Where Visitors To Washington, D.C. Don't Go
Washington D.C. is familiar to every American as the Nation's capitol. The city is famous for its museums, monuments, and other tourist attractions. Local life in the city, away from the news and the cameras, is far less familiar. A historic D.C. neighborhood that until recently was off the well-traveled road is Deanwood, located east of the Anacostia River in the far Northeastern corner of Washington, D.C. In my many years in Washington, D.C., I had never visited Deanwood. The other day, after reading this book on Deanwood prepared by the Deanwood History Committee, I took the Metro to the community and spent several hours walking through the area.
I had earlier found one view of Deanwood in a story called "Jeanette" by Jim Beane. This story appears in a volume called "D.C. Noir" edited by George Pelecanos, a well-known writer about local life in Washington D.C. "Jeanette" is a gritty story that tells of a young man drawn into the robbery and murder of a Deanwood businessman through his love of a young woman. In his story, Beane describes the Deanwood area: "Deanwood's a quiet place, street after street filled with squat brick and cinderblock duplexes, and none too nice apartments. ,,, Nobody moved up to Deanwood, that was clear. The only single houses were country shacks thrown up by the colored farm boys who came looking for city jobs, money jobs. Everything looked beat."
"Washington D.C.'s Deanwood" (2008) offers another portrait of the community. The book was written by a group called the "Deanwood History Committee," consisting of five community residents writing, gathering photographs, and researching with the enthusiasm and assistance of their Deanwood neighbors. Publication of the book was celebrated with a large community gathering in the local charter school in May, 2008. Although Images of America has published many books on Washington D.C. neighborhoods, this book is the first on an East of the River community.
Located on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., Deanwood became a site early in the 20th Century for affordable homes. In a segregated city, Deanwood was almost totally African American by 1920. Infrastructure and development were lacking. Many streets remained unpaved, and many homes lacked indoor plumbing until the early 1950s. The area has a rural character with large homes on, for Washington D.C. substantial lots. Many residents of Deanwood came from the South and raised fruit and other products in their back yards. As this book documents well, many families have lived in Deanwood for several generations.
From 1920 to about 1940, Deanwood was home to Suburban Gardens, the only amusement park that has ever operated within the city. With the segregation of the times, Suburban Gardens appealed to African Americans throughout the area. It offered an old wooden roller coaster and entertainment by Duke Ellington and Dinah Washington. Deanwood was also home to the National Training School for Women and Girls established in 1909 by Nannie Helen Burroughs. Both the Park and the School receive substantial attention in this photographic history of Washington D.C.'s Deanwood.
The book consists of seven chapters of photographs with introductions and detailed annotations. The first chapter takes a close look at the varied homes of Deanwood, many of which were built by African American architects. The book then offers portraits of Deanwood families, with an emphasis on people who have remained in the area over many years. Further chapters explore businesses, educational institutions and churches which serve the Deanwood community. A sixth chapter titled "A Sense of Civic Pride" discusses community activity in Deanwood and includes, among other things, photographs of a visit Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. paid to Deanwood in 1965. A final chapter discusses the old amusement park and other ways in which the residents of Deanwood enjoyed themselves.
During my visit to Deanwood, I walked on Sheriff Road, once the center of the community business district, and had a snack at the busy convenience store in the middle of the area. I walked up and down some of the adjacent streets and saw the homes, the elementary and middle school (the old Woodson High School in the area has just been demolished and will be replaced), the many churches, and some people. I certainly did not see all the sites described in this book, but I learned something of a place that had earlier been totally unknown to me.
In March 2009, the Washington D.C. Office of Cultural Tourism will open a Heritage Trail walking tour through the Deanwood community prepared by the same Deanwood History Committee that wrote this book. I hope to return to the Deanwood at that time and walk, in a more informed way, through the area again. Until then, this volume offers a look at a local community in Washington, D.C. that has carried on far beyond the glare of the daily headlines.
