The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission built the Burnt Mills water filtration facility in 1929 to meet increasing demand for clean water in the rapidly-growing Washington. D. C. suburbs.

The two brick Colonial Revival buildings housed offices and pumping equipment. The structures reflect a design that was popular for houses in the late 1820's, and are an interesting adaptation of a domestic look for a municipal structure.

This turbulent stream was the location of one of the county's earliest grist mills, which stood here starting in the 1700s. Originally called Bealle's Mill, it ground grain into flour for nearby residents.

Robert B. Morse Filtration Plant

This site represents the revolutionary move from on era to another —from the use of water in order to power simple machines for local production, to the multi-million-dollar industry of protecting the public water supply for a large region. This small site helped make possible the enormous growth that suburbanization brought to our region.

One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again? " - Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder (Posthumously 1965)

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Show me all markers in:  Silver Spring, MD  |  Montgomery County  |  20901  |  Maryland  |  United States of America

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