– Some of Washington’s oldest houses.

– The docks where the U.S. Colored Troops returned in triumph at the end of the Civil War.

– The lovely St. Dominic Church, which fended offurban renewal.

– A spectacular vista that memorializes Benjamin Banneker.

– Fort McNair, Washington’s first military installation.

– A cooperative residential complex trimmed in aluminum.

– The site of Washington’s answer to the Lower East Side.

On this self-guided walking tour of Southwest, historic markers lead you to:

River Farms toUrban TowersSO UTHWE ST HER ITAGE T RA I L

From 1791 until the 1950s, Southwest

Washington was the city’s largest work-

ing-class, waterfront neighborhood.

Then it was almost entirely leveled by

urban renewal. Follow this trail to

the places that recall Southwest’s first

settlement, its gritty maturity, and

its rebirth as a “new town in the city.”

Visitors to Washington, DC flock to the

National Mall, where grand monuments

s ym bo l i ze the nati on’s highest ide a l s .

This self-guided walking tour is one of a

series that invites you to discover what

is beyond the monuments: Washington’s

historic neighborhoods.

Until the 1950s, the neighborhood known

as Southwest was Washington’s largest

working-class, waterfront neighborhood.

Then nearly all of Southwest was razed

to cre a te an en ti rely new city in the nati on’s

fi rst ex peri m ent in urban ren ew a l .

Ex peri en ce both the old and the new

Southwest in the company of the first

co l onial set t l ers ; m i grants and immigra n t s ;

fishmongers, domestic workers, laborers,

govern m ent cl erks and con gre s s m en :

a ll passen gers on the journ ey from river

farms to urban towers.

We l co m e .

The Southwest Heritage Trail River Farms toUrban Towers is composed of 17 illustratedh i s torical markers . You can begin yo u rjourney at any point along the route. Thewalk should take about 90 minutes. Eachmarker is capped with an .

Sign 1 is found atop the Waterfront/SE U

station on Metro’s Green line. Sign 6 is at the corner of Seventh and E streets nearthe L’Enfant Plaza station on the Blue,Orange, Yellow, and Green lines.

★H

River Farms to Urban TowersSouthwestHeritage Trail

Jane Freundel LeveyLead Historian and Writer

Richard T. Busch and J.Brendan MeyerProject Directors

Lisa Bentley and Anne W. RollinsResearchers

A proj ect of Cu l tu ral To u rism DC , Ka t h ryn S. Sm i t h ,Executive Director, in collaboration with Southwest Neighborhood Assembly History TaskForce, Margaret Feldman, Chair.

Funding provided by Washington, DC Departmentof Housing and Community Development, DistrictDepartment of Transportation, Office of the DeputyMayor for Planning and Economic Development,and U.S. Department of Transportation.

© 2004 by Cultural Tourism DCAll rights reserved.

Distributed by Cultural Tourism DC1250 H Street, NW, Suite 1000

Washington, DC 20005

www.CulturalTourismDC.org

Design by side view/Hannah Smotrich

As you walk this trail, please keep safetyin mind, just as you would while visiting any unfamiliar place.

In the 1 7 9 0s a group of i nve s tors led by Ja m e sGreenleaf began to build sturdy brick houses forcongressmen and government workers. Theirm on ey ran out before they could finish, but a few of their projects can still be seen today onFo u rth and N street s . Af ter the 1 7 9 0s bu i l dersconstructed individual cottages or simple rowhouses of wood or brick.

The city’s first military post (now Fort McNair)was establ i s h ed here in 1 7 9 4 on stra tegic Green l e a f’sPoint, where the Anacostia and Potomac riversmeet. In 1798 the first ferries to Alexandria Cityacross the Potomac encouraged settlement. Soon,however, the affluent moved on to the more fash-i on a ble Nort hwest and Ca p i tol Hi ll , and So ut hwe s tbecame home mostly to dock workers, laborers,tradesmen, and domestic workers. The waterfrontbecame industrial, with warehouses, coal yards,a rm ori e s , i ce houses, and shipya rd s . Even tu a llywholesale markets and Washington’s auto inspec-tion station and morgue were found here. In the1920s the wharves operated 24 hours a day, andWashingtonians in search of a late-night meal —or more disreputable pastimes — could find themin Southwest.

So ut hwest was call ed “the island” because theTiber and James creeks separated it from the restof the city. Beginning in 1815 the City Canal ranfrom the Potomac River near today’s LincolnMemorial to the foot of Capitol Hill, then took asharp right turn to end at the Anacostia River,

tʜɪs tʀaɪʟ takes ʏou tʜʀo u ɢ ʜ one ofWashington, DC’s oldest — and newest — neigh-borhoods. For 150 years Southwest Washingtonwas a working waterf ront com mu n i ty. Th enu rban ren ewal ch a n ged the landscape forever.Today Southwest is a virtual library of Modernista rch i tectu re of the 1 9 6 0s with a few historic structures, some of which go all the way back tothe section’s beginnings.

In 1791 nearly all of today’s So ut hwest was own edby No t l eyYoung, a Maryland planter whose slave sc u l tiva ted his nu m erous farm s . That year the federal government included this area in its planfor the new seat of govern m en t . The area was ri pe for devel opm en t : a level , l ow - lying tri a n gle of land de fi n ed by the Po tom ac River, An aco s ti aRiver, and Tiber Creek. The waterways were keyto its growth in the days before ra i l roads and modern transportation.

In trodu cti o n

Oystermen tie up at the Southwest fish wharf, 1915.

Notley andEleanor Young

further isolating Southwest. The canal was pavedover in the 1870s, but by then the Baltimore andPo tom ac Ra i l road tracks along Vi r ginia andMa ryland avenues impo s ed a new barri er, as wo u l dthe Southeast-Southwest Freeway of the 1960s.

Even before the Civil War (1861–1865), migrantsfrom rural Virginia and West Virginia, Europeani m m i gra n t s — e s pec i a lly Italians and Germ a nand then Eastern Eu ropean Jews — and bo t henslaved and free African Americans predom i n a t-ed in So ut hwe s t . Th e waterfront community wasa natural for the Underground Railroad, and theinfamous Pearl escape attempt of 1 84 8 began here .During and after the war, thousands of newlyf reed Af rican Am ericans set t l ed in So ut hwe s t ,a t tracted to its afford a ble housing and unskilledemployment.

