Logan Circle is a historic
roundabout
A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...
park and
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
of
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 ...
, located in
Northwest D.C.
The majority of Logan Circle is primarily residential, except for the highly-commercialized
14th Street corridor that passes through the western part of the neighborhood. In the 21st century, Logan Circle has been the focus of urban redevelopment and become one of Washington's most expensive neighborhoods. Logan Circle is also one of the city's most prominent
gay neighborhoods.
Logan Circle includes two historic districts, as well as numerous sites 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 ...
or as D.C. Historic Landmarks.
The circle's origins date to the 1870's, when the area was developed as a residential neighborhood to serve Washington's growing bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...
. In 1901, President William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...
inaugurated the General Logan equestrian statue at the center of the circle's park. In 1930, the U.S. Congress officially named the circle in honor of Union General John A. Logan.
History
19th century
Historically, Logan Circle occupies a site that was part of Pierre L’Enfant’s 1791 plan for Washington. However, the space was originally envisioned as a large triangular plaza—significantly bigger and differently shaped than the circular form we see today.
During the Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, present-day Logan Circle was home to Camp Barker, former barracks
Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...
converted into a refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...
for newly freed enslaved people
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
from nearby Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
and Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
. In the 1870s, streets, elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...
trees, and other amenities were installed by Washington Mayor Alexander Robey Shepherd
Alexander Robey Shepherd (January 30, 1835 – September 12, 1902) was an American politician and businessman who was the 2nd Governor of the District of Columbia from 1873 to 1874. He was one of the most controversial and influential civic lead ...
, who encouraged the development of the area. Streetcar
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...
tracks were laid into what was then a very swampy area north of downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...
Washington, to encourage development of the original Washington City Plan. As a result, the area saw development of successive blocks of Victorian row houses marketed to the upper middle class, which sought to give Washington the reputation, modeled after Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an capitals, of a city of broad boulevard
A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district.
In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...
s and well-manicured parks. Many of the larger and more ornate homes came with carriage house
A ''carriage house'', also called a ''remise'' or ''coach house'', is a term used in North America to describe an outbuilding that was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and their related tack. Carriage houses were often two ...
s and attached servant's quarters, which were later converted to apartments and rooming houses as the upper middle class moved elsewhere.
20th century
Originally known as Iowa Circle, the park was renamed by Congress in 1930 in honor of John A. Logan, Commander of the Army of the Tennessee
The Army of the Tennessee was a Union Army, Union army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, named for the Tennessee River. A 2005 study of the army states that it "was present at most of the great battles that became turning points ...
during the Civil War, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...
, and U.S. representative and senator for the state of Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, who lived at 4 Logan Circle. At the center of the circle stands '' Major General John A. Logan'', an equestrian statue
An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a ...
of Logan sculpted by Franklin Simmons and a bronze statue base designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt
Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of architecture of the United States. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 ...
. On April 9, 1901, the 25-foot monument was dedicated by President William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...
, Senator Chauncey Depew, and General Grenville M. Dodge.
In the early 20th century, 14th Street NW rose to prominence as a main shopping district for both black and white Washingtonians on the edge of downtown Washington D.C., and became known as an area for auto showrooms. Farther north, "14th and U" became synonymous with a large African-American community, later known as Shaw, which encompassed parts of Logan Circle and U Street to the north. Segregation marked the emergence of this large area of well-preserved Victorian row houses as a predominantly African-American community; the unofficial dividing line was 16th Street NW
16th Street Northwest, briefly known as the Avenue of the Presidents, is a prominent north-south boulevard in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The street was laid out as part of the 1791 L'Enfant Plan, whi ...
, several blocks to the west, with Logan Circle and its older homes sandwiched in between.
During this period, the original Victorian homes in the area were subdivided into apartments, hostels, and rooming houses. With the end of legal segregation, middle-class residents of both races left the area. Many left after the destructive 1968 Washington, D.C. riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
These devastated the 14th and U streets commercial corridors.
