BGuthrie Photos: DC Heritage Trails: An East of the River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail

DC Heritage Trails: An East of the River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. TRANA_170115_001.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail For thousands of years a people called the Nacotchtanks lived here, trading and harvesting the riches of land and river. Europeans arrived in the early 1600s. At first they traded with the Indians, too, but they soon claimed land and began farming. Before long, the Nacotchtanks were gone, driven from the area by Europeans or killed by their diseases. All that remained was a version of their name: Anacostia. Two villages founded here in the mid-1800s, white Uniontown and African-American Barry Farm, developed separately for a century. Today's Anacostia embraces both and is but one of some 30 neighborhoods located east of the Anacostia River. After 1900 this area grew with manufacturing and military installations. But during the 1960s, questionable government policies changed Anacostia drastically, leaving portions poor, overcrowded, and without adequate services. While many people left, those who stayed kept their communities strong, attracting new residents and investment as the 21st century began. An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail presents this complex history – and the best views in the city. Twenty signs take you on a two-mile walk ending at 13th and U Sts., SE. To return to the Anacostia Metro Station, walk to Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and turn left, proceed six blocks to Howard Rd. and turn right. Or take Metrobus 92 from 13th St. and Good Hope Rd.
2. TRANA_170115_005.JPG: The 11th Precinct police station, photographed around 1920 opened onto Chicago St.
3. TRANA_170115_009.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail 10 Crossing Lines Across the street is the former 11th Precinct Police Station. In 1993 it became the Max Robinson Center for Health and Living, providing services for people with HIV/AIDS. Whether by design or by accident, in 1910 the city built Anacostia's police station on the unofficial dividing line between the black and white residential sections. Until the 1960s residents rarely crossed the line, and children learned to stay where they belonged. "We [African Americans] had our world; we never really went outside it;' remembered neighborhood activist Rev. Oliver Johnson, so he "never felt discrimination" as a child. Others saw it differently. Speaking of his youth in the 1940s, former Council member Stanley Anderson recalled in an interview with historian Dianne Dale that, "when you went below [the precinct house], white folks lived in there. And once you got down to Good Hope Road, you were in serious trouble .... You were constricted, so to speak, in those days." Even Anacostia Park was divided. African Americans stayed south of Good Hope Road, and whites used the north side, where the swimming pool and tennis courts were located. Until 1909 when the 11th Precinct was established, Anacostia, Hillsdale, and other neighborhoods here were part of the 5th Precinct, headquartered across the river. The new precinct's Spanish style building replaced a substation closer to Good Hope Road. The Salvation Army's Solomon G. Brown Corps Community Center honors Hillsdale's Renaissance man. Although unschooled, Brown (ca. 1829-1906) became an expert on natural history during his 54 years at the Smithsonian and lectured frequently before scientific societies. Brown also founded several civic organizations and. in 1871 was elected to represent Anacostia and Hillsdale. in DC's short-lived territorial government.
4. TRANA_170115_013.JPG: Max Robinson Center was named for the nations first black TV news anchor (1939-1988) seen here at right editing a story for WRC-TV in 1967.
5. TRANA_170115_019.JPG: Pvt. Addison Davis of the 11th Precinct serves at a party for Neighborhood Children, 1965
6. TRANA_170115_021.JPG: Anacostia Public Library at 16th St. and Good Hope Rd., 1961. Unlike the schools, segregated until 1954, the public library welcomed all.
7. TRANA_170115_024.JPG: Solomon Brown who lived on Elvans Rd. near Stanton Rd. In 1862 Solomon Brown wrote his traveling employer of the rumored approach of Confederate soldiers: Smithsonian Institution Washington Sept 4th 1862 Prof Baird Dear Sir Our city is again thought to be in great danger. Every body seems much frightened the Enemy is said by some this morning to have appeared in Maryland – if this be true I don't see why they cannot come to Washington. in view of which I write to know if it would not be well to have your Silver got Ready for Sending on to you at Carlisles. Please write soon and let me know. I feel as usual quite well but yet I begin to fear our Generals is not alright, Some how or there is a screw loosed. Respectfully yours, S.G.Brown P.S. We can do but little work here we have no [???] for every place and streets is filled with the Poor cut up men.
