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Top of the Town
Tenleytown Heritage Trail
14 On the Circle
In the 1930s city engineers created Tenley Circle where commuters heading cross-town or downtown changed streetcars. Across the street and to the left of Tenley Circle, a surviving strip of historic Grant Road meets Wisconsin Avenue. In the 1890s, the two-story, stucco structure on that corner was John and Rebecca O'Day's feed store, stocking everything from hay to kerosene for area farmers. After 1915 it became "Doc" Scholl's pharmacy, a popular spot for soldiers training nearby at Camp American University during World War I. When "Doc" Gauley took over during the roaring '20s, the "Tenleytown Special" sundae was a soda fountain favorite. Since the 1940s restaurants on this spot have served everything from corned beef to cannolis. The stucco building remains the oldest commercial building still standing in Tenleytown.
Directly across the circle is Wisconsin Avenue Baptist Church. Founded as Mount Tabor Baptist Church in 1880, it first occupied land donated by parishioner Mary Burrows at 4620 Wisconsin Avenue. When the city widened the avenue in 1924, nearly erasing its lot, the church moved. This building is its third home.
The handsome stone structure on the rise behind you was the Seminary of Our Lady Immaculate, established in 1905 by the Sisters of Providence. "Immaculata" offered a first-rate education to female students. After 80 years, the order announced the preparatory school's closing. A year later, despite protests by the school community, the order sold this campus to nearby American University. |