Property in DC is identified by SSL (Square, Suffix & Lot). The block is the square and in the case of this post, I am going to look at Square 507, the topmost block in the NW triangle called Truxton Circle. It is bounded by Rhode Island Ave NW, Florida Ave NW, 4th St NW, R St NW, and New Jersey Ave. Inside of it contains Richardson Pl. NW.
Property in DC is identified by SSL (Square, Suffix & Lot). The block is the square and in the case of this post, I am going to look at Square 507, the topmost block in the NW triangle called Truxton Circle. It is bounded by Rhode Island Ave NW, Florida Ave NW, 4th St NW, R St NW, and New Jersey Ave. Inside of it contains Richardson Pl. NW.
It dawned on me that when I refer to the squares of Truxton Circle, the reader, you, might not have any clue as to what I am talking about. Home owners might be more aware of the squares but renters….. not so much.
Property in DC is identified by SSL (Square, Suffix & Lot). The block is the square and in the case of this post, I am going to look at Square 507, the topmost block in the NW triangle called Truxton Circle. It is bounded by Rhode Island Ave NW, Florida Ave NW, 4th St NW, R St NW, and New Jersey Ave. But inside of it contains Richardson Pl. NW.
I figure I’d throw down a sampling of what I may have written about each of the NW squares (I’m totally ignoring the NE / Non-Shaw portion of the TC).
I haven’t done a home or property owner post for Richardson Pl. That is something I need to remedy. And the only historical post I have is 1900 Census: 414 Richardson Court NW.
Everyso often people argue about the boundaries of the Shaw neighborhood. Here’s a map from 1971 from the National Capital Planning Commission. It also shows the 14th St Urban Renewal Area, but little matter.
So I decided to fool around with AI before it takes my job and brings those Boston Dynamic killer dog robots to kill me.
I was playing with NotebookLM and decided to throw some Eloyce Gist stuff at it. The fake podcast it produced…. is interesting.
After asking several Eloyce Gist questions, I asked it about Truxton Circle. This is what I got:
While the sources provide information about a filmmaker who lived and worked in Truxton Circle, they do not offer a clear definition of “Truxton Circle.” The sources do include some clues about the nature of Truxton Circle, which may help to clarify:
● A historically Black neighborhood in Washington, D.C.: Several sources refer to Truxton Circle as a neighborhood in Washington, D.C. that was historically Black. For example, one source describes Truxton Circle as a “historically Black Truxton Circle neighborhood in Washington, DC.”
Another mentions a series on “Black home owners of Truxton Circle.”
● Home to a beauty school in the 1920s: The sources provide details about the life and work of Eloyce Gist, a Black filmmaker who owned and operated a beauty school in Truxton Circle in the 1920s. Gist purchased the property for her business, the Patrick School of Beauty Culture and Personal Improvements, in 1922.
The sources note that, at the time, Truxton Circle was “just becoming a majority Black neighborhood.”
● Located within the pre-Home Rule boundaries of Shaw: Several sources provide a map of the “Boundaries pre-Home Rule” for Shaw, a neighborhood in Washington, D.C..
These maps list the neighborhood’s boundaries as:
○ Western: 15th Street NW
○ Eastern: North Capitol Street NW
○ Northern: Florida Ave NW
○ Southern: New York Ave NW, between North Cap and New Jersey, M Street NW between 3rd and 13th Streets NW, and N Street between 13th and 15th Streets NW.
Based on these clues, it seems likely that Truxton Circle is:
● A neighborhood, or a smaller section within a neighborhood, located in Washington, D.C..
● Situated within the historical boundaries of the Shaw neighborhood.
● A historically Black community, at least as of the early 20th century.
However, without further information from the sources, it is impossible to say for certain what Truxton Circle is or to offer more specific details about its location, history, or character.
This is a repost. But the topic is always something that applies.
Okay so there is a write up in the Washington Post about Shaw. I’m debating about giving Alex Padro a hard time about the east boundary being New Jersey Avenue. Their graphic has Shaw’s western boundary at 13th St NW and the southern part just eats up Mt. Vernon . The boundaries of Shaw keep changing with each article so, there is that. This is a Real Estate article, and they quote Padro and Ibrahim Mumin, so I’m not going to nit pick much, except for this point.
This is part of the Rando Alley Not in Shaw series. However, this is not even an alley. This is Square 1. Literally Square 1 in NW DC and 900 27th Ave NW, which no longer exist. What is there now is the off ramp to go from Whitehurst Freeway to I-66.
The Recorder of Deeds website was being unhelpful. So this is mostly from Ancestry and the Historic Washington Post. Genealogy is hard. I refuse to do my dad’s side of the family because most of it could be summed up in the phrase, “Grandpa James shoulda kept it in his pants.” There are two James, two Roberts and two Johns. Families seem to like to recycle names, which makes things confusing and I was, and probably still am, confused by the Kat Millers of Sq. 520.