8. TRANA_170115_032.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail 13 A Neighborhood Oasis Follow Good Hope Road under the highway to your left to reach Anacostia Park, a longtime neighborhood oasis. In 1914, after years of citizen requests, Congress directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to "improve" the Anacostia River by scraping soil from the river bed and depositing it into the "flats," the marshes lining the banks. The improvement would eliminate mosquito-breeding grounds and provide new land for parks. Construction on Anacostia Park started in 1923. Later Anacostia Citizens Association President George C. Havvener marveled: "Where is there another such town with a $4,000,000 park in its front yard, with its homes sitting on hills like box seats in an amphitheater!" The dramas that played out on that stage were not always pretty. In the hot summer of 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, some 15,000 ragged World War I veterans and their families, known as the Bonus Army, set up camp in the park. They were part of a group of 45,000 that had come to Washington to try to collect -- 13 years ahead of schedule -- a bonus payment due in 1945. When Congress tables their request, President Hoover feared their anger and directed the US Army to clear out the camp. The troops chased people out and burned their shelters. Many were injured, and a child died. Violence erupted again in 1949 when the Department of the Interior desegregated the Anacostia Park swimming pool. Since opening in 1937, the pool had been restricted to white patrons. Some of them reacted violently to the arrival of African American swimmers, so officials closed the pool for the summer. In the mid-1960s, the neighborhood lost a favorite vista when the Anacostia Freeway was constructed along the park's edge.
9. TRANA_170115_038.JPG: Men of the 1932 Bonus Army arrive to lobby Congress. Above, they assemble in their camp at Anacostia Park, also known as "the flats."
10. TRANA_170115_041.JPG: The Hillsdale Baseball team at Anacostia Park, around 1940
11. TRANA_170115_043.JPG: A Neighborhood Oasis Follow Good Hope Road under the highway to your left to reach Anacostia Park, a longtime neighborhood oasis. In 1914, after years of citizen requests, Congress directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to "improve" the Anacostia River by scraping soil from the river bed and depositing it into the "flats," the marshes lining the banks. The improvement would eliminate mosquito-breeding grounds and provide new land for parks. Construction on Anacostia Park started in 1923. Later Anacostia Citizens Association President George C. Havvener marveled: "Where is there another such town with a $4,000,000 park in its front yard, with its homes sitting on hills like box seats in an amphitheater!" The dramas that played out on that stage were not always pretty. In the hot summer of 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, some 15,000 ragged World War I veterans and their families, known as the Bonus Army, set up camp in the park. They were part of a group of 45,000 that had come to Washington to try to collect -- 13 years ahead of schedule -- a bonus payment due in 1945. When Congress tables their request, President Hoover feared their anger and directed the US Army to clear out the camp. The troops chased people out and burned their shelters. Many were injured, and a child died. Violence erupted again in 1949 when the Department of the Interior desegregated the Anacostia Park swimming pool. Since opening in 1937, the pool had been restricted to white patrons. Some of them reacted violently to the arrival of African American swimmers, so officials closed the pool for the summer. In the mid-1960s, the neighborhood lost a favorite vista when the Anacostia Freeway was constructed along the park's edge.
12. TRANA_170115_045.JPG: Radiant performs at Malcolm X Day in Anacostia Park, 1988
13. TRANA_170115_047.JPG: Swimmers at Anacostia pool in 1937, when it was limited to white persons
14. TRANA_170115_049.JPG: The modern era at Anacostia Pool and on the basketball court
15. TRANA_170115_051.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail For thousands of years a people called the Nacotchtanks lived here, trading and harvesting the riches of land and river. Europeans arrived in the early 1600s. At first they traded with the Indians, too, but they soon claimed land and began farming. Before long, the Nacotchtanks were gone, driven from the area by Europeans or killed by their diseases. All that remained was a version of their name: Anacostia. Two villages founded here in the mid-1800s, white Uniontown and African-American Barry Farm, developed separately for a century. Today's Anacostia embraces both and is but one of some 30 neighborhoods located east of the Anacostia River. After 1900 this area grew with manufacturing and military installations. But during the 1960s, questionable government policies changed Anacostia drastically, leaving portions poor, overcrowded, and without adequate services. While many people left, those who stayed kept their communities strong, attracting new residents and investment as the 21st century began. An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail presents this complex history – and the best views in the city. Twenty signs take you on a two-mile walk ending at 13th and U Sts., SE. To return to the Anacostia Metro Station, walk to Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and turn left, proceed six blocks to Howard Rd. and turn right. Or take Metrobus 92 from 13th St. and Good Hope Rd.
16. TRANA_170115_055.JPG: Anacostia Citizens Association President George C. Havenner speaks at the groundbreaking for Anacostia Park, 1923.
17. TRANA_170115_059.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail For thousands of years a people called the Nacotchtanks lived here, trading and harvesting the riches of land and river. Europeans arrived in the early 1600s. At first they traded with the Indians, too, but they soon claimed land and began farming. Before long, the Nacotchtanks were gone, driven from the area by Europeans or killed by their diseases. All that remained was a version of their name: Anacostia. Two villages founded here in the mid-1800s, white Uniontown and African-American Barry Farm, developed separately for a century. Today's Anacostia embraces both and is but one of some 30 neighborhoods located east of the Anacostia River. After 1900 this area grew with manufacturing and military installations. But during the 1960s, questionable government policies changed Anacostia drastically, leaving portions poor, overcrowded, and without adequate services. While many people left, those who stayed kept their communities strong, attracting new residents and investment as the 21st century began. An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail presents this complex history – and the best views in the city. Twenty signs take you on a two-mile walk ending at 13th and U Sts., SE. To return to the Anacostia Metro Station, walk to Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and turn left, proceed six blocks to Howard Rd. and turn right. Or take Metrobus 92 from 13th St. and Good Hope Rd.
