Automated Telephone Exchange Goes Live in Bowie

May 26, 1938 (75 years ago today):  The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company activated Bowie's first telephone dial system.  The switching equipment was housed in this building at 13108 11th Street in Old Bowie - the current home of the Bowie Lions.  For the first time in Bowie, a telephone call could be made without the assistance of an operator.

Levitt Transfers Title to Belair Bath & Tennis

May 23, 1963 (50 years ago today): The title to a seven-acre property near the Belair Mansion was transferred from Levitt & Sons to the Belair Bath & Tennis Club.  Property transferred included a brick club house, a Z-shaped swimming pool, a kiddy pool, six tennis courts, a tennis house and a recreational building (the green house).  The estimated value at the time of transfer was $250,000.  The club was built by Levitt & Sons, and it opened a year earlier under the management of Levitt with the promise that title would be transferred to the club once membership reached the capacity of 750 families. The title was transferred to club president Douglas C. Hansen.  Annual family memberships at the time were $42.

Earlier that same month, Levitt gifted nearly 50 acres of land to the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission for a park that would eventually come to be known as Foxhill Park.