By 1 9 0 0 So ut hwest was fully built but deteri ora ti n g.Talk of reh a bi l i t a ti on su rf aced in the 1 93 0s . But by the 1 9 40s arch i tects and planners had newi de a s . Ra t h er than ren ova ting indivi dual stru ctu re s ,i n fl u en tial planner Ha rland Ba rt h o l om ew and arch i tects Louis Ju s tem ent and Ch l oet h i elWoodard Smith called for razing entire blocks.

They wanted to close streets and put up sleekn ew bu i l d i n gs , c re a ting com m erc i a l , c u l tu ra l , a n demployment centers close to residences. Theyconsidered Southwest an ideal laboratory. So didthe D.C. Redevelopment Land Agency, empow-ered to tear down Southwest in order to fix it.

In the 1 9 50s New York devel opers Webb andKnapp put these ideas into a formal plan for anew Southwest, the nation’s first full-scale urbanrenewal project. Architects Harry Weese and I.M. Pei envisioned a Tenth Street Mall linkingthe National Mall to a rebuilt waterfront and aresidential area serving 4,000 families of varyingincomes. Offices, hotels, restaurants and shopswould line the new mall. A major cultural anden tert a i n m ent cen ter would com p l ete the pictu re .

While most of the residential buildings material-ized, Webb and Kn a pp never com p l eted the Ten t hS treet Ma ll , and the cultu ral cen ter was bu i l ti n s te ad in Foggy Bo t tom (tod ay ’s John F. Ken n edyCenter for the Performing Arts). Nevertheless,the brand-new residential areas, so convenient to

The Isaac Levy family of Levy’sBusy Corner, young GeneCherrico with his grandmotherFilomina, and Lewis Jefferson,Southwest’s millionaire.

the federal core , a t tracted middl e - class govern m en tworkers as well as members of congress and theirstaffers. “We thought we were urban pioneers,”recalled journalist Neal Peirce. “We were movingback to the center city and we were quite idealis-tic. . . .We wanted to make Southwest a model . . . .”The new Southwest housed Hubert H. Humphreyand Sandra Day O’Connor, among others. Somelow-income former residents were able to return,but most were displaced, casting a shadow on theurban renewal ideal.

In 2 0 04, 50 ye a rs later, re s i dents of So ut hwe s tenjoy new community traditions as Arena Stage,Southeastern University, churches and schoolsa n ch or daily life . At the same time plans to reh a bi l i t a te the 1 9 6 0s era shopping mall /of fi cecomplex and the waterfront promenade are wellunderway.

Published images of rundown Southwest “in theshadow of the Capitol,” top,h e l ped instigate urbanrenewal projects includingCapitol Park, bottom.

Library of Congress

Washingtoniana Division, DC Public Library

as was ʜ ɪ ɴ ɢ toɴ dev e ʟ o pe d , Southwestbecame its main working, waterfront community.Its wharves received travelers, food and buildingmaterials, slaves and migrants, and weapons forthe new City of Washington. Ships were built andrepaired here. The port was particularly busy dur-ing the Civil War, when Washington served as theUnion Army’s headquarters and supply center.

By 1900 this bustling neighborhood was denselybuilt, with a working-class community of some35,000. They were modest people of all back-grounds: European immigrants, urban AfricanAmericans, and migrants from nearby rural areas.The waterfront was a major marketplace, whereChesapeake Bay watermen tied up and sold freshseafood and farmers delivered fresh produce.Waterfront warehouses held these commoditiesfor distribution throughout the city.

With its small town atm o s ph ere , and mode s tbri ck and wooden bu i l d i n gs and shop s , So ut hwe s twas homey and self-sufficient.

As real estate devel opers open ed other areas of t h ec i ty, So ut hwest qu i et ly aged . Its modest row-h o u ses, elegant older homes, and cramped alleydwellings became run down and overcrowded.By the 1930s, reformers called Southwest obsolete.News stories declared it was located “shamefully. .. in the shadow of the Capitol.” The WashingtonPost led a campaign to tear down Southwest a n dstart over. The press published photographs ofurban blight,” ironically situated next to the near-by U.S. Capitol. Consequently nearly all of OldSouthwest — 560 acres of buildings and trees —was ra zed bet ween 1 9 5 4 and 1 9 6 0. In its place amuch-admired “new town in the city” was built.But the forced dispersal of 2 3 , 50 0 people con ti nu e sto raise important questions about the benefits of urban renewal.

C hange on th eWa t e rfro n tf o u ʀtʜ aɴd m st ʀ e ets sw

1

Fish and softshell crabs weresold fresh off the bo at at theMaine Avenue wharf in 1945.Wa s h i n g toniana Di v i s i o n , DC Public L i b ra ry

“

tʜe ʙuɪʟdɪɴɢs at tʜɪs ɪɴteʀsectɪoɴ allresulted from the nation’s first urban renewal proj-ect . On the nort hwest corn er of Sixth and Mstreets is Arena Stage, a leader in the resident com-pany theater movement. Arena Stage was foundedas an innovative theater-in-the-round in an olddowntown movie theater in 1950. It moved to itsHarry Weese-designed building in 1961. At the cor-n er of Sixth and I streets is the Modernist high - ri s eresidential complex of Waterside Towers designedby Chloethiel Woodard Smith. Stretching southf rom M to N Street is Ti ber Is l a n d , a pri ze - wi n n i n gdevel opm ent by Keye s , Let h bri d ge & Con don .These de s i gns make So ut hwest a showcase ofm i d -20th-century architecture and planning. St.Augustine Episcopal Church, completed in 1965,was one of s even chu rches built after urban renewal demolished 28 of 34 houses of worship.

In the 1 93 0s con gre s s i onal and city officials nati on-wi de were stru ggling with the probl em of a ged ,deteri ora ting citi e s . Could they be fixed and be a uti fi ed , or should they be torn down and bu i l tanew? Would better buildings improve the lives of re s i dents if t h eir com mu n i ties were lost? Co u l dgovernments re-make cities alone, or did theyn eed help from priva te devel opers? And would the displaced ever be able to come home again?