18. TRANA_170115_062.JPG: Fred Curtis (left) and an employee inside the Curtis Brothers' first store, which opened in 1936 and sold used furniture at 2041 Nichols Ave.
19. TRANA_170115_068.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail 12 The Big Chair This Anacostia icon once marked the entrance to Curtis Brothers Furniture Co. The business dated to 1926, when young Fred and George Curtis acquired a Model T Ford truck to deliver ice, then progressed to moving furniture. They soon rented a storage facility on Shannon Place then opened a store to sell items abandoned there by customers. Eventually they offered new furniture too. Over time three generations ran the business, which grew beyond the Anacostia retail operation and warehouses to include three suburban stores. In 1958 Curtis Brothers billed itself as Washington's largest furniture display and had Bassett Furniture construct a 4,600-pound mahogany Big Chair as its symbol. It unveiled the finished chair with a ceremony presided over by "Miss World's Largest Chair": DC resident Maureen Reagan, daughter of movie stars Ronald Reagan (later U.S. president) and Jane Wyman. Numerous Big Chair publicity stunts followed. The Big Chair survived the civil disturbances following the 1968 assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Though damage to Anacostia's shopping district was modest, many businesses and residents moved away afterwards. Curtis Brothers Furniture closed in 1975. Four years later the community began marking Dr. King's birthday with a parade along the avenue that passed the neighborhood's longtime centerpiece. Eventually time and weather got the best of the Big Chair, and the Curtises removed it. The loss so upset the neighborhood that the Curtises made a replica in metal. Godfather of Go-Go Chuck Brown, whose career took off in the house parties and clubs of Anacostia, performed at the new Big Chair's dedication in 2006.
20. TRANA_170115_071.JPG: Chuck Brown performed on the big Chair when it was rededicated in 2006
21. TRANA_170115_073.JPG: The Big Chair This Anacostia icon once marked the entrance to Curtis Brothers Furniture Co. The business dated to 1926, when young Fred and George Curtis acquired a Model T Ford truck to deliver ice, then progressed to moving furniture. They soon rented a storage facility on Shannon Place then opened a store to sell items abandoned there by customers. Eventually they offered new furniture too. Over time three generations ran the business, which grew beyond the Anacostia retail operation and warehouses to include three suburban stores. In 1958 Curtis Brothers billed itself as Washington's largest furniture display and had Bassett Furniture construct a 4,600-pound mahogany Big Chair as its symbol. It unveiled the finished chair with a ceremony presided over by "Miss World's Largest Chair": DC resident Maureen Reagan, daughter of movie stars Ronald Reagan (later U.S. president) and Jane Wyman. Numerous Big Chair publicity stunts followed. The Big Chair survived the civil disturbances following the 1968 assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Though damage to Anacostia's shopping district was modest, many businesses and residents moved away afterwards. Curtis Brothers Furniture closed in 1975. Four years later the community began marking Dr. King's birthday with a parade along the avenue that passed the neighborhood's longtime centerpiece. Eventually time and weather got the best of the Big Chair, and the Curtises removed it. The loss so upset the neighborhood that the Curtises made a replica in metal. Godfather of Go-Go Chuck Brown, whose career took off in the house parties and clubs of Anacostia, performed at the new Big Chair's dedication in 2006.
22. TRANA_170115_074.JPG: Curtis Brothers Furniture 2041 Nichols Avenue
23. TRANA_170115_076.JPG: In 1950 Curtis Brothers pioneered TV sales in Anacostia from this storefront at 2041 Nichols Ave.
