21-183 Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form
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M: 21-183 Survey No ftlegLLsl3.3 Magi No. DOE yes no MARYLAND INVENTORY OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form 1. Name (indicate preferred name) historic Mount Pleasant / The Magruder/Clements/Offutt/Casey Farm and/or common Eugene B. Casey Community Center/ Casey Barns 2. Location street & number 810 South Frederick Avenue Not for publication city, town Gaithersburg vicinity of congressional district state Maryland county Montgomery 3. Classification Category Ownership Status Present Use district X public X occupied agriculture museum X buildinq(s) private unoccupied commercial park structure both work in progress educational private residence site Public Acquisition Accessible entertainment religious object in process X yes: restricted X_government scientific being considered yes: unrestricted industrial transportation X_not applicable no military other: 4. Owner of Property (give names and mailing addresses of all owners.) name Mayor and Council of Gaithersburg, Maryland street & number 31 South Summit Avenue telephone no.: 301- 258-6300 city, town Gaithersburg state and zip code MD 20877 5. Location of Legal Description courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Montgomery County Courthouse liber 4315 street & number Judicial Center 50 Courthouse Square folio 349 city, town state Rockville, Maryland 6. Representation In Existing Historical Surveys title City of Gaithersburg Historic Resources Inventory date federal state county X local depository for survey records City Hall. 31 South Summit Avenue city, town Gaithersburg state Maryland 7. Description survey NO. M:21-183 Condition Check one Check one x excellent deteriorated unaltered X_ original site good ruins _X altered moved date of move fair unexposed Prepare both a summary paragraph and a general description of the resource and its various elements as it exists today. RESOURCE TYPE: 1938 Dairy Barn now used as a community center ENVIRONMENTAL SUMMARY The subject building faces east on Maryland Route 355, a six lane State Highway divided by a paved and planted median. The highway also serves as Gaithersburg's main street, Frederick Avenue. Interstate 370, a six lane major interstate connector, and a six lane county road, Shady Grove Road, are to the south, separated from the Barn by an apartment development. To the north is Rosemont, a detached single family housing development dating from the 1960's, which is partly in the County and partly in the City of Gaithersburg, an office building, and a row of churches that front on Frederick Avenue. West across Frederick Avenue is a long-term stay hotel built in 1997 and several small businesses. Residential townhouse and detached single family homes are behind the commercial strip. The front lawn area features a shallow circular fountain ringed by seasonal flowers. The site is accessed by a one-way entrance driveway that leads along the north side of the structure to the rear parking lots. Exit is via a one-way driveway on the south side of the building. The dairy barn is a tripartite barn with two smaller gambrel-roofed barns linked to the main barn by connector passageways. Originally these passageways were covered open-air walkways, but are now enclosed. The barns were part of a dairy operation from 1938 to 1970 but were donated by developer Eugene B. Casey to the City of Gaithersburg and converted to public use for a community center. The first story is made of concrete blocks purchased in Frederick County. The second story is frame. The entire building is about 175 feet long, with a height of 35 feet in front and 45 to 59 feet along the back. The barn is about 80 feet across with a silo on each side. Each silo had a capacity of 150 tons of corn. The 60 dairy cows in the barn produced 300 gallons of milk daily, which were sold to the Thompson and Chestnut Farms dairies. One of the silos has now been made into an observation dome, with a spiral staircase winding up from the lower floor. The other silo also has a spectacular transparent dome that can be illuminated. The central part of the barn where cows were once milked and hay was stored has been converted into various sized meeting rooms. The second floor hayloft is now a large activity room complete with mirrors on the walls and a barre to aid aspiring gymnasts and dancers. M:21-183 8. Significance Survey NO--M 8't^ Period Areas of Significance - Check and justify below prehistoric archeology-prehistoric X community planning landscape architecture religion 1400-1499 archeology-historic conservation law science 1500-1599 X aqnculture economics literature sculpture 1600-1699 architecture education military social/ 1700-1799 art enqineerinq music humanitarian 1800-1899 commerce exploration/settlement philosophy theater X 1900- communications industry politics/government I transportation invention other (specify) Local History Specific dates ms Rnilrler/Arrthirer.t Raymond Mnnre check: Applicable Criteria: A B X C D and/or Applicable Exception: A B C D E F G Level of Significance: national state X local Prepare both a summary paragraph of significance and a general statement of history and support. