George Washington Carver Cooperative Apartments

George Washington Carver Cooperative Apartments. , The George Washington Carver Apartments, on this site from 1943 to 2015, were named for the prominent African American scientist and inventor, George Washington Carver and designed by Albert I. Cassell, a distinguished African American architect in the Washington, D.C. region. The Carver Apartments were built by the Federal Government to house African Americans displaced by the construction of the Pentagon in 1943., The residents purchased the George Washington Carver Apartments in 1949. The George Washington Carver Mutual Homes Association operated the complex as the George Washington Carver Cooperative Apartments until they were sold for redevelopment and razed in 2015., The community for which the George Washington Carver Apartments was built was initially formed in 1863 during the Civil War, when the Union Army established and developed a Freedman's Village complex. Located about a mile northeast of here, on the grounds of the nearby Arlington estate, formerly the home of Robert E. Lee, Commander of the Confederate forces, Freedman's Village was created to house the AFrican Americans displaced by war. In March 1865, the U.S. Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands to help African American citizens make the transition to freedom and peace following the war. This Bureau also supervised Freedman's Village., Freedman's Village eventually was phased out in the 1890s, and most of its residents relocated to nearby communities, including Queen City and East Arlington to the southeast. Fifty years later, Queen City and east Arlington were razed for construction of the road network for the Pentagon, built by the Federal Government after the 1939 start of World War II. Private properties in Queen City and East Arlington were taken by eminent domain. The Federal Government moved many of the residents to trailers in this neighborhood, now known as Arlington View, and in the Green Valley (now Nauck) neighborhood, about two miles to the southwest. Many residents later were relocated from these trailers to apartment complexes built by the Federal Government, including the George Washington Carver Apartments., The Arlington view neighborhood, extending from Columbia Pike to 14th Road South, was originally part of an 85-acre parcel known as Johnston's Hill, which was owned by J.R. Johnston, an African American. Johnston's Hill evolved from rural farmland to a middle-class neighborhood populated by numerous freed slaves, many of whom became important Arlington County leaders. According to a 1938 Franklin Survey Map of Arlington County, the 3.5-acre tract on which the George Washington Carver Cooperative Apartments was located belonged to Elhaney Green, an African American farmer, and his family.