Kensington Cabin

In 1924, the Woman's Club of Kensington initiated steps to construct a park on town-owned lots, with Civic Committee chair Blanche Armstrong calling the location ideal as an attractive introduction to the village and a pleasant meeting place for outdoor recreation. Local officials sought a partnership with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and a handshake agreement was reached on May 17, 1930, to develop a site for tranquility and leisure. Enthusiasm for the project was then overshadowed by the Great Depression. After President Franklin D. Roosevelt created public relief programs, the Civil Works Administration supported projects of permanent value, including public parks, and the playground at Kensington became part of a successful proposal submitted by the commission. Scheduled to begin on March 23, 1934, Project 31 halted only a week later when political pressures led Roosevelt to discontinue the Civil Works Administration by April 1934. Although relief workers left the site, under Chief Engineer Irving Root the commission completed what the Civil Works Administration had begun at a cost of $506.50, using supplies left behind and expecting several skilled laborers to finish the cabin in 75 days. Six months later, citizens gathered at the completed Kensington Cabin to admire it as a symbol of persistence and optimism, and in 2011 it was designated to the Montgomery County Master Plan for Historic Preservation as a symbol of the spirit of those times.

Kensington, Maryland · United States