Somerset: One Hundred Years a Town

Meet the people of the town of Somerset as they celebrate their centennial. This tree-lined oasis of 440 homes set between the high-rise commercial districts of Friendship Heights and Bethesda retains many small-town characteristics from its past. Vintage photographs bring to life the prominent scientists who purchased a parcel of land called Somerset Heights in 1890 and their efforts to build a town. The history of this trolley suburb is chronicled in images of the town’s mayors, beginning with agricultural scientist Dr. Charles A. Crampton in 1906; the townspeople and their families; and great American home architecture. Children who attend the Somerset Elementary School still sled and trick-or-treat along Cumberland Avenue as kids have done for a century. Many swim for the successful Dolphins swim team, now 25 years old.