By Barbara Kalabinski

In 1989, Peerless Rockville president Helen Hillstrom wrote a letter to John Tyner, then president of the Twinbrook Citizens' Association, reflecting on Twinbrook's 40th anniversary:
"In less than a decade, when it reaches its golden anniversary, Twinbrook will be eligible for historic designation. We look forward to that time, and with history as our guide, fully expect that all of our lives will continue to be enriched by the efforts of Twinbrook citizens."

Twinbrook is now 50 years old. At this milestone, it is worth taking a look at the community that not only changed the lives of its residents, but the course of Rockville as well.

In 1948, a petition was made for the incorporation of Twin-Brook within the Rockville city limits. After some deliberations the City annexed the self-contained, fast-growing new neighborhood. Not only did the area quickly fill with residents, but these new residents were very active and civic-minded. They immediately formed a civic association, and got involved in organizing Citizens for Good Government. The energy and involvement of Twinbrook residents led to Rockville's besting 250 other cities for "All America City" designation in 1954. To date, six Twinbrookers have become mayors of Rockville.

Twin-Brook was created by Joseph L. Geeraert, Roland E. Simmons, Wesley J. Sauter, and Donald E. Gingery. In 1946 these four developers bought 200 acres of farmland from Lillian M. Small in a beautiful part of Montgomery County, on the edge of Rockville. "Rockville was then a small, sleepy town," Lee Wallace, longtime Twin-Brook resident told me 48 years later. "Rockville was country for us." The land was bucolic, with two streams (thus Twin-Brook) which flowed into Rock Creek. Even more important was its location in the heart of one of Washington's hottest suburban corridors. GIs and others in search of jobs found their starter homes in Twinbrook.

Twin-Brook was one of the first developments in the area authorized by the 1946 Emergency Housing Act. Signage advertised: "For sale by Twin-Brook, Inc., Homes $11,500; GI and FHA Approved Loans, Basements." The company offered "homes of different styles and sizes, with a two bedroom, 1 _ story frame dwelling predominating and so designed that two bedrooms and a bath can be added to the unfinished second floor."

But times were changing for this part of the County. Even before the end of World War II, President Roosevelt's idea of decentralizing the federal government was taking shape. Huge federal employers such as the Naval Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health were coming closer to Rockville. The veterans were coming too. When WWII was over, 16 million Americans - soldiers, sailors, and other servicemen - were eligible for the benefits of the GI Bill of Rights. As author Spiro Kostof wrote of the era: "The veteran had gone to fight for home and family, and was now back to claim a fitting reward - a house of his own. Armed with a VA loan, he could see his dream materialize in no time at all."

Mr. Geeraert and his associates pledged to build "a complete city." I think it can be said that he succeeded.

Barbara Kalabinski, a Twinbrook resident for 12 years, wrote a history of Twinbrook for her studies in historic preservation at Goucher College.