Echoes from the Park
Emory Grove Was Once the Loudest Place in the County
By Paul Tukey
A green and gold sign , freshly “ In the 1960s ,” reads the last commissioned by Montgomery County Parks , hints at brought an end to the bucolic era ...”
sentence on the sign , “ urbanization the freed slaves who founded their own community 150 years different take . As the only child of
Ricky Johnson offers a slightly
ago . In barely a hundred words , Edward “ Beans ” Johnson , a Black the sign speaks of religious revival entrepreneur for whom Johnson meetings and a baseball field for Park in the Emory Grove neighborhood of Gaithersburg was named night games that put this place on the map , as well as a Methodist in 1974 , Ricky remembers when the church that continues to anchor park was the loudest place in the its congregation . county once the sun went down .
“ It was nice in Emory Grove , no doubt about it . Everybody knew everybody and everybody looked out for everybody ,” said Ricky , 72 . “ But on any given evening , and every weekend , if you stood right here in the middle of my father ’ s land that is now the park , you would hear the music blaring from Johnson ’ s Tavern , my Dad ’ s place , in one corner — and the Du-Drop Inn , my uncle ’ s place , in the other corner . The old people went to Johnson ’ s and the young people went to the Du-Drop and both places were always packed .
“ There weren ’ t a lot of other places for Black people to go for entertainment , so if you were Black
Ricky Johnson holds a photo of his father , Edward “ Beans ” Johnson in the Emory Grove park named in his father ’ s honor .
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