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Earlier in the 1800's, land speculators had invested  in land
in the Maryland countryside in hopes of subdividing and promoting it. In the
mid-1880's land boom, the idea resurfaced. A group of men
led by Seymour Tullock formed the Forest Glen Improvement Company, and
acquired a portion of the Highlands tract from Alfred Ray. Their plan was to build a resort
hotel
that would attract people from Washington during the muggiest months of the summer to a
cooler and less humid spot. Once they were enjoying the hotel and its
surroundings, they would be shown lots in the adjacent neighborhood of Forest Glen
Park
(which was also developed by the Company). Tullock built a grand house, which he called Braemar, as a summer home for himself and his family. Braemar
was supposed to be a model home (although nothing that grand was ever built in the neighborhood
again).
They picked an up-and-coming young architect to design
the hotel. T.F. Schneider was only 27 years old at the time,
but he had already designed the Cairo Hotel and some row houses in D.C. The Inn
opened on June 1, 1887.
The venture was not a success. It was too hard to get to
from D.C., and those who boarded a train to escape the Washington summers kept
going to points further west in Maryland. Finally, the real estate boom began to
subside, and there was a stock market crash. The promoters had one last change of plan to
keep
the venture afloat -- they turned it into a casino, with gambling and bars. They
installed a boiler to give year-round comfort. All that still did not stimulate business
enough.
By chance, T.F. Schneider and his new
wife,
Mary, ran into John and Vesta Cassedy
on a
steamship from Norfolk to D.C. Mary Osborne Beach had been a student at Lasell
Seminary before she was married, and knew the Cassedys from there. As they
talked, the Cassedys shared their vision of establishing a new girls' school in
a suburban location. Schneider talked about the Inn he had developed and the
troubles it was having. They vowed to keep in touch.
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