A post-Civil War building boom brought grand new houses to this convenient area. By 1881 Blanche Kelso Bruce, the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate, and Major John Wesley Powell, pioneering director of the U.S. . . . — — Map (db m130887) HM
Along this block is the world headquarters of the United House of Prayer for All People. Founded in 1919 in Massachusetts by Charles M. “Sweet Daddy” Grace, the church moved its headquarters to Washington in 1926. Soon after, it purchased a . . . — — Map (db m130896) HM
If a house could talk, what tales would it tell? The private residence at 415 M Street, to your left, would tell of hundreds of Shaw residents who came here to play and worship.
The house at 415 was built in the 1860s for Joseph Prather, . . . — — Map (db m130897) HM
The wooden chapel here was completed in 1857 as a mission of the McKendree Methodist Church. Known as Fletcher Chapel, it may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Washington's Anti-Saloon League began meeting at Fletcher Chapel . . . — — Map (db m130898) HM
For much of the 1900s, inexpensive entertainments lined much of Seventh and Ninth Streets, from D to U Streets. Vaudeville houses, pool halls, record shops and taverns made for a busy night life. And everyone went to the movies. Two small . . . — — Map (db m130895) HM
For much of the 1900s, inexpensive entertainments lined Seventh and Ninth streets, from D to U Streets. Vaudeville houses, pool halls, record shops, and taverns made for a busy night life. And everyone went to the movies. Two small theaters . . . — — Map (db m245055) HM
Roots of Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral
In 1904 members of Washington, DC's "Greek Colony" — mostly recently arrived immigrant men — held the city's first Greek Orthodox church service above a warehouse on Indiana . . . — — Map (db m130901) HM
In 1864 St. Patrick’s parish opened an Immaculate Conception Church for Catholics living far from its downtown F Street home. This imposing Gothic style building was completed a decade later. Renowned actress Helen Hayes was baptized here in . . . — — Map (db m130894) HM
When Northern Liberty Market opened on Mount Vernon Square in 1846, small businesses soon followed. By 1900 they catered to everyday needs and formed a bargain district in comparison to downtown's fancy department stores.
Many stores . . . — — Map (db m130900) HM
After this neighborhood's original Northern Liberty Market on Mount Vernon Square was razed in 1872, a new Northern Liberty Market was built along Fifth between K and L streets. When owners decided that fresh farm products weren't drawing . . . — — Map (db m130899) HM
Wealthy industrialist Andrew Carnegie donated funds to build the Beaux Arts-style building you see across the street to your left, the city’s first public library. The Central Library opened in 1903 with 12,412 books by its predecessor, the . . . — — Map (db m152394) HM
You are standing at the entrance to Naylor Court. It was built in the 1860s as one of the hundreds of intersecting alleys hidden behind DC houses. Stables, workshops, sheds, and often cheap two-story houses, built for the poor of all races, . . . — — Map (db m130888) HM
Across the intersection stands the tower of O Street Market. When the market opened in 1881, and refrigerators had not been invented, people shopped here daily for everything from live chickens to fresh tomatoes. At first the vendors were . . . — — Map (db m130893) HM
Wrapping the corner across Rhode Island Avenue is Asbury Dwellings for senior citizens. In 1901 it opened as the city's white-only McKinley Technical School, memorializing slain President William McKinley (1843-1901). In 1928 the "colored" . . . — — Map (db m130845) HM
The building across the street at 901 Rhode Island Avenue is the city's first Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) for African Americans. It honors Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), considered America's first published black . . . — — Map (db m143566) HM
Washington’s first black Muslim temple opened in 1940 when the Nation of Islam established Temple No. 4 at 1525-1527 Ninth Street. The Nation of Islam’s second national leader, Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975), presided over the event. Founded in . . . — — Map (db m130889) HM
The assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Thursday, April 4, 1968, changed this neighborhood forever.
When word of Dr. King’s murder spread that evening, Washingtonians gathered along busy 14th and U streets, NW; H . . . — — Map (db m130892) HM
Carter G. Woodson, The Father of Black History, worked and lived at 1538 Ninth Street from 1912 until 1950. The son of formerly enslaved people. Woodson received a Ph.D. from Harvard, and became an acclaimed scholar, educator, and advocate. . . . — — Map (db m130890) HM