The Fairmount Heights Historic African American Signage Trail

On Wednesday October 17, 2018,  Mayor Lillie Thompson Martin and the Town Council dedicated the Fairmount Heights African American Signage Trail with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Maryland Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford joined Mayor Martin, Council Members Stella Hargrove, Jacqueline Wood - Dodson, Marshon Moreno, and other guest as they stood on what was once the steps of the first Municipal Center. The original building was erected in 1942 and was demolished in 2000.To establish a visual trail of the town’s rich legacy, the Mayor and Council established the Fairmount Heights Historic Signage Program that described many of the important historic landmarks.  In 2015, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development through its Community Legacy Program awarded the Town a grant of $75,000 to design and install historic markers that would identify many of the historic sites and historic resources.

In the late-nineteenth century, the area that would become Fairmount Heights was made up of several small farms. The Town was officially incorporated in 1935 with a mayor-council form of government. It became the second established African American Township in Prince George’s County. In 2011, Fairmount Heights and its numerous local buildings were awarded historic designation by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and by the National Register of Historic Places. The Historic District boundaries are Eastern Avenue to the West, Sheriff Road,Balsam tree Drive and 62^nd Avenue.

Markers were installed at 18 significant sites as listed below:

· Fairmount Heights Elementary School

737 61^st Avenue

Historic Site Built 1912

· William Sidney Pittman and Portia Washington Pittman House

505 Eastern Avenue

Historic Site- Built 1907

· James F. Armstrong House

908 59^th Avenue

Historic Site-Built in 1905

· World War II Monument

      701 59^th Avenue

      Historic Site- Erected in 1946

· Samuel Hargrove House

5910 K Street

Historic Resource, Built 1918

· Fairmount Heights Methodist Episcopal Church

716 59^th Avenue

Historic Resource, Built 1911

· Trammell-Taylor House

717 59^th Avenue

Historic Resource, Built 1910

· John S. Johnson House

      612 60^th Place

      Historic Resource, Built 1911

· Henry Pinckney House

608 60^th Place

Historic Resource, Built c. 1905

· Cornelius Fonville House

602 60^th Place

Historic Site, Built 1912

· Doswell Brooks House

6107 Foote Street

Historic Resource, Built 1928

· Charity Hall

715 61^st Avenue

Documented Property, Built 1908

· Robert S. Nichols House

802 58^th Avenue

Historic Resource, Built 1908

· Bungalow Row

62^nd Avenue between Foote Street and Addison Road

Documented Properties, Built 1920

· Municipal Center Site (Old Town Hall)

717 60^th Place

Documented Property, 1942-2000 (Demolished 2000)

· First Baptist Church

808 58th Avenue 

Historic Resource, Built 1913

· Sylvan Vista Baptist Church

1101 60th Avenue ,Historic Resource, Built c. 1925

· The Masonic Lodge No. 92 & The Columbine Chapter O.E.S.

Chartered in 1928, Columbine Chapter chartered in 1928  (Historic Resource)

Lodge location 5501 Addison Road