In 1942, the old Branchville Road that used to form the northern boundary of the Town of Berwyn Heights was reconstructed along a new alignment as Greenbelt Road. This included a new overpass across the B&O railroad tracks, making it possible to close the dangerous Berwyn grade crossing. When that crossing was barricaded, sometime in September or October 1942, it became necessary to redirect traffic bound for Route 1 via State Road 434. Route 434 connected Edmonston Road and Baltimore Avenue along La Belle Avenue (today Pontiac Street & 57th Avenue) and Waugh and Central Avenues (Berwyn Road).¹

The Berwyn Heights Commissioners wanted to make an outlet from La Belle Avenue to Branchville Road along Huntley Avenue (58th Avenue). But there was a little problem: Huntley Avenue stopped at Newby Avenue (Tecumseh Street), now just a paper street between block 26 and 27. Traffic, including Capital Transit buses, would have had to zig and zag along Newby and Howell Avenues to reach Greenbelt Road and cut into the property of a prominent citizen of the Town.

The Moyer-Cissell House today. Built by the Charlton Heights Improvement Company from a pattern book design in 1888.

Samuel Moyer, an attorney for the Department of the Interior, who served as Town Commissioner from 1926-1936 and President of the Berwyn Heights Volunteer Fire Department from 1924-1935,² owned the now historic house at 8911 57th Avenue, as well as an adjoining orchard that lay in the path of the proposed road. He did not relish the taking of a slice of his land and suggested the Town purchase a right of way through unimproved properties in block 27, which belonged to the Berwyn Heights Company and Burch Realty.³

The Town Commissioners approached Berwyn Heights Company Vice President Margaret Benson and Burch Realty and they agreed to sell the Town the required land to make the new outlet.⁴ The State Roads Commission built the road, which was taken into service in 1945 as Route 251. In 1990, the State Highway Administration renovated these streets and transferred them to the Town.⁵

The extension of 58^th Avenue to Greenbelt Road resulted in a re-subdivision of the properties in block 27 and their subsequent development by the Berwyn Heights Company.⁶ Some of these properties no longer conform to today’s zoning standards and require variances when improvements are made. As recently as October 2019, the Town Council held a hearing on a variance application for 8906 58^th Avenue and granted an exception for lot size and frontage width to allow the owner to build a house on the property.⁷