Southwest offered Congress a test lab. Most South-westers were low-income people who valued theirneighborhood but lacked political clout. Nearlyhalf of the housing lacked plumbing. Disease rateswere high . Criminal activi ty inclu ded ga m bling andprostitution. So beginning in 1954, despite t h o u-sands of pro te s t s , the Redevelopment Land Agencymoved 23,500 people and cleared the land so thatprivate developers could build a “new town in thecity.” Neither urban or suburban, innovative clus-ters of townhouses and high-rise apartments withgreen spaces and parking made up the new town.

New To wn in the Citys ɪ xtʜ aɴd m st ʀ e ets sw2

In this 1962 view, Marina ViewTowers and Arena Stage occupythis corner where brick rowhousesonce stood.Wa s h i n g toniana Di v i s i o n , D. C . Public L i b ra ry

tʜɪs qu ɪ et st ʀ e et was on ce Wa s h i n g ton’sa n s wer to New York’s Lower East Si de . Fo u rt hStreet, known until 1934 as 4½ Street, and nearbySeventh Street were Southwest’s shopping centers.

Around 1900, 4½ Street was the dividing linebetween a mostly African American communityliving to the east and mostly Irish, Italian, andJewish communities to the west. Yet blacks andwhites came together over life’s necessities in thesmall shops along 4½ Street. Grocers, butchers,cobbl ers , and merchants su pp l i ed flour and su ga r,f resh meat, cl o t h i n g, and dry good s . G erm a nJewish immigrants moved in du ring the Civil Wa r, l iving above their small businesses alon gs i deIrish shop keepers . A larger wave of E a s ternEuropean Jews began arriving after 1880.

This street was the cen ter of Jewish life inSouthwest, but it was never exclusive. The JewellTheater, showing movies to African Americanaudiences, once sat on this block across fromtoday’s Amidon Elementary School. Children ofall backgrounds played together in the alleys andschoolyards, and roamed to the National Mallto visit the Sm i t h s onian mu s eums or play ball on the open fields.

Southwest’s Jewish community produced a civicl e ader for the en ti re city. At torn ey Ha rry S.Wen derworked to make DC streets safer and to createplaygrounds. In 1934 he brought black and whitecitizens together to persuade the city to tear upthe worn-out cobblestones of 4½ Street, modern-ize it, and re-name it Fourth Street to symbolizeits rebirth. The entire neighborhood celebratedthe new street with the first integrated parade inthe city’s history.

The He yday of Fo u r- a n d - A - Half Stree tf o u ʀtʜ aɴd ɪ st ʀ e ets sw

3

In 1939 this portion of Fourth St.was the commercial heart of oldSouthwest.Ph o tog raph by Joseph Owen Cu rt i s

aʟ joʟsoɴ, staʀ of tʜe fɪʀst “ta ʟ k ɪ ɴ ɢ”m ov ɪ e , The Jazz Singer, grew up as Asa Yoelson at713 4½ Street (once across the street from thissign). The Yoelsons arrived from Lithuania in 1880.Asa’s father Rabbi Moses Yoelson served as cantorand shochet (ritual slaughterer) for Talmud TorahCongregation nearby at Fourth and E. Here youngAsa soaked up the African American speech andmusic that contributed to his later stardom as anentertainer. After The Jazz Singer took the world by storm, Jolson moved his family uptown totoday’s Adams Morgan. Meanwhile the family ofRabbi Arthur Rosen moved into 713.

On the southwest corner of Third and I streets,John T. Rhines founded a successful funeral homethat served the African American community from1906 until his death in 1946. A civic leader, Rhinespresided over the Southwest Civic Association.Though childless, Rhines led the nearby AnthonyBowen School PTA and was popularly known asGenial John” as well as the “Mayor of Southwest.”He worked to bring recreation programs to areablack children and received the Evening Star’s CivicAward in 1943.

On the west side of Fourth Street was Schneider’sHardware, owned in 1949 by Goldie Schneider. Shewas one of many Southwesters who fought theplanned demolition when Congress passed urbanrenewal legislation in 1945. Southwesters arguedthat few of the displaced black residents would beable to afford to rent the new units. Businessmensaw their livelihoods vanishing. So Schneider andfell ow store own er Max R. Morris su ed all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1954 they lost whenthe Court unanimously ruled in Berman v. Pa rkerthat the Redevelopment Land Agency could take(and de s troy) priva te businesses in order to improvean overall neighborhood. Demolition was allowedto proceed.

A Mixing Bowlf o u ʀtʜ ʙetweeɴ ɪ aɴd ɢ st ʀ e ets sw

Rabbi Arthur Rosen, second fromleft, provided kosher chickens toPaul Clarke’s Jewish customers,around 1938.Co l l e ction of La rry Ro s e n

4

“

tʜe ʜɪɢʜ-ʀɪse poto m ac pʟac e on FourthS treet was the first new stru ctu re to open in theredevel oped So ut hwe s t . O ri gi n a lly call ed Ca p i to lPa rk , the com p l ex of h i gh - rise and townhouse residences was designed by Chloethiel WoodardSmith of Satterlee and Smith. Smith was one of thevisionary architects and planners who campaignedto start over again with a blank canvas in So ut hwe s t .Critics hailed Capitol Park as a “beautiful building,inside and out,” noting its inspiring views of theCa p i tol and the Wa s h i n g ton Monu m en t . Sm i t hwon awards for her creative design (efficiencieshad a “folding wall” to create a separate bedroom)and materials. Soon she was the leading choice fordesigning other new Southwest buildings.

Capitol Park replaced Dixon Court, a set of alleysinside the block bordered by Third, Fourth, H, andI streets. For years the press and social reformerspresented Dixon Court as a blighted environmentthat incubated crime and disease. Its 4 3 ti ny houses,lacking plumbing and green spaces, were chroni-cally overcrowded and in need of repair. Yet whenthe court was the first to be demolished in 1954, aclose-knit urban community whose neighbors hadworked together and watched out for one anotherwas also destroyed.

The rel oc a ti on of 2 3 , 50 0 So ut hwe s ters was anen ormous job. Ma ny who were financially able left Southwest when urban renewal plans became p u bl i c . Workers with the Redevel opm ent LandAgency helped others find affordable housing. In1 9 6 0 the Wa s h i n g ton Housing As s oc i a ti on reportedthat 46 percent of those displaced had moved toSoutheast, 27 percent to Northeast, and 15 percentto Northwest.Only 12 percent returned to South-west, with its higher prices.

