Story Map Census Tract 99.03| Central Avenue|Washington, D.C

Ten years later, in  1903 , the land owned by Behrend was still undeveloped and the land owned by Aukman had recently been subdivided into lots. 

In the 1920s, a few Black families bought land and houses in this rural area at the edge of city. Black dentist and Capitol View resident  William Collins  recalled that Black men raced their horses and dogs on tracks in the hills of the undeveloped areas in the 1920s.  

In the 1930s, a few more Black families purchased homes in this area, as did a few White families. This  map  from 1932 shows the land had been further subdivided and some houses had been built and more roads constructed.  

In 1940, the area where Census tract 99.03 is today was 35% White. By 1950, most of the White residents had left and the area was only 7% White. Between 1960 and 2000, the area remained nearly 100% Black. 

In the first few decades of the twentieth century, Capitol View established itself as a middle-class Black enclave. In 1960, the area was 99% Black and 95% of residents owned their homes. Residents thus protested when they learned the National Capital Housing Authority planned to build a public housing project in their neighborhood. City officials pointed to the lack of available land in the inner city as well as the need for public housing and moved forward with their plans to build a housing project in the midst of this majority-Black community with a high percentage of homeowners and middle-class residents. The housing project was completed in 1955. The problems anticipated by the residents did not come immediately. This area had one of the lowest crime rates in the city from  1952 to 1965 . However, the sustained neglect of the housing projects and lack of opportunities for young Black men in the city eventually translated into high rates of crime. 

May 16, 1970. Washington Post article

East Capitol Dwellings

In  1952 , the National Capital Park and Planning Commission approved the construction of East Capitol Dwellings. This housing project includes mostly two-story semi-detached houses, as well as a few three-story apartment buildings, and occupies about a quarter of the land area of the Census tract. The National Capital Housing Authority contracted with the  Standard Construction Company  to build it. 

East Capitol Dwellings opened in 1955 to 577 Black families — 391 on the Southeast side and the remainder on the Northeast side of East Capitol Street. Renowned singer  Marvin Gaye  and his family were among the first residents. Like many others, they left low-income housing in Southwest to move to the complex. Gaye and his family lived in a unit on the Northeast side until about 1962. 

This housing project showed signs of disrepair in very short order – due to  faulty construction  and  soil erosion  issues. The heating system was  inadequate  from the beginning, and left many families cold all winter. Twenty years later, the  heating issues persisted and residents also complained about the lack of  hot water . Despite bitterly cold winters, residents dealt with inadequate heating every  winter . 

By 1970, the neighborhood had begun to experience high rates of  crime  — a problem that would worsen in years to come. In 1978, a woman who had confronted youths about selling drugs in front of her home in East Capitol Dwellings experienced a  firebombing  of her unit. 

In 1971, a second major public housing project was sited in this area. This project was called Capitol View Plaza and included high rises as well as town houses. The new construction brought the number of families in public housing to over 1,000 in this small area. 

In the early 1980s, residents expressed concern about the distribution of marijuana, PCP, and heroin in  open-air drug markets . With youth  unemployment  rates at 50%, selling drugs was a way for young men to earn cash. Their parents often struggled to make ends meet with rising costs of food and  rent . By 1986, young men began to deal crack cocaine. In Capitol View and across the city,  homicide  rates rose with the advent of open-air crack markets. In 1993, there were 17  homicides  in East Capitol Dwellings — making it one of the most violent areas in the world. 

In 2000, the city received a $30.8 million federal grant to  demolish  East Capitol Dwellings as well as the adjacent properties and replace them with mixed-income housing. In 2003, after 50 years of neglect and disrepair, East Capitol Dwellings was razed. 

Capitol View Plaza Towers was a housing project built in 1971 and demolished in 2009. Today, East Capitol Urban Farm is in its place. 

Evelyn Brown moved to East Capitol Dwellings in  1969 . She raised seven children there and led the tenants council. In the 1990s, her daughter as well as two of her nephews were gunned down near her home. Still, Ms. Brown, who was 70 years old in 2003, felt attached to the neighborhood. When the Dwellings was demolished, she used her Section 8 voucher to rent an apartment four blocks from her former apartment. She told the  Washington Post  she hoped to return to the new housing when construction was completed. 

The Capitol Gateway project, funded by Hope VI, is designed as  761  mixed-income units, including more than 230 that will be sold. This project aims to provide the possibility of  homeownership  to 30 former public housing residents. The remaining homes are to be sold to people earning less than 115% of the median area income. The project plans also provides for a 100,000-square-foot retail center. 

In 2005, the first phase of the Hope VI project was completed: a  senior building  with 151 units. An additional 142 townhomes for purchase and 86 for rent were completed soon afterwards. About a third of the residents of the Hope VI project — called “Capitol Gateway Estates” — had been among the 649 families relocated when East Capitol Dwellings was demolished. Steve Roseman, principal of Drew Elementary School, which served the children of East Capitol Dwellings, noted that the school lost almost 80% of its students when the housing projects were demolished. In 2003, 63.2% of students at Drew Elementary were proficient in math. By 2008, that percentage had dropped to 6.2%.  Donna Comrie , who studied the effects of Hope VI on education, reports that residents of the Hope VI development did not send their children to Drew Elementary School, and the school lost its stability. 