24. TRANA_170115_084.JPG: Motown star Stevie Wonder leads the 1980 Martin Luther King Day parade
25. TRANA_170115_086.JPG: Mayor Walter Washington installs the new street sign 1971
26. TRANA_170115_090.JPG: Maureen Reagan is crowned Miss World's Largest Chair, 1958
27. TRANA_170115_093.JPG: Lynn Arnold occupies a glass house in a Curtis Brothers publicity stunt
28. TRANA_170115_098.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail 14 Booth's Escape Late On The Night Of April 14, 1865, a guard at the other end of the Navy Yard Bridge allowed a young man on horseback to cross, despite a wartime curfew. Unbeknownst to the guard, the rider, John Wilkes Booth, had just shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. Booth was fleeing to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd in Prince George's County, Maryland, by way of Good Hope Road. As details of the assassination arrived at the Anacostia police substation days later, so did a rumor that Booth might be hiding out in the area. Officers commenced a hunt for the fugitive, but he was long gone. The bridge Booth traveled, the first of many at this site, was built in 1820 to allow residents to reach jobs at the Navy Yard. Before then people used the Eastern Branch Bridge at Pennsylvania Avenue. That structure, which dated to 1797, was blown up in August 1814 as the British marched toward Washington bent on its destruction during the War of 1812. Unfortunately the British succeeded in reaching the capital via Bladensburg Road instead. General William H. Winder, commander of the defenses of Washington and Baltimore, ordered the destruction of the Navy Yard as well, to keep it out of British hands. This intersection was Anacostia's first commercial center. From here businesses spread east on Good Hope Road and south along Nichols Avenue. Among the earliest establishments were Robert Martin's general store and post office, his Farmers' and Drovers' Hotel, David Haines's blacksmith and wheelwright shop, Duvall's Tavern, and George Pyle's grocery. Out Good Hope Road, greenhouses and a brick factory provided local jobs.
29. TRANA_170115_105.JPG: The Navy Yard Bridge, 1862, A Bridge has crossed over the Anacostia River here since 1820 taking men and women to jobs at the Navy Yard/Naval Gun Factory.
30. TRANA_170115_109.JPG: This poster advertised the reward for the capture of John wilkes Booth and conspirators Mary Surratt and David Herold (misspelled Harold.)
31. TRANA_170115_114.JPG: In Anacostia's early days, W.L. Koontz's feed store occupied the corner of Nichols and Good Hope. In 1881, Frederick Douglass shopped at Martin's at the corner of Harrison (now Good Hope) and Monroe (Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.)
32. TRANA_170115_120.JPG: Joe Puglisi in his shoe repair shop at 1214 Good Hope Road during the 1950s.
33. TRANA_170115_123.JPG: Max Simon's shoe shop, pictured here in the 1940s, occupied 1911 Nichols Ave.
34. TRANA_170115_126.JPG: A 1949 view of the 1900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. (then Nichols) Ave. includes a Hechinger hardware and a clothing store catering to sailors.
35. TRANA_170115_138.JPG: In 1881 Frederick Douglass shopped at Martin's at the corner of Harrison (now Good Hope) and Monroe (Martin Luther King Jr, Ave.)
36. TRANA_170115_142.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail For thousands of years a people called the Nacotchtanks lived here, trading and harvesting the riches of land and river. Europeans arrived in the early 1600s. At first they traded with the Indians, too, but they soon claimed land and began farming. Before long, the Nacotchtanks were gone, driven from the area by Europeans or killed by their diseases. All that remained was a version of their name: Anacostia. Two villages founded here in the mid-1800s, white Uniontown and African-American Barry Farm, developed separately for a century. Today's Anacostia embraces both and is but one of some 30 neighborhoods located east of the Anacostia River. After 1900 this area grew with manufacturing and military installations. But during the 1960s, questionable government policies changed Anacostia drastically, leaving portions poor, overcrowded, and without adequate services. While many people left, those who stayed kept their communities strong, attracting new residents and investment as the 21st century began. An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail presents this complex history – and the best views in the city. Twenty signs take you on a two-mile walk ending at 13th and U Sts., SE. To return to the Anacostia Metro Station, walk to Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and turn left, proceed six blocks to Howard Rd. and turn right. Or take Metrobus 92 from 13th St. and Good Hope Rd.
37. TRANA_170115_148.JPG: Peoples Drug Store anchored the corner of Nichols Ave. and Good Hope Rd. in 1949.
38. TRANA_170115_151.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail For thousands of years a people called the Nacotchtanks lived here, trading and harvesting the riches of land and river. Europeans arrived in the early 1600s. At first they traded with the Indians, too, but they soon claimed land and began farming. Before long, the Nacotchtanks were gone, driven from the area by Europeans or killed by their diseases. All that remained was a version of their name: Anacostia. Two villages founded here in the mid-1800s, white Uniontown and African-American Barry Farm, developed separately for a century. Today's Anacostia embraces both and is but one of some 30 neighborhoods located east of the Anacostia River. After 1900 this area grew with manufacturing and military installations. But during the 1960s, questionable government policies changed Anacostia drastically, leaving portions poor, overcrowded, and without adequate services. While many people left, those who stayed kept their communities strong, attracting new residents and investment as the 21st century began. An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail presents this complex history – and the best views in the city. Twenty signs take you on a two-mile walk ending at 13th and U Sts., SE. To return to the Anacostia Metro Station, walk to Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and turn left, proceed six blocks to Howard Rd. and turn right. Or take Metrobus 92 from 13th St. and Good Hope Rd.
