History

Mentions of Deanwood in the Evening Star, October 31 – November 6, 1926. Searched for Deanwood, Burrville, "Suburban Gardens".

No clips matched this week.

No usable mentions in the Evening Star for October 31 – November 6, 1926 (2 matching pages searched). Some weeks a neighborhood just isn't in the paper. Clips are machine-read text (OCR) from scanned Evening Star pages on the Library of Congress's Chronicling America, lightly cleaned (line-break hyphens rejoined, stray symbols removed); misspellings are the scanner's. Newspapers this old are public domain. Each clip links to its page at loc.gov. Clips that mention race, covenants, deed restrictions or slurs are skipped automatically (keyword list: race, races, racial, colored, coloured, negro, negroes, white only, whites only, for whites, white people, white persons, white residents, caucasian, segregation, segregated, covenant, covenants, restricted, restriction, restrictions, plus a list of slurs), because they need an editor's context; legal notices and lists of private individuals are skipped too.

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  National Training School for Women and Girls · [between 1911 and 1920]National Training School for Women and Girls
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  National Training School for Women and Girls · [between about 1910 and about 1925][National Training School for Women, typewriting class]
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  Deanwood Community Center and Library, 1350 49th St NE · 2011 SeptemberDeanwood Community Center and Library, 1350 49th St., N.E., Washington, D.C.

Photographs from the Library of Congress (Prints & Photographs Division (LOT 12571); Carol M. Highsmith Archive), each with no known restrictions on publication or in the public domain, per the Library. Titles are the Library's, written when the photos were catalogued; some use the language of their time. Each links to its record.

45th Street NE

Whittingham Place in Deanwood's early years. The First Baptist Church of Deanwood was built on it in 1901. Whittingham was also the name of one of the three Sheriff subdivisions. No source we opened dates the renaming.

Earlier: Whittingham PlaceSources: Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning) · A Self-Reliant People: Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail (Cultural Tourism DC)

46th Street NE

Browning Place in the early 1900s. Randall Memorial United Methodist Church and the Church of the Incarnation, Deanwood's first Catholic parish, both opened on it in 1912. No source we opened dates the renaming.

Earlier: Browning PlaceSource: Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Benning Race Track1890

Opened in 1890 along the Anacostia between Benning Road and Kenilworth Avenue, where Mayfair Mansions stands now. It drew crowds by the thousands. Deanwood residents worked at the track and ran boarding houses, restaurants and laundries for its patrons. The Deanwood History Project says it closed in 1908.

Source: Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Burrvilleby 1888

Honors: Burr family, who donated land for the school

One of the three subdivisions that became Deanwood. Contee A.M.E. Zion Church started an elementary school here in 1888, between Grant Street, Eastern Avenue, Division Avenue and 56th Street. The school and the community both took the name of the Burr family, who gave the land.

Source: Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Deanwood

Honors: Dean family, descendants of landowner Levi Sheriff

Levi Sheriff bought about 330 acres in 1833. After the railroad came in 1871, his daughters sold lots in three subdivisions. Grandson Julian Dean built 20 houses in one he called Deanewood, and the E later fell away. It is among DC's oldest Black suburbs.

Earlier: DeanewoodSources: A Self-Reliant People: Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail (Cultural Tourism DC) · Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning) · Deanwood - Wikipedia

Division Avenue NE

Contee A.M.E. Zion Church was built here in 1885, and Tabernacle Baptist organized at Division and Gay Street in 1911. Burrville School moved to 801 Division in 1980. One common definition makes it Deanwood's eastern edge. No source we opened explains the name.

Source: Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

George Washington Carver School1945

Honors: George Washington Carver, educator and botanist

Opened in 1909 as Deanwood Elementary and built in sections through 1930. It took Carver's name in February 1945. It closed in 1988 and later reopened as IDEA Public Charter School.

Earlier: Deanwood Elementary SchoolSource: Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Kelly Miller Junior High School1949

Honors: Kelly Miller, Howard University dean, mathematician and sociologist

Far Northeast's first junior high, won after years of community pressure, opened in September 1949. The building came down in 1996, and a rebuilt middle school opened in September 2004.

Source: Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Lincoln Heights

Another of the Sheriff sisters' subdivisions, where lots sold slowly at first. The heritage trail guide says the National Training School nearby helped it grow. No source we opened says who or what the name refers to.

Sources: A Self-Reliant People: Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail (Cultural Tourism DC) · Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Minnesota Avenue NE

Honors: State of Minnesota

Its main stretch ends at Sheriff and Benning roads in Deanwood, and a separate 0.4-mile piece sits near the Deanwood Metro station. DC's Highway Plan gave broad diagonal avenues the names of states and territories.

Sources: List of state-named roadways in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia · Highway Plan: Street Names of Washington, DC (DC Office of Planning)

Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE

Honors: Nannie Helen Burroughs, educator and civil rights activist

Named for the founder of the National Training School. The Deanwood History Project gives Dean Avenue and Grant Street as older names for stretches of it; Wikipedia spells the first Deane. No source we opened dates the change.

