A Model of Self-Sufficiency in Far Northeast Washington, D.C.

copyright 2005Deanwood History Project

Deanwood residents at the groundbreaking for First Baptist Church of Deanwood’s second building in 1909. Photo courtesy of Elaine Bowman.

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deanwood’s HUMBLE ORIGINS

Deanwood is one of Washington D.C.’soldest African-American suburbs. It wasestablished when white landowner, LeviSheriff, divided farmland among his threedaughters, Margaret Lowrie, EmmelineSheriff and Mary Cornelia Dean. Thesethree subdivisions - Whittingham, LincolnHeights, and Burrville - came to be knownas Deanwood.

Today, depending upon whom you ask,Deanwood has various boundaries: atriangular area bounded by Eastern Avenueon the northeast, Kenilworth Avenue on thenorthwest, and East Capitol Street on thesouth; or a rectangular area bounded bythe B&O Railroad (Sheriff Road) on thewest, Eastern Avenue on the northeast,Division Avenue on the east and NannieHelen Burroughs Avenue on the south.

While its exact boundaries may vary,residents agree that Deanwood is an histor-ically stable, self-reliant, self-sufficient andclose-knit primarily African-Americancommunity.

Baist Atlas map of Deanwood, circa 1920s.

Note on Language

“Throughout this paper terms such as AfricanAmerican(s), Negro(es), and Black(s) will beused interchangeably to denote people ofAfrican descent who are citizens of the UnitedStates. The determination of when a specificterm is used will depend upon the context ofthe discussion as well as the period of timebeing referenced.”

From: The Journal of Negro Education Howard University (2004)

“This program has received Federal financial assistance forthe identification, protection, and/or rehabilitation ofhistoric properties and cultural resources in the District ofColumbia. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 andSection 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the U.S.Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on thebasis of race, color, national origin, or disability in itsFederally assisted programs. If you believe that you havebeen discriminated against in any program, activity, orfacility as described above, or if you desire futher informa-tion, please write to: Office of Equal Opportunity, U.S.Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20240.”

“This brochure has been financed in part with Federal fundsfrom the U.S. Department of the Interior, National ParkService. However, the contents and opinions contained inthis publication do not necessarily reflect the views orpolicies of the U.S. Department of the Interior, nor does themention of trade names or commercial products constituteendorsement or recommendation by the U.S. Departmentof the Interior.”

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Ladies on their way to service at The First BaptistChurch of Deanwood. Photos courtesy of Alverna Millerand Tonya Talley-Smith.

Churches held similar activities for theircongregations, including Sunday School,Sunday morning worship, Vacation BibleSchool, Baptist Young People’s Union, andannual trips to the beach. Some churchesheld weekly recreation activities. Most ofDeanwood’s children fellowshipped at allchurches, regardless of their home denomi-nation.

Ralph and Irene Plummer in their Sunday finest.Photos courtesy of Tonya Talley-Smith.

The families in Deanwood were very busy,but they honored the Scripture that says,“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”On Sundays, they’d stroll to any one ofseven churches in Deanwood.

Contee African Methodist Episcopal ZionChurch was built in 1885 on DivisionAvenue. The First Baptist Church ofDeanwood was built in 1901 onWhittingham Place (now 45th Street). ZionBaptist Church, built in 1908 on SheriffRoad, now stands on Kenilworth Avenue.Tabernacle Baptist Church was organizedin 1911 at Division Avenue and Gay Street.A year later, Randall Memorial UnitedMethodist Church opened on BrowningPlace (now 46th Street). Deanwood’s firstCatholic parish, the Church of theIncarnation, also opened on Browning Placein 1912, but eventually built a new churchon Eastern Avenue. In 1924, Antioch Baptist Church joined the community on50th Street.

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founded onFAITH

Present-day Contee A.M.E. Zion Church (built in1963). Photo courtesy of Contee A.M.E. Zion Church.

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Spotl

ight

Howard DilworthWOODSON

Howard D. Woodson was one of the firstlicensed Negro engineers in the Washingtonarea. In the early 1940s, Woodson and hiswife, Pauline, raised their four boys (John,Harold, Paul and Granville) on Fitch Place,up the hill from Suburban GardensAmusement Park, which Woodsondeveloped. Woodson was nationally knownas an accomplished structural engineer whodesigned many prominent buildings inWashington, D.C., including parts of UnionStation.

