August 31, 2010

Book Sale Oct 2010

Fall Book Sale: Saturday October 23rd.

We are currently accepting donations of good used books, for children or adults, general interest (no textbooks please). Thanks to everyone who has donated. You have been very generous.

UPDATE: No more donations please. We have no more storage room.

Posted by library at 04:02 PM

August 23, 2010

B. Y. Morrison Park

James Colwell mural at B. Y. Morrison Park

This small, urban, pocket park is located in the commercial "Takoma Junction" area of Takoma Park. It is named for Benjamin Yeo Morrison, the developer of the Glen Dale azaleas and a resident of Takoma Park for many years.

Morrison first became interested in azaleas when, after receiving an M.A. in landscape architecture from Harvard in 1915, he traveled to Asia on a Sheldon Fellowship. After serving in World War I, he became a horticulturist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and eventually the director of the National Arboretum and a founder of the American Horticultural Society. Although Morrison named his azaleas for the Glen Dale Station of the Department of Plant Exploration and Introduction, he developed many of his hybrids in a two acre garden in Takoma Park.

Azaleas grow all over Takoma Park, but they are notably absent from the park named in Morrison's honor. It is instead dominated by the James Colwell mural pictured above, which commemorates music, not flowers. Yet art and music were Morrison's other great loves. He was a landscape painter and a master of botanical drawing. He composed an opera libretto, Salve Regina, and gave professional lieder concerts.

According to his Takoma Park friend, Eugene Hollowell, as quoted in Hybrids and Hybridizers,

He had a fine, sensitive baritone voice and he often was his own accompanist. He sang as a soloist with choirs, and occasionally gave voice lessons. I have been told that he was offered an opportunity to try out for the Metropolitan Opera.

Francis Patterson-Knight is quoted in the same work, describing a visit to him in Mississippi where he lived after his retirement:

Each day brought new surprises, for not only was he a great plantsman, and an able artist, but his love and knowledge of music added to our enjoyment. He gave us a wonderful evening in the little church where he worked and prayed - here he sang for fully two hours accompanying himself on the piano. We listened spellbound to ballads, Jewish chants, the songs of John Ireland and Brahms ... it was unforgettable.

Hybrids and Hybridizers: Rhododendrons and Azaleas for Eastern North America, edited by Philip A. Livingston and Franklin H. West. Harrowood Books, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, 1978.

In addition to the above book, the Takoma Park Maryland Library owns a copy of Morrison's 1953 U.S.D.A. monograph, Glenn Dale Azaleas, and a 1978 reprint published by Thophrastus.

The Morrison Garden at the United States Arboretum
Copyright for the picture at the top of the page is held by the City of Takoma Park. The artist is James Colwell.


You can take a look for yourself via street view.

View Larger Map
The July 2010 Takoma Park Newsletter had updated information on the mural, accompanied by a photo by Laurie Stepp. Look for page 5.
Guarding the Neighborhood Eighteen years ago, James Colwell painted the brilliantly colored, vibrantly animated mural, “Guardians of the Neighborhood,” in the pavilion at the corner of Carroll and Ethan Allen avenues. Last month, he did a major touch-up, repainting the piece to brighten its effect and keep the artwork from showing its age. “Guardians,” which depicts a lively jazz club-type scene, is one of the most familiar of Takoma Park’s public art pieces, as it is geographically central to the City at Takoma Junction. It is painted on the wall of what was originally a gas station, then a thrift shop; the structure is part of B.Y. Morrison Park, named for the Takoma Park azalea collector responsible for the “Azalea City” designation. The pavilion’s columns are covered in ceramic tiles by Takoma Park artist John Hume; these also illustrate the town’s quirky heritage, with representations of Roscoe the Rooster, Motorcat, and Root Boy Slim, among others. Colwell, who is a professional piano restorer by trade, remembers that the mural stirred some controversy when it was new: he had to raise the neckline of the sensuous dancer on the right.

please note: this page was originally part of the local reference section of the library's web site.
parks, gardens and athletic fields

