View of Sligo Avenue (also known as Bluestone Road and Blair Road) looking east from Georgia Avenue. James H. Cissel lived in the house shown on the extreme left with the partial front porch. His daily commute consisted of only a few steps to his bank and flour and feed operations. Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society

The message on this postcard mailed in 1920 by bank employee Mary Roeder reads, “On the reverse side you will find my new place of employment and believe me it is heaven compared to the other places I have had.” Photograph taken on June 21, 1917 by Willard R. Ross. Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society

Check in the amount of $4.03 written by Hiram B. Backus to William P. Wilson on July 9, 1924. Backus lived in the Woodside neighborhood of Silver Spring on 1st Avenue. Wilson owned a farm located on the east side of Georgia Avenue adjacent to Woodside Park. Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society

The intersection of Georgia and Sligo avenues as it looked in 1927. The brick building at right was just north of Sligo Avenue. It was built in 1910 for Silver Spring National Bank, which relocated in 1925. The set of tracks crossing Georgia Avenue was a spur line allowing materials shipped via the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to be delivered directly to Griffith & Perry’s warehouse. Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society

Front page of the June 22, 1934 The Maryland News, the first newspaper published in Silver Spring. The public was invited “…to read it, criticize it, make suggestions and send in news.” The subscription was $2.00 per year. Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society

In 1938, John Nash Gifford founded the Gifford Ice Cream Co. when he converted one of the former coal and feed structures at 8101 Georgia Avenue into a plant for the manufacture and sale of ice cream. This undated photo is from the 1940s. Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society

In 1938, John Nash Gifford founded the Gifford Ice Cream Co. when he converted one of the former coal and feed structures at 8101 Georgia Avenue into a plant for the manufacture and sale of ice cream. Eventually, there were eight stores in the D.C. area before the company collapsed in 1985. This photo was taken in September 1948. Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society

Compared to earlier photos, by the 1950s (judging from the 1951 Dodge), Gifford’s had expanded, taking over the parking lot between it and the Del Vecchio Italian Kitchen at left. Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society

Gifford's opened in 1938. Among the many items listed in this circa 1950s menu is a Jumbo Hot Butterscotch Sundae for 90¢! Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society

Vehicles detour in 1947 from southbound Georgia Avenue onto Sligo or Philadelphia avenues due to construction of the enlarged Georgia Avenue underpass, taking place on the right. The unique stone wall visible on the left was part of the Gifford Ice Cream parking lot. Collection of Silver Spring Historical Society