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Peerless Rockville launches AAPI history project; commissioner highlights Red Brick Courthouse history
Summary
Peerless Rockville announced a call for a researcher to begin an AAPI history project focused initially on Chinese and Taiwanese communities; Commissioner Michael Goldfinger also presented a historical overview of the Red Brick Courthouse during the Sept. 18 meeting.
At the Sept. 18 meeting of the Rockville Historic District Commission, Nancy Picard, executive director of Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation, said the organization has issued a call for a qualified historian or researcher to begin a project documenting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history in Rockville, starting with Chinese and Taiwanese populations.
Picard said the project will begin with demographic and documentary research, then move to gathering oral histories and community stories once appropriate community partners are identified. The work is funded in part by city grants and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, and Picard said additional support comes from the Miller History Fund and the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority. She said the AAPI populations targeted for initial work make up more than 20% of Rockville’s population.
Separately at the meeting, Commissioner Michael Goldfinger gave a brief historical talk on the Red Brick Courthouse, noting the courthouse opened in 1891, was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by Frank E. Davis, and is Montgomery County’s oldest courthouse. Goldfinger recounted historical uses of the earlier 1840 courthouse on the site, including its ties to antebellum and Civil War-era events and its multiple near-demolition episodes in the mid- to late-20th century; he noted the building received historic designation in 1965 and that Peerless Rockville leases space there for an office and visitor center.
Picard invited the public to Peerless Rockville events including walking tours; she mentioned a downtown walking tour the next day focusing on displaced African American communities and an earlier Glenview Mansion speaker series event. The Peerless Rockville AAPI project is at an early stage and will be refined as the selected researcher and the community define priorities and participation.
No formal commission action was taken on the Peerless Rockville report or the Red Brick Courthouse remarks; the items were presented as organization reports and commissioner comments.
