Montgomery Village came about when Clarence Kettler asked his brothers, Milton and Charles, to join him in creating Kettler Brothers Incorporated with the vision of building a “special town.” The history of Montgomery Village can be found here, but today we are going to look at the meaning behind the different names that can be found in Montgomery Village.
According to the Montgomery Village website, Clarence Kettler felt that names were important and that future residents should be able to identify with their communities. Here is a list of names found in Montgomery Village and where they came from:
- Choice, like Walkers Choice, means to rent. Walkers Choice is a rental community with apartments, townhomes and garden apartments. Some were changed to condominiums.
- Stedwick means “the Meadow,” or “the land that was a dairy farm.”
- Frenchton Place is the Elkins farm, which was once owned by the French family.
- Seneca, as in Seneca Creek, comes from the Native American tribes of the great Seneca nation who once lived in this area. Early owners of homes in the Village found arrowheads in the earth.
- Center Court, the condominiums, happens to be located in the center of the Village. It has a central court between its buildings.
- Lost Knife Road comes from Walker farm, but a fictional legend was created about a Confederate Army Private named Charles Digging who fought in the Civil War. One rainy night, he was caught behind the enemy lines of the Union troops. The Union Army captured him, and they gave him a coat and horse, which he realized belonged to a Union General. Knowing this, he finished out the rest of the war pretending and everyone believing that he was a general. Although the story isn’t true, there used to be a group of people in the Village devoted to preserving the legend of General Charles Digging.
- Patton Ridge is named for the farm that was owned by Julian T. Patton and his family.
- Sparr Spring, one of the roads in the Clusters, was actually a mistake and should have been called Parrs Spring, which was the boundary point between Montgomery, Carroll and Howard counties.
- Watkins Mill is named for one of the grist mills where corn was ground up. The Watkins family once owned and operated one of the mills.
- McKendree is named for Mr. McKendree (Mac) G. Fulks, a member of one of the oldest families in Gaithersburg.
- Goshenside comes from the biblical name and an old land grant called The Land of Goshen.
- Partridge Place comes from the number of partridge birds that are heard in the area on summer evenings.