I mentioned Kat Miller, as I will call them, in an earlier post, Rando thoughts ending in a music video. For 1905-1906, on Square 520, which is bounded by R St, 3rd and 4th Sts, and Q Street NW, I saw a lot of Kat Millers as the owner of many lots. Katharine Miller owned lots 57-59, 62, 76-78, 88-86, and 90-91. Katharina Miller owned lot 92. Catherine A. Miller owned lots 60, 93-94, and 102-106. There was another lady Miller, Agnes R. Miller who owned lots 61, 65 and 95.
Katharina Nau Miller (1839-1916) Credit Ann Gaegler. Ancestry.com
Like my family, they reused the names. Katharina/ Katrina Elizabeth Nau Miller (1839-1916) was the mother. She was married to a John Miller and they used to live at 452 H St NW. They were members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. They had three daughters, Catherine Appollonia (1871-1944), Agnes Rose (1878-1930), and Anna Barbara (1876-1950).
The Recorder of Deeds site (when working) helped with something that is very hard when looking up women, married names. Apparently Katharina had a will. I haven’t seen it but I’ve seen evidence of it. But according to land records there was a will and Catherine Appollonia Miller became Catherine Ruppert. She and her husband John Anton Ruppert (1861-1939) were the executors of Katharina’s will. In her will she left property to the surviving children of Agnes Rose Sullivan (lots 57, 78, 88, and 90) along with lots on Sq. 509 (maybe 509E?). In the September 16, 1916 Washington Post (p. 3) she left property and money to Catherine Ruppert, Agnes’ kids, and Anna Barbara Gaegler. Mrs. Gaegler owned lots 68 and 74 in 1905.
I’m not sure who John F. Shea is, but he was the surviving trustee of Catherine Ruppert’s estate.
1909 Baist Map of Sq. 520
Okay. Let’s see who these ladies were landladies for. I’m ignoring all the lots owned by Sullivans, who could be relatives of Agnes Rose. So let’s look at lots 57-62, 65, 68, 74, 76-78, 86-88, 90-95, 102-106. Not all the old lot numbers line up with the current lot numbers, and the Baist addresses can be wrong, so bear with me. 1603-1611 and 1629 4th, 1635 4th, 1641 4th, 1646 3rd, 1638-1642 3rd (empty lots), 1618-1622 3rd, 1602/4?? 3rd (empty lot 95), 1604-1614 3rd, and 304-312 R St NW.
In 1900 the residents of 1603-1611 and 1629 4th St NW were all African American. Basically everyone on Square 520 in 1900 was Black and renting and on 4th St NW. Unless I have another hole in my data (and I probably do), these white ladies had black tenants in fairly, newish houses. I live on the even side of the 1600 block of 4th St NW and the houses on the odd side are way bigger than the even side. They have room for parking. We don’t, for most of us.
Moving to 1910, I see I probably have a hole in my 1900 data because, I see White people. In 1910 the Miller ladies rented to African American and White families. Fourth St remains African American, but the R Street and 3rd Street houses are rented to White families. I have one odd-ball I need to check. A White man named Anthony A. Ryles of 1646 3rd St NW claimed to own the property in the census. 1646 is currently Mt. Sinai’s education center and the original lot 74, Anna Barbara’s lot, no longer exists. People lie, he could have bought it, or there is another logical explanation.
Okay. That’s enough researching for now.
Redlining vs Urban Renewal
I’m seeing the term redlining popping up more and more. Some of my relatives mentioned it during our Christmas Zoom gathering. It seemed new to the Festivus-like list of grievances that get trotted out by particular relatives, and it seemed to be short-hand for something else. I’m going to go with the simple definition of redlining being the denial of government backed mortgages to non-whites based on geography. Yes, redlining was bad, but urban renewal was much worse.
I’m tacking this on the end of the Kat Miller post because, I see that the landladies were interested in green, as they rented to both Black and White. Poking around the property and census records I see loans get made and a lot of people rent. In cities, you’re more apt to rent than own.
Urban renewal impacts both homeowners and renters, more so renters. It it easier to level a quadrant like Southwest when the majority of landowners don’t live there. The Northwest and later the Shaw School Urban Renewal Area plans were to knock out whole blocks, which would have displaced thousands of residents. In the plan, I-395 was supposed to continue up and meet up with U St, destroying what was to become my house in the process. The homes destroyed to make the freeways, the public parks and the low-income housing aren’t coming back. The scars of urban renewal are forever on the landscape.
Sources: Must login to DC Library's various database accounts-
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/150627590/person/180246330315/Gallery?_phtarg=Kyj110
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/150627590/person/180246330336/facts
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/150627590/person/180246330337/facts
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/120179064/person/222225869459/facts
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This is not really from the exhibit, but part of the art piece I created called Frankenmap. This looks like the Son of Frankenmap, where it is just the parts of Truxton Circle along New Jersey Avenue. It looks like I’ve posted all the material fit to post and now I’m digging into the bottom of the barrel.
