There’s so much more to the diverse and colorful Dc neighborhood of Columbia Heights. A history so rich that sheds light on so many shifts in society, culture, politics and lifestyle that you can’t help but immerse yourself in it! We want to share with you some of the highlights of this and unique DC treasure and hope that you’ll explore it for yourself.
Before your everyday shopping stops such as Target, Bed Bath & Beyond and Washington Sports Club, the intersection of 14th Street and Park Road was “the place to be.” It was also the last stop for the horse-drawn omnibus that shuttled travelers to the D.C Hill. When electric streetcars entered the scene in 1892, the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company instead built a garage for the streetcars, a massive building with architecture beyond its time. By 1907, the car line was extended, and as a result, the “car barn”, as it was nicknamed, was repurposed as the Arcade. It was dubbed “Washington’s Madison Square Garden.” This became the place for locals to gather and enjoy things from bowling, watching movies, playing pool, dances on the roof, roller skating, and even attending dog shows! These one of a kind experiences lasted until the start of the Great Depression. After that, the Arcade changed ownership a few times and was eventually torn down in 1947 making way for what stands today.
Can you imagine Columbia Heights as farmland and a small group of modest farmhouses? Shocking, we know! One hundred and fifty years ago, everything north of Florida Ave., which was then Boundary Street, and everything across the Anacostia was considered Washington County. The military engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant is who decided upon Washington City, and chose that it end at the bottom of the hill. The Organic Act changed that in 1871, by repealing the individual charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown and creating a new government for the District of Columbia, which included the Columbia Heights we know and love today.
Columbia Heights was home to Columbian College which is now what we all know as George Washington University! In 1821, a group of trustees fulfilled George Washington’s dream of founding a national university in D.C. Columbian College opened its doors on College Hill between 14th and 15th streets in today’s Columbia Heights. The original requirements to attend included literacy in Latin, being able to translate Caesar’s Commentaries and the New Testament in Greek, and a knowledge of geography. The first classes paid only $60 annually in tuition (stark contrast to what we see now) Classes continued until the Civil War, when the U.S. government took over the campus on the hill and Columbian medical graduates served on opposite sides of the war. In 1904, the college changed its name to The George Washington University and within a few years began its move to its current location in Foggy Bottom.
Tivoli Theatre on Park Road was once one of the most upscale and popular public spaces in the District. It closed as a movie theater in 1976, but the building itself remained as a neighborhood landmark. The former movie theater is now home to the GALA Hispanic Theatre and Tivoli’s Astounding Magic Supply Co. This quaint shop does sell magic supplies from white gloves to “Stage Fright Antidote” but the storefront conceals another side to this shop that you realize once inside the door. All purchases support 826DC, a nonprofit that helps children with their writing skills! Writer Dave Eggers co-founded the organization in San Francisco, where the writing center is hidden behind a Pirate Supply Store. 826DC helps thousands of students each year through after and in school programs. They publish their own books, such as “Dear Brain”, “Having to Tell Your Mother Is the Hardest Part”, and “The Weight of the Day Surrounds My Body”. 826DC’s location used to be the Museum of Unnatural History before it relocated to the former mezzanine of historic Tivoli Theatre and changed its storefront.
There’s so much that Columbia Heights has overcome, battled and changed over the decades to make it what it is today and we aren’t honestly convinced she’s done growing and changing! This mixing pot of cultures, history and lifestyles is what makes this community the place we call home.
