Abandoned Frontier Town

By Bill Riski, MPOA History Committee

Your history committee is hard at work gathering information about Montclair in preparation for publishing a book next year – in honor of our 40th Anniversary. We’d love to hear from you too, especially if you lived here in the 1970’s. I recently spent many hours looking through back editions of The Potomac News and The Washington Post. You may have heard that 2009 is considered our 40th Anniversary, but what a turbulent start we had! And while 1969 is indeed the anniversary of our property owners association, the rest of the story is pretty fascinating.

• 1964 Lake Montclair Dam was constructed on Powells Creek; the lake was first filled in July 1965.
• 1965 Lake Montclair Associates gets permission from PWC Board of Commissioners to proceed with plans for an 1100-acre development, including high-rise apartments!
• 1969 Development now under new name, Country Club Lake, and new development venture. Development venture and county argue for months over detailed plans for the community. Property Owners Association chartered; Mr. David P. Rhame served as first president of the association.
• 1972 First home occupied in Montclair by Mr. & Mrs. Cecil Jones. About 800 lots have sold; about 40 homes under construction. Problems for development venture continue.
• 1975 Builders begin to hit their stride; 100 homes now occupied, hundreds of others under construction.

In one Washington Post article, the reporter says Montclair in 1972 “resembles an abandoned frontier town”. Your History Committee would love to talk to anyone who lived in Montclair in the 1970’s. Please contact Bill Riski (bill@riski.biz, 703.670.8541), Barbara Templeton (thetemps@comcast.net, 703.680.6836) or Dan Miller (dsquared_1@verizon.net, 703.580.4481).