Seventh Street Develops

Seventh Street Develops. Midcity at the Crossroads. , In 1854 St. Patrick's Parish opened an Immaculate Conception Church for Catholics living far from its downtown F Street home. This imposing, Gothic style building opened a decade later. Immaculate Conception's community work included its Washington Catholic Hour radio show on WOL (1921-1962). For 99 years, until 1964, the church operated Immaculate Conception School for boys at 711 N Street. It is now a public charter school. Girls attended Immaculate Conception Academy at nearby Eighth and Q streets until 1954., After much of this area was destroyed in the 1968 uprisings, Monsignor Joshua Mundell worked to stabilize the neighborhood, encouraging church and federal government collaborations to build modern apartments., The Seventh Street Saving Bank across the intersection is a remnant of the block's business era. the combination bank/residential building opened in 1912. After many mergers, it closed for good in 1983, later re-opening as office space., Seventh Street developed as a business street because of good transportation. Back in 1810, Congress chartered the Seventh Street Turnpike from Pennsylvania Avenue to Rockville, Maryland. At first omnibuses (horse-drawn wagons) carried passengers on Seventh. Then in 1862 Congress chartered street railways, with a Seventh Street line. Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner made sure that the charter prohibited segregation on the streetcars. The first electric streetcars (1888) ran along New York Avenue to Seventh, but in 1962 were abandoned for buses. The latest innovation, Metro's Green and Yellow lines, opened in 1991 after seven years of construction.