There was some good natured conversation at last night’s BACA meeting about where the hell are we. Apparently at a meeting I missed, there was more of a continuous meeting regarding the name of the neighborhood.
Just to restate: I am in the Bates Area, which is in Truxton Circle, which is in Shaw, which is in Old City II, which is in Washington, which is in the District of Columbia, which is in the United States of America. You might be in Westminster, which maybe in (I’m not sure) Logan Circle, which is in (though some might not want to admit it) in Shaw, which is in Old City II, etc.
Anyway, the discussion goes back to Truxton Circle. Several people with a gist of what the argument is, are aware that once upon a time, long, long ago there was a circle at FL and North Cap and it went away in the 40s. What I’ve become aware of lately is that in 1984, solid proof that the powers that be, the local and federal government called my little section of the Shaw School Renewal Area (aka Shaw) Truxton Circle. As an area, and not as a landmark or a post office, TC is called Truxton Circle in the Washington Post’s August 2, 1984 article Subsidy Program’s Nuts and Bolts . Then I found maps from a federal agency* from 1984 with the name Truxton Circle boldly printed on top of the area. After 1984 the city continues to call the area Truxton Circle as it sells underpriced and moderately priced housing to DC residents.
*I’m sorry I’m going to have to be vague about the source until the end of the Summer. Ask me in person why.
Back in the day I applied for that housing lottery where DC was selling houses for $250 dollars. They clearly labeled many of them as being located in the Truxton Circle neighborhood. Lets see that was…probably around 1999. I might even still have the list of houses 🙂
I don’t disagree with you, Mari, as I don’t know very much about the history of these neighborhoods, but somebody does, and they put it on wikipedia:
Shaw on wikipedia.
Truxton Circle on wikipedia.
I don’t know what to think about this. You could go edit the wikipedia articles, but that probably won’t be super-productive. Is there an official source somewhere that states where neighborhood boundaries are?
*sigh*
I keep meaning to get in and tinker with the Shaw and Truxton Circle wiki articles however, the password and user name I created is stored far from the place where I have access to dead tree references to prove my point. There are a few things I question in both entries and it would require a bit more research…. on top of the research I’ve put on hold, than I care to put in.
But once again for y’all who dispute the borders of Shaw:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/74/197508848_c4d7070ba2_b.jpg
The actual map is more than likely in the National Archives somewhere under National Capital Planning Commision or a book.
Anyone can play just cite a primary source.
Interesting map. I’m convinced. The wikipedia articles definitely need some editing. Thanks for replying!
Had this conversation with a neighbor the other day, Re: Westminster & Shaw. It is the general conscientious that Westminster is barely a part of Shaw. Yes, even though it does fall in the boundaries (so does U Street) most consider the area U Street. Shaw is almost exclusively covered by Ward 2 and the southern boundary of Ward 1 is the North Side of S Street NW.
Ehem. The TC is in Ward 5. Most of Shaw is in Ward 2. There are portions that fall within Jim Graham’s Ward 1.
I’m of the belief that one can be in several neighborhoods (sub & major), obviously there are others who do not share my belief. There are apparently others that believe that their areas that fall within the original Shaw School Urban Renewal Area, isn’t part of Shaw. Why is that? Why must it be ‘either, or’ and not ‘this AND that’? Why can’t we be one big Shaw family?
we can! i live 1 block south of that shaw map but i still wear my “i love shaw” shirt with pride.