Re n e wal and Lo s sf o u ʀtʜ aɴd ɢ st ʀ e ets sw5

Ch l oethiel Wood a rd Sm i t h , d e s i g n e r o fCapitol Park and much of Southwest,rests her blueprints on a Capitol Parkgarden barbecue pit, 1959.Wa s h i n g toniana Di v i s i o n , D. C . Public L i b ra ry

st. domɪɴɪc cʜuʀc ʜ , established 1852, anchorsthe city’s only Dominican parish. It is the city’ss i x t h - o l dest Catholic chu rch . S t . Dom i n i c’s su rvivedtwo disasters — a fire in 1885 and, thanks to friendsin Congress, the threat of urban renewal in the1 9 50s — to prevail as a spiri tual and com mu n i tycenter. In the 1800s it ministered to farmers, slaves,free blacks, and Irish, German, and Italian immi-grants as well as native-born government workersand members of Congress. Since urban renewal, ithas served its newest neighbors. This Gothic stylestructure was dedicated in 1875.

Nearly everyone from the humble to the famoushas sought spiritual comfort at St. Dominic’s, fromnewly freed slaves during the Civil War to formerSpeaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill.President Lyndon B. Johnson often came for late-night private prayers during escalations of theVietnam War. Actress Helen Hayes, born andraised in Southwest, sang in the church choir. AndWashington Senators star pitcher Walter Johnsonheadlined the church’s annual parade in 1937.

Nei gh bors of a ll faiths have apprec i a ted St.Dominic’s. “The whole neighborhood would go to[its] carnival with its bright lights,” recalled LarryRosen who grew up on 4½ Street. The priests andnuns of St. Dominic’s school taught hundreds ofa rea ch i l d ren from 1 852 u n til 1 9 57, wh en the rectory,convent, and school were all demolished for theSo ut h e a s t - So ut hwest Freew ay. The 6 0 0 bl ock ofSeventh Street was de s i gn a ted for a new sch oo l ,but because the new Southwest had fewer children,the parish asked to use the site inste ad for low -i n come housing. Af ter ye a rs of l i ti ga ti on , devel operscom p l eted Capital Squ a re town h o u s e s , wh i ch soldat market rates in 2001.

St.Do m i n i c’s:C o m m u n i ty Anchors ev e ɴtʜ aɴd e st ʀ e ets sw

6

Windows depicting the Virgin Mary,the Sa c red He a rt of Je s u s, and St. Joseph oversee the ordination ofDominican priests at St. DominicChurch in 1938. St. Dominic Ch u rc h

jeffeʀsoɴ juɴɪoʀ ʜɪɢʜ scʜoo ʟ , 801 SeventhStreet, was built in 1940 after area residents per-suaded the city to abandon its original dilapidatedbuilding on Virginia Avenue. They hoped the newstructure, which included a branch library, wouldbe the beginning of section-wide improvements.

In Septem ber 1 9 5 4, for the first ti m e , Af ri c a nAmerican students took their seats next to whitesin Wa s h i n g ton’s public sch oo l s . The Su prem eCo u rt had just ru l ed that “s ep a ra te - but - equ a l ”facilities were unconstitutional, so black studentsf rom nearby Ra n d a ll Ju n i or Hi gh all came toJefferson. Integration was surprisingly peaceful.Form er Jef fers on stu dent Ca rl Cole recen t ly rec a ll edthat integration “had no concerns for me. I hadp l ayed with wh i te ch i l d ren all of my early life here .”

Wa s h i n g ton’s sys tem of s ep a ra te sch ools requ i redm a ny bu i l d i n gs , but they didn’t alw ays meet com mu n i ty need s . In 1 9 5 4 So ut hwest had fiveovercrowded “colored” elementary schools, fourunder-enrolled white elementaries, and a juniorh i gh for each gro u p. On the eve of i n tegra ti on , t h eschool-age population had already declined con-siderably because Southwesters were leaving inre s ponse to urban ren ew a l . P l a n n ers ex pected thatn ew So ut hwe s ters would be older and/or ch i l dl e s s ,given the high er costs for most new housing. Sos even el em en t a ry sch ools were dem o l i s h ed , l e avi n gjust three: William Syphax, Anthony Bowen, and a new Margaret Amidon. By 2004 there were two,with Syphax being adapted for residential use.

Because Seventh Street ends at the waterfront, inthe 1800s businesses began locating here and intofar Nort hwest Wa s h i n g ton . O m n i buses (hors e -drawn wagons) carried passengers along Seventhu n til 1 8 62, wh en Con gress ch a rtered a hors e - d rawnstreet railway on Seventh from Boundary Street,NW (now Florida Avenue) to the river.

E q u a l i ty in Public Edu c a ti o ns eveɴtʜ aɴd ɢ st ʀ e ets sw

7

Students at one of Southwest’selementary schools for whitechildren perform posture exercises,around 1899.Ph o tog raph by Fra n ces Benjamin Jo h n s to n ,Li b ra ry of Co n g re s s

Benjamin Banneker, astronomerand mathematician.Ma ryland Hi s to ri cal Soc i e ty

Ba n n e ker Circle: Vis ta to the Pa s tʙ e ɴ jamɪɴ ʙaɴɴekeʀ cɪʀc ʟ eeɴd of teɴtʜ st ʀ e et pʀo m e ɴad e sw

tʜɪs ʜɪɢʜ ɢʀouɴd ɪs a moɴu m e ɴ t toBenjamin Banneker, the free African Americanwho charted the stars for the first survey ofWashington, DC. Banneker was 60 years old whenhe assisted surveyor Andrew Ellicott. A tobaccoplanter from Baltimore County, Maryland, thebrilliant Banneker had taught himself mathematicsand astronomy. Each night he observed the stars’movements. Ellicott then used Banneker’s calcula-tions to determine the District’s boundaries. Inaddition Banneker published a series of almanacspredicting the movements of the sun, moon, andstars to guide farmers in the best timing for plant-ing and harvesting. He also was a champion ofblack rights, writing to Thomas Jefferson on theenormous injustice of slavery in a nation foundedon Jefferson’s own declarations of freedom.

