Carver Langston is a cluster of two neighborhoods, Carver and Langston, just south of the
United States National Arboretum
The United States National Arboretum is an arboretum in northeast Washington, D.C., operated by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. It was established in 1927 by an act of Congress after a campaign by USDA ...
in
Northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
The two neighborhoods are most often referred to as one, because they are two small triangular neighborhoods that together form a square of land on the western bank of the
Anacostia River
The Anacostia River is a river in the Mid-Atlantic states, Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County, Maryland, Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Ch ...
.
Carver is the smaller and northernmost neighborhood of the two, bordered by Bladensburg Road to the west, M Street NE to the north, and Maryland Avenue to the southeast. Langston is bordered by Maryland Avenue to the northwest, 22nd and 26th Streets NE to the east, and Benning Road to the south. Directly east of the neighborhood on the very edge of the river is the
Langston Golf Course, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
as the first course in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
to allow blacks; boxing champion
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He r ...
was one of its most frequent visitors.
Carver is named after
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American Agricultural science, agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent bla ...
, a famous black inventor. Langston Terrace is named after
John Mercer Langston
John Mercer Langston (December 14, 1829 – November 15, 1897) was an African-American abolitionist, attorney, educator, activist, diplomat, and politician. He was the founding dean of the law school at Howard University and helped create the d ...
who served as the first black American from Virginia to serve in the United States Congress. Langston Terrace is famous because it is the city's first federally funded public housing program to be built in 1938. The housing projects were explicitly designed for African American residents, since the District was rigidly segregated at the time.
Carver Langston is a middle-income residential neighborhood populated by retirees, families, young professionals and renters. Although now it is starting to gentrify particularly on its western and southern edges.
The area's main retail center is Hechinger Mall, with its namesake having been closed since the late 1990s. The entire area is part of Ward 5.
Gallery
Image:Carver - Washington DC.jpg, Carver, intersection of 18th St and L St NE, September 2018
Image:Carver neighborhood Washington DC.jpg, Carver, intersection of 19th St and M St NE, September 2018
Image:Langston Washington DC.jpg, Langston, intersection of 21 St and I St NE, September 2018
References
1938 establishments in Washington, D.C.
Neighborhoods in Northeast (Washington, D.C.)
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