16th Street Northwest
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

16th Street Northwest is a prominent north–south thoroughfare in the
northwest 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—each sep ...
quadrant of
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Part of
Pierre L'Enfant Pierre "Peter" Charles L'Enfant (; August 2, 1754June 14, 1825) was a French-American military engineer who designed the basic plan for Washington, D.C. (capital city of the United States) known today as the L'Enfant Plan (1791). Early life an ...
's design for the city, 16th Street begins just north of the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
across Lafayette Park at H Street and continues due north in a straight line passing K Street,
Scott Circle Scott Circle is an area in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. that is centred on the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue, and 16th Street, N.W. Originally a neighborhood recreational area, unlike Dupont Circle where poli ...
,
Meridian Hill Park Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, is a structured urban park located in the Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C., Columbia Heights; it also abuts the nearby neighborhood of Adams Morgan. The park wa ...
,
Rock Creek Park Rock Creek Park is a large urban park that bisects the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The park was created by an Act of Congress in 1890 and today is administered by the National Park Service. In addition to the park proper, the Rock Cr ...
, and the
Walter Reed Army Medical Center The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...
before crossing Eastern Avenue into
Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...
, where it ends at
Georgia Avenue Georgia Avenue is a major north-south artery in Northwest Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland. Within the District of Columbia and a short distance in Silver Spring, Maryland, Georgia Avenue is also U.S. Route 29. Both Howard Univers ...
. From K Street to the District line, 16th Street is part of the National Highway System. The
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
portion of the street is designated Maryland State Highway 390. The entire street is long. The
Washington meridian The Washington meridians are four meridians that were used as prime meridians in the United States and pass through Washington, D.C. The four which have been specified are: # through the Capitol # through the White House # through the old Naval Ob ...
, a
prime meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great c ...
once in use in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, follows the street. Part of the street is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
as
Sixteenth Street Historic District The Sixteenth Street Historic District is a linear historic district in Washington, D.C., that includes all structures along 16th Street NW between H Street and Florida Avenue. The district's southern boundary is bordered by Lafayette Square, ...
. and In June 2020, the section immediately north of the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
was renamed
Black Lives Matter Plaza Black Lives Matter Plaza (officially Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest) is a two-block-long pedestrian section of 16th Street NW in downtown Washington, D.C. The plaza was renamed by Mayor Muriel Bowser on June 5, 2020, after the Department of ...
.


Significance

Early in the city's history, many foreign countries opened their
embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
on 16th Street because of its proximity to the White House. Many religious denominations followed with churches, earning the street the nickname "Church Row." These include Foundry Methodist (attended by Presidents Hayes and Clinton), First Baptist (attended by Presidents Truman and Carter), the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church which was originally named the First Colored Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. (visited twice by President Barack Obama), St. John's ("Church of the Presidents"), All Souls Unitarian,
Universalist National Memorial Church Universalist National Memorial Church (UNMC) is a Unitarian Universalist church located at 1810 16th Street, Northwest in the Dupont Circle vicinage of Washington, D.C. Theologically, the church describes itself as "both liberal Christian and ...
, St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral, founded in 1949 and built in 1958, and Third Church of Christ, Scientist, which was designed by an associate of
I.M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
in 1971 and demolished in 2014.
Shrine of the Sacred Heart The Shrine of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic parish established in 1899 in the Mount Pleasant/ Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington D.C. The parish church is a large domed Byzantine structure modeled after the Cathedral in Ravenna, ...
is located just off of 16th Street. After most of the embassies moved to
Embassy Row Embassy Row is the informal name for a section of Northwest Washington, D.C. with a high concentration of embassies, diplomatic missions, and diplomatic residences. It spans Massachusetts Avenue N.W. between 18th and 35th street, bounded by ...
and other parts of the city, the churches became more prominent in 16th Street's identity. Other notable buildings include the
Scottish Rite The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the ''and'', while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the ''Scottish''), commonly known as simply the Sco ...
Masons'
House of the Temple The House of the Temple is a Masonic temple in Washington, D.C., United States that serves as the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. (officially, Home of The Supreme Council, 33°, Ancient & Accepted S ...
,
Carnegie Institution for Science The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. Th ...
, Robert Simpson Woodward House, the
Warder Mansion Warder Mansion (also known as Warder-Totten House) is an apartment complex at 2633 16th Street Northwest, in the Meridian Hill Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is the only surviving building in the city designed by architect Henry Hobson ...
,
Carter Barron Amphitheater The Carter Barron Amphitheatre is a 4,200-seat outdoor performance venue in Washington, D.C., United States. Located in Rock Creek Park, the amphitheatre opened in 1950, in honor of the 150th anniversary of Washington, D.C. as the United States' ca ...
, the
Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center The Edlavitch Jewish Community Center of Washington, D.C. (formerly the Washington DCJCC) is a Jewish Community Center located in the historic district of Dupont Circle. It serves the Washington, D.C. area through religious, cultural, educational, ...
, and the
Toutorsky Mansion The Toutorsky Mansion, also called the Brown-Toutorsky House, is a five-story, 18-room house located at 1720 16th Street, NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Since 2012, it has housed the Embassy of the Republic of the Con ...
. The
AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...
,
American Trucking Association The American Trucking Associations (ATA), founded in 1933, is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of motor carrier in the United States through a federation ...
,
National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stude ...
,
American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...
,
National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
, and Benjamin Franklin University have prominent buildings on 16th Street. The
National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
was until the late 1990s headquartered on the street. By the end of the 19th century, 16th Street NW stretched some 2.5 miles from the White House north to Morris Road NW (now Monroe Street NW). On March 30, 1899, the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
authorized the extension of the street to the D.C.-
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
line. Condemnation proceedings to obtain land were completed in 1901. But bridging the natural obstacle of the
Piney Branch Piney Branch is a tributary of Rock Creek in Washington, D.C. It is the largest tributary located entirely within the Washington city limits. Course Located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., the stream flows next to Piney Branch Par ...
valley—with the nation's first parabolic arch bridge—would take until 1909. The northern and central portions of 16th Street—and the Crestwood neighborhood, in particular—have for a half century been the chosen neighborhood of accomplished
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s in Washington. Known colloquially as "The Gold Coast", these sections of 16th Street are lined with early 20th-century Tudor mansions. As 16th Street continues north through the
Shepherd Park Shepherd Park is a neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. In the years following World War II, restrictive covenants which had prevented Jews and African Americans from purchasing homes in the neighborhood were no longer enfor ...
neighborhood, the street passes Tudor-style house at
7700 16th Street NW 7700 16th Street NW, a private house in the Shepherd Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C., is the former home of the Hanafi Madh-Hab Center. In 1973 this house was the scene of the massacre of 7 Hanafi Muslims by members of the Nation of Islam. ...
, the scene of a notorious crime, and several houses of worship including the Ohev Sholom synagogue and historic Tiffereth Israel synagogue, across the street from one another, and the Washington Ethical Society. The street's proximity to
Rock Creek Park Rock Creek Park is a large urban park that bisects the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The park was created by an Act of Congress in 1890 and today is administered by the National Park Service. In addition to the park proper, the Rock Cr ...
and importance as a thoroughfare has made it a natural dividing boundary for Washington neighborhoods. Outside of the downtown area, no neighborhood in the city falls on both sides of 16th Street; the neighborhoods that surround it have 16th as either their eastern or their western boundary. For many years, the wide street was the ''de facto'' "boundary" between Caucasian and African-American neighborhoods of the city, especially in the tense years after the 1968 race riots. A pair of similarly named streets, 16th Street Northeast and 16th Street Southeast, are three miles (5 km) away in the northeast and southeast quadrants of Washington. They are contiguous with each other and parallel to 16th Street NW. There is no 16th Street Southwest, as this space is occupied by the National Mall and the Washington Channel.