This vista on ce bel on ged to No t l ey Yo u n g, aMaryland planter. He owned nearly all of today’sSouthwest when President George Washingtonchose this area for the new nation’s capital in 1791.Yo u n g’s bri ck mansion stood close to tod ay ’sBanneker Circle. Young owned numerous farms,and in 1790 he reported to Census takers that heowned 265 slaves. Before the American Revolution,Maryland’s Catholics were prohibited from wor-s h i pping in public chu rch e s , so Young ga t h ered his Catholic neighbors for Mass in his home. In1857 Young’s grandson, Father Nicholas Young Jr.,helped establish St. Dominic Church.

Le ading into Ba n n e ker Ci rcl e , the L’ E n f a n tPromenade now covers the site of Young’s house.The promenade was designed by I.M. Pei and oth-ers for New York developer William Zeckendorf.They envisioned a dramatic expanse lined withoffice and cultural buildings to link the NationalMall and Southwest’s waterfront. Today’s ForrestalBuilding blocks what was intended to be a viewfrom Banneker Circle to the Smithsonian castle.

8

Th e Wo rking Wa t e rfro n tɴɪ ɴtʜ aɴd wateʀ st ʀ e ets sw

weʟʟ ɪɴto tʜe 1900s, the Southwest waterfrontwas a bustling, noisy, smelly place. Wharves, piers,and warehouses lined the river, and local industrythrived. Schooners brought ice from New Englandfor delivery to family iceboxes. Lumber came andwent by boa t . Ma ryland coa l , s h i pped via the C&O Canal, piled up in nearby coal yards. A largemunicipal warehouse was the distribution point for fresh produce. Laborers, shopkeepers, domestics erva n t s , and govern m ent cl erks lived alon gs i deboo t l eggers and ga m bl ers . The city morgue wasn e a rby, as were small ship-building fac i l i ti e s .Waterfront taverns, restaurants, and hotels servedworkers, travelers, and neighbors. Some familieslived on houseboats. And colorful watermen tiedup at the docks daily to sell the harvest of “the gre a tprotein factory”— the Chesapeake Bay.

Gene Cherrico, who grew up at 918 Sixth Street inthe 1950s, once delivered the Daily News along thewaterfront. “The pay wasn’t much,” he said, “butthe tips were gre a t . At the Flagship [re s t a u ra n t ] , t h ek i tch en help gave me a bag of t h eir famous ru mbu n s . I would sit behind the re s t a u rant eating bu n sand shaved ice while watching hucksters sellingcrabs and fish from dockside boats.”

Today’s large restaurants along the waterfront arethe heirs to yesterday’s humble oyster shacks. TheFish Wharf between 11th and 12th streets has suc-ceeded the large municipal fish wharf once foundalong Maine Avenue. The daily catch now arrivesby refrigerated truck. During urban renewal, plan-ners tried to change the waterfront from a work-p l ace for the broad - s h o u l dered to a cen ter ofen tert a i n m ent and rec re a ti on . In 2 0 04 p l a n n ers areh oping to furt h er this ide a , c re a ting a walkabl ew a terf ront more like the old days and adding moreresidential buildings.

9

Like Cliff Evans of the VirginiaEstelle, Chesapeake Bay watermenonce sold their catch from boatstied to the wharf. Li b ra ry of Co n g re s s

Emily and Mary Edmonson, wearingplaid shawls, appeared at a NewYork abolitionist convention withFrederick Douglass two years aftertheir failed attempt to escapeslavery in Washington.Madison Co u n ty [New Yo rk] Hi s to ri cal Soc i e ty

E sc a pe From Sl ave r ys eveɴtʜ aɴd wateʀ st ʀ e ets sw

ʙefoʀe tʜe cɪvɪʟ wa ʀ , Washington was a slave-holding city. But many of its citizens — especiallyf ree bl acks and wh i te abo l i ti on i s t s — a s s i s ted f reedom see kers at loc a ti ons known as stops on the Underground Railroad.

The largest attempted slave escape began on theevening of April 15, 1848. In the gathering dark,77 men and women slipped aboard the schoonerPe a rl , w a i ting near this sign . Ca ptain DanielD rayton had agreed to sail them south on thePo tom ac and then north to freedom via theCh e s a pe a ke Bay. But bad we a t h er forced the Pe a rl to anchor just short of the Chesapeake Bay.Meanwhile someone —many later said a jiltedsuitor of escapee Emily Edmonson — tipped offthe slave owners.

The Pe a rl was apprehended and its passengersand crew were brought back to the Seventh Streetwharf. They were marched in chains to jail nearJudiciary Square as mobs jeered. Drayton laterwrote, “it seemed as if the time for the lynchinghad come.” Enraged whites rioted for three days,attacking offices of the Na tional Era , an abolition-ist news p a per they assoc i a ted with the escapea t tem pt . Un h a rm ed , the en s l aved were all soldSo ut h . E d m on s on’s father ra i s ed the mon ey to buy the freedom of Emily and her sister Mary,and the sisters went on to campaign for abolition.E m i ly even tu a lly retu rn ed to the DC are a , wh ereher descendants still live.

Also nearby were the home and chu rch of An t h onyBowen , a free bl ack minister and Pa tent Officecl erk . O ral trad i ti on says he met escaping slaves hereand hel ped them on their way nort h . In 1 85 3

Bowen fo u n ded the nati on’s first YMCA for Af ri c a nAmericans in his home on E Street between Ninthand Tenth.

10

ʙefoʀe ʙʀɪdɢes spaɴɴed tʜe poto m ac ,ferry boats took people and goods across the river.You could sail to Al ex a n d ria from Green l e a f ’sPoint (now Fort McNair), or between the pointswh ere tod ay ’s 14th Street Bri d ge to u ches gro u n d .Sailing ve s s el s , and later ste a m s h i p s , came heref rom Norfo l k , Vi r ginia (and points south) andBaltimore, Maryland (and points north). Washing-tonians wanted international trade, but unfortu-nately, Baltimore and Norfolk had deeper harborsfor larger vessels. Baltimore and Norfolk becamet h riving ports as the 1 8 0 0s unfo l ded . Wa s h i n g tonfell behind, focusing more on regional trade.

