The Montgomery County Planning Board recommended the Montgomery County Council designate the Edward U. Taylor School in Boyds as historic by adding it to the county’s Master Plan for Historic Preservation at a public hearing on Thursday, February 23. The County Council makes final decisions on historic designations of properties in the county. “We commend the Planning Board’s recommendation that the County Council designate the Edward U. Taylor Elementary School as a historic site,” said Acting Planning Director Tanya Stern. “This school is a landmark in the history of the Black community in Boyds and served as a community anchor. The Taylor School represented the efforts of individuals like Edward U. Taylor and Black organizations, parents, and teachers to obtain quality educational facilities for Black children in Montgomery County in the mid-20th century.” Historic designation criteria are established in Chapter 24A in the Montgomery County Code. The Planning Board evaluated the sites against the criteria and found that the Edward U. Taylor School met the following criteria:
- A Historical and cultural significance. The historic resource has character, interest, or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the county, state, or nation.
- D Historical and cultural significance. The historic resource has character, interest, or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the county, state, or nation.
- E Architectural and design significance. Represents an established and familiar visual feature of the neighborhood, community, or county due to its singular physical characteristic or landscape.
About the Edward U. Taylor School site: The former Edward U. Taylor School (19501 White Ground Road, Boyds, MD) was built as an elementary school for Black students at a time when Montgomery County used legally sanctioned racial segregation to prohibit Black children from attending white schools. The Modern Movement-influenced building was completed in 1952, and features several additions built between 1954 and 1969. The facility was built to modern school design standards and represents the cumulative efforts of the county’s Black community to obtain better facilities and opportunities after decades of public underinvestment in educational facilities for Black children. The building currently serves as the Taylor Science Center for the processing and storage of science kits for Montgomery County Public Schools. The recommendation to study the school was brought forward in the MARC Rail Communities Plan, which was approved by the County Council in April 2019. View a short video on the Legacy of the Edward U. Taylor School. View the September 2022 Edward U. Taylor Elementary School Master Plan for Historic Preservation Designation Form.
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