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Eugene B. Casey Community Center, commonly known as Casey Barns, is a gateway feature at the southern entrance to Gaithersburg on the main North-South Highway, Maryland Route 355 or Frederick Avenue. It stands on a historic farm known as Mount Pleasant and serves both as a reminder of the area's agricultural past which extended from 1802 to 1969, and of the City's pledge to provide community facilities to its citizens. The large white barn with green trim and a six-acre tract surrounding it was donated to the City of Gaithersburg by Eugene Casey shortly after 64 acres in the immediate neighborhood of the barn were annexed by the city in 1969. The building has been a landmark at the southern boundary of Gaithersburg for over 60 years. MARYLAND HISTORICAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN DATA Geographic Organization: III.) Piedmont, Montgomery County, City of Gaithersburg Chronological/Developmental Period(s): L) Modern Period 1930-Present Historic Period Themes: 2) Architecture/ Landscape Architecture, Community Planning Resource Type: Building/ agricultural, barn, dairy Category: Building Historic Environment: Rural Historic Function and Use: Agricultural, Dairy farm, barn Known Design Source: Raymond Moore History and Significance continued on Attachment 8.1 MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST SURVEY NO. M:21-183 STATE HISTORIC SITES INVENTORY FORM SECTION 8 PAGE 1 History and Support (continued) 810 South Frederick Avenue/ Casey Barns HISTORY AND SUPPORT Casey Barns was built on a farm called "Mount Pleasant", originally owned and built by Colonel Zadok Magruder near the intersection of the present Shady Grove Road and South Frederick Avenue about 1807. Magruder's main home was "The Ridge" in Redlands on Muncaster Road and as far as is known, he did not live at Mount Pleasant. ' The Magruder family arrived in Maryland in 1652 when Alexander Magruder was deported from Scotland as a plantation slave following the Scottish Rebellion. After the execution of Charles I of Great Britain, a bitter struggle ensued between Oliver Cromwell, acting for the "New Commonwealth" and for Parliament, against Charles II, backed by the Covenanters and loyal Royalists. It resulted in decisive battles, including those of Dunbar, 1650, and Worchester, 1651. The Scotts and Charles II suffered severe losses in each battle. In the first battle, Sir Walter Scott records, "there were many prisoners made, and transported to America as slaves." Of the battle of Worchester, Sir Walter states, "the day was totally lost to Charles II and the Scotts, 3,000 men were slain, 10,000 taken prisoners, and such as survived their wounds and the horrors of crowded jails were shipped off as slaves to the plantations." There is no doubt that Alexander's arrival in Maryland as a slave identifies him as one of that vast number referred to. Tradition says he died in Calvert County in 1677. John Magruder, of Dunblane, Prince George's County, obtained three or more grants of land between 1736 and 1766. His son, Zadok, the first to reside in Montgomery County, inherited six hundred acres in 1745 and built "The Ridge," the first Magruder house at Redlands. It was a two-story double log cabin with a huge stone chimney between the two parts, each with a fireplace, back to back. Colonel Zadok Magruder, 1745-1811, was the third generation in Maryland, a grandson of Alexander Magruder. Colonel Magruder attained his rank in command of the "Home Defense Battalion of Lower Frederick County " during the Revolutionary War. He was appointed along with his brother, Nathan, as commissioner to establish the government of Montgomery County in 1776. Col. Magruder's son and heir, Robert Pottinger Magruder, probably lived at and operated this farm. Robert P. Magruder was a farmer and involved in the early government, serving in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1799, 1800, and 1801. A brick house such as Mount Pleasant would have been appropriate to his station in life and his father already had a home at The Ridge. After Col. Magruder's death, Robert Pottinger Magruder owned and operated the farm until it was sold by his estate in 1838 with 437 acres of land to Lemuel Clements. Roger Brooke Farquahar, Old Homes and History of Montgomery County Maryland. Washington, D.C., originally 1952, this edition, 1962. The Zadok Magruder history was chiefly taken from site No. Ill, "The Ridge" pages 312 and 313. MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST SURVEY NO. M: 21-183 STATE HISTORIC SITES INVENTORY FORM SECTION 8 PAGE 2 History and Support (continued) 810 South Frederick Avenue/ Casey Barns Lemuel Clements was born to Henry and Jane Clements in 1794 and was a well traveled adventurer before settling down in Montgomery County.