On the edge of the 1792 original city
plan by city designer Pierre L'Enfant is the Greater U
Street neighborhood. Prior to the Civil War, the area
was covered in grazing fields and orchards but later experienced
substantial growth due to the large influx of soldiers,
and freed men and women who made the area their home.
Construction eventually gave way to the elegant brick
row homes that now line the surrounding streets today.
The area is bounded by 16th Street
to the west, 9th Street to the east, S Street to the south,
and Florida Avenue to the north. It is technically considered
part of the historic Shaw neighborhood but in recent years
has been affiliated with Logan Circle due to its shared
commercial strip of 14th Street.
The rise of racial segregation in the
early 1900s cultivated the Greater U Street area into
a "City within a City" for the African American
community, and it remained so until the urban riots of
1968. The 1920s and 1930s witnessed a thriving cultural
scene, with entertainers such as Sarah Vaughn, Pearl Bailey,
Cab Calloway, and the neighborhood's own Edward "Duke"
Ellington frequenting clubs like Bohemian Caverns the
Howard, Dunbar, Republic, and Lincoln Theaters. Known
by many as the "Black Broadway," Greater U Street
was unique in that many of its institutions — Industrial
Bank and True Reformers Hall among them — were designed,
financed, owned, and built using the talents of such emerging
African American professionals as banker John Whitelaw
and architect John A. Lankford.
Today’s residents enjoy many
cosmopolitan advantages: The U St /Cardozo Metro station
(Green/Yellow line), organic grocers, health clubs, yoga
studios, art galleries, cutting-edge dining, and shops.
