The Burleith Community In Images of America
Burleith is a small residential community in northwest Washington, D.C. just north of Georgetown. It consists of about 550 homes, two schools, and no commercial development. I have been in Burleith many times during my years in Washington and took the opportunity to get to know the neighborhood better through this photographic history written by two community residents with a passion for the history of their neighborhood: Ross Schipper, a retired mathematician, and Dwane Starlin, an actor and a licensed Washington, D.C. tour guide. The book is part of the Images of America series of local American photographic histories.
The book consists of images related to Burleith from its earliest, colonial days (the land was originally owned by Scotch immigrants) to the present. In addition to the photographs, the authors provide commentary. The book describes the homes, people, and schools in the neighborhood. Although about 70 earlier homes survive, the focus on the book is on the years after 1923 when a large real estate developer purchased much of the land of the current neighborhood and constructed most of the community's row houses between 1923 -- 1928. Other developers then built a number of additional homes.
The book meticulously describes the homes in Burleith and many of the people who over the years called the neighborhood home. The book describes the local schools, including an elementary school, junior high, and high school that educated many of the local children beginning in the early 20th Century. The high school and its locally famous tradition of military cadets receives a great deal of attention. The school, Western High School, became the Duke Ellington School of the Arts late in the 20th Century.
The book also describes elements of the community that are gone. I was especially interested in the House of the Good Shepherd and its attendant Convent of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Beginning in about 1890, the House of the Good Shepherd was a school for wayward girls that offered them an opportunity for a different life. The school and the convent remained in the community until 1968. I would like to know more about the school and about the subsequent lives of its residents.
The impression created by this book is of a local community that is aware of its history and is close-knit and cohesive. The authors stress the activities of the Burleith Citizens' Association which was founded in 1925 and is still active. The authors mention an earlier study of the local community, "A Short History of Burleith" (1955) by Edgar Farr Russell, a former president of the Citizens' Association. It is interesting that the community has had a strong historical self-consciousness resulting in Russell's book and in the current book.
Schipper and Starlin both are active in the Burleith History Group. Members of the group and other community residents assisted in the preparation of the book by providing photos and stories. The History Group sponsored the restoration of old fire and police call boxes in the community which had fallen into disrepair, as shown in the final chapter of this book. The community had an active Garden Club which functioned for many years until 2000 and has recently been revitalized. The community boasts a long tradition of community picnics and festivals which continues to the present and which is documented in the book. The local schools, together with the large presence of military families in Burleith operated to create a sense of social solidarity rather than of isolated individuals and families who happened to reside in the same area.
This book offers an excellent historical portrait of a local Washington, D.C. community. I enjoyed learning about Burleith and, more broadly, thinking about the factors that help make a community a home.
