Knowles Avenue and Connecticut Avenue (10400 Connecticut Avenue)

A block south of Howard Avenue, Connecticut Avenue intersects Knowles Avenue, the east-west connector of two historic railroad towns, Garrett Park and Kensington. Originally, Connecticut Avenue was a short road (now renamed Armory Avenue), which terminated at County Road (now Howard Avenue) and the train tracks. The only way out of town to the south was County Road, becoming Summit Avenue and Cedar Lane. In 1938, a bridge over the railroad was built at Lincoln Avenue creating a curve. Lincoln Avenue became the current Connecticut Avenue. In 1950, this corner at Knowles and Connecticut Avenue was still framed by homes surrounded by large trees. The shopping center you’ve passed was developed in the mid-1950s, and before that there was a large field where kids played baseball or occasionally a travelling circus encamped. The brown six-story office building at the southwest corner was the first of its height in the area, built in 1965.

Cross east on Connecticut Avenue and you see Reinhardt Park and Town Hall, the first tour site, once again returning to the small shops and slower pace of early Kensington.