The new Montgomery History Center is taking shape in a historic Rockville bank. Photo by Montgomery History

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Just off Rockville Pike, the grave marker of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, bears a quote from The Great Gatsby: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Less than a mile away, a new portal to the past, the Montgomery History Center, will open early next year.

The nonprofit Montgomery History purchased the historic Farmer’s Banking and Trust building in downtown Rockville last year. Inside the 126-year-old Art Deco building, which most recently housed an M&T Bank, visitors will be able to view exhibits from the group’s collection more than 10,000 artifacts and attend lectures about county history. The center will also include a library and oral history recording studio where residents can tell their stories.

“We want people to understand that this isn’t a history that exists outside of them, but that they’re part of that history — and they’re making history every day.” said Matthew Logan, Montgomery History’s executive director. “We want to be considered a resource and a destination for everyone who calls Montgomery County home.”

An 82-year-old organization

Since 1944 Montgomery History has been celebrating and archiving the county’s past at its current headquarters in Rockville. Located nearby in Beall-Dawson Historic Park, its campus includes a historic house, a small museum of 19th-century medicine and a medicinal herb garden.

Logan said Montgomery History had hoped to open the center this fall to coincide with the county’s 250th anniversary. On Sept. 6, 1776, the Continental Congress created Montgomery County by lopping off the southern portion of Frederick County, naming it for General Richard Montgomery, a Revolutionary War hero who died in action in 1775 fighting for the Continental Army in Quebec.

Although construction and permitting delays have pushed the opening back by a few months, Montgomery History plans to hold a 250th celebration on Oct. 10 at the Glen Echo Park Spanish ballroom with a fife and drum band, activities and re-enactors of historic figures such as Benjamin Franklin.

Capturing oral histories

A facet of the new Montgomery History Center will be the Connie Chung Oral History Studio. Chung, the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News and the first Asian-American to anchor any network news program, grew up in Silver Spring.

“I was flabbergasted when I was told” about the name, Chung said in a Montgomery History video about the studio.

“Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined, as a kid going to Montgomery Blair High School, that this honor would be bestowed on me. Montgomery County meant a lot to our family, and I think it made a big difference to us because it was known for its diversity and community spirit.”

The studio will record a variety of voices, adding to oral histories the nonprofit has already collected over the years.

“Right now, we’re primarily identifying people who have a special story to tell, not just VIPs and elected officials, but people who have started important businesses or who represent an era in our county’s history. There may be people, for instance, who were early, say, Salvadoran immigrants,” Logan said. “If any of your readers are interested and think they have something they’d like to share, they should reach out to us. We’d be happy to talk to them.”

Montgomery History has also gathered some oral histories with the help of younger residents. In a partnership with Rockville High School, students interviewed their parents and grandparents about their lives.

The organization hopes to start a program where people can drop in with their grandchildren or other family members to share their histories.

“This intergenerational sharing is incredibly powerful as a way to bring people together. They see the things they hold in common, the values they share. They understand the struggles from where the other person came and the challenges that they’re facing,” Logan noted.

“That, of course, develops empathy and caring and love. Those are the values that extend to the larger community. That, to me, is the most critical reason why we share history.”

To learn more, visit montgomeryhistory.org.