts to take advantage of thecommercial opportunities provided by thecustomers waiting for the streetcar. It isironic that one of the major businesses toopen up at the turnaround was HendrickMotor Works, offering those new-fangledinventions that would eventually replace

streetcars. Hendrick Motors occupied aone-story cement structure on the CarrollAvenue site where Taliano’s now stands.

Gilbert could hardly have imaginedhow automobiles would alter the suburb hecreated. As early as 1912, an underpass hadtransformed Cedar Avenue’s grade-levelcrossing at the railroad tracks. Later, in1935, new highways such as Piney BranchRoad and New Hampshire Avenue wouldcarve the way for further suburbanexpansion.

Henry Ford’s Model T put cars ineveryone’s reach. Introduced in 1909 at acost of $850, Ford eventually sold 15million Model Ts. By 1928, they werepriced at a mere $260. For folks in TakomaPark, Hendrick Motors was their entry intothis novel world of individualizedtransportation.

But first America had to survive theDepression years, which were difficulttimes for car dealers who depended oncredit. In 1930, Hendrick Motor Worksfolded. One of the Hendrick salesmen, J.Milton Derrick was willing to gamble,however. He took over the dealership andreopened it as Takoma Motor Company,with an exclusive franchise to sell Fords.

In addition to the Carroll Avenueshowroom, Derrick took over the servicearea on Westmoreland with its capacity of15 cars. He understood that selling cars wasonly the start. Customers needed help tokeep their cars running. By 1940 he wasready to expand the showroom as well asthe repair and maintenance sides of thebusiness

The resulting two-story storefront with

1921: The original one-story Hendrick Motor Works was the first structure on CarrollAvenue where Taliano’s now stands. It folded in 1930 as a result of the Depression, butreopened as Takoma Motor Company under the leadership of J. Milton Derrick.

1921

From Model T to Taliano’s and beyond

PHOTOS COURTESY HISTORIC TAKOMA FROM “THE TAKOMA ENTERPRISE”

1940

1940: The expansion of Takoma Motor Company created the mission style storefrontfamiliar today, occupied by Taliano’s and Rerun.

large display window is the same one wesee today. In addition to the salesroom, theservice entrance next door opened on aparts and accessory department offering22,000 different items, a repair center, apaint shop and tire center. There was evensomething for the kids. One local resident,Dorothy Barnes, remembers that there wasa water fountain inside the salesroom. Onhot days it provided a welcome break onthe long walk home from Takoma (DC)Elementary on Piney Branch Road.

For two more decades, Takoma Motorsremained an integral part of Old Takoma,before giving way for Murphy Auto Partsin the mid-60s. Car dealers needed largerquarters elsewhere, but the site remained asource of car parts for local residents untilthe mid-1980s when pressure to developforced more changes.

Local developer John Carletonpurchased both the storefront and theWestmoreland space with the idea ofcreating a mini mall. Travis Price, thearchitect who designed the project, hasfond memories of Carleton conductingbusiness from the front seat of a pinkCadillac parked in the old Ford displaywindow.

The remodeled salesroom was occupiedby Taliano’s, while the service section nextdoor housed a series of retail enterprisesover the years, including the much-lamented Chuck and Dave’s Book Store,and the current occupant, Rerun.

The service area along Westmorelandwas cleaned up, but the mini mall neverquite worked out. Small shops shared thespace with a dialysis clinic. Studio OneArtists, whose clients included MaryChapin Carpenter, occupied the bungalowhouse on the property.

Now 20 years later developer StylianosChristofides is making plans to attract newresidents with upscale condominiums andadditional retail space on the site. Althoughthe design is in flux, Christofides states his

commitment to restore, “not just thewindowline and the limestone facade, butas much of the historic fabric of theinterior” as possible. The restoration willrequire Taliano’s and the other businessesto vacant the building, at some point withinthe next year. Only time will tell whetherthe project gives new life to the old TakmaMotors.

Note: Much of the information for thisarticle is from the July 1941 edition of TheTakoma Enterprise, a newspaper printedtwice a year beginning in 1907 by FrankSkinner. It is an invaluable resource whichcaptures the life of the community.

January 2006 • TAKOMA VOICE 11

Milton Derrick, Ford dealer and founderof Takoma Motor Co., assured the buyingpublic in 1940 “that a Ford car purchasednow is far from experimental having had37 years of continuous engineeringbehind it.”

The original service entrance for Hendrick Motor Works was on today’s Westmoreland(then called Elm) around the corner from the main store. It could service five cars atone time. In 1928 it was expanded to a capacity of 15 cars. The 1940 expansion createda service entrance on Carroll Avenue, but this remained the repair garage.