Georgia Avenue is a major north-south artery in Northwest Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County, Maryland. In Washington, D.C., and for a short distance in Silver Spring, Maryland, Georgia Avenue is also U.S. Route 29. Howard University is located on Georgia Avenue.
Georgia Avenue begins north of Florida Avenue, which was the boundary of the Old City, and is a continuation of 7th Street. Traveling northward, the street passes Howard University and Fort Stevens. At Eastern Avenue, the road crosses into Montgomery County and passes through Silver Spring.
Where it crosses Colesville Road a mile into Maryland, Georgia Avenue splits off U.S. Route 29 and becomes Maryland State Highway 97. Georgia Avenue ends at the boundary with Howard County, where it becomes Roxbury Mills Road. [1] The total length of the road is about 24 miles (39 km), of which 5 miles (8 km) are in Washington, D.C.
The original Georgia Avenue was the road now named Potomac Avenue in Southwest and Southeast. Current-day Georgia Avenue was originally named 7th Street Extended and Brightwood Avenue.
Seventh Street Pike was built as a plank road from Boundary Avenue (now Florida Avenue) to the District Line in 1852. [2] Being a plank road, it was essentially paved with wooden planks that had to be replaced periodically due to rotting. [3] The road was also known as Brightwood Avenue.
A tollgate was located at current-day 6400 Georgia Avenue, at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Piney Branch Road NW. [4] Prominent residents living north of the tollgate decided to buy enough land to build a road to bypass the tollgate; this road became Piney Branch Road NW. [4]
The road was also the path of the Seventh Street Railway, which took riders from Brightwood to downtown. The railway consisted of cars drawn by horses, guided by metal tracks that protruded above the road. [5] [6] On April 12, 1890, Seventh Street Railway became electrically powered; its cable cars were powered by overhead electrical lines, and the cars themselves were guided by metal tracks embedded in the road. [5] [6] Other electrically powered railways were built elsewhere in the District in later years. [5]
In 1906, Georgia's senator Augustus Octavius Bacon was so dismayed that Georgia Avenue had become so neglected that he proposed to rename it Navy Yard Avenue and at the same time change the name of Brightwood Avenue to Georgia Avenue. [7] The Washington Evening Star editorialized against the bill. [8] While Senator Bacon's proposal did not come to fruition, Wisconsin's senator John Coit Spooner offered the same proposal again in 1907, [9] which also included changing the name of 16th Street to Washington Avenue. [10]
Renaming of Brightwood Avenue was opposed by residents of Brightwood [7] and Park View. [11] The Business Men's Association also opposed the bill, saying it opposed the renaming of any avenue that was named in the original plan of the city. [12] The street renaming was stricken from the bill during the reconciliation process. [13]
In 1908, Senator Bacon proposed the street renaming again. [14] The bill was opposed by residents of Brightwood, Brightwood Park, Takoma, and Petworth, the Southeast Washington Citizens' Association, and the East Washington Citizens' Association. [15]
The Washington Evening Star also editorialized against the bill again, arguing that changing the name of Brightwood Avenue "would remove all local significance from the name" and confuse those living in the neighborhood around what was then Georgia Avenue. [16] The 1908 appropriations bill ended up changing the name of Georgia Avenue to Potomac Avenue and Brightwood Avenue to Georgia Avenue. [17]
The portion between Glenmont and Norbeck was built in 1927. [18]
The Montgomery County Planning Board is undertaking a concept study to provide "a design framework for future master plans and projects from the District of Columbia to Howard County." [19] The study covers each neighborhood in the corridor, examining pedestrian safety, urban design, and public transportation issues.
Every June, Washington holds the D.C. Caribbean Carnival, which includes a parade down the lower portion of Georgia Avenue, an area that is home to many Caribbean immigrants. [20]
Starting just north of the Silver Spring station, the Washington Metro Red Line runs roughly parallel to Georgia Avenue.
Metrorail stations on or near Georgia Avenue, from south to north, include:
The following Metrobus routes travel along the street (listed from south to north):
The following Ride On routes travel along the street (listed from south to north):
The following MARC train stop lies near the street:
The Wale song Chillin was filmed on Georgia Avenue.
The first three missions in Syphon Filter were set in Georgia Avenue.
In the Alice McKinley book series, Alice’s dad managed a fictional store on Georgia Avenue.
Pennsylvania Avenue is a primarily diagonal street in Washington, D.C. that connects the United States Capitol with the White House and then crosses northwest Washington, D.C. to Georgetown. Traveling through southeast Washington from the Capitol, it enters Prince George's County, Maryland, and becomes MD Route 4 and then MD Route 717 in Upper Marlboro, and finally Stephanie Roper Highway.
