Woodley Park takes its name from the Woodley estate of Philip Barto Key (1767-1815), uncle of Francis Scott Key, author of “Star Spangled Banner.” Philip Barto Key served as an officer on the British side during the Revolutionary War and later served two terms in the new U.S. House of Representatives. He and his wife Ann Key built the mansion in 1801 and, with the assistance of several slaves, raised one son and six daughters there. Woodley later became home to a succession of prominent Americans. It served as the summer White House for Presidents Van Buren and Cleveland and reputedly for Presidents Tyler and Buchanan. Its residents included Civil War General Lorenzo Thomas; Robert Walker, the diplomat-statesman who arranged the purchase of Alaska; Senator Francis Newlands, Chevy Chase developer; General George Patton; and Henry Stimson, cabinet secretary under Presidents Taft, Hoover, and Franklin Roosevelt. Woodley was sold to the Maret School in 1950. The school began in 1911 when Mathe Maret, a Swiss émigré, began teaching French to girls in her Rhode Island Avenue apartment. As the school grew, Maret’s sisters Jeanne and Louise also began teaching. After moving twice, the school made Woodley its home and became an independent, coeducational school with grades kindergarten through twelfth.