In 1956, the three inner lanes of 13th Street were paved across Logan Circle to speed the influx of suburban workers into DC. In 1980, to encourage more people to use Metro, the inner lanes across Logan Circle were closed. Later they were removed and the park restored.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Logan Circle, although dominated by Victorian homes that had survived mostly untouched by redevelopment or riots, was considered an unsafe neighborhood by many due to overt drug use and prostitution
Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...
that existed in the neighborhood. During this period, property values in the area began to increase, but issues of homelessness in the area came to the forefront. Fourteenth Street, NW became widely viewed as Washington's red light district
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...
. It also became an area for small, independent theater companies that acquired relatively cheap space north of the circle.
21st century
During the 2000s, the area gentrified
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has been us ...
and housing costs sharply increased after derelict buildings were torn down or remodeled.[ The commercial corridors along 14th and P streets attracted significant revitalization. They now feature a variety of ]retailers
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler ...
, restaurants, art galleries
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...
, live theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...
, and nightlife
Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, ...
venue gay bars catering to the neighborhood's booming LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
population.
A watershed event in the development of the neighborhood was the opening of a Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...
two blocks from Logan Circle in December 2000. No full grocery store was in the area. It was developed on a site previously occupied by an abandoned service
Service may refer to:
Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
* Civil service, the body of employees of a government
* Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...
garage; it is now one of the chain's highest-grossing markets.[ Gentrification in Logan Circle has resulted in a dramatic change of neighborhood ]demographics
Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration.
Demographic analysis examin ...
; since the 1990s, thousands of White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
young LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
and hipster adults have moved into the neighborhood, while thousands of Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
families have moved out because of rising prices.
Landmarks
Logan Circle Historic District
The Logan Circle Historic District is an eight-block area surrounding the circle, containing 135 late-19th-century residences designed predominantly in the Late Victorian and Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a architectural style, style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revivalism (architecture), revival style incorporates 11th- and 12th-century ...
styles of architecture. The district was added to 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 ...
on June 30, 1972.[
The former home of ]Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune (; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator, Philanthropy, philanthropist, Humanitarianism, humanitarian, Womanism, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in ...
, an African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
educator, author, and civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
leader who founded the National Council of Negro Women, is located at 1318 Vermont Avenue NW, one block south of the circle. The Second Empire-style building is a designated National Historic Site and houses the Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial Museum and the National Archives for Black Women's History.
Fourteenth Street Historic District
In addition to the Logan Circle Historic District, the neighborhood includes the much larger Fourteenth Street Historic District, added to the NRHP
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1994.[ The district's approximately 765 contributing properties are considered historically significant because they represent residential and commercial development resulting from one of the earliest streetcar lines in Washington, D.C., the Capital Traction Company's 14th Street line, built in the 1880s.]
The oldest house of worship in the Fourteenth Street Historic District is Luther Place Memorial Church, built 1870–1873, an ELCA Lutheran church situated on the north side of Thomas Circle. Originally known as Memorial Evangelical Lutheran Church of Washington, D.C., the building was renamed in 1884 after a bronze statue of Martin Luther
Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...
was installed on the church's property. Luther Place Memorial Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 16, 1973.
The Gladstone and Hawarden, designed by architect George S. Cooper in 1900, are early examples of Washington's middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...
apartment houses. Named for U.K. Prime Minister William Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party.
In a career lasting over 60 years, he was Prime Minister ...
and his estate Hawarden Castle, they are the first documented twin apartment building
An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement ( Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) ...
s in Washington, D.C. The Gladstone and Hawarden were added to the NRHP
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on September 7, 1994.
Other landmarks
The District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites includes several properties in Logan Circle that are not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Among them are the former residences of: Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" Grace, flamboyant founder of the United House of Prayer For All People; John A. Lankford, the first African American architect in Washington, D.C.; Belford Lawson Jr., lead attorney in the landmark
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.
