ABattleground la orilla del barrio seventhto Community street and pennsylvania ave, se BRIGHTWOOD HERITAGE TRAIL A new road linking Washington City with Rockville, Maryland, helped create a village here in the early 1800s. Later, Confederate and Union troops arrived via that road to fight the Battle of Fort Stevens. Follow this trail to discover how Brightwood honors the past even as it has matured into a modern, urban neighborhood. A la orilla del barrio seventh street 1 and pennsylvania ave, se Welcome. Visitors to Washington, DC flock to the National Mall, where grand monuments symbolize the nation’s highest ideals. This self-guided walking tour is the eighth in a series that invites you to discover what lies beyond the monuments: Washington’s historic neighborhoods. Brightwood has been shaped by its location along a turnpike built in the early 1800s to link Washington City and Rockville, Maryland, and by its status as the site of the only Civil War battle to take place within the District of Columbia. This guide, summarizing the 18 signs of Battleground to Community: Three formerly enslaved young men Brightwood Heritage Trail, leads you with Union soldiers at Camp Brightwood. Library of Congress to the sites where history lives. On the cover: Elizabeth “Aunt Betty” Proctor Thomas. The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. © 2008, Cultural Tourism DC All rights reserved. Battleground Distributed by Cultural Tourism DC 1250 H Street, NW, Suite 1000 to Community Washington, DC 20005 www.CulturalTourismDC.org Brightwood Design by Karol A. Keane Design and Communications, Inc., based on the original design by side view/Hannah Smotrich Map by Bowring Cartographic Heritage Trail As you walk this trail, please keep safety in mind, just as you would while visiting any unfamiliar place. Mary Konsoulis, Lead Historian Jane Freundel Levey, Editor and Historian Mara Cherkasky, Writer and Historian Sarah Fairbrother, Brendan Meyer, Project Directors Erinn Roos, Brett Weary, Project Staff A project of Cultural Tourism DC, Linda Donavan Harper, Executive Director, in collaboration with the Brightwood Heritage Trail Working Group, Patricia A. Tyson and Brian A. Lang, Co-chairs, and the Military Road School Preservation Trust. Funding provided by District Department of Transportation, Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and U.S. Department of Transportation. Washingtoniana Division, Washingtoniana DC Public Library Introduction harried commuters speed along Georgia Hitched up for a harness race at Brightwood, around 1900. Avenue every day without ever knowing this is a neighborhood, much less one with a distin- Brighton (later Brightwood) Post Office. By 1859 guished past. Yet free African Americans farmed a racetrack at the southwestern edge of today’s this area as early as the 1820s. And in July Brightwood drew racing fans from all points. 1864, Union and Confederate soldiers fought an important Civil War battle here. Viewing the As the United States erupted into civil war in skirmish from Fort Stevens, President Lincoln 1861, Brightwood’s calm gave way to activ- became the only serving U.S. president ever to ity. Union forces built a ring of forts around come under enemy fire. Washington, strategically locating Fort Stevens along the turnpike in Brightwood. The fort Library of Congress That Brightwood displaced homes and even a chapel, but all was would develop quiet until July 12, 1864. On that hot and dusty became clear day General Jubal A. Early led his Confederate in 1818, when troops down this route from Maryland, where a private com- they encountered Union troops marching north pany broke from downtown Washington. By the day’s end, ground for the neighbors had joined with Union troops to repel Seventh Street the Rebels. The capital was saved, and the only Turnpike to link Civil War battle fought in Washington was over. Washington City Among Washington’s defenders was local militia Major General Alexander M. McCook to Rockville, and staff on the porch of old Moreland Maryland. Soon leader Matthew Gault Emery, a prominent builder Tavern, 1864, headquarters for the a small com- whose Brightwood summer home became a defense of Fort Stevens. munity named camp for troops, a signal station, and a transfer Brighton grew point for the wounded. Later Emery was elected as Washington City’s last mayor up where this road, today’s Georgia Avenue, during our first period of crossed the old Milk House Ford Road (now home rule (1802-1871). Rock Creek Ford Road). This intersection con- Part of his estate is today's tinues to define the neighborhood. Emery Park. With the turnpike came a toll booth and a After the Civil War, L i roadhouse providing meals to travelers passing b r a r y Washington’s peace- o through this rural area of Washington County, f C o n g time economy boomed. r District of Columbia. Other new institutions e s s Brightwood, like other serving the community’s European