2201 HISTORY

2201.1 European settlement in the Rock Creek East Planning Area dates back to 1712, when St. Paul's Episcopal Church was sited in the area. Rock Creek Cemetery was established in 1719. The area initially developed as a result of the presence of underground springs and the area's popularity for recreational horse racing in the early to mid-1800s. Brightwood Turnpike, later renamed Georgia Avenue, was built in 1819 and served as a major route for race patrons and agricultural commerce between Maryland and Downtown Washington, DC. During the Civil War, Fort Totten, Fort Slocum, and Fort Stevens were developed to defend the capital from attack. Fort Stevens was the site of Civil War combat in 1864, a battle that gained notoriety as the only military action in which a sitting U.S. president came under fire from an enemy force. All three of the forts are now part of the National Park Service's (NPS) Fort Circle Parks, and the Battleground National Cemetery on Georgia Avenue NW is listed in the DC Inventory of Historic Sites and National Register of Historic Places.

2201.2 Following the Civil War, development in the area increased, especially along Georgia Avenue and Military Road. Farms, estates, and summer homes were the first housing types to be developed. Toward the end of the 19th century, Brightwood became a suburban village where high-income families lived on large estates. As further development occurred, Brightwood was subdivided into the neighborhoods that we know today as Petworth, Brightwood Park, Brightwood, and Lamond.

2201.3 On the northeast edge of Brightwood, Takoma Park was founded by Benjamin Gilbert in the early 1880s and developed around the Brightwood railroad station (later renamed Takoma Park station) near Fourth Street and Blair Road. Many of its spacious wood-frame bungalows and Victorian homes remain today, and much of the neighborhood is a designated historic district.

2201.4 Federal facilities also shaped the growth of Rock Creek East. Chief among them were the AFRH, established in 1851 near Rock Creek Church Road, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, built in 1909 on Georgia Avenue and now designated a historic district. Walter Reed's development sparked residential and commercial development in surrounding areas. For example, the Shepherd Estate north of Walter Reed was subdivided in 1911 and developed as Shepherd Park during the 1910s. Shepherd Park initially was developed with restrictive covenants that excluded Black and Jewish residents from the community. However, by the 1960s, the neighborhood was the heart of the District's Jewish community, and today it is one of the most racially diverse neighborhoods in Washington, DC.

2201.5 The racial composition of Rock Creek East shifted during the 1950s and 1960s. The area was predominantly white prior to 1950, but by 1970 it was

predominantly Black. The area became a desirable neighborhood for upper-middle and middle-income Black professional families, and the stately homes and subdivisions along 16th Street developed a cachet as Washington’s Gold Coast. Racial composition remained fairly constant during the 1970s and 1980s but became more diverse during the 1990s as the number of Hispanic/Latino residents increased, and the shares of white and Asian residents, respectively, nearly doubled between 2000 and 2015.

SOURCE: District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984, effective April 10, 1984 (D.C. Law 5-76; 31 DCR 1049 (March 9, 1984)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Element Amendment Act of 1984, effective March 16, 1985 (D.C. Law 5-187; 32 DCR 873 (February 15, 1985)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-129; 37 DCR 55 (January 5, 1990)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1989 NCPC-Recommended Amendments, and Closing of Public Alleys in Square 669, S.O. 88-452, Act of 1990, effective May 23, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-132; 37 DCR 2213 (April 6, 1990)); as amended by District Government Land Use Temporary Amendment Act of 1994, effective October 1, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-190; 41 DCR 5360 (August 12, 1994)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendments Act of 1994, effective October 6, 1994 (D.C. Law 10-193; 41 DCR 5536 (August 19, 1994)); as amended by District of Columbia Comprehensive Plan Act of 1984 Land Use Amendment Act of 1994, effective March 21, 1995 (D.C. Law 10-235; 42 DCR 30 (January 6, 1995)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1996 effective April 18, 1996 (D.C. Law 11-110; 43 DCR 530 (February 9, 1996)); as amended by Second Technical Amendments Act of 1996 effective April 9, 1997 (D.C. Law 11-255; 44 DCR 1271 (March 7, 1997)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 1998, effective April 27, 1999 (D.C. Law 12-275; 46 DCR 1441 (February 19, 1999)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 1999, effective April 12, 2000 (D.C. Law 13-91; 47 DCR 520 (January 28, 2000)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2006, effective March 8, 2007 (D.C. Law 16-300; 54 DCR 924 (February 2, 2007)); as amended by Technical Amendments Act of 2008, effective March 25, 2009 (D.C. Law 17-353; 56 DCR 1117 (February 6, 2009)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2010, effective April 8, 2011 (D.C. Law 18-361; 58 DCR 908 (February 4, 2011)); as amended by Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act of 2021, effective August 21, 2021 (D.C. Law 24-20; 68 DCR 006918 (July 16, 2021)).