History Of Drummond
The Village of Drummond was originally conceived, at the turn of the twentieth century, as a convenient Maryland suburban neighborhood close to the District of Columbia and located next to a new streetcar line running down what is now Wisconsin Avenue in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Drummond traces its origins to 1902, when decorated US General Richard Coulter Drum sold a 16-acre parcel at the southern tip of his farm to the Drummond Land Company. In 1903, the company, named after General Drum, subdivided the property to create Drummond.
Drummond contained forty-five lots arranged along Park Avenue.
The prospect of living in a quiet, beautiful, suburban neighborhood, yet also being able to commute into downtown on the streetcar attracted upper-middle class buyers. Lots in Drummond began to sell soon after the neighborhood’s creation.
In 1916, Drummond successfully sought a charter from the State of Maryland to become a Special Taxing District. It is one of only three such districts in Montgomery county to have survived. Under its charter, Drummond holds taxing authority to provide and maintain such services as streets, sidewalks, water and sewer. The charter also provides for an annually elected three-person Citizens Committee to carry out the governmental functions of the village. These committee functions eventually became defined as that of mayor, treasurer and
secretary.
The 1920s witnessed a real estate boom with new construction advancing across the Washington region. Approximately ten new homes were built in Drummond during the 1920s. In 1927 the Village purchased the two ornamental iron lamp standards located at the entrance
to the neighborhood from the Fred S. Gighner Iron Works of Washington, DC. Five new houses were built during the 1930s, none during World War II, and then six during the 1950s. Seven new houses have been built since 1989.
Many of the homes in Drummond have unique characteristics and/or histories. One c. 1905 house has a working bowling alley in its attic, original to the house. Many have been home to accomplished leaders in the arts, business, government, law, science and engineering,
medicine, religion, banking and industry.
Several interesting stories are known of Drummond that have been recounted by residents over the years.
The Beekeepers
One of the more interesting stories is the association of 4717 Drummond Ave with the Department of Agriculture’s beekeeping studies. In 1916 the home was rented to the Department of Agriculture, who was looking for a house in suburban Maryland to house their beekeeping Laboratory. From 1916 to 1919, 4717 Drummond Avenue served as the focal point
of the study of beekeeping in America. An apiary was established on the ground, while the house served as offices and laboratories.
Multigenerations—the Tibbotts
Bob Tibbott is a third-generation resident of Drummond. His grandmother designed the home he lives in today. His grandmother Elizabeth Tibbott was famous for being an iconoclastic person who stubbornly applied to the Department of Agriculture 58 times for an artist position closed to women applicants. After the Department finally relented and offered a her a job, she rejected the offer, stating that her objective all along had been to demonstrate that their policy of discriminating against women had been wrong and that she hoped that her efforts had helped open the doors of equal employment opportunity to other young women artists.
Lloyd Davis, architect of the Martin Luther King Holiday
Lloyd and Mary Davis were an mixed-race couple who moved to Drummond in 1965. Lloyd worked as a senior advisor at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and was interested in fair housing practice, which may have provided him with the resolve to stay in Drummond when some neighbors wanted the family to leave. Davis later became vice president and chief operating officer of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, and was the “principal architect” in the effort to create a federal holiday for the civil rights leader. President Reagan enacted the new holiday in 1983, and it was first observed in 1986. Lloyd’s daughter Leigh Davis continued in is footsteps of public service and was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2024.
John Doar, civil rights activist and Medal of Freedom recipient
Lloyd Davis was not the first civil rights activist to reside in Drummond. John Doar lived in Drummond between 1962 and 1968. Doar served in Eisenhower’s Justice Department and as assistant attorney general in charge of the civil rights division. At considerable personal risk,
Doar investigated civil rights abuses and worked to ensure voting rights and implement school desegregation in the Deep South in the 1960s. In 1962, Doar, along with a federal marshal, escorted James Meredith into the University of Mississippi. Meredith was the first African American student admitted into the school. Two years later, Doar was heavily involved in the investigation of the murder of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County Mississippi. He rode with the Freedom Riders in Alabama in 1961, and numerous protest marches, including the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. President Obama awarded Doar the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
Francis Lethbridge, architect
Few architects have had a greater impact on the twentieth century development of Washington DC than Francis Lethbridge, who resided in Drummond from 1957 to 1978. Lethbridge was one of Washington’s most renown modern architects. He designed a number of important early
modernist suburban communities such as Pine Spring and Holmes Run Acres in Virginia and Carderock Springs and Potomac Overlook in Maryland. His firm won an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award for the Tiber Island residential complex and the River Road
Unitarian Church in Bethesda.
Community Spirit
Drummond’s traditions of governance have contributed to the strong sense of community found in the neighborhood. Each year, the village holds semi-annual meetings, one in the spring and one in the fall. Drummond holds its annual elections the first Monday of May. The
election is hosted by the outgoing mayor, with an atmosphere “almost like a party” providing the opportunity “for people to get together and talk and have refreshments.” Drummond also holds a block party each September. In 2000, Drummond prepared a Time Capsule containing
items donated by residents. It is buried near the bench by the alley and scheduled to be opened in the year 2100.