39. TRANA_170115_154.JPG: Bury's Drug Store at 2200 Nichols Ave., about 1919. The shop and truck are decorated for the Fourth of July.
40. TRANA_170115_158.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail 11 Transit and Trade The arrival of modern transportation after the Civil War transformed Anacostia. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opened a branch line along the river here in 1874, bringing industry. Two years later businessman and developer Henry Griswold launched the Anacostia & Potomac River Railroad Co., the first streetcar east of the river. Horse-drawn cars carried passengers back and forth over the bridge from the Navy Yard to about this spot, and inspired Washingtonians with jobs across the river to settle here. Businesses opened near the streetcar stops to serve them. Griswold figured correctly that the streetcar was the key to selling property he owned. He quickly sold more than 200 lots on the hill to your right. Eventually he extended the line to Congress Heights and downtown Washington. In 1900 speedier streetcars replaced the horsecars here, shortening the commute time to downtown and encouraging more residential development. In 1935 the Anacostia line was among the first in DC to be replaced with buses, which were considered cheaper to maintain, more flexible, and more modern. (Streetcar service was completely eliminated in Washington in 1962.) Anita F. Allen remembered when the streetcar tracks were removed. "One of the greatest events of our lives came after the new concrete was down and before traffic was allowed again. For a few days we had a gloriously big roller skating rink that all the neighborhood children enjoyed." Union Temple Baptist Church, founded in Anacostia in 1967, moved to this block in 1990. Under activist pastor Rev. Willie Wilson, the church has fought for community improvements and sponsored the annual Unifest.
41. TRANA_170115_162.JPG: Anacostia streetcar drawn by two horses on Nichols Ave. near Howard Rd., 1890.
42. TRANA_170115_165.JPG: Businesses that once thrived across Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.; Mead's Model Market, number 2243, seen around 1925, and F.G. Lindsay at 2215, photographed around 1915.
43. TRANA_170115_171.JPG: Rev. Willie Wilson, pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church, blesses a new home on 16th St., 1987.
44. TRANA_170115_176.JPG: Marion Barry, candidate for Ward 8's City Council seat, rode in Union Temple's annual Unifest Parade in 1992.
45. TRANA_170115_179.JPG: Looking east on Maple Ave. (now Maple View Pl.).
46. TRANA_170115_182.JPG: Developer Henry Griswold's home there fell to wreckers in 1946, right
47. TRANA_170115_188.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail For thousands of years a people called the Nacotchtanks lived here, trading and harvesting the riches of land and river. Europeans arrived in the early 1600s. At first they traded with the Indians, too, but they soon claimed land and began farming. Before long, the Nacotchtanks were gone, driven from the area by Europeans or killed by their diseases. All that remained was a version of their name: Anacostia. Two villages founded here in the mid-1800s, white Uniontown and African-American Barry Farm, developed separately for a century. Today's Anacostia embraces both and is but one of some 30 neighborhoods located east of the Anacostia River. After 1900 this area grew with manufacturing and military installations. But during the 1960s, questionable government policies changed Anacostia drastically, leaving portions poor, overcrowded, and without adequate services. While many people left, those who stayed kept their communities strong, attracting new residents and investment as the 21st century began. An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail presents this complex history – and the best views in the city. Twenty signs take you on a two-mile walk ending at 13th and U Sts., SE. To return to the Anacostia Metro Station, walk to Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and turn left, proceed six blocks to Howard Rd. and turn right. Or take Metrobus 92 from 13th St. and Good Hope Rd.
48. TRANA_170115_192.JPG: This 2013 panorama captures the view from Cedar Hill
49. TRANA_170115_196.JPG: An East-of-the River View Anacostia Heritage Trail 18 The Sage of Anacostia This imposing property once belonged to Anacostia's most famous resident: Frederick Douglass. After escaping slavery as a young man, Douglass rose to become a distinguished abolitionist, writer, publisher, and orator. By the 1860s Douglass was one of the nation's intellectual and political giants who had President Lincoln's ear. Douglass argued early in the Civil War that Lincoln should allow African Americans to fight as soldiers in the Union army. President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Douglass to the prestigious position of U.S. marshal for the District of Columbia in 1877. Soon after, Douglass purchased the country retreat of bankrupt Uniontown founder John Van Hook in a mostly white neighborhood and named it Cedar Hill. His sons lived in the adjacent, mostly African-American, Hillsdale community. From his hilltop porch Douglass could look out across his acres of fruit and vegetable gardens and down upon the official Washington that so often disrespected him because of his race. Active in local as well as national affairs, Douglass hosted gatherings at Cedar Hill, spoke frequently at local churches, and served on Howard University's Board of Trustees. Succeeding U.S. Presidents appointed Douglass as DC recorder of deeds and ambassador to Haiti. The "Sage of Anacostia" died at home on February 20, 1895. His widow, Helen Pitts Douglass, left Cedar Hill to the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association upon her death in 1903. Despite volunteer maintenance and fundraising, the house fell into disrepair. Eventually Congress answered community demands and appropriated funds for the National Park Service to acquire and restore the home. It opened to the public in 1972. The visitors' center entrance is a short distance ahead on W Street.
