The United States Navy needed to house the workers who removed to Lexington Park following the construction of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in 1942. The neighborhood, later known as the “Flat Tops,” was the first planned community in St. Mary’s County. It consisted of about 150 concrete and brick duplexes and a small commercial and community center. The development was designed by the nationally recognized firm Kahn and Jacobs with architect Louis Justement designing the houses in the southern portion, which were completed in 1944. Given the firm’s influence in the functionalist and modernist design movements, it is fitting that the homes had slanted roofs and tall banks of windows, giving them a distinctively modern feel. Currently, only one “Flat Top” remains and it is accompanied by a historical marker. The rest of the former neighborhood, at the time of this writing, consists of the Lexington Manor Passive Park.

Source: "Architectural Significance of the First Lexington Park Community," HMdb.org, Historial Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=56719, viewed 12 August 2022.