Media Center

With More Adult Children Living Home and Female-Headed Households, Montgomery County Households Look Very Different

SILVER SPRING, MD – More of Montgomery County’s young adults, likely facing economic challenges, are living with their parents, according to information about households released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. From 2000 to 2010, the number of adult children living at home in Montgomery grew 36 percent.

Montgomery County also saw a 19.3-percent increase in the past decade of households headed by women. Households led by females with children experienced a 10.6-percent increase over a decade ago.

Another indication of changing local households is a slowing trend of two-parent, traditional couple households. In 2010, the husband-wife family – married with children under-18 years old – made up 26 percent of the county’s population, down from 28 percent in 2000.

Those conclusions were drawn by planners and demographers at the Planning Department in response to Thursday’s 2010 U.S. Census release, Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics. The profiles focus on household characteristics and ages. Learn more about the Planning Department analysis.

They also found that Montgomery County’s population is aging, with more than 12 percent now in the 65 and older category. In the past decade, Montgomery County’s 45-64 age group increased by 28 percent. This group of prime wage earners – the Baby Boom generation – will swell the ranks of the elderly in the coming years.

In 2010, the median age in the county was 38.5, up from 36.8 in 2000.

Montgomery County households reflect the aging trend. Over the past decade, the county saw an increase of 25 percent in households with people over age 65, totaling 86,105 (24 percent of households) in 2010.

The aging population has tremendous implications for local economic development, delivery of social services and community planning. The aging trend reinforces the need to provide a diversity of housing options, transportation options and other services that help the elderly age in place. Current county master planning efforts propose mixed uses in strategic areas near transit that can provide   places to live and mobility choices that span generations. Those options include a diversity of housing to serve both the elderly as well as 20-somethings.

The Census release also detailed the changing faces of Montgomery County, with detailed information about residents’ racial background. Asians make up 14 percent of Montgomery County, an increase of 37.3 percent since 2000. The total population of Asians is 135,973, of which the largest Asian group in 2010 is Chinese (38,180), a 33.5-percent increase. Asian Indians (32,979), the second largest group, have grown by 39.6 percent.

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Department of Parks Begins Facility Planning for Josiah Henson Special Park

NORTH BETHESDA, MD—The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) Montgomery County Department of Parks today announces facility planning is underway for Josiah Henson Special Park located at 11420 Old Georgetown Road in North Bethesda.

“We have hired two consultant teams to help on the project: LSC Design and Experience Design,” said Department of Parks Project Manager Eileen Emmet. “Later in the process, both firms will present design concepts during community meetings, anticipated this summer and fall.”

Facility planning for Josiah Henson Special Park will include architectural and engineering design development and the development of interpretive exhibit concepts, themes and strategies identified in the park’s master plan. As a kickoff to the facility planning process, the Department of Parks is asking the public to weigh in early by completing a short online survey, available today from www.ParkProjects.org.  The final facility plan is expected in the first part of 2012.

“We just wrapped up a very successful master planning process for Josiah Henson Special Park,” said Department of Parks Museum Manager Shirl Spicer. “This next phase—facility planning—will build upon the broad interpretive themes we identified during the master planning process: the early life of enslaved people, their working and living conditions, and myths, history, literature and stereotypes, moving us closer still to opening this site as a public museum.”

The Montgomery County Planning Board approved the Josiah Henson Special Park master plan in December 2010. One of the goals of the master plan will be accomplished in early June, pending weather, with the demolition of the 1961 Rozier house and garage located at 11410 Old Georgetown Road. Neither the 1961 split-level style house nor its garage is designated a historic structure. This removal will create more open space for the park and accommodate the neighborhood’s desire to remove the currently vacant house.

“The public will also have an early-opportunity to meet our interpretive program design consultant during Heritage Days at Josiah Henson Special Park, Sunday, June 26 from 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm,” added Emmet. “Larissa Hallgren and John Carney of Experience Design will be present to informally explain the interpretive program themes and concepts being considered for the exhibits.”

At the Department of Parks request, the “Riley House” at Josiah Henson Special Park is in the final stages of approval for designation on the National Register of Historic Places. Recently, the department also received a $100,000 grant from the Department of Interior, National Park Service (NPS) through the Save America’s Treasures (SAT) grant program, which will fund a portion of the facility planning work for this park.  

For updates on the facility planning process and upcoming opportunities to weigh-in, visit www.ParkProjects.org.  

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Contact:    
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866

Montgomery County Department of Parks to Move Historic Darby Store this May

BEALLSVILLE, MD—Park neighbors of the Darby Store in the Beallsville area will notice activity at the site this week as the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), Montgomery County Department of Parks prepares to move the historic structure about 27 feet back from the intersection of Routes 28 and 109 in accordance with approvals from the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission.

“We’re moving the store back from the street to help preserve the structure, which has already been damaged by a turning truck and is in danger of being hit again,” said Montgomery County Department of Parks Cultural Resources Planner Julie Mueller.

The Darby Store is located at 19811 Darnestown Road in Beallsville. The Department of Parks purchased the property in 2004 through its Legacy Open Space program. The cost of the purchase was $670,000. It will cost about $320,000 to move and stabilize the store. The stabilization and move have taken several years to plan due to site constraints and permit issues.

This week, the Department of Parks will brace the store to get it ready for the move and raise it off its existing foundation. The store will remain hoisted for about three weeks. A new foundation for the store is expected to be poured by June. It is anticipated that the store will be moved onto its new foundation shortly thereafter once the new foundation has cured.  

“We will be completing some basic rehabilitation work after the move,” added Mueller.

The Department of Parks will install a new roof, complete some interior stabilization work and exterior painting after the move. The Department of Parks has already completed work to prepare the site. Parks archaeologists conducted an archaeological dig at the site in July 2009 in the area where the new foundation will be excavated and parks staff installed a new well in February 2011 so the store, which never had running water, will have plumbing.

The Darby Store and its neighboring house represent the prominence of the local merchant in a rural turn-of-the-20th-century farming community. Although stores such as the Darby Store were once found throughout Montgomery County, few remain today.

For more information on cultural resources in Montgomery Parks, visit www.ParksCulturalResources.org.

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Contact:
Kelli Holsendolph
Media Relations Manager
Montgomery County Department of Parks
301-650-2866