50. TRANA_170115_200.JPG: Neighborhood volunteers organized by the Anacostia Coordinating Committee joined federal laborers to maintain Cedar Hill over the years.
51. TRANA_170115_203.JPG: For 34 Years Gladys Parham, seen in Cedar Hill's parlor, served as caretaker while campaigning for the home's restoration.
52. TRANA_170115_210.JPG: Douglass's first wife, Anna, left, died at Cedar Hill in 1882 at age 69. Two years later he married his former clerk, suffragist Helen Pitts (seated with Douglass and Helen's sister Eva).
53. TRANA_170115_214.JPG: Frederick Douglass at work in the west parlor of Cedar Hill
54. TRANA_170115_217.JPG: National Park Ranger Gentry Davis describes Cedar Hill's dining room, 1972
55. TRANA_170115_221.JPG: Neighborhood children prepare to toboggan down W St., around 1920.
56. TRANA_170115_227.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail For thousands of years a people called the Nacotchtanks lived here, trading and harvesting the riches of land and river. Europeans arrived in the early 1600s. At first they traded with the Indians, too, but they soon claimed land and began farming. Before long, the Nacotchtanks were gone, driven from the area by Europeans or killed by their diseases. All that remained was a version of their name: Anacostia. Two villages founded here in the mid-1800s, white Uniontown and African-American Barry Farm, developed separately for a century. Today's Anacostia embraces both and is but one of some 30 neighborhoods located east of the Anacostia River. After 1900 this area grew with manufacturing and military installations. But during the 1960s, questionable government policies changed Anacostia drastically, leaving portions poor, overcrowded, and without adequate services. While many people left, those who stayed kept their communities strong, attracting new residents and investment as the 21st century began. An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail presents this complex history – and the best views in the city. Twenty signs take you on a two-mile walk ending at 13th and U Sts., SE. To return to the Anacostia Metro Station, walk to Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and turn left, proceed six blocks to Howard Rd. and turn right. Or take Metrobus 92 from 13th St. and Good Hope Rd.
57. TRANA_170115_233.JPG: Old Market House Square began as Logan Park, the center of 14th St. It was photographed in 1914 during a landscaping project.
58. TRANA_170115_237.JPG: East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail #17 Uniontown, DC's First Suburb Today's Anacostia Historic District began in 1854 as Uniontown, Washington's first planned suburb. The Union Land Association saw the large Navy Yard workforce across the Anacostia River as potential customers for building lots they carved out here from 240 acres of farmland. The association named streets after presidents and designated this block-long park as a town square and market place. As was common practice, the developers barred sales to "any [N]egro, mulatto, or person of African blood." Half of the lots sold quickly. Land association partner John Van Hook built himself a gracious two-story brick house on a nine-acre hilltop overlooking Uniontown. A handful of elegant houses rose along the new streets, including one for Dr. Charles H. Nichols, superintendent of the new Government Hospital for the Insane (later called St. Elizabeths). But building proceeded slowly. Unfortunately for Van Hook and his partners, after the Civil War ended in 1865 Navy Yard ship production slowed, and then in 1873 economies around the world crashed. The Union Land Association declared bankruptcy, and Frederick Douglass purchased Van Hook's property. Other developers took over, building more modest houses. In 1886 Congress changed Uniontown's name to Anacostia because numerous "Uniontowns" had appeared around the nation after the Civil War. Anacostia Lodge No. 21 of the Free and Accepted Masons built 2002 14th Street in 1890, leasing its first floor as a movie theater. After the Masons moved to Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in 1963, a succession of churches used the solid structure.
59. TRANA_170115_243.JPG: On this 1878 map Uniontown's streets are named for presidents (14th St. is Pierce St.). Note the estate owned by "Frederick Douglass".
60. TRANA_170115_250.JPG: The James Nutall family poses in 1974 at 1312 U St., their Italianate home one block west of this sign. The house is a rare example of early Uniontown architecture.
61. TRANA_170115_252.JPG: A Fourth of July parade passes the Masonic Lodge at 14th and U, 1918
62. TRANA_170115_257.JPG: The firehouse seen here at 1345 V St. in a view from around 1920 protected Anacostia from 1898 until it was replaced in 1968.
63. TRANA_170115_262.JPG: Congregants of the Chapel of St. Philip the Evangelist walk from Shannon Pl. to their new building, the former Anacostia Methodist Church, 1977.
