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Midcity at the Crossroads
Shaw Heritage Trail
14 History in a House
If a house could talk, what tales would it tell? The private residence at 415 M Street, to your left, would tell of hundreds of Shaw residents who came here to play and worship.
The house at 415 was built in the 1860s for Joseph Prather, a butcher at nearby Northern Liberty Market. After Prather, the house became the first DC home of the Young Men's Hebrew Association (1913-1914), serving the recreational an spiritual needs of young local Jews. The YMCA evolved into today's Jewish Community Centers (DC; Fairfax, Virginia; and Rockville, Maryland). Next came the Hebrew Home for the Aged (1914-1923), which now operates in Rockville.
From the 1920s until the 1940s, Shomrai Shabbos, an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, opccupied 415. In 1947 the Church of Jesus Christ moved in, remaining until 1980. This church was established by Mother Lena Sears after nearby Bible Way Church refused to let her preach, because she was a woman. Next came the Metropolitan Community Church, a Christian church with a special ministry to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community. It is now located one block north of here on Ridge Street.
A quick detour to Ridge Street will show you a number of rare small frame houses from as long ago as the 1860s. (Shaw housing generally is brick.) At number 448 Ridge Street, the Northwest Settlement House has provided social and day care services since 1934. The Tuesday Evening Club of Social Workers, a group of African American Women, founded the social center "to extend a helping hand to friendless girls, deserted women and neglected children. |