Regular steamboat service began on the Potomacin 1 8 1 5 bet ween Wa s h i n g ton and Aquia Cree k ,wh ere the Po tom ac bends near Frederi ck s bu r g,Virginia. There passengers disembarked and rodeoverland to Richmond and points south. Railroadswere built throughout the area in the 1830s, butpolitical wrangling blocked the construction of arail line to the south from Washington. Voyagerscon ti nu ed to travel by ste a m boat to Aquia Cree kand then to the new southern railroads. Finally,a round 1 8 6 0, a ra i l road was built con n ecti n gWa s h i n g ton to Ri ch m on d . Yet passen gers con ti n-ued to book the overnight steamers. The last one s a i l ed in 1 9 57, n e a rly a cen tu ry after it was no lon geressential for southern travel.

Wa s h i n g tonians have long en j oyed cruises to amu s e-m en t parks along the Potomac. Lewis Jefferson, Sr.(1866–1946),Washington’s first African Americanm i ll i on a i re , ran the In depen dent Steam Boat and Ba r ge Com p a ny around 1 9 0 0. Jef fers on’s ve s s el ss a i l ed ten miles south to Wa s h i n g ton Pa rk , h i sa mu s em ent park for Af rican Am eri c a n s . The bu s i-n e s s m a n , banker, contractor, ship builder, and reale s t a te devel oper inve s ted heavi ly in So ut hwe s t .An admired community leader, he lived in a gra-cious brick mansion at 1901 First Street.

All Abo a rds o utʜ wateʀ st ʀ e et sww e st sɪd e eɴtʀaɴce to pʀo m e ɴa d e11

Passengers sprint off the RiverQueen for Marshall HallAmusement Park, around 1920.Wa s h i n g toniana Di v i s i o n , D. C . Public L i b ra ry

tʜe tɪʙeʀ ɪsʟaɴd coo pe ʀ atɪve ʜomes, builtin 1966, include an important historic building astheir community center: the Thomas Law House.The Federal style house was de s i gn ed by Wi ll i a mLovering in 1 7 9 4 for businessman Th omas Lawand his bride Eliza Parke Custis, granddaughter ofMa rtha Wa s h i n g ton . E a rly on it was known asHon eym oon Ho u s e .”O ri gi n a lly the house stood atthe foot of Sixth Street overlooking the Potomac.Since then, time and engineers have changed thes h orel i n e , so the house now sits fart h er from thew a ter. It is one of very few to su rvive the 1 9 50surban renewal.

After the Laws’ time, the area around the housegrew commercial. During the Civil War the housebecame the Mt. Vernon Hotel, where guests sawUn i on troops em b a rking for the So uth from thebusy Sixth Street wharf. They also witnessed thearrival of stunning numbers of wounded soldiers.Quite often,” recorded poet Walt Whitman, “theyarrive[d] at the rate of 1,000 a day.” Here PresidentLincoln greeted Union reinforcements arriving to defend the city’s Fort Stevens from Confederateattack in 1864. At the war’s end, Washington’s ownregi m ent of the U. S . Co l ored Troops march ed triu m ph a n t ly up Seventh Street to the ch eers ofwell-wishers.

Around 1 9 13 the Law House became the Wa s h i n g tonSanitarium’s Mission Hospital, ministering to thearea’s working class and poor, black and white. In1 9 2 3 D r. Hen ry G. Hadl ey purch a s ed the house to opera te as a cl i n i c . According to So ut hwe s terP hyllis Ma rti n , he “was a family doctor to all of t h epeople of Southwest,” who frequently neglectedto take paym ent for his servi ce s . In 1 9 52 Hadl eybuilt Hadley Memorial Hospital in far Southwest,named to honor his mother. The Hadley Clinicclosed in 1961 during urban renewal.

The Endu ring L aw Ho u ses o utʜ eɴd of wateʀ st ʀ e et swat tuʀɴa ʀo u ɴ d

12

Civil War activity on the SixthStreet Wharf, 1863. The Law House,then the Mount Vernon Hotel, fliesthe American flag. Li b ra ry of Co n g re s s

“

“

f o ʀt ʟesʟeʏ j. m c ɴaɪʀ honors the memory ofthe commander of Army Ground Forces duringWorld War II who died in battle. The fort is theU. S . Army ’s third oldest install a ti on , a f ter We s tPoint and Carlisle Barracks.

Fort McNair dates back to 1791, when WashingtonCity planner Pierre L’Enfant saw that the pointwhere the Potomac and Anacostia rivers meet wasideal for a military installation, and he so noted iton his map. At first the installation was known as the Arsenal at Greenleaf ’s Point, where the Armys tored and distri buted we a pon s . Du ring the War of 1 8 1 2, according to a con tem pora ry news p a perreport, a dozen British Redcoats were killed whenthey accidentally set off gun powder hidden downa dry well by a retreating American commander.In 1826 a U.S. penitentiary was added to the instal-l a ti on , and 34 ye a rs later four of the ei ght pri s on ersch a r ged with con s p i racy in Pre s i dent Linco l n’sa s s a s s i n a ti on were hanged in its co u rtya rd .

Af ter the Civil Wa r, the fort’s import a n ce in thedefense of Washington declined. In 1881 the arsenalwas cl o s ed , and the fort was used to store Armyu n i forms and su pp l i e s . The small post hospitalbecame a re s e a rch cen ter, and from 1 8 93 u n til hisdeath in 1902, yellow fever pioneer researcher Dr.Walter Reed studied infectious diseases here. Thenin 1904 the Army War College was founded, open-ing the era of higher education for senior militarypersonnel.

In 2 0 04 the ei ght divi s i ons of the Na ti onal Defen s eUn ivers i ty inclu de the Na ti onal War Co ll ege ,wh i ch open ed in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War (1898). Fort McNair also is home to the In ter- Am erican Defense Co ll ege , e s t a bl i s h edat the height of the Cold War to safeguard theWestern Hemisphere.

M i l i tary Edu c a tion at Fort McNa i rf o u ʀtʜ aɴd p st ʀ e ets sw

13

Two Civil War guns guard thewaterfront where the Anacostiameets the Potomac at WashingtonArsenal, now Fort McNair, 1862.Li b ra ry of Co n g re s s

ɪɴ tʜe 1890s ameʀɪcaɴ cɪtɪes had a commonproblem. The working poor lived in deterioratinghouses and even wooden shacks. In Washingtonthis housing of ten lined the city ’s hidden all eys .People needed healthier and safer places to live.Should govern m ent build them? Priva te en terpri s e ?