“America’s Finest Colored Community” 

Much of the news coverage of Capitol View focuses on East Capitol Dwellings and the subsequent Hope VI grant, ignoring the rest of the community — which is not public housing but rather a longstanding Black homeowner community.  

In the 1920s, a Black developer named John Whitelaw Lewis began developing Capitol View as a residential subdivision for African Americans. In the 1930s, he collaborated with the Capital View Realty Company, which was able to secure  Federal Housing Administration -insured loans for Black families to purchase single-family homes in Capitol View. (N.B.: “Capitol” refers to the Capitol building and “Capital” to the city itself – thus the different spellings.) 

The FHA did not generally insure loans for Black families in Black neighborhoods. However, the Capital View Realty Company was able to convince the FHA that this would be an  elite  Black subdivision with stone and brick homes that featured oak floors and tiled bathrooms with tubs and showers.  

This  map  – created by researchers at Prologue DC – shows that in 1937, the FHA graded Capitol View “H” – the lowest rating. An “H” rating referred to areas “developed especially for negroes or have been left open for negroes to build for themselves” – an accurate description of the area. Nevertheless, the map shows the FHA insured at least one loan in this area – for the house at 60 53rd Place SE, a house built in 1924. More research needs to be done to learn if there were other FHA-backed loans issued in this area.This  map  – created by researchers at Prologue DC – shows that in 1937, the FHA graded Capitol View “H” – the lowest rating. An “H” rating referred to areas “developed especially for negroes or have been left open for negroes to build for themselves” – an accurate description of the area. Nevertheless, the map shows the FHA insured at least one loan in this area – for the house at 60 53rd Place SE, a house built in 1924. More research needs to be done to learn if there were other FHA-backed loans issued in this area.

In 1936, the Afro-American newspaper called Capitol View “America’s finest colored community.” Black newspapers frequently ran ads and articles promoting this fine development. In  1939 , the Capital View Realty Company built four two-story brick and cinder block houses between 5333 and 5341 East Capitol Street, at a cost of $17,500 — or $4,375 each.  Harry W. Lucas , a porter for Presidents Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and Roosevelt, bought the house at 5333 East Capitol Street and lived there until he passed away in 1950. His wife, Mrs.  Amelia Lucas  was still living there in 1965 when her photo appeared in the New York Amsterdam News, showing her at the Nassau Golf Club during the Third Annual Pepsi-Cola International Golf Tournament. Mrs. Lucas worked for the Federal Trade Commission for more than 35 years and made her mark as an  amateur golfer  as well as a long-term federal employee. She passed away at age 69 in 1978. 

This map illustrates locations with signs that associate with anti-loitering, anti-littering, anti-drug use, anti-vandalism, anti-graffiti, or neighborhood watch. The colored point symbols suggest signs discouraging disorder (Source: ArcGIS). Please click on the double arrows in the upper-left corner of this map to access a visual detail of the symbols used on this map. Click on any indicator to access information about your chosen indicator.

Public courtesies signify an addition of either crosswalks, bus stops, bike racks, trash bins, or street lamps to the vicinity.

This Google Street View image shows the minimal presence of public courtesy in the vicinity of 199 57th PL SE, Washington, D.C. 20019 in November 2007 (Source: Google Street View 2021).

This Google Street View image shows the most recent public courtesies and accounts for a distinguishable crosswalk and accessibility to the sidewalk in the vicinity of 199 57th PL SE, Washington, D.C. 20019, (Source: Google Street View 2020).

This map illustrates locations that have an addition of either road implementations, addition to the Flor, and crosswalks to the vicinity. The colored point symbols indicate the presence of new public courtesies within the vicinity (Source: ArcGIS). Please click on the double arrows in the upper-left corner of this map to access a visual detail of the symbols used on this map. Click on any indicator to access information about your chosen indicator.

Large scale developments include any new large buildings that occupy at least 75% of the block.

This Google Street View image shows the area prior to the development of a park like area, filling the vacancy between housing structures at 11 57th PL SE, Washington, D.C. 20019, in August 2009. (Source: Google Street View 2021).

This Google Street View image shows the new large development of a new green area between residencies at 11 57th PL SE, Washington, D.C. 20019, in June 2019 (Source: Google Street View 2021).

This map illustrates the larger scaled developments in the Capitol View area. The indicated marker shows exactly which out stood in the vicinity of 11 57th PL SE, Washington, D.C. 20019 (Source: Esri). Please click on the double arrows in the upper-left corner of this map to access a visual detail of the symbols used on this map. Click on any indicator to access information about your chosen indicator.

Residences with new patio furniture or landscaping include patio or yard furniture or accessories that go beyond ordinary grass maintenance within the vicinity.

This Google Street View image shows the earlier conditions of residences indicate the minor presence of patio furniture or landscaping in the vicinity of 5401 E Capitol St SE, Washington, D.C. 20019, in November 2007 (Source: Google Street View 2021).

This Google Street View image shows a residence with a well maintained yard with removal of old furniture in the vicinity of 5401 E Capitol St SE, Washington, DC 20019, in June 2019 (Source: Google Street View 2021).