This is just a short blog about Truxton Circle, not only as a place where working people lived, but also a place where people worked. Though now the neighborhood is primarily residential, with the exception of North Cap, the area held commercial spaces, schools, a firehouse and a hospital.
Where the New York Ave park sits, a hospital with nurses and doctors was once.
Baist’s real estate atlas of surveys of Washington, District of Columbia, 1919. Source-Library of CongressNational Homeopathic Hospital, ca. 1910
Where the Northwest Co-op sits was an industrial area around the 1920s. People worked in the dairy and garages.
1924 Baist map of Sq. 551
Lastly were the schools, where teachers worked.
[Untitled photo, possibly related to: Washington, D.C. Schoolteacher] Library of CongressTeacher showing students, 1942. Source: Library of Congress
So for all who labored in Truxton Circle, Happy Labor Day.
I was looking for places where my essay “Ethnic Divides in a DC Neighborhood” on line. It has been referenced a few times and sometimes it shows up in the dodgiest of places on the internet. Then that wasn’t providing the results I wanted, so I threw in my whole legal name and “Truxton Circle” and came across someone’s Substack.
It was John Cass‘ “Neighbor History” Substack, in his article Neighbors in the Records. I’m simply flattered and honored by what he has to say about about my research.
As there are a billion things going on with me as a mom, wife, church archivist, paid archivist, and this blog, I’ll keep it short and end now. You can subscribe now, or wait until I have something special. And when I do, I’ll post it here to let you know.
I’ve been doing this neighborhood history thing for well over a decade and I have learned some lessons. Doing these mini genealogies and digging into the land records, newspaper clippings and other research I discover the people who lived here were complicated people. Just as complicated as you or I.
Recently, I’ve seen a couple people bring up the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, claiming women could not own land, have a credit card or bank account in their name, etc, before 1974. Really? But several things can be true at the same time. There are women now who are unbanked/ debanked. My sister-in-law was unbanked until she was able to get POA over my mother-in-law’s nest egg & bank account which she drained before abandoning the old woman.*
Eloyce Gist
Anyway, Truxton Circle has many female homeowners and landladies who owned property in their own name with nary a man in sight. Eloyce Gist, never had any of her husbands’ names on the documents. The only man who ever had his name on 134 R St NW was her father when it was purchased with her parent’s help in the 1920s. Dr. Euphemia Haynes-Lofton, owned lots of property in DC in her own name. Then there was Kat Miller who owned several properties as well. Followed by all the divorcees, widows and single women who purchased WSIC houses in the 1950s. Speaking of WSIC homes, I am reminded of pre-WSIC owners Marie Clarice Eustis and Louise Eustis Hitchcock.
Dr. Carrie H. Thomas, who seemed to have inherited 1629 NJ Ave NW from her father, never married. Sometime before 1910 her father had died and she died in 1930, which meant she owned the house free and clear for at least 20 years. She had a career and a life.
Louise Marie Eustis. Source -Wikimedia
It seems to reason that if women were owning property, acting as landladies or real estate investors or plain old homeowners they would have bank accounts. I’ve seen enough mortgages where women held the debt in their own name, sometimes even when they were still married. All well before 1974.
Believe it or not, a woman in say 1920 be unmarried and financially independent. She could be like Mary Harvey Chiswell who was instrumental in changing the 1700 block of New Jersey Avenue in 1920.
M. Harvey Chiswell, 1924 Passport Photo
She did not marry until she was well into her early fifties. In the 1941 article announcing her nuptials to Maj. Joseph Byers II, she was described as a “prominent Washington career woman”. What she did on New Jersey Ave NW wasn’t her only real estate investment, she was all over the DMV.
I really do need to do a thing on Dr. Haynes-Lofton as I have seen her bank account info.
These women did not need the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974. They managed to get along quite fine without it. They owned property. Some had careers. Many were getting on with the business of living (and eventually dying).
*Why yes. My MIL has been dead for 8 years, and we are still hurt and bitter. We forgave but did not forget, and we moved on. Like one does from any major injury.
February was very busy. I gave a presentation on Eloyce Gist to a pretty good crowd at the National Archives at College Park.
A lot of things personally have been piling up and unfortunately I missed a very important deadline with financial consequences. What’s done is done, but there are other things with other deadlines I need to take care of. So I will take a break from the blog this month.
In the meantime. Here’s a picture of some kittens on a patio.
I went on Google Street View to figure out which block this photo below came from.
Taken 7/2/2007. 1609 1st Street NW
The purple townhouse in the middle now has a popup extra floor and a rooftop deck.
Google Street View allows you to look at earlier dates, so I went back to 2011, when 1609 had the outdoor tent and showed several men socializing under it. The neighbors at the purple house were doing the same, under their own tent.
In order to prevent spam, which pops up in my notifications from time to time, I had closed comments after 365 days, or 1 year.
This made sense when I was writing on more topical topics. But now that I’ve shifted to writing about the history of the neighborhood, I see that I am missing the opportunity to connect with people. These can be people whose ancestors I write about or others who have an interest in the topic. For good or ill, because, yes, I do throw shade.
So I am extending the comment period to 2.5 years. If that goes well, I’ll expand to 10 years.