Posted by library at 04:57 PM

Takoma Park Churches

Bright Light Baptist Church 7300 New Hampshire Avenue 301.891.8900
God Glorified C.O.G.I.C. 111 Geneva Avenue 301.588.6607
Grace United Methodist Church 7001 New Hampshire Avenue 301.891.2100
Mar Thoma Church of Greater Washington 322 Ethan Allen Avenue 301.891.1633
Our Lady of Sorrows 1006 Larch Ave 301.891.3500
Sligo Seventh-Day Adventist Church 7700 Carroll Avenue 301.270.6777
Takoma Park Presbyterian Church 310 Tulip Avenue 301.270.5550
Takoma Park Seventh-Day Adventist Church 6951 Carroll Avenue 301.829.4800
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church photo 7410 New Hampshire Ave 301.434.0444
 
Unconfirmed:
also at 7410 New Hampshire Avenue
        Mision Buenas Nuevas 301.434.1700
        Langley Park Spanish Seventh Day Adventist Church 301.431.1191
also at 7001 New Hampshire Avenue
        New Creation Gospel Center 301.270.8122
 
Not in the City of Takoma Park but nearby:
6707 New Hampshire Avenue | Agape Christian Center of Christ 301.270.1551
8609 Greenwood Avenue | Iglesia Cristina Canaan 301.495.9634
276 Carroll Street Northwest | Seekers Church 202.829.9882
8400 Carroll Avenue | Takoma Park Spanish SDA Church 301.408.7500
635 Aspen Street Northwest | Takoma Park Baptist Church 202.723.4700
7716 Piney Branch Road | Chinese Christian Church of Greater Washington 301.587.0033
633 Sligo Avenue | Church of the Ascension 301.587.3272
7005 Piney Branch Road Northwest | Trinity Episcopal Church 202.726.7036

Other area churches

please note: this page was originally part of the local reference section of the library's web site.

Posted by library at 02:08 PM

August 21, 2010

Apartments

Here are some places to find apartment information for this area:
The Takoma Park Housing and Community Development Department publishes a landlord tenant handbook and model lease forms for Takoma Park rentals. It also offers mediation and conflict resolution.
Craigslist: Maryland suburbs | whole DC area
City Paper classifieds
Washington Post Apartment Showcase Choose Takoma Park in the drop-down box of cities.

Please remember, many places with postal addresses of Takoma Park 20912 are not actually in the City of Takoma Park. For example, Fairview Avenue is in an unincorporated area of Prince Georges County. So is 6733 New Hampshire Avenue. The zip codes do not correspond to the political/service/school boundaries.

Posted by library at 12:58 PM

August 20, 2010

Weekend Without Trains

All Labor Day weekend the Takoma Metro station will be closed, as will all stations north of Takoma. If you want to go downtown via Metrorail, you will need to make your way to Fort Totten, not easy unless you live along New Hampshire Avenue which has the K6 bus (a pdf file).

Update: Metro clarified their post: the shuttle between Fort Totten and Glenmont is actually going to stop at each station in between, including Takoma.

Closed Period: Friday, September 3rd shortly before 10 PM to Tuesday morning September 7th at 5 AM
More information about the Labor Day closing .
Trip Planner.
Bus routes in Takoma Park (a pdf file).

That same weekend, Labor Day 2010, the library will be open Saturday, closed Monday. The computer center will be closed both Saturday and Monday. (Both are normally closed Sunday.)

Posted by library at 01:16 PM

August 16, 2010

List of Schools

Takoma Park does not have its own school system. Children attend private schools or Montgomery County public schools.
buttonelementary | middle | secondary | parochial | college | adult ESOL
buttoncurrent Montgomery County school schedule
buttonMontgomery County school phone numbers
buttonMontgomery County curriculum
button School Assignment & Facility Information Locator
buttonBoard of Education
buttonMaryland School Report Card for Montgomery County (State Board of Education)     
          by individual school

buttonsummer reading lists

Elementary 
Middle Schools / Junior High Schools  
High School 
Parochial Schools within Takoma Park 
Parents' Discussion Groups

ESOL and GED  
The County ESOL and GED programs are now administed by Montgomery College, not the Montgomery County Public Schools. 301.962.8950. Currently none of these classes are held in Takoma Park.

