What’s New With The Laurel History Boys

(Left to right): Kevin Leonard, Richard Friend, Harvey Smilovitz, Mark Opsasnick, Pat Carroll, and Jeff Krulik at the Wheaton Library after a presentation on professional wrestling at the Capital Centre. Kevin, Rich, and Jeff are making appearances all around the DC, Maryland, and Virginia region this summer as part of their Capital Centre book tour. Each stop on the tour includes a presentation on the general history of the arena as well as a special focus on a specific topic. Previous talks have included concert photographers David Werth and Rudy Childs, and ticket resale pioneer Glenn Melcher. (Photo: Wheaton Library and Recreation Center)

Grants and Donations

Thank you to Connie & Guy Lucas, Janet Willis, Shari Pollard, and James Bowman for their monetary donations to Voices of Laurel. We are grateful.

We also received some interesting items from readers:

• Whitney Payton Leal sent us a map of Laurel that was published in 1990 by the Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber and clearly shows Laurel’s convoluted city boundary lines.
  

• Larry Wesley, Jr., shared some photos with us of his great-grandfather, O.W. Phair, and his business, the original Academy Garage. Ormand W. Phair was one of Laurel’s most prominent citizens in the first half of the 20th century. He was born in Spencerville in 1879 and attended school in Laurel. Academy Garage opened in 1915 on the corner of Washington Boulevard and Prince George Street. He named the business as a tribute to the building’s previous occupant, the Academy of Music. The garage was destroyed by fire a year later and Phair built a new garage on the same spot. He was awarded the Ford dealership for Laurel in 1917. A showroom for new cars was added to the garage many years later, probably in the early 1950s. In 1962, Mike Lynch, Sr. and Bob Bell bought the business and five years later, moved it—now called Academy Ford—to a new building they constructed on Route 1 south of Contee Road. The business is now run by Mike Lynch, Jr.    

  O.W. Phair was quite active in community affairs. In 1934, he was elected president of the Citizen’s National Bank in Laurel. But he really made his mark in education, serving as a member of the Prince George’s County Board of Education for 16 years, beginning in 1935, and twice was elected as President of the Board. One month after his death in 1953, Laurel’s newest elementary school was named for him.

Scans from both donations were featured in our Saturday photo of the week on Facebook. Do you have any photos or artifacts you’d like us to share with the public? Let us know! Our mission is to bring history to you!

Main Street Festival

This year’s Main Street Festival had a couple of uncharacteristically unfortunate incidents. (See Diane Mezzanotte’s article in this issue.) But the weather was beautiful for the large crowd. We were at our traditional spot in front of Oliver’s Old Towne Tavern. It was a pleasure to talk to so many of you!

Voices of Laurel Now Available at Enoch Pratt Free Library

We’re proud to announce that all prior and future issues of Voices of Laurel are now part of the newspaper collection at the Enoch Pratt Free Library State Library Resource Center in Baltimore.

Capital Centre Book Tour

Demand for our book, Capital Centre, A Retrospective, has extended throughout the DMV. Rich, Kevin, and Jeff Krulik embarked on a summer book tour with appearances at the Kensington Day of the Book Fair and the Laurel Main Street Festival. In July, we gave presentations on the history of the arena, along with assorted special guests sharing stories, at the Fairfax, Hyattsville, and Wheaton Libraries, as well as at the Art Sound Language Record & Bookstore in Chevy Chase. Coming up on July 19 is a stop at the Bowie Library and August 3 at Oliver’s Old Towne Tavern for our own Laurel History Boys Book Fair (see below).

The lineup of guests at various dates includes WHFS personalities Cerphe Colwell and Weasel, Washington Rock Concert magazine photographer David Werth, guerilla concert photographer Rudy Childs, concert ticket resale pioneer Glenn Melcher, sportscaster and ring announcer Harvey Smilovitz, Capital Centre President Jerry Sachs, and many more. Updates will be posted on our Facebook page.

Laurel History Boys Book Fair

Our second annual book fair continues to grow. We will feature more than twice as many authors and book sellers as last year. At press time the list of authors confirmed to attend included former WHFS DJ Cerphe Colwell, Forbes magazine writer (and Voices of Laurel contributor) Jim Clash, rock and roll historian Mark Opsasnick (another contributor to Voices of Laurel), local authors Michelle Paris and Murray Siegel, and others. An impressive array of children’s books will be available. Another popular former WHFS DJ, Weasel, will also be on hand to meet fans and sign autographs. And, of course, the Laurel History Boys will be there with our stable of books for sale.

The book fair will be at Oliver’s Old Towne Tavern (531 Main St.) on Aug. 3 from 3–5 pm. Attendance is free.

Call for Nominations for Laurel Light Award

Beginning this year, Voices of Laurel will present an annual Laurel Light Award to an individual, business, or organization that makes our hometown a better place. We were thrilled with readers’ nominations over the course of 2024, when we presented three awards. Ruth Walls, Cheryl Poulos, and Stillborn and Infant Loss Support (SAILS) were the previous recipients. Moving forward, only one award will be announced each year, which means that your nominations are extra special. We want to shine a light on the good deeds being done in our hometown—acts of kindness that too often go overlooked.

Let us know who you think deserves the 2025 Laurel Light Award at laurelhistoryboys@gmail.com, the Voices of Laurel Facebook page, or by mail at P.O. Box 759, Laurel, MD 20725.