Moreover, Woodson was a Deanwoodactivist. He founded many of the civicorganizations that continue to shape thiscommunity. Among them are the NortheastBoundary Civic Association, the FarNortheast Council, the Far NortheastBusiness and Professional Association, andthe National Technical Association. In honorof his national, city, and community service,Washington, D.C. proudly named the onlyhigh school in far Northeast after him.

The styles of historic Deanwood housesincluded folk Victorian, neoclassical, colonial,revival, prairie and craftsman. Many of theearliest existing Deanwood houses and otherbuildings were designed and constructed byAfrican-American craftsmen like Randolph andJacob Dodd, H.W. Turner, and Jacob andLeroy King.

The typical turn-of-the-century Deanwoodhome was a free-standing, two-story,wood-framed housewith a tin gable roof, a porch, door and onedouble-hung window in the front, and onedoor and window in the back. Few of thehouses had sidewindows because,according to oralhistory, the lines ofcredit extended to black builders werelimited to the purchaseof essential materials,and not for amenities such as additionalwindows and basements. The great majority ofhouses built in the 1920s and 1930s weredesigned by African-American architects suchas Lewis Giles, Sr., H.D. Woodson and GeorgeFerguson.

Although most of the Deanwood houses are modest, they exemplify ingenuity andcreativity and ultimately, achievement of the “American Dream” in the face of discrimination.

building homesOF OUR OWN

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Top: Traditional Deanwoodhouse. Bottom: ImprovedDeanwood house. Photoscourtesy of DC HistoricPreservation Office andCultural Tourism DC.

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during World War II. Built in sections from1909 to 1930, the school’s oldest section,damaged by fire, was razed in 1969 andreplaced by a new structure. Carver closedits doors in 1988. It has since reopened asIDEA Public Charter School.

The location of the Emma F.G. MerrittPublic School is on the site of the formerSuburban Gardens Amusement Park in abuilding constructed in 1943. According tooral history given by former teachers, whilethe site has changed, the philosophy of self-reliance has essentially remained the same.Now called Merritt Educational Center, theschool is located at 5002 Hayes Street.

Kelly Miller Junior High School, opened inSeptember 1949, was the first junior highschool in far Northeast. It represented avictory following years of community effortsto get a junior high in Deanwood. Theschool was named after Dr. Kelly Miller, anoutstanding educator, author, mathemati-cian, sociologist, and orator, who served asthe Dean of the College of Arts and Sciencesat Howard University. Kelly Miller Schoolwas completely demolished in 1996, rebuilt,and reopened in September 2004 as amiddle school.

Note: Although located in Deanwood, neither RoperJunior High School nor H.D. Woodson Senior High Schoolwere mentioned in this section because they were builtafter the scope of time covered in this brochure.

Deanwood School. Photo courtesy of CharlesSumner School Museum and Archives.

The Deanwood community had public andprivate schools, including Burrville, GeorgeWashington Carver (formerly Deanwood),Merritt, and the Nannie Helen Burroughsprivate elementary school (formerly theNational Training School for Women andGirls). The community eventually received ajunior high school, Kelly Miller. All fourschools shared a similar educational philos-ophy: “strong community and parentalsupport coupled with teachers committed to academic excellence…”

Contee A.M.E. Zion Church established anelementary school in 1888 on a tract of landbetween Grant Street, Eastern Avenue,Division Avenue, and 56th Street. Both theschool and the community in which it waslocated were named Burrville after the Burrfamily that donated the land. The BurrvilleSchool building was razed and replaced in1912, and restructured in 1929 and 1930.In 1980, the school relocated to its currentsite at 801 Division Avenue.

Deanwood Elementary School was erected in1909 as a result of an act passed byCongress on May 21, 1862 to “establish andmaintain a system of free schools for thebenefit of the colored people of the District ofColumbia.” The original site was 43,470 sq.ft. with a value of $29,855.34. In February1945, the school was renamed GeorgeWashington Carver, after the famouseducator and botanist. Carver School’simportance is derived from its role in thedevelopment of self-reliant students, as wellas its participation in the Jeep Exercisesand War Bonds efforts to help soldiers

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developingSTRONG MINDS

earning ourDAILY BREAD

According to longtime Deanwood residents,self-sufficiency was alive and well among thebusinesses that flourished through the1940s and 1950s. Residents rarely had toleave their neighborhood to fulfill theirshopping needs. According to Simms BlueBook and National Negro Business andProfessional Directory, in 1944, there were

five barbershops;four beautyshops; a drycleaners; threedrugstores; afilling station; two garage/repairshops and grocerystores; a recordshop; a restau-rant; two shoerepair shops andthree undertakersin Deanwood.

