Maryland Historical Trust Inventory No.

10-5

Maryland Inventory of
Historic Properties Form

1. Name of Property (indicate preferred name)

historic John D Purdum House

other

2. Location
street and number 28814 Kemptown Road not for publication

city, town Gaithersburg vicinity

county Montgomery

3. Owner of Property (give names and mailing addresses of all owners)

name Harold B & E L Mullinix

street and number 28814 Kemptown Rd telephone

city, town Gaithersburg state MD zip code 20882

4. Location of Legal Description

courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Montgomery County liber 3744 folio 405
city, town Rockville tax map tax parcel P037 tax ID number 12-00937508

5. Primary Location of Additional Data

Contributing Resource in National Register District
Contributing Resource in Local Historic District
Determined Eligible for the National Register/Maryland Register
Determined Ineligible for the National Register/Maryland Register
Recorded by HABS/HAER
Historic Structure Report or Research Report at MHT
Other:

6. Classification
Category Ownership Current Function Resource Count
district public agriculture landscape Contributing Noncontributing
building(s) private commerce/trade recreation/culture buildings
structure both defense religion sites
site domestic social structures
object education transportation objects
funerary work in progress Total
government unknown
health care vacant/not in use Number of Contributing Resources
industry other: previously listed in the Inventory
7. Description Inventory No. 10-5

Condition
excellent deteriorated
good ruins
fair altered

Prepare both a one paragraph summary and a comprehensive description of the resource and its various elements as it
exists today.

 The John Purdum House is a four bay, side gable structure with a rear ell.  The house is covered with artificial 
siding and windows have been replaced. The three‐acre parcel (P037) includes a pond located southwest of the 
house.  
 
The house facades northeast.  On the first level, the left two bays hold a set of three double‐hung sash.  The entry 
door is located in the third bay.  A single double hung sash window is in the fourth, right, bay.  Four double hung 
sash windows are symmetrically arranged on the upper level.  A porch extends across the front façade and wraps 
around to the northwest (side) façade.   Porch posts are turned and embellished with cutwork brackets.  A brick 
exterior chimney stands on the southeast gable end.  The rear portion of the porch has been enclosed.   
 
A two‐car garage stands at the end of the driveway.  The concrete block structure has two overhead doors and a 
side‐gable asphalt shingle roof. 
 
A bank barn was located south of the dwelling house, as documented when the resource was surveyed in 1973. The 
barn is no longer standing. 
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No.10-5

Historic Properties Form

Name John D Purdum House

Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 1

 
 
John D Purdum House, 28814 Kemptown Road 
Front (north) façade, 1‐2008 
 
 
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No.10-5

Historic Properties Form

Name John D Purdum House

Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 2

 
 
John D Purdum House, 28814 Kemptown Road 
Front (north) façade, left, and west side façade, right. 1‐2008 
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No.10-5

Historic Properties Form

Name John D Purdum House

Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 3

 
John D Purdum House, 28814 Kemptown Road 
East side façade, right.  Garage, center.  Pond at left.  1‐2008 
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No.10-5

Historic Properties Form

Name John D Purdum House

Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 4

 
 
John D Purdum House, 28814 Kemptown Road 
West side façade, left.  Rear façade at right.  1‐2008 
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No.10-5

Historic Properties Form

Name John D Purdum House

Continuation Sheet

Number 7 Page 5

 
 
John D Purdum House, 28814 Kemptown Road 
West and rear façades, house.  Garage, center.  1‐2008 
 
 
8. Significance Inventory No. 10-5

Period Areas of Significance Check and justify below

1600-1699 agriculture economics health/medicine performing arts
1700-1799 archeology education industry philosophy
1800-1899 architecture engineering invention politics/government
1900-1999 art entertainment/ landscape architecture religion
2000- commerce recreation law science
communications ethnic heritage literature social history
community planning exploration/ maritime history transportation
conservation settlement military other:

Specific dates 1852 Architect/Builder

Construction dates

Evaluation for:

National Register Maryland Register not evaluated

Prepare a one-paragraph summary statement of significance addressing applicable criteria, followed by a narrative discussion of the
history of the resource and its context. (For compliance projects, complete evaluation on a DOE Form – see manual.)

The John D Purdum House is situated on the Fahrney Branch, which runs northwest of the dwelling house and 
crosses Kemptown Road.  The property was part of the holdings of Al Baker (#15‐4, 28811 Kemptown Road).  In 
1852, John Purdum married Sarah Ann Baker, daughter of Al Baker. It is believed that the couple lived here until 
the death of Sarah Purdum in 1876. 
 
