Wheaton City Map Poster

About Wheaton

Silver Spring takes its name from a mica-flecked spring discovered there in 1840 by Francis Preston Blair, who subsequently bought much of the surrounding land. Acorn Park, south of downtown, is believed to be the site of the original spring. The community was originally named "Blair" after its founder and first postmaster George T. Blair; it was renamed Silver Spring in 1859 when a second post office opened (the one that had been established under Blair's name closed at that time). The town remained centered on this spring for most of the 19th century until being eclipsed by Washington, D.C., as well as several nearby towns such as Takoma Park and Hyattsville which offered more direct access to railroads leading into Washington D.C.. In 1876 an entrepreneur named Benjamin Franklin Turner founded what became known as "Turner's Station".