Will Gaithersburg have to change its name? Mayor & Council to receive report on places named for Confederates, slave owners next week

The Benjamin Gaither Center in Gaithersburg,
like the city itself, is named for a slave owner

Gaithersburg, Montgomery County 

named

for slaveholders

Gaithersburg City Councilman Ryan Spiegel asked city staff earlier this year to compile a list of any Confederate monuments ,and streets or places named for Confederates or slave owners, within the city. That list has now been compiled, and it turns out the city itself is named for a slave owner, Benjamin Gaither. Gaither is also commemorated by the Benjamin Gaither Center and Gaither Road.

Other names identified by city staff include Clopper Road. Francis C. Clopper not only owned slaves, but was a Confederate sympathizer, of which there were many in Montgomery County during the Civil War. Jubal Place was named after Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early, who led a Confederate campaign into Montgomery County with the aim of taking Washington, D.C. Brig. Gen. John McCausland led cavalry in that attempt, and he, too, is commemorated in Gaithersburg by McCausland Place.

Slaveowner John T. DeSellum is memorialized by DeSellum Avenue, and the City-owned DeSellum House. His Summit Hall farm in Gaithersburg was a source for street, school and place names, as well. Places in Gaithersburg named for Watkins, Clagett and Tschiffely may also be problematic, staff allege. But they said they first must determine if the specific family members memorialized were among those in those families who owned slaves. Watkins and Watkins Mill are school, street and community names in Gaithersburg.

How far to take name changes is a decision in the hands of the Mayor and Council, as it is for the Montgomery County Council at the County level. Montgomery County is named after Revolutionary War hero Richard Montgomery, who has been labeled a slave owner.

If name changes are as critical as many have stated they are, Gaithersburg and Montgomery County will both have to be renamed. If short streets and school buildings must be renamed, why not the most prominent usages in jurisdiction names, as well? That would be a fascinating question to hear answered from a variety of perspectives. The Mayor and Council will take up the staff report at its September 14, 2020 meeting.