John Dorsey Purdum (1830‐1896) married Sarah Ann Baker, daughter of Al Baker, in 1852.  The couple had six 
children, born between 1855 and 1876.  Sarah Purdum died in 1876.  John Purdum’s second wife was Lucinda 
Moxley (1840‐1911), whom he married in January 1878.  John D Purdum is shown living at the subject property in 
1878.   His house is across the street from his father‐in‐law, Al Baker’s house, 28811 Kemptown Road (Resource 
15‐4). 1   
 
John Purdum sold the three‐acrea property in 1877 to Mary Ann Engle for $1,250.  Engle bequeathed the property 
to her daughter, Elizabeth Jane Browning, in her 1882 will, probated in 1877.  From 1899 until 1968, the house and 
three acres were owned by the Cline family.  It has been owned by Harold Mullinix since 1968.2  
 
The John Purdum House is one of a cluster of houses on Kemptown Road dating from the mid to late 19th century.  
The houses include the Al Baker House, 28811 Kemptown Road (Resource #15‐40), and the John Moxley House, 
28800 Kemptown Road (#10‐3). 
 
Kemptown Road (Route 80) was established sometime between 1748 to 1774, after Fredericktown had been laid 
out in 1745 and become the county seat in 1748, when Frederick County was created.3  The road ran from The City 
of Frederick along the Fredericktown‐Baltimore Road to New Market, through Monrovia, through Kemptown, over 
Rue’s Ford (over the Monocacy), through what became Clagettsville, Damascus, Etchison, and Unity (i.e., 
approximately along what are now Routes 108 Laytonsville Road and Route 650 New Hampshire Avenue), to 
Green’s Bridge above Brighton Dam Road, near Green’s Bridge Road) and over the Patuxent.  In 1774, the General 
1
G M Hopkins 1878 map, published 1879.
2
Deeds EBP 16:427; JA 58:164; TD 4:38; TD 12:165; 3744:405.
3 Information in this paragraph, aside from information on Edward Busey patent called Black Walnut Plains, is liberally drawn 

from Jaynie W. Payne, “Highlights of Early Damascus Area History,” in Montgomery County Story, published by Montgomery 
County Historical Society, Vol. IX, No. 4, August 1966, pages 1‐10. 
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 10-5

Historic Properties Form

Name John D Purdum House

Continuation Sheet

Number 8 Page 1

Assembly listed this road as one of several “principal market roads to be improved.”   The road has been known by 
various names, including the “Road from New Market to Colesville,” and “Road from New Market to Washington.”   
In 1767 court records, as well as in deeds4 from the area that eventually became known as Clagettsville, the road is 
referred to as “Bucey’s” or “Busey’s” Road, perhaps because the earliest patent in the Clagettsville area was taken 
out by Edward Busey, in 1748 for Black Walnut Plains5 (approximately where Brown’s Church Road is today).  
From the early 1800’s to the latter part of the 1800’s, the road was known as the “Quaker Road” and “Old Quaker 
Road,”  because there were Quaker settlements south of New Market in Monrovia, and into Patuxent and 
Annapolis.

4 See Deed K 188‐190, 3/16/1802, from Henry Ridgely to Nehemiah Moxley, which mentions “Bucey’s Road.” – see footnote 13.
5
See MSA S 1220-1653, Frederick, an unpatented Resurvey of Black Walnut Plains dated 4/26/1758 for 1420 acres, which refers to
the original survey from 10/27/1748 for 100 acres.
9. Major Bibliographical References Inventory No. 10-5

Dwyer, Michael F. John D Purdum House, Resrouce #10‐5, Maryland Historical Trust Inventory form, 10‐1973. 
 
Hopkins, G M. Montgomery County Atlas, 1879. From survey of 1878. 
 
Payne, Jaynie W. Payne, “Highlights of Early Damascus Area History,” Montgomery County Story, published by Montgomery 
County Historical Society, Vol. IX, No. 4, August 1966, pages 1‐10. 

10. Geographical Data

Acreage of surveyed property 3 acres
Acreage of historical setting
Quadrangle name Quadrangle scale:

Verbal boundary description and justification

11. Form Prepared by

name/title Sandra Youla and Clare Lise Kelly
organization M-NCPPC date 11-2009
street & number 8787 Georgia Avenue telephone 301-563-3400
city or town Silver Spring state MD

The Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature
to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA,
1974 supplement.

The survey and inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only
and do not constitute any infringement of individual property rights.

return to: Maryland Historical Trust

Maryland Department of Planning
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Crownsville, MD 21032-2023
410-514-7600