Earlier: Dean Avenue, Deane Avenue, Grant StreetSources: Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning) · Nannie Helen Burroughs - Wikipedia · A Self-Reliant People: Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail (Cultural Tourism DC)

National Training School for Women and Girls1909

Nannie Helen Burroughs opened it in 1909 to teach Black women and girls trades. DC preservation staff call it the first women's school run by a Black woman outside the Deep South. It changed names in 1934, and in 1964 became an elementary school named for her. Its 1928 Trades Hall is a National Historic Landmark.

Earlier: National Trade and Professional School for Women and GirlsSources: National Training School historic designation staff report (DC Historic Preservation Office, 2022) · Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Sheriff Road NE

Honors: Sheriff family, local landowners

The heritage trail guide says the road carries the name of the family that owned this land. It became Deanwood's commercial and social center, with shops, a church and the elementary school nearby. Zion Baptist Church went up on it in 1908.

Sources: A Self-Reliant People: Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail (Cultural Tourism DC) · Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Strand Theater1928

Abe Lichtman built it in 1928 on what was then Grant Street. DC Historic Sites calls it the first movie theater east of the Anacostia built for Black patrons. The building also held a pool room and dance hall. It reopened as a restaurant in 2023.

Sources: Strand Theater (DC Historic Sites, DC Preservation League) · Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Suburban Gardens1921

Black investors, among them engineer Howard D. Woodson, opened DC's only amusement park at 50th and Hayes in 1921. Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway played there. Sources size it anywhere from 7 to 20 acres. Theater owner Abe Lichtman bought it in 1928, and it closed around 1940.

Sources: Suburban Gardens - Wikipedia · A Self-Reliant People: Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail (Cultural Tourism DC) · Deanwood: A Model of Self-Sufficiency brochure (Deanwood History Project, DC Office of Planning)

Still looking for a reliable source on Addison Road NE, Ames Street NE, Antelope Lane NE, Ayers Place SE, Banks Place NE, Blaine Street NE, Booth Lane NE, Brooks Street NE, Central Avenue NE, Chapelwood Lane NE, Clay Place NE, Clay Street NE, Clay Terrace NE, Cloud Place NE, Cougar Lane NE, Davey Street SE, Dix Street NE, Doewood Lane NE, Eads Place NE, Eads Street NE, Eastern Avenue NE, Edson Place NE, Field Place NE, Fitch Place NE, Foote Street NE, Gault Place NE, Gay Street NE, Grant Street NE, Hayes Street NE, Hunt Place NE, Hunt Street NE, James Place NE, Jay Street NE, Just Street NE, Kane Place NE, Karl Place NE, Kenilworth Avenue NE, Lee Street NE, Mann Street NE, Maryland Park Drive NE, Meade Street NE, Nash Street NE, Olive Street NE, Polk Street NE, Porter Court NE, Quarles Street NE, Southern Avenue NE, Sycamore Road NE, Unicorn Place NE. We don't publish a name's story until we can cite one. Know it? Tell us.

• Brenda Walker interview, 2024Brenda Walker · 2024 · audio

  A longtime rink manager who grew up on 52nd Street NE in the Deanwood area, in a family of skaters. She talks about the Branch Avenue rink, mentoring young people, and pushing to keep the National Arena on Kalorama Road open in the 1980s.

  At Dig DC, DC Public Library (All Skate D.C.) · roller skating, 52nd Street NE, National Arena, rink management

Search the archives yourself: The People's Archive, DC Public Library · Historic Chevy Chase DC Oral History Archive · Humanities Truck Community Archive, American University · Tenleytown Historical Society · Boundary Stones (WETA) · Glover Park History: Oral History and Reminiscences · Cleveland Park Historical Society Oral Histories · Rainbow History Project Digital Collections · hometown DC (DC History Center) · Hola Cultura: Adams Morgan History · Citizens Association of Georgetown · Peabody Room, Georgetown Neighborhood Library (DC Public Library) · Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum Archives: A Right to the City Exhibition Records · Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project · Mosaic Theater H Street Oral History Project · Library of Congress, Manuscript Division · Anacostia Community Museum Archives (Smithsonian) · Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Department Library · The Catholic University of America Archives · Bygone Brookland · Dig DC, DC Public Library · hometown DC (HumanitiesDC / Historical Society of Washington, D.C.) · Dig DC, DC Public Library's digital repository · A Right to the City exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives (Smithsonian) · Rainbow History Project Digital Collections · Palisades Community Association · Forest Hills Connection (neighborhood history series) · Foggy Bottom Association History Project: Oral Histories · George Washington University Special Collections Research Center · Woodley Park Community: A Sketch of Our Past · Empower DC: Ivy City · Power of Preserving the Black Deaf Experience (Dig DC) · Gallaudet University Archives. Summaries are ours; the recordings and their rights stay with each archive.

• DC Historic Preservation Office, Historic Data on DC Buildings (HistoryQuest), CC BY 4.0
• Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Chronicling America, Library of Congress; public domain

History data refreshed Nov 4.