In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...
case '' New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.''; Alain LeRoy Locke, the first African American Rhodes Scholar
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world.
Esta ...
and central figure in the Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...
; Mary Jane Patterson, the first African American woman to earn a bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
; Ella Watson, subject of Gordon Parks
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and filmmaker, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particularly ...
's famous photograph ''American Gothic, Washington, D.C.''; and James Lesesne Wells, noted graphic artist
A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...
and longtime art instructor at Howard University
Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...
.
The Victorian building on the north side of the park, 15 Logan Circle, was built for military officer and diplomat Seth Ledyard Phelps and served as the Korean legation
A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legation ...
from 1889 to 1905. Following an extensive restoration project, the building now serves as the Old Korean Legation Museum.
The Iowa, designed by Thomas Franklin Schneider in 1901, was the birthplace of anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
Julian Steward
Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902 – February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing "the concept and method" of cultural ecology, as well as a scientific theory of culture change.
Early life and ed ...
.
File:Grace Reformed Church (Logan Circle) 1 (cropped).jpg, Grace Reformed Church
File:1 and 2 Logan Circle - Washington, D.C (cropped).jpg, Ulysses Grant House
File:Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes.jpg, Church of the Ascension
File:Rowhomes on Vermont Ave. NW (cropped).JPG, Vermont Avenue
Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north–south streets in City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California. With a length of , is the third longest of the north–south thoroughfares in the region. For most of its length be ...
File:12-15 Logan Circle NW.jpg, Old Korean Legation Museum
File:Mount Gilead Baptist Church DC 02.jpg, Mt. Gilead Church
Geography
The Logan Circle neighborhood is bordered:
* on the north by T Street NW and the U Street Corridor (a.k.a. Cardozo/Shaw);
* on the east by 12th Street NW and the Shaw neighborhood:
* on the south by Massachusetts Avenue or M Street NW[ and Downtown D.C.
* on the west by ]16th Street NW
16th Street Northwest, briefly known as the Avenue of the Presidents, is a prominent north-south boulevard in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The street was laid out as part of the 1791 L'Enfant Plan, whi ...
and the Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th St ...
neighborhood
The traffic circle is the intersection of 13th Street, P Street, Rhode Island Avenue, and Vermont Avenue. The National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
maintains the land located within the traffic circle, a park measuring in diameter, furnished with wooden benches, decorative lampposts, an iron fence, and concrete sidewalks.
Demographics
The racial composition of the neighborhood is in flux, paralleling its gentrification, with the Black population decreasing from around one quarter to around one tenth of the population (2010 to 2020), while the non-Hispanic White proportion increased by around a fifth, going from around 59% to around 70% of the neighborhood's population during those ten years. The Asian population was up 9%,
Education
Residents are served by the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Garrison Elementary School in Logan Circle has a capacity of over 350 students. the school had 228 students. Residents are zoned to Garrison, and to Cardozo Education Campus
Cardozo Education Campus, formerly Cardozo Senior High School and Central High School, is a combined middle and high school at 13th and Clifton Street in northwest Washington, D.C., United States, in the Columbia Heights, Washington DC, Columbia ...
.
In popular culture
Logan Circle is the setting for Dinaw Mengestu's ''The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears'', a novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
about an Ethiopian American struggling to start a new life in Washington, D.C.
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author known for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackso ...
's 1974 song " The Bottle" describes the lives of the alcoholics living in the area.
See also
* Equestrian Monument of General John A. Logan
References
External links
Logan Circle Community Association
Logan Circle Main Street
ANC2F
- Logan Circle's Advisory Neighborhood Commission
{{American gay villages
Gay villages in Washington, D.C.
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
Neighborhoods in Northwest (Washington, D.C.)
Squares, plazas, and circles in Washington, D.C.
LGBTQ culture in Washington, D.C.
1870s establishments in Washington, D.C.