It’s been a while since I posted one of these. If you’re new, in the late 1950s there was a survey of all the religious institutions in the Northwest Urban Renewal Area, which came before the smaller Shaw School Urban Renewal Area. There is a whole book of churches that reveal a lot of information about churches, some that still exist.
This one is a confusing one. Fifteenth Presbyterian Church, could also be the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church. They are on the same block Sq. 207. However the lots cited, 801 and 802, don’t appear to exist anymore. Nor does the address 1449 R St NW. Google maps puts it in the back of the 15th St Church of the frozen chosen (black ice). I’mma going to make my life easier and just say that they are the same church, because what are the chances they aren’t?
This was and still is an African American church with 640 members in 1957. According the the survey half lived in the neighborhood along 14th St NW. But in 1957 there were also a lot of grey hairs, with 50% being over 50 years old and 21% being retirees. They were also a church of professionals (40%) and white collar workers (20%).