User:Emmette Hernandez Coleman/Chevy Chase, Maryland and DC

Chevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Maryland, and a neighborhood of Washington, D.C.. In addition, a number of villages in the same area of Montgomery County include "Chevy Chase" in their names. These villages, the town, the CDP, and the neighborhood, share a common history and together form a larger community colloquially referred to as "Chevy Chase". This community is roughly centered on Connecticut Avenue north of the District of Columbia.

Chevy Chase's major commercial road is Connecticut Avenue, which, in addition to commercial establishments, is home to apartments, a community center, two libraries (one D.C. and one Montgomery County) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Unlike many urban neighborhoods that have lost local businesses to large chains and suburban malls, the small, generally locally owned businesses along Connecticut Avenue remain, and are well patronized by the local population. These businesses include Magruder's Supermarket, established in 1875, and the Avalon Theatre, which opened in 1923 as a silent film house and ran until the theater underwent renovations in 2003. The Avalon thereafter reopened as a non-profit movie theater. In addition to historical commercial buildings the area has multiple parks including Rock Creek Park, Lafayette Park and Livingston Park.

History
Chevy Chase was unincorporated farmland in the years before 1890, during which time Senator Francis G. Newlands of Nevada and his partners began the aggressive acquisition of land in northwestern Washington, D.C., and southern Montgomery County, Maryland, for the purpose of developing a residential streetcar suburb for Washington, D.C.. (See Washington streetcars) The Chevy Chase Land Company was founded in 1890, and its eventual holdings of more than 1700 acre would extend along the present-day Connecticut Avenue from Florida Avenue north to Jones Bridge Road. The Chevy Chase Land Company would build houses for no less than $5,000 on Connecticut Avenue or less than $3,000 on a side street.

The name "Chevy Chase" was taken from one of the absorbed plots of land. Its name in turn, according to the Village of Chevy Chase's official history, can be traced to the larger tract of land called "Cheivy Chace" that was patented to Colonel Joseph Belt from Lord Baltimore on July 10, 1725. It has historic associations to a 1388 battle between Lord Percy of England and Earl Douglas of Scotland, the subject of the ballad entitled, The Ballad of Chevy Chase. At issue in this "chevauchée" (a French word describing a border raid) were hunting grounds or a "chace" in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland and Otterburn.

Subdivisions

 * Census-designated place of Chevy Chase, Maryland
 * Incorporated town of Chevy Chase, Maryland
 * Neighborhood of Chevy Chase, DC

Villages

 * Chevy Chase Village
 * Chevy Chase Section Three
 * Chevy Chase Section Five
 * Martin's Additions
 * North Chevy Chase