64. TRANA_170115_279.JPG: Rose's Row stood boarded up and derelict in 1974. Longtime residents remember the battle to defeat city plans to raze it for a parking lot.
65. TRANA_170115_282.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail 20 Rose's Row Across the intersection to your left is Rose's Row, three one-family and three two-family houses built in 1890 by local saloon-keeper William H. Rose. Rose's won Daniel designed them in the popular Italianate style and carefully crafted a cornice that wraps the corner house, which became the Rose family's home. Rehabilitated in the late 1980s, the row endures as a fine example of Uniontown style. The block is also distinguished by the work of two locally prominent architects. Lewis W. Giles, Sr. designed the two apartment buildings at 1222 U (1933) and 1218 (1940). Across the street, George T. Santmyers contributed the Georgian style row of 1233-1255 U Street in 1925 and 1926. Like many aging DC neighborhoods, Anacostia fell into decline in the 1960s. In response to zoning changes, between 1950 and 1970 Anacostia went from a community of mostly single-family houses to one dominated by hastily built apartments and public housing projects. Urban renewal elsewhere had pushed people with few resources into Anacostia. Schools were overcrowded, city services were strained, and crime plagued many blocks. Conditions were so bad that in 1971 neighborhood leaders filed a lawsuit claiming that discriminatory DC government policies and neglect were to blame. Though the lawsuit was dismissed, leaders pressed on. As a consequence, the city improved public services and funded rehabilitation of historic properties. In 1978 residents arranged for designation of the Anacostia Historic District, which brought attention to the unique architecture and landscape here. Zoning laws changed in the 1990s to encourage construction of rowhouses and other smaller-scale dwellings.
66. TRANA_170115_287.JPG: High schooler Trudy Pilkerton poses with a friend on the block to your left around 1951. She lived in 1222 U St., designed by Lewis Giles, Sr.
67. TRANA_170115_291.JPG: Best friends Josephine Murphy and Jeannette Pilkerton, dressed for their first high school dance, in Jo' living room, 1257 U St., 1955.
68. TRANA_170115_297.JPG: Architects Lewis Giles Sr., photographed in his Army uniform, and George Santmyers, above, each contributed buildings to this block of U St.
69. TRANA_170115_302.JPG: Many features of typical Italianate, wood-frame architecture illustrated here are found in Rose's Row, across the intersection.
70. TRANA_170115_310.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail For thousands of years a people called the Nacotchtanks lived here, trading and harvesting the riches of land and river. Europeans arrived in the early 1600s. At first they traded with the Indians, too, but they soon claimed land and began farming. Before long, the Nacotchtanks were gone, driven from the area by Europeans or killed by their diseases. All that remained was a version of their name: Anacostia. Two villages founded here in the mid-1800s, white Uniontown and African-American Barry Farm, developed separately for a century. Today's Anacostia embraces both and is but one of some 30 neighborhoods located east of the Anacostia River. After 1900 this area grew with manufacturing and military installations. But during the 1960s, questionable government policies changed Anacostia drastically, leaving portions poor, overcrowded, and without adequate services. While many people left, those who stayed kept their communities strong, attracting new residents and investment as the 21st century began. An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail presents this complex history – and the best views in the city. Twenty signs take you on a two-mile walk ending at 13th and U Sts., SE. To return to the Anacostia Metro Station, walk to Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and turn left, proceed six blocks to Howard Rd. and turn right. Or take Metrobus 92 from 13th St. and Good Hope Rd.
71. TRANA_170115_313.JPG: Our Lady of Perpetual Help parishioners and clergy, 1930
72. TRANA_170115_318.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail 19 Mother Churches and Their Daughters Across This Intersection is St. Teresa of Avila, the first Catholic Church east of the Anacostia River. It is called the "mother church" because many area congregations are its offshoots. As Uniontown grew, so did its Catholic population. In 1879 James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, established St. Teresa's Parish. Although racially mixed, St. Teresa's relegated its African American members to the back of the church they had helped build. In 1911 the black parishioners petitioned Cardinal Gibbons for a new parish to serve their needs. While fundraising to build a church of their own, parishioners met in homes and St. Teresa's basement. In 1918 Cardinal Gibbons granted their petition. The parish men volunteered nights and weekends to build the new Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on Morris Road near Fort Stanton. It opened in 1921. For decades black and white Catholics here led separate existences. Nancy Puglisi, a white elementary student at St. Teresa's School during the early 1950s, remembers going with her class to Our Lady of Perpetual Help's annual bazaar. "We'd be told to bring a quarter to buy something. Other than that, blacks and whites never socialized" By the 1970s, with the neighborhood's racial change, St. Teresa's was predominantly black, too. Our Lady of Perpetual Help is famous for the views from its Panorama Room, which has hosted everything from church bazaars to cabarets and Go-Go concerts. The row of eight frame Italianate houses behind you was built in 1889 by brothers William and James Yost. The stone church on this corner originally housed Emmanuel Episcopal Church, the mother church to St. Philip the Evangelist.