Other sources for ESOL instruction within bus distance of Takoma Park:
Colleges within Takoma Park:  
Some of the Colleges and Universities within 10 miles of Takoma Park:
please note: this page was originally part of the local reference section of the library's web site.
Posted by library at 11:56 AM

August 13, 2010

Geography and Maps

Takoma Park lies right on the fall line, the border between the Piedmont Province and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Piedmont soils in the north and west parts of the City are derived from an ancient underlying schist. Soils in the southeast section come from more recent upper Coastal Plain sediments.

Elevation 214 feet above sea level (at the library).


Latitude & Longitude 38o 58.862' North
77o 00.645' West
(at the Library)


Climate
Yearly Precipitation (inches) 39.2 (average)
Yearly Snowfall (inches) 16 (average)
Average Summer Temp. 74 +/- 5 F
Average Winter Temp. 37.2 +/- 5 F

The climate is very similar to that of College Park, which is only four miles away.
The Weather Channel also has some local climatology statistics.
see also: Maryland State Climatologist Office.



Current Weather Click for Takoma Park, Maryland Forecast

National Weather Service outlook for Takoma Park

National Weather Service Baltimore-Washington Office
current satellite
Geos 8
FEMA's advice for severe weather preparation.


Sky
Current time (official) -5 UT
Current sky
Sunrise/Sunset
Position of sun in sky
Clear sky clock


Watershed Anacostia [see also the Anacostia Watershed Society]
Friends of Sligo Creek
Nearest USGS satellite-monitored stream gage, current readings


Size 2.36 square miles before unification/annexation


Maps boxward map
boxtopo map (37 k) created from DeLorme's Topo USA DVD
boxfrom a bicyclist's point of view (34 k)
box Mapquest map of Takoma Park
click "Launch 360 View" to see street views beginning at the library.


More Maps boxTopozone 1:25,000 topographic maps (takes time to download.)
box Landsat images of this area from a University of Virginia site.
box generalized geologic map of Maryland.
box distribution of mosquitos carrying West Nile virus
box upcoming visible passes of the International Space Station

View Larger Map

please note: this page was originally part of the local reference section of the library's web site.

Posted by library at 07:25 AM

August 12, 2010

Open 08/12 !

Yes, we know that if you don't have electricity or an Internet connection you can't read this, but we are open. The Takoma Branch of the DC library system is closed, as are the nearby Montgomery County libraries: Silver Spring, Long Branch, White Oak and Wheaton. But, as we are substituting for so many places, we have a shortage of outlets for laptops so we are plugging in a variety of power strips and UPS boxes.

We now have enough public computer stations as the computer rooms in the community center opened at 2 PM. All 28 stations are operational. You need our library card to use them. Library Cards - Takoma Park Maryland Library

Power is surging here so we don't know what will happen this evening.

Posted by library at 03:23 PM

August 07, 2010

Geology

Geology of the Takoma Park Area

Longbranch Creek in Takoma Park

The following image clips are from the generalized geologic map of Maryland produced by the Maryland Geological Survey. Please note that the Montgomery - Prince George's County line as shown in the map reflects the old placement, before the City was unified into one county.


takoma park area rocks under the Piedmont portion of Takoma Park
rocks under the Coastal Plain portion of Takoma Park

Neighboring Areas

Coastal Plain sediments
Coastal Plain sediments
Piedmont rocks


for fun: Earth science picture of the day

please note: this page was originally part of the local reference section of the library's web site.

Posted by library at 11:31 AM
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Book Sale Oct 2010
B. Y. Morrison Park
Takoma Park Churches
Apartments
Weekend Without Trains
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Takoma Park city seal THE LIBRARY IS A DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF TAKOMA PARK
Call the desk at 301-891-7259
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