While this is animpressivenumber ofbusinesses, it alsounderestimatesand does notaccount for theindependententrepreneurs whosold their waresdoor-to-door, nor

those business owners who did not list theirbusinesses with directories such as Simms.Vendors brought clothes, ice, umbrellas,medical and knife sharpening servicesdirectly to residents.

Top to bottom: SuburbanGarage, Suburban FillingStation, and SuburbanMarket, owned and operatedby the Parker family. Photoscourtesy of Henry Parker.

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The Nannie Helen Burroughs School is theoutgrowth of a dream realized by the individualwhose name the school bears. Known as areligious leader, educator, political and civilrights activist, Burroughs’ most challengingachievement was the founding of the NationalTraining School for Women and Girls.Established October 19, 1909, the school’s firstmotto was “Work, Support Thyself, to ThineOwn Powers Appeal,” which exemplifiedBurroughs’ belief in work as a means to makewomen self-sufficient wage earners and to

advance the race.The school beganwith a first-yearenrollment of 31students. Twenty-five years later, over2,000 women fromthe United States,Africa, and theCaribbean hadbeen trained at the

school. Briefly closed in the early 1930s, theschool reopened in 1934 as the National Tradeand Professional School for Women. In 1964,the trustees abandoned the trade schoolcurriculum and reopened as an elementaryschool named in memory of its founder.

Nannie Helen

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ight

Original campus of NationalTraining School for Women and Girls. Photo courtesy of N.H. Burroughs School Museum

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KING, SR.In 1925, Earl E. King, Sr. started an ice andcoal business, a venture that developed intoKing’s Ice, Coal, and Fuel Oil Company. Thiswas a family business in every sense of theword. His wife, “Lizzie,” and all of hischildren, Earlyne, Elaine, Earl Jr., Ernest,and Edith, worked faithfully in every aspect ofthe business. In the late 1940s, King and hissons delivered ice door-to-door when everyonein Deanwood had iceboxes. (Refrigeratorswere something seen only in the movies.)During the winter months, when coal stoveswere most commonly used, the King familysold coal by the bushel from their backyardat 919 45th Place. When a number ofDeanwood families converted to oil, Kingbought oil trucks to serve them.

In the late 1950s, King invested in a self-service ice machine, which operated 24 hoursa day from the rear of his property at 4501Sheriff Road. This machine was the only oneof its kind in far Northeast. The volume ofbusiness was so heavy on weekends that heand his family offered half a dozen differentkinds of ice, including snow balls. After 64years in business, King retired and King’s Ice,Coal, and Fuel Oil Company took its place inDeanwood history.

Earl E.

Spotl

ight Photo courtesy of Elaine Bowman.In 1957, Henry Parker rented a small market

in the 4900 block of Grant Street from W.Madden, another black entrepreneur. Withinfive years, Parker had expanded his busi-nesses to include an auto repair shop in the5700 block of Grant Street, and a corner storeat 46th Street and Sheriff Road, SuburbanMarket. Built by skilled carpenters andbricklayers who lived in the neighborhood,Suburban Market still operates today with thehelp of Mr. Parker’s sons, Reginald and Irving.

Located at 4925 Nannie Helen BurroughsAvenue (formerly Dean Avenue), Washingtonand Sons Funeral Home was opened in the1920s and incorporated in 1939 by Rev.Henry S. Washington and his wife, Georgia.Upon Rev. Washington’s death in October1941, Mrs. Washington took over thebusiness. After her death, her children,Mildred Washington Pratt and ClaytonWashington assumed leadership. Now in itseighth decade of service, the funeral home isbeing operated by the third generation.

In the areas of real estate and tourism, several black businessmen, including GeorgeA. Robinson, John A. Hyder, John H. Paynter,H.D. Woodson and Lewis Giles formed theUniversal Development and Loan Company.Their most well-known project was theSuburban Gardens Amusement Park, whichdrew black families from throughout theregion.

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Rev. Henry S. and Georgia Washington. Photos courtesy of Allen C. Lester.

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booths to please the social appetite of thewhite upper class. Bookies were legal andbets were a dollar. Some Deanwoodresidents, including the famous horsetrainer, Maxwell Smart, earned a living byworking at the track. Other Deanwoodfamilies also operated boarding houses,restaurants, laundries and similarbusinesses to support the race track and itspatrons.