American and free African American farmers and wealthy rural parts of the District of Columbia, began to Matthew Gault Emery, landowners were Emory Chapel and the photographed by Mathew Brady. The Washington Post The Washington Collection of Leo Vondas Collection of Leo Beck’s Polar Bear frozen custard stand, a neighborhood landmark By the time immigrant Leo Vondas, second row, center, became from 1938 to 1973. a sixth grade safety patrol at Brightwood Elementary, he had mastered English. develop a more urban style. The neighborhood’s future was ensured in the 1890s, when new the 1940s, as modern brick apartment buildings electric streetcar lines allowed government work- replaced the aged frame houses. But a new wave ers to live here and ride to jobs downtown. The of African American families arrived in the limestone Masonic temple and the columned early 1950s after the Supreme Court effectively Bank of Brightwood were both completed just outlawed race-restrictive covenants in 1948. The after World War I (1914-1918) at the intersection 1954 school desegregation ruling intensified the of Georgia and Missouri avenues. They formed turnover from white to African American. Some an architectural gateway that can be seen today. white families, fearing racial change or lured by new suburban housing, moved away. But oth- Hundreds of brick rowhouses rose off Georgia ers defied block-busting efforts and stayed. The Avenue, luring hard-working government clerks African American families who joined them and professionals and their families. A new came for the reasons many people stayed: a well- Classical Moderne style “Park and Shop” opened located, family-friendly neighborhood. on Georgia Avenue in 1937 with stores and the 1,000-seat Brightwood’s modest commercial strip on Collection of Logan Deoudes of Logan Collection Sheridan movie Georgia Avenue lost many of its businesses after theater. the civil disturbances following the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination frightened As in many owners away. By the 1970s, residents agreed, DC neigh- Georgia Avenue had clearly seen better days. borhoods, However, in 2008 this artery is receiving new Brightwood’s attention as part of Washington’s Great Streets rowhouses redevelopment project. The old Stansbury Masonic came with John Deoudes at the Waffle House grill, Temple has been reborn as condominiums, and covenants pro- early 1960s. new businesses are Post The Washington hibiting sales to moving in among certain white ethnics and to African Americans. the old. Once again, Over time, though, the covenants against white as the toll booth and ethnics were broken, and by the late 1940s roadhouse caused 19th Brightwood became known for its Greek, century travelers to Jewish, and Italian families. Georgia Avenue pause here, 21st century businesses reflected the neighborhood’s ethnic travelers are invited to Mother Teresa, left, received mix. The old African American settlement near 14 young women into her stop and explore all that Missionaries of Charity at Fort Stevens had largely disappeared during Brightwood has to offer. Church of the Nativity in 1987. Racing at Brightwood kennedy and 14th streets 1 at colorado avenue nw fresh water springs in this pleasant high ground once drew European settlers. Farmers called this area “Crystal Spring.” In 1859 the half-mile Crystal Spring Racetrack opened on land just west of this intersection. For 75 cents, Washingtonians hopped a stagecoach from Washington City (south of Florida Avenue) for a day at the races. Later known as the Brightwood Trotting Park, the course attracted laborers, con- gressmen, and everyone in between. Over time horses, bicycles, autos, and even mules competed along the track. A reservoir was built near the track in 1899, and tennis courts were added later. Racing continued until 1909. In 1937 the reservoir was filled in for the courts and playing fields of today’s Rock Creek Tennis Center on Brightwood Driving Park (racecourse) stretched 16th Street. westward from 14th Street to beyond 16th in 1903. (The names of Ingraham and Hamilton streets later In 1894 hundreds of unemployed men camped changed to Longfellow and Madison.) at the racetrack during the nation’s first mass Washingtoniana Division, DC Public Library march on Washington. An economic crash had forced thousands out of work, leading Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey to mount a campaign to persuade the U.S. government to create jobs by building public facilities. To cheering crowds, his followers, dubbed “Coxey’s Army” by report- ers, paraded from Brightwood to the Capitol to present this new idea to Congress. But Congress found the new political tactic threatening. Coxey was arrested on the Capitol steps, and his peti- tion was never presented. The bus turnaround here was built in 1936 for the number 52 streetcar. The first streetcar arrived in 1907 as an extension of the 14th Street line from Park Road.