River Farms to Urban Towers
— Southwest Heritage Trail —
When urban renewal threatened to destroy three of Washington's oldest structures, dating from the late 1700's, history-minded citizens organized to stop the bulldozers. As a result, when architect Chloethiel Woodard Smith designed the mid-20th century Harbour Square, she included Wheat Row, Duncanson-Cranch House, and Edward Simon Lewis House, as you can see to your left.
The elegant 1794-1795 set of four Federal style houses behind you across Fourth Street is Wheat Row, created by James Greenleaf, Washington's first real estate speculator. Greenleaf and his partners hoped to get rich building housing for the new city. Instead Greanleaf went bankrupt, but left behind a few well-made houses. These were named for John Wheat, an early owner who worked as a Senate messenger. Across Fourth to your left at 456 N Street is Lewis House, built in 1817 for a Navy Department clerk. A few houses down at 468-470 is Duncanson-Cranch House, built around 1794.
In 1901 Charles Weller opened Neighborhood House in Lewis House as Washington's first social settlement. There, in keeping with Washington's segregation, he provided education and recreation for poor white children and adults, including the city's first organized playground. Its first branch library was open to all, however. In 1904 Washington artist and socialite Alice Pike Barney bought Duncanson-Cranch House so that Neighborhood House could move into the larger space. The institution was re-named Barney Neighborhood House. It continued to grow, desegregating in the 1940s and also occupying three of Wheat Row's four houses before relocating to 16th Street, NW in 1960. Weller also helped begin the "Colored Social Center" in 1903 at 118 M Street, forerunner of today's Southwest Community House.
(Upper Right Photo Caption):The Lewis House, far left, at 456 N Street, was Barney Neighborhood House's first home, until moved to Duncanson-Cranch House at 468-470,
left. After urban renewal, both houses became part of Harbour Square along with Wheat Row, 1315-1321 Fourth Street, above.
(Center Right Photo Caption):Artist Garnet Jex photographed the Duncanson-Cranch House in 1963 as construction was underway for Harbour Square cooperatives.
(Lower Right Photo Captions):Barney Neighborhood House brochure of 1908,
above. Adult classes included vegetable carving, 1942.
(Lower Left Photo Caption):Beloved World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle,
center, once lived in a Lewis House apartment.
(Back of Marker):From 1800 until 1950, Southwest was Washington's largest working-class, waterfront neighborhood. The beginning in 1954, nearly all of Southwest was razed to create an entirely new city in the nation's first experiment in urban renewal. The 17 signs of
River Farms to Urban Towers: Southwest Heritage Trail lead you through the Modernist buildings erected in the 1960s while marking the sites and stories - and the few remaining structures - of the neighborhood that was. Follow this trail to discover the area's first colonial settlers and the waves of immigrants drawn to jobs on the waterfront or in nearby federal government offices. Here Chesapeake Bay watermen sold oysters and fish off their boats. The once-gritty streets were childhood homes to singer Marvin Gaye and movie star Al Jolson. Later residents included Senator Hubert H. Humphrey and other legislators.
River Farms to Urban Towers: Southwest Heritage Trail, a booklet capturing the trail's highlights, is available at local businesses along the way. To learn about other DC neighborhoods, visit www.CulturalTourismDC.org.
(Back Photo Caption):Neighbors line Forth Street for a May Day celebration mounted by Barney Neighborhood House, around 1940. At left is the Marine Band. At center is the "May Day Procession of Clubs" led by Boy Scouts with the May Day Queen and attendants close behind.
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