In 1897 two Washington public health officials,George Sternberg and George Kober, decided thatprivate investors should build solid, affordablehousing, even though there would be little profit.Between 1897 and 1939, they persuaded charitableWashington investors to clear slums and build1,034 units (houses and apartments) around thecity. The new housing was very popular.

By 1939, however, the investors could no longerafford this enterprise. Fortunately five years earlierthe federal government had established the AlleyDwelling Authority. With government funding, thework of creating affordable housing continued.

The low-rise buildings of St. James Mutual Homesalong Third and P streets were built by Sternbergand Kober’s investors in the 1940s as SternbergCourts and Kober Apartments. The James CreekD well i n gs (First and O streets) and Syphax Garden s(P Street at Ha l f S treet) were built by the All eyDwelling Authority and its successors. Soul musicsu perstar Ma rvin Gaye (1 939–1 9 84) spent part of his childhood at Syphax Gardens.

The Syphax Sch oo l , at 13 6 0 Ha l f S treet , h on orsWilliam Syphax, a descendant of Martha Washing-ton’s grandson George Washington Parke Cu s ti sand Ai ry Ca rter, an en s l aved wom a n . Syph a x servedas the first president of the board of the ColoredPu blic Sch ools of Wa s h i n g ton (1 8 68– 1 8 71) and was openly opposed to school segregation. SyphaxS ch ool opera ted from 1 9 02 u n til 1 9 9 4. In 2 0 04Manna, Inc., was preserving the school’s exterioras part of an affordable housing development.

Public Housing and the Syp hax Sc h oo ltʜɪʀd aɴd p st ʀ e ets sw

14

Alvin Ford poses beside his home at1206 Carrollsburg Place, one of theSo u t h west houses built by Ste rn be rgand Kober’s philanthropic investors.Ph o tog raph by Joseph Owen Cu rt i s

a massɪve, ʀo m a ɴ e s que stʏ ʟ e MetropolitanStreet Railway car barn once commanded thenortheast corner of Fourth and P streets. Trolleyrepair shops sat across Fourth Street. These build-ings dated from the 1880s, and were part ofWashington’s first street railway (later trolley) sys-tem. Streetcars were a lifeline for this neighbor-hood, long known as “the island” because it wascut off from the rest of Washington by creeks, acanal, the Mall, and eventually railroads and free-ways. “We had our own community here,” recalledSouthwester Clarence “Chick” Jackson, “but wecould also go anywhere off the island on thestreetcar. It was our. . . connection to the city.”

In the early 1800s, Washingtonians walked wheret h ey needed to go, rode in carri a ges and wagon s ,or traveled by horseback. Later they traveled inhorse-drawn wagons known as public omnibuses.By the Civil War, however, the city was booming,overwhelmed with soldiers, civilians, and suppliesthat needed ef fi c i ent tra n s port a ti on . In 1 8 62 Con gre s sch a rtered the first street ra i lw ay — cars pull ed by horses on steel tracks laid atop Wa s h i n g ton’su n p aved and of ten mu d dy street s . G iven the stra te-gic importance of Southwest’s wharves, one ofthe first three rail lines ran along here , l oop i n gfrom Boundary Street (now Florida Avenue, NW)to Seventh Street, then back via Fourth Street.

The electric trolleys of the late 1880s came next,and the system grew to serve the entire city. In 1962modern buses replaced the trolleys. That year mostcar barns became unnecessary. O. Roy Chalk, whoowned D.C. Transit (which became publicly ownedMetrobus in 1973), tore down his car barns here tobuild the apartment houses that now occupy theses i te s : Rivers i de Con dom i n ium and Ch a n n el Squ a re .

Linking the “Is l a n d ”to the Cityf o u ʀtʜ aɴd o st ʀ e ets sw

15

Metropolitan Railroad electricstreetcar at the car barn, 1895.Wa s h i n g toniana Di v i s i o n , D. C . Public L i b ra ry

was ʜ ɪ ɴ ɢ to ɴ’s scʜooʟs aɴd pʟaʏɢ ʀo u ɴ d swere lega lly segrega ted from 1 8 62 u n til 1 9 5 4.But that didn’t stop kids of all backgrounds fromplaying together. “We didn’t understand raciald i s h a rm ony,” said So ut hwe s ter Gene Ch erri co of his ch i l d h ood on Sixth Street in the 1 9 50s .Everybody was equ a l . Everybody was poor.” Yetplayground monitors were instructed to keep theraces apart. On the block bounded by DelawareAvenue and Canal Street is tod ay ’s Ki n g - Green l e a fP l aygro u n d , form erly the wh i te - on ly HooverPlayground that sat amid a largely black neighbor-hood. Randall Playground, some five blocks northoff Delaware Avenue and H Street, was operatedfor black children. The children often ignored therules to play together.

For adu l t s , t h o u gh , s ocial time was more segrega ted .When public housing first opened here, residentsmet in social and self-improvement groups suchas the Syphax Hom em a kers Clu b. Long past the1953 court-ordered end to segregation in publicaccom m od a ti on s , the adults of So ut hwest fo u n dentertainment on their own sides of the FourthS treet dividing line. Af rican Am ericans en j oyedBru ce Wa h l ’s re s t a u rant and su m m ertime beerga rden at Fo u rth and C street s . Wh i tes ga t h ered at waterf ront watering holes su ch as Ha ll ’sRestaurant, at Seventh and K. Founded in 1864,Ha ll ’s had been a favorite of General U.S. Grant.

The townhouses and highrises of River Park weredesigned by architect Charles M. Goodman, whoworked with Reynolds Metals to feature aluminumin its unique concept for urban residential archi-tecture. When River Park opened as a cooperativein 1963, its tenants worked to ensure an integratedpop u l a ti on . From the begi n n i n g, the re s i den t stoget h er have made dec i s i ons governing the useand care of the River Park facilities.