73. TRANA_170115_321.JPG: The eighth grade graduating class of St. Teresa's School, 1956. In 1972 the school became part of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School.
74. TRANA_170115_323.JPG: St. Teresa's choir makes a joyful noise, 1984
75. TRANA_170115_326.JPG: Nancy Puglisi, the 1960 May Queen of St. Teresa's, crowns the Virgin Mary.
76. TRANA_170115_329.JPG: Rev. Franz Schneeweiss, Our Lady of Perpetual Help's first pastor, and parishioners, about 1930.
77. TRANA_170115_332.JPG: An Our Lady of Perpetual Help confirmation class, around 1948
78. TRANA_170115_334.JPG: Go-Go (with Southeast DC roots) at the Panorama Room: Rare Essence and Experience Unlimited, 1987.
79. TRANA_170115_337.JPG: An East-of-the-River View Anacostia Heritage Trail For thousands of years a people called the Nacotchtanks lived here, trading and harvesting the riches of land and river. Europeans arrived in the early 1600s. At first they traded with the Indians, too, but they soon claimed land and began farming. Before long, the Nacotchtanks were gone, driven from the area by Europeans or killed by their diseases. All that remained was a version of their name: Anacostia. Two villages founded here in the mid-1800s, white Uniontown and African-American Barry Farm, developed separately for a century. Today's Anacostia embraces both and is but one of some 30 neighborhoods located east of the Anacostia River. After 1900 this area grew with manufacturing and military installations. But during the 1960s, questionable government policies changed Anacostia drastically, leaving portions poor, overcrowded, and without adequate services. While many people left, those who stayed kept their communities strong, attracting new residents and investment as the 21st century began. An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail presents this complex history – and the best views in the city. Twenty signs take you on a two-mile walk ending at 13th and U Sts., SE. To return to the Anacostia Metro Station, walk to Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and turn left, proceed six blocks to Howard Rd. and turn right. Or take Metrobus 92 from 13th St. and Good Hope Rd.
80. TRANA_170115_341.JPG: This 2013 panorama captures the view from Cedar Hill
81. TRANA_170115_346.JPG: An East-of-the River View Anacostia Heritage Trail 18 The Sage of Anacostia This imposing property once belonged to Anacostia's most famous resident: Frederick Douglass. After escaping slavery as a young man, Douglass rose to become a distinguished abolitionist, writer, publisher, and orator. By the 1860s Douglass was one of the nation's intellectual and political giants who had President Lincoln's ear. Douglass argued early in the Civil War that Lincoln should allow African Americans to fight as soldiers in the Union army. President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Douglass to the prestigious position of U.S. marshal for the District of Columbia in 1877. Soon after, Douglass purchased the country retreat of bankrupt Uniontown founder John Van Hook in a mostly white neighborhood and named it Cedar Hill. His sons lived in the adjacent, mostly African-American, Hillsdale community. From his hilltop porch Douglass could look out across his acres of fruit and vegetable gardens and down upon the official Washington that so often disrespected him because of his race. Active in local as well as national affairs, Douglass hosted gatherings at Cedar Hill, spoke frequently at local churches, and served on Howard University's Board of Trustees. Succeeding U.S. Presidents appointed Douglass as DC recorder of deeds and ambassador to Haiti. The "Sage of Anacostia" died at home on February 20, 1895. His widow, Helen Pitts Douglass, left Cedar Hill to the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association upon her death in 1903. Despite volunteer maintenance and fundraising, the house fell into disrepair. Eventually Congress answered community demands and appropriated funds for the National Park Service to acquire and restore the home. It opened to the public in 1972. The visitors' center entrance is a short distance ahead on W Street.
82. TRANA_170115_349.JPG: Neighborhood volunteers organized by the Anacostia Coordinating Committee joined federal laborers to maintain Cedar Hill over the years.
83. TRANA_170115_352.JPG: For 34 Years Gladys Parham, seen in Cedar Hill's parlor, served as caretaker while campaigning for the home's restoration.
84. TRANA_170115_359.JPG: Douglass's first wife, Anna, left, died at Cedar Hill in 1882 at age 69. Two years later he married his former clerk, suffragist Helen Pitts (seated with Douglass and Helen's sister Eva).
85. TRANA_170115_363.JPG: Frederick Douglass at work in the west parlor of Cedar Hill
86. TRANA_170115_366.JPG: National Park Ranger Gentry Davis describes Cedar Hill's dining room, 1972
87. TRANA_170115_370.JPG: Neighborhood children prepare to toboggan down W St., around 1920.
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