Wednesday, April 4, 2018 DC History

Warm-Up While waiting for the bus after school at the corner of 5th and Oglethorpe Streets NW, you are approached by a tourist who asks for directions to 1st and Webster Streets NE. Assuming you are inclined to give the tourist accurate directions, what would you tell her?

“The City Beautiful” HW Discussion

Physical Growth of the National Capital 1877-1945

Population Growth 1870: 131,000 1890: 230,000 1910: 331,000 1930: 487,000 1950: 802,000 What is the population of DC today?

Housing and Streets Overcrowding remained a problem throughout this period The worst conditions were among DC’s “alley dwellers” Street paving continued, but was concentrated in wealthy areas of Northwest 1888-1905: The Commissioners initiated the street-naming system of “second and third alphabets” outside of the original lettered streets 1899: Height of Buildings Act restricted the height of buildings to preserve the sightlines of monuments and other structures, preventing the construction of skyscrapers

City Planning In the 1890s, the “City Beautiful Movement” inspired city planning across the nation This movement had a major impact on DC, as city planners saw the capital as a potentially perfect example of a beautiful city Many sculptures and bridges resulted from the City Beautiful movement 1880s-90s: The Potomac River was dredged, adding 600 acres of new waterfront land on the Mall 1890s: With urging from Charles Glover, Congress purchased 2500 acres of land to form Rock Creek Park The McMillan plan encouraged the building of additional parks, as well as many buildings in the classical style: Anacostia Park; Civil War Fort parks Union Station, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, National Gallery of Art

The Mall and Monumental Washington 1901-02: A group of architects and planners set out to revive L’Enfant’s vision of the Mall as a ceremonial avenue This was part of the “McMillan Plan” The effort did not succeed until the New Deal during the 1930s 1932: Construction of Memorial Bridge 1937: The Mall had been cleared of unplanned trees, smokestacks, and temporary buildings, providing unimpeded views of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial, White House, and Capital The Reflecting Pool was also constructed Other monumental structures constructed/completed during this period: Lincoln Memorial (1922) Federal Triangle Buildings (1930s) National Gallery of Art (1941) Jefferson Memorial (1942)

Public Transportation The growth of the city and suburbs would not have been possible without a vast increase in public transportation 1888: The first electric streetcars ran The city experimented with overhead wires, cable cars, before settling on underground electric rails In addition to facilitating the city’s growth, the expanded streetcar system transformed the city’s old core into a true “downtown,” which was dominated by businesses and workplaces, with very few residential areas

New Neighborhoods and Suburbs Capitol Hill—expanded to its current size by 1900; mostly a middle-class neighborhood Eastern Market was founded in the 1870s Southwest—remained a mostly poor neighborhood, but the Waterfront became a busy market during this period Wealthy residents moved further into Northwest, establishing the neighborhoods of: Dupont Circle (1870s) Kalorama (1870s) Expansion of streetcars to the District line in the late 1800s led to rapid growth of population outside the original city limits: LeDroit Park (1870s) DC’s first “gated community” In the early 1900s, it became the most fashionable neighborhood for middle class black residents Brookland (1880s) Chevy Chase (1890s) Petworth (1900)

The Impact of Automobiles Automobile ownership in DC exploded during the 1920s DC’s wide streets made driving easy and parking plentiful, so cars were more common here than in most cities Public transportation quickly shifted from streetcars to buses—the remaining streetcars caused traffic congestion and were quickly abandoned Personal automobiles contributed greatly to the continued expansion of the city’s suburbs from the 1920s to 1950s The explosion of automobile traffic also began to cause major traffic problems as early as the 1920s

Group Activity: Illustrated Timeline of DC’s Population Create a Graph (You may use a bar graph or line graph) showing the growth of DC’s population between the Civil War and World War II Illustrate each point on the graph with an image that symbolizes developments in, or the culture of, DC during that time period. You may create your own illustrations or send me images to print (or a combination of the two)

Homework DC Neighborhood Exhibit: Neighborhood Choices and Partners are due on FRIDAY.