During legal segregation, Deanwood housedSuburban Gardens, the city’s onlyamusement park. Located at 50th andHayes Streets, the black-owned andoperated park encompassed nine acres whenit opened in 1921 and swelled to 20 acresbefore it closed in the 1940s. During itsheyday, the park offered a wide range ofattractions comparable to Glen Echo, itswhites-only counterpart. For ten cents,patrons enjoyed a carousel, dance hall andplayground in the early 1920s. Laterexpansions included a roller coaster,airplane swing, Tilt-a-Whirl, Skee-Ball,miniature railway, shooting gallery andswimming pool. Daredevil shows andcircuses also drew large audiences. The parkwas eventually sold to Abe Lichtman, awhite Jewish entrepreneur.

In 1928, Lichtman’s Deanwood AmusementCompany built the Strand Theater at 5129-

Suburban Gardens Amusement Park circa 1920s.Photo courtesy of Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

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Although Deanwood is located on theoutskirts of Washington, two attractionsensured its popularity among otherWashingtonians: the Benning Race Trackand Suburban Gardens Amusement Park.

Opened in 1890, Benning Race Trackoperated for nearly 20 years along theAnacostia River between Benning Road andKenilworth Avenue, on the current site ofMayfair Mansions. The grandstand andclubhouse brought “high society” white folksto Deanwood by the thousands in the early1900s. Newspaper reporters and photogra-phers often camped out at the racetrack inDeanwood to get a story for the morningedition.

Alice Roosevelt, oldest daughterof President Theodore Rooseveltand wife of Nicholas Longworth,Speaker of the House, and otherwhite political “first ladies” of the

day were known tospend many of their social hours at the Benning RaceTrack, enjoying thenice breeze andbeautifullymanicured shorelineof the AnacostiaRiver. Big 4th ofJuly picnics andpolitical partieswere held on thewell-kept groundsnear the betting

and having a GRAND OLD TIME

Betting hall at BenningRace Track. Photo courtesyof Cook Collection, Keeneland.

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CLARENCE PENDLETONClarence Pendleton, the first blackchair of the US Commission on CivilRights, was the son of ClarencePendleton, Sr., Howard University’sswimming coach. The family lived inIvy City, but young Clarence spentmost of his summers enjoying thepool at Suburban Gardens. Anaccomplished swimmer, he was themain drawing card for the amuse-ment park’s swimming competitions. He was also cho-sen to perform before the main event of some of theEast Coast’s biggest swimming competitions. Eventhough his time was never recorded, it was a knownfact that at most swim meets his time was far betterthan the professional white swimmers of the day.

MAXWELL SMARTMaxwell “Max” Smart, one ofAmerica’s most successful horsetrainers, was born and raised inDeanwood. His family was one ofits early settlers. Max worked atthe Benning Race Track at theturn of the 20th century andtrained the best running horses of that time. His ability to prep a horse to win drew horse loversand bettors to Deanwood by the thousands for a goodtime at the track. He handled horses for such whiteluminaries as Ambassador Breckenridge Long andAdmiral Cary T. Grayson, physician to PresidentWoodrow Wilson.

After the track closed in 1908, many people inDeanwood bought horses at a reasonable price andkept them until the early 1950s. In the late 1940s, itwas common to see teenagers riding horses throughthe dirt streets of Deanwood. Before their deaths, theSmart brothers, Max and Raymond, gladly helpedtheir neighbors care for their horses.

DID YOU KNOW?

A Short List of Deanwood’s Famous Residents

5131 Grant Street (Nannie Helen Burroughs)to serve black patrons. The two-story brickbuilding was a combination pool room,dance hall, and theater, which could holdapproximately 600 moviegoers. The Strandserved the Deanwood community for 30years. It was later converted to a conven-ience store, and now stands vacant.

Churches played an important role inDeanwood’s social life - organizing picnics,baseball games, trips and other events. Themost popular trip, to Carr’s and Sparrows,two colored beaches in Anne ArundelCounty, Maryland, practically shut down theneighborhood for the day. Deanwoodresidents patronized these church-sponsoredactivities regardless of their personal churchaffiliation.

Residents also formed numerous socialclubs. Some clubs of the 1950s included thepurple-jacketed Latonialetts and the JuniorEgyptians.

