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.
There was a great turn out for the Neighborhood History and Housing session for the DC History Conference at the MLK Library. I ran into the amazing Scott Roberts. I had a handout, I’m not sure he got a copy. And for those of you who want to know what resources you can tap into to do similar histories take a look below:
DC Public Library– https://www.dclibrary.org/
Under Research & Learn (DCPL library card required)
Historical Washington Post (ProQuest)- https://www.dclibrary.org/research-and-learn/washington-post
Library of Congress– https://www.loc.gov/
Chronicling America/ Evening Star – https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for DC (volume 2)- https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01227_003/
DC Recorder of Deeds (online land records)- https://countyfusion4.kofiletech.us/countyweb/loginDisplay.action?countyname=WashingtonDC
Find A Grave– https://www.findagrave.com/
National Archives & Records Administration– https://www.archives.gov Map No. 2 Neighborhood Convenience Stores; Records Relating to Urban Renewal, 1934–1998, entry A1 13, Records of the National Capital Planning Commission Record Group 328, National Archives Building, Washington, DC. (NAID 784266)
Map of the Metropolitan District of Washington DC, 1936; file Housing Market Analysis Washington, D.C. July 1937; Records Relating to Housing Market Analyses, 1940–1942, entry A1-6; Records of the Federal Housing Administration, Record Group 31; National Archives Building, College Park, MD. (NAID 122213881)
..and I managed to leave this one off- also from the National Archives. AND I gave the wrong citation. oops.
General Assessment 1902-1903, Volume I, Squares 459 to 555, Page 320; General Land Assessment Files, 1902–1938; Records of the Government of the District of Columbia Record Group 351; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. (NAID 145723973)
I happened to have found this photograph in the Library of Congress’ collection. It was listed as a Negro elementary school. When I took a closer look I saw the name of the school on the building.
Slater School. Kids playing on P St NW. 1942.
I am amazed seeing children playing on P Street as if it was an extension of the playground. P Street actually doesn’t look that wide in this photo. Things were different in 1942, when this was taken by Marjory Collins the Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information photographer who took the photograph.
I found a similar view from 2008.
Unit block of P Street NW taken January 8, 2008
The school was in poor shape then.
Slater School on the unit block of P St NW ca. 2008
Military unit in Armstrong Technical High School being trained by an U.S. Army lieutenant. Library of Congress.
This is a 1942 photo of the military unit for Armstrong High School. I think, and I could be wrong, they are on the Dunbar High School’s field. From this view there are two tall buildings in the background. Those buildings do not exist in current day Truxton Circle. I think they are part of the Homeopathic Hospital.
Going back into my photo vault of photographs of the neighborhood and here is one of a Truxton Circle home on Florida Ave NW. It makes me think of hot dogs.
So Ward 5 Councilman Zachary Parker introduced legislation designating streets in honor of prominent Black figures with ties to Ward 5. The key word is “ties”.
For the Truxton Circle neighborhood, his office picked Rayford Logan. Logan’s tie? He went to Dunbar. sigh. A whole bunch of people went Dunbar, way more famous and notable than Logan.
I get why they didn’t pick Dunbar graduates such as Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, or Councilman Vincent Gray or Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy, because they aren’t dead yet.
Dr. Charles R. Drew, Dunbar alum
But why not Dunbar graduate Dr. Charles Drew? Is it because he has a number of schools and health centers named after him? Is it because he got a postage stamp? Is colorism at play and Dr. Drew is too light skinned?
Okay, then maybe Billy Taylor, jazz pianist. He went to Dunbar.
I see another Dunbar graduate Sterling Allen Brown was designated to Brookland, where he lived. Which seems to be more of a tie than Logan’s “tie” to Truxton Circle.
I believe Rayful Edmond went to Dunbar. He’s the drug kingpin mentioned in TC author, Tony Lewis Jr.’s book, Slugg: A Boy’s Life in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Edmond had a huge impact on the Hanover St section of Truxton Circle, but I wouldn’t rename any streets after him.
You know what is across the street from Dunbar? Armstrong. It was a technical school or high school. Duke Ellington went there. But I understand not wanting to name another thing after the great Duke Ellington. I love Duke Ellington, but you can have too much of a good thing. Another jazz great went to Armstrong, Billy Eckstine, but no body cares about Billy Eckstine.
I hadn’t even touched on the people who ACTUALLY LIVED IN TRUXTON CIRCLE!
We have Dr. Peter Marshall Murray who was president of the National Medical Association and who lived at 1645 New Jersey Ave NW.
Next is female filmmaker, Eloyce Gist. Not only does she have a Wikipedia page, she has an IMDB page. She was married several times so she has a few different names, but she lived at 134 R St NW, which no longer exists.
Before this gets too long, I did decide to take a look at the other neighborhoods and the names Councilman Parker’s office ( don’t believe Mr. Parker came up with this list) came up with.
Edna Brown Coleman was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She was one of the 22 founding members. Delta Sigma Theta planned and constructed the Delta Towers in Ward 5 in the 1970s, so therefore Coleman who died in 1919, gets a street. I mena her brother Sterling A. Brown gets Brookland, why not? Trinidad neighborhood, you have my sympathies. The link Logan has to the TC is kinda dumb, but not this level of dumb.
I’m thinking about doing a history of the set of houses that have a unique style in the Truxton Circle area. These would be the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company houses that are mostly on Bates St NW. I want to do the same level of depth of research as I do the Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle series.
But I know a negative side of doing such research and sharing it. I did not intend to provide information for the Wardman Flats to become a historic landmark. So there is the slight chance that what I put out there could be used by someone to attempt to make a historic district or landmark.
Taken May 28, 2007. 72-76 Bates St NW
It’s not like there aren’t other bits of history about the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company and Bates Street about. The House History Man authored a post about 9 years ago on this subject. And there is a book The History and Development of the Housing Movement in the City of Washington, D.C. published by the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company, available at the Smithsonian site,Google Books, and other sites on the web.
So with a few years warning, I say to you owners of former Washington Sanitary Improvement Company homes, get to poppin’. Throw on your pop ups, your pop backs. Install ye vinyl windows while ye may. Change the friggin fronts.
Parts of this are from a previous post I published some time ago. I’m revisiting this African American home owner, to add more information.
I had given up on Mrs. Annie Newsome (or Annie Newsone in the 1940 census) who was listed as the head of household and married. She appears in the 1930 census with a different possible birth year. So I gave up on her and decided to look at a professional man who might have more information about him.
In the 1920 Census, Arthur B. McKinney was a 31 year old doctor living with his mother Della at 1515 1st St. NW. Looking at Ancestry’s family tree, his full name was Arthur Bancroft McKinney. He married Ethel J. Thornton in December of 1920. They apparently had no children. But the family tree fails to note his siblings as Samuel A. and Della McKinney had 5 sons, 2 daughters, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson living with them in 1900 at 63 P St NW. Continue reading Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle: Arthur B. McKinney
We have Dr. Peter Marshall Murray who was president of the National Medical Association and who lived at 