16th Street World War I Memorial Trees

In 1920, more than 500 trees were planted along 16th Street between Alaska Avenue and Varnum Street to honor fallen soldiers from World War I. Today, the
16th Street World War I Memorial Trees The World War I 16th Street Memorial Trees, honoring the lives of District of Columbia residents lost in World War I, is located on 16th Street NW in Washington, D.C. between Alaska Avenue and Varnum Street. It originally consisted of more than 500 ...
and their corresponding markers have largely been lost to history.


Ronald Reagan Boulevard 2005 proposal

In July 2005, just before Congress's summer recess,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
congressman
Henry Bonilla Henry Bonilla (born January 2, 1954) is a former congressman who represented Texas's 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He was defeated in his bid for re-election by Ciro Rodriguez, a former Democratic mem ...
quietly introduced resolution H.R. 3525 to rename 16th Street NW "
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
Boulevard" in honor of the former
president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
. Mayor
Anthony A. Williams Anthony Allen Williams (born July 28, 1951) is an American politician who was the fifth mayor of the District of Columbia, for two terms, from 1999 to 2007. His predecessor had served twice, as the second and fourth mayor. Williams had previously ...
objected on the grounds that the proposal changes Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 design for the city and would have cost an estimated $1 million for new signs and maps. The plan was ultimately quashed by Rep. Tom Davis, chairman of the
House Government Reform Committee The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...
and a fellow Republican representing Washington's
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
suburbs.


Black Lives Matter mural and renaming

On June 5, 2020, during the series of George Floyd protests, riots and vandalism that were occurring in Washington D.C., the DC Public Works Department painted the words "
Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...
" in 35-foot yellow capital letters on 16th Street NW near the White House and Lafayette Square, with the assistance of the MuralsDC program of the D.C. Department of Public Works. The D.C. flag accompanies the text. Later that day Mayor
Muriel Bowser Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician serving since 2015 as the eighth mayor of the District of Columbia. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 4th ward as a member of the Council ...
announced that part of the street outside of the White House had been ceremonially renamed to Black Lives Matter Plaza. On Saturday, June 6, 2020, activists altered the mural. The stars were removed from the D.C. flag, changing it to an
equals sign The equals sign (British English, Unicode) or equal sign (American English), also known as the equality sign, is the mathematical symbol , which is used to indicate equality in some well-defined sense. In an equation, it is placed between two ...
, and the words "
defund the police "Defund the police" is a slogan that supports removing funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and o ...
" were added, resulting in the mural reading "Black Lives Matter = Defund the Police".


References

{{Authority control Black Lives Matter Downtown (Washington, D.C.) Dupont Circle Shepherd Park Streets in Washington, D.C. U Street Corridor, Washington, D.C.