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Worthy Ambition
LeDroit Park/Bloomingdale Heritage Trail
15 The Prettiest Place
Before there was a LeDroit Park, map engraver David McClelland owned a mansion on the property across Rhode Island Avenue. When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, McClelland possessed a detailed map of Washington that suddenly had great strategic value. He offered to sell his map and its copper printing plates to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, but his asking price was too high. So Stanton sent soldiers here to confiscate the map. Eventually McClelland settled for less than half of the requested fee.
In 1925 the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World, a fraternal society, bought McClelland's house for its headquarters (later replaced by the United Planning Organization). When few social venues admitted African Americans, the Elks lodge and its extensive lawns drew neighbors to dances and outdoor band concerts. "Lord, that was the prettiest place," recalled a former LeDroit Park resident who attended concerts there as a girl. "I never wanted to leave." After the Elks moved next door in the 1960s, a Safeway replaced their former lodge. The Safeway closed in 1998.
Acclaimed sociologist E. Franklin Frazier, author of The Negro Family in the United States, lived at 220 Rhode Island Avenue until his death in 1962. The Howard University faculty member became the first African American to head the American Sociological Society in 1948.
Frazier's sister-in-law, artist Hilda Wilkinson Brown, lived at 237 Rhode Island Avenue from 1934 until her death in 1981. Her husband Schley operated a medical practice from their home. Brown established the art program at nearby Miner Teachers College and often painted the neighborhood. Her niece, artist Lilian Thomas Burwell, later lived in the house. |