Recre a tion and R iver Pa rkɴ st ʀ e et sw, cuʟ de sac at ʀɪveʀ pa ʀ k

16

Courtyard scene, River Park promo-tional brochure, 1962Co l l e ction of Ri ver Pa rk Mutual Ho m e s

“

wʜeɴ uʀʙaɴ ʀeɴewaʟ threatened to destroyt h ree of Wa s h i n g ton’s oldest stru ctu re s , t h eir ten a n t sorganized to stop the bulldozers. Consequentlywh en arch i tect Ch l oet h i el Wood a rd Sm i t hdesigned the mid-20th century Harbour Squareat Fourth and N streets, she included Wheat Row(1795), Duncanson-Cranch House (circa 1794),and Edward Simon Lewis House (1817).

Wheat Row, the elegant set of four Federal stylehouses on Fourth Street, was created by JamesGreenleaf, Washington’s first real estate speculator.Greenleaf and his partners hoped to get rich build-ing housing for the new city. Instead Greenleafwent bankrupt, but left behind a few well-madehouses. This group was named for John Wheat, anearly owner who worked as a Senate messenger. At456 N Street is Lewis House, built for a Navy clerk.A few houses down at 468–470 is Duncanson-Cranch House. William Mayne Duncanson was awealthy trader who lost his fortune investing withGreenleaf. William Cranch, Greenleaf ’s brother-in-law, had a distinguished career as chief justice ofthe DC Circuit Court. World War II correspondentErnie Pyle once lived in Lewis House.

In 1901 Charles Weller opened NeighborhoodHouse in Lewis House as Washington’s first socials et t l em en t . Th ere he provi ded edu c a ti on andrecreation for poor white children and adults, withthe city’s first organized playground. The branchl i bra ry — the city ’s firs t — wel com ed bl acks as well as whites in keeping with library policies. In1904 artist and socialite Alice Pike Barney boughtDu n c a n s on - Cra n ch House for Nei gh borh oodHouse, and the institution became Barney Neigh-borh ood Ho u s e . It con ti nu ed to grow, occ u pyi n gt h ree of Wheat Row ’s four houses, before movi n gto 1 6th Street , N W, i n 1 9 6 0. Well er also hel ped fo u n dthe “Colored Social Center” in 1903 at 118 M S treet ,foreru n n er of tod ay ’s So ut hwest Com mu n i ty Ho u s e .

Blending Old and Ne wf o u ʀtʜ aɴd ɴ st ʀ e ets sw17

In 1963 artist Garnet Jex pho-tographed the Duncanson-CranchHouse as construction was under-way for Harbour Square.The Hi s to ri cal Soc i e ty of Wa s h i n g to n , D. C .

tʜe pʀocess of cʀeatɪɴɢ a NeighborhoodHeritage Trail begins with the community, extendsthrough story-sharing and oral history ga t h eri n g,and ends in formal sch o l a rly re s e a rch . For moreinformation on this neighborhood, please consultthe resources in the library of City Museum/TheHistorical Society of Washington, D.C., and theWashingtoniana Division, DC Public Library. Inaddition, please see the following selected works:

Sterling Brown, “The Negro in Washington,” inFederal Writers’ Project, Washington: City andCapital (Washington: Government PrintingOffice, 1937).

Steven J. Diner and Helen Young, eds., HousingWashington’s People: Public Policy in Retrospect(Washington: University of the District ofColumbia, 1983).

Sandra Fitzpatrick and Maria R. Goodwin, TheGuide to Black Washington, rev. ed. (New York:Hippocrene Books, 1999).

Constance McLaughlin Green, The Secret City:A History of Race Relations in the Nation’s Capital(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967).

Howard Gillette, Jr., Between Justice and Beauty:Race, Planning, and the Failure of Urban Policy inWashington, D.C. (Baltimore: Johns HopkinsUniversity Press, 1995.

Keith Mel der,“So ut hwe s t : Wh ere Hi s tory Stopped ,”in Kathryn S. Smith, ed., Washington at Home: AnIllustrated History of Neighborhoods in the Nation’sCapital (Northridge, CA: Windsor Press, 1988⁾.

Daniel Thursz, Where Are They Now?(Washington: Health and Welfare Council of theNational Capital Area, 1966).

Sources

Cultural Tourism DC (CT/DC) is a nonprofit coali-tion of more than 130 heritage, cultural, andneighborhood organizations that work tostrengthen the image and the economy ofthe nation’s capital by engaging visitors andresidents of the metropolitan area in thediverse history and culture of the entire cityof Washington. For more information aboutC T / DC’s Neighborhood Heritage Trails program, guided tours, and other culturalevents, please visit w w w. C u l t u r a l To u r i s m D C . o rgor call 2 02 . 6 6 1 . 75 8 1 .

Southwest Neighborhood Assembly is a private,nonprofit citizens organization dedicated toimproving the quality of life for all residentsof the Southwest; to open to every Southwestresident the wide cultural horizon of urbanliving; to help create rich and equal social,educational, and economic opportunities forevery boy and girl of the Southwest; to assistin providing the opportunity for gainfulemployment for every adult resident; topromote development of the economic andaesthetic potential of the Southwest. Theseobjectives shall be pursued without regard tothe social, economic and racial barriers thathave divided cities in the past. For more infor-mation, please see w w w. s w d c . o rg .

tʜɪs tʀaɪʟ ɪs tʜe pʀoduct of a unique groupof h i s torians and history makers , a ll of wh omwere gen erous with their ti m e , t h eir knowl ed ge ,and their talents. Special thanks to SouthwestersMa r ga ret Fel d m a n , Jo s eph Owen Cu rti s , Cava l i ersMen’s Clu b, G ene Ch erri co, Ca rl Co l e , Ca ro ly nCro u ch , Doro t hy Korn h a u s er, P hyllis Ma rti n ,L a rry Ro s en , G o t t l eib Si m on , Art hu ryne Tayl or,Moral Tren t , Elaine Wen der, S h eila Wi t kows k i ,and Gary Yo u n g. Hi s tori a n s , a rch ivi s t s , and libra r-ia n s made essential contributions: Lisa Bentley,Irene Alexander, Peggy Appleman, Judy Capurso,Howard Gillette, Faye Haskins, Don A. Hawkins,Kim Holien, Herbert Holmes, Lucinda P. Janke,Carole Kolker, Susan Lemke, Keith Melder, MimiMi n a ri k , Ma ry Mora n , Gail Red m a n n , Ch ri s ti n eRo u rke , Vanessa Ru f fi n , Ryan Shep a rd , Wen dyTurman, and Keith Washington.

Acknowledgments