SOURCES Archives at Burrville Elementary School, MerrittEducational Center, and Nannie Helen Burroughs School Charles Sumner School and ArchivesChurch historians at Antioch Baptist, Church of theIncarnation, Contee A.M.E. Zion, the First Baptist ofDeanwood, Randall Memorial United Methodist, TabernacleBaptist, and Zion BaptistDC Office of Planning, Historic Preservation OfficeFrancis, Charles E. and Bruce Humphries. TuskegeeAirmen: The Story of the Negro in the U.S. Air Force. 1991 Harrigan, Robert. Pastimes in Washington: Leisure Activitiesin the Capital Area 1800-1995. 2002Hine, Darlene Clark (ed). Black Women in America: AnHistorical Encyclopedia. 1994Jim Ferguson of Ferguson PhotosMurry’s Family of Fine Foods Corporate HeadquartersOral histories from Herbert Turner, Earl Thomas, Jr.,Juanita King Deskins, Henry Parker, John Woodson, HelenGordon Hasty Simms Blue Book and National Negro Business andProfessional Directory. 1944Washington and Sons Funeral HomeWashington Star, Oct 12 1946The Washingtonian, July 1966/Vol. 1 No. 10Wilson, Dreck Spurlock. African American Architects: ABiographical Dictionary 1865-1945. 2004www.theodore-roosevelt.com/alice.html

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MAJ. ANDREW D. TURNER, USAFMajor Andrew D. Turner wascommissioned at TuskegeeArmy Air Field on October 9,1942, becoming the firstDeanwood resident to earn thisdistinction. The son of Rev.Clarence W. Turner, Sr., hegrew up on 46th and KanePlace. Before he was commis-sioned at Tuskegee, “Jug” (asfamily and friends fondly calledhim) started the Baptist Young People’s Union at The First Baptist Church of Deanwood. In 1944, he was appointed Commanding Officer of the 100thSquadron. Major Turner flew 69 combat missions during his overseas service without a serious accident,only to lose his life on September 18, 1947 in a rou-tine training flight. The family of this TuskegeeAirman continues to live in his childhood home.

THE MURRY’S STEAK FAMILYAl and Ida Mendelson, andher brother, Joe Lutsky,owned and operated afamily grocery store at thecorner of 44th Street and Sheriff Road. TheMendelsons lived abovetheir store and theirchildren, Murry and Sandy,grew up in the neighborhood. Mrs. Mendelson alsoowned a hat store and the ladies in the neighborhoodlooked forward to buying one of her hats for church.

The Mendelsons employed people from the neighbor-hood, and most of the soda fountains in the arealooked forward to selling Al’s famous “big burger.” In the 1940s everyone in Deanwood knew that if their food budget ran short, “Al” would give themwhat they needed, have them “sign the book,” andallow them to pay later. If the ladies needed a hat toenhance a church outfit, Mrs. Mendelson would helpfind a match and collect the money later.

After Murry returned from military service in the late40s, the Mendelsons sold the grocery store andopened Murry’s Steaks, now known throughout thisarea as Murry’s Family and Fine Foods.

OTHER NOTEWORTHY RESIDENTSJimmy Briscoe, boxerCapt. Edward W. Gantt (Ret.), USN, former

Great Lakes Naval Training Base commanderCol. Francis Gregory, astronaut and NASA Deputy DirectorSharon Pratt-Kelly, former D.C. mayorBilly Stewart, musicianDr. Billy Taylor, jazz musician and educator

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Acknowledgments and Thanks This project has been funded in part by a grantfrom the Humanities Council of Washington, DC

and by a grant from the National Trust for HistoricPreservation through the Dorothea de Schweinitz

Preservation Fund for Washington, DC.

Special thanks also goes to:Charles Sumner School and Archives

(Judy Capurso, Archivist) DC Historic Preservation Office

DC Public Library, Washingtoniana DivisionDeanwood Citizens Association

(Geraldine Washington, President)Keeneland Research Library, Cook CollectionMarshall Heights Community Development

OrganizationNational Museum of American History,

Archives CenterSons and Daughters of Deanwood

Bethena BestEarl Simpson

Tonya Talley-SmithAll churches and schools featured

Deanwood History Project Committee

Writers/ResearchersElaine Bowman

Kia Chatmon, ChairpersonDeidre R. GanttAlverna Miller

Barbara J. MooreSandra Wright-Buckhalter

History ConsultantsMarya Annette McQuirter, PhD,

Humanities ScholarPatsy Fletcher, Community Liaison, DCHPO

Layout and DesignDeidre R. Gantt

For more information on the Deanwood History Project,

its future activities,and how you can participate,

please send an e-mail todeanwoodhistoryproject@yahoo.com.

You can also reach us by mail at P.O. Box 62494, Washington, DC 20029.

Visit our website for more facts and photosabout our historic neighborhood!

www.geocities.com/deanwoodhistoryproject