Section 10-A1801. HISTORY

 

1801.1While “the Far Southeast/Southwest” is a new name for this part of the city, the area itself has a long and interesting history. 1801.1

 

1801.2In 1662, the first land grant in the Washington area was made to George Thompson on land along the east bank of the Potomac River, extending from Blue Plains to what is now the St. Elizabeths Campus. The land was farmed as a tobacco plantation until 1862. In 1863, a portion of the tract was leased by the government as an army post called Camp Stoneman. The post became a resort after the Civil War until it burned down in 1888. Other late 19th century uses in the Far Southeast/Southwest included a race course, a one-room schoolhouse on what is now Congress Heights School, and dairy farms. St. Elizabeths Hospital was founded in 1852, growing into the largest federal psychiatric facility in the country by 1940. More than 7,000 residents lived there at its peak. 1801.2

 

1801.3Present-day Anacostia was established as Uniontown in 1854 as a bedroom community for Navy Yard workers. The neighborhood was a “whites-only” community until abolitionist Fredrick Douglass purchased his home on Cedar Hill in 1877. Many of the original wood frame and brick homes, along with some of the original commercial structures along Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr Avenue, still remain today and are protected through their designation as a 25-block Historic District. 1801.3

 

1801.4By the turn of the century, the expanding capital city began to spread east of the Anacostia River. A seawall was constructed to protect the Anacostia shoreline and storm sewers were installed. In 1908, Washington Steel and Ordnance Company-best remembered as “the steel plant”-arrived at the foot of what is now Portland Street. The Army developed an airfield on the still rural land near the shoreline in 1917, with a ferry connection to Hains Point established a year later. The compound would eventually become Bolling Air Force Base and the Naval Air Station. 1801.4

 

1801.5Large farms still persisted through the 1920s and 30s. In fact, some of this area was still active farmland as recently as 50 years ago and longtime residents recall “moving out to the country” when they first arrived. Winding roads follow the natural contours of the land and reflect the area’s development during a time when great suburban growth was occurring beyond the city limits. The grid and diagonal road system that characterizes much of the rest of Washington was not followed, resulting in a more organic pattern of development. 1801.5

 

1801.6The Second World War was a period of great change in the Far Southeast/ Southwest. The population grew by over 200 percent during the 1940s, as neighborhoods like Bellevue and Washington Highlands were developed. The wartime growth of Bolling Field and the Naval Research Laboratory fueled demand for housing, with thousands of garden apartments constructed. One of the complexes developed during this period was Barry Farm. Once literally a farm, the site was part of a 375-acre tract established in 1867 to provide freed slaves with an opportunity to become homeowners. 1801.6

 

1801.7After the War, apartments continued to be constructed, only now the arriving residents included many households displaced from urban renewal activities west of the Anacostia River. The influx of new residents was coupled with the closure of wartime industrial uses, such as the Navy armaments factory in Congress Heights. The combined effects of economic and social disruption triggered a long period of economic and population decline which started in the late 1950s and continued for four decades. By 2000, nearly one in six housing units in the Planning Area were vacant and more than one in three residents lived in poverty. 1801.7

 

1801.8Today, there are signs of a turn-around in many parts of the area. Transportation, economic development, and housing initiatives are underway, bringing new investment and promise of better times ahead. 1801.8

 

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The provisions of Title 10, Part A of the DCMR accessible through this web interface are codification of the District Elements of the Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital. As such, they do not represent the organic provisions adopted by the Council of the District of Columbia. The official version of the District Elements only appears as a hard copy volume of Title 10, Part A published pursuant to section 9a of the District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1994, effective April 10, 1984 (D.C. Law 5-76; D.C. Official Code § 1 -301.66)) . In the event of any inconsistency between the provisions accessible through this site and the provisions contained in the published version of Title 10, Part A, the provisions contained in the published version govern. A copy of the published District Elements is available www.planning.dc.gov.