Both Takoma Park, D.C., and Takoma Park, Maryland, have been noted, regionally and nationally, for progressive politics dating from the 1960s, when area residents (led by future Takoma Park, MD mayor Sam Abbott) rallied to prevent a 10-lane freeway from bisecting the community, and lobbied to build the Metrorail system, near the site of the former B&O railroad station around which the community had been built. However, much of the land adjacent to the station was demolished or neglected in the wake of the freeway controversy, creating division between downtown Takoma Park, Maryland, and the center of the Takoma community, which roughly parallels the D.C. line. Both of the remaining areas, on either side of the D.C.-Maryland line, are now protected as U.S. Historic Districts.