Glenmont is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The United States Census Bureau had combined Glenmont with nearby Wheaton to create the census-designated place of Wheaton-Glenmont, from 2000 to 2010. It had a population of 16,710 in 2020.
The Red Line is a rapid transit line of the Washington Metro system, consisting of 27 stations in Montgomery County, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., in the United States. It is a primary line through downtown Washington and the oldest and busiest line in the system. It forms a long, narrow "U," capped by its terminal stations at Shady Grove and Glenmont.
Glenmont station is a Washington Metro station in Montgomery County, Maryland on the Red Line. It is the eastern terminus of the Red Line.
Petworth is a neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. While largely residential, Petworth is home to a notable commercial corridor of shops and restaurants, primarily along Georgia Avenue and Upshur Street, as well as a portion of 14th Street. The neighborhood is accessible via the Georgia Ave–Petworth station on the Green Line of the Washington Metro.
Streetcars in Washington, D.C. transported people across the city and region from 1862 until 1962.
South Capitol Street is a major street dividing the southeast and southwest quadrants of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It runs south from the United States Capitol to the D.C.–Maryland line, intersecting with Southern Avenue. After it enters Maryland, the street becomes Indian Head Highway at the Eastover Shopping Center, a terminal or transfer point of many bus routes.
Brightwood is a neighborhood in the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C. Brightwood is part of Ward 4.
Maryland Route 97 (MD 97) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs 55.27 mi (88.95 km) from U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, north to the Pennsylvania border in Carroll County, where the road continues into that state as Pennsylvania Route 97 (PA 97). Throughout most of Montgomery County, MD 97 is known as Georgia Avenue, which continues south from the southern terminus along US 29 into Washington, D.C. It is a suburban four- to six-lane divided highway from Silver Spring north to Olney. From here, the route continues as a rural two-lane undivided road north through Brookeville and into Howard County. MD 97 continues through Carroll County where it passes through the county seat of Westminster. The route intersects many major roads, including Interstate 495 north of Silver Spring, MD 28 and MD 200 in Norbeck, I-70/US 40 near Cooksville, MD 26 in Dorsey Crossroads, and MD 27, MD 32, and MD 140 in the Westminster area.
Fort Totten is a neighborhood located in Ward 5 of Northeast Washington, D.C.
New Hampshire Avenue is a diagonal avenue in Washington, D.C., beginning at the Kennedy Center and extending northeast for about 5 miles (8 km) and then continuing into Maryland, where it is designated Maryland Route 650. New Hampshire Avenue is not contiguous. It stops at 15th and W Streets NW, and resumes again on the other side of Columbia Heights at Park Road NW, a few blocks from Georgia Avenue.
The Metropolitan Railroad was the second streetcar company to operate in Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It was incorporated and started operations in 1864, running from the Capitol to the War Department and along H Street NW in downtown. It added lines on 9th Street NW, on 4th Street SW/SE, along Connecticut Avenue to Dupont Circle, to Georgetown, to Mount Pleasant and north along Georgia Avenue. In the late 19th century, it was purchased by the Washington Traction and Electric Company and on February 4, 1902, became a part of the Washington Railway and Electric Company.
Fort Stevens Ridge is a neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C. built during the 1920s. The neighborhood comprises about 50 acres (0.20 km2) and is very roughly bounded by Peabody Street, Fifth Street, Underwood Street, and Ninth Street. As of the 2010 census, the neighborhood had 2,597 residents. It was named for nearby Fort Stevens, a Civil War-era fort used to defend the nation's capital from invasion by Confederate soldiers.
The Greenbelt–Glenmont Line, designated as Routes C7 & C9, was a former line operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority from September, 2000, all the way up to June 28, 2009, running between both Greenbelt of the Green Line & Glenmont station of the Red Line of the Washington Metro during weekday peak periods. The line mostly provided service between both Prince George's County & Montgomery County before being discontinued in 2009 due to low ridership.
The Georgia Avenue–Maryland Line, designated Route Y2, Y7, Y8, is a daily bus route operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Silver Spring station of the Red Line of the Washington Metro and MedStar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney or the Georgia Ave – ICC Park & Ride Lot (Y7). The line operates every 20 minutes during the weekday peak hour and weekend late nights, 30 minutes all other times on weekdays, and 40–45 minutes on weekends. Y2 trips are roughly 55 minutes long, Y7 trips are roughly 62 minutes long, and Y8 trips are roughly 70 minutes long. This route provides service along Georgia Avenue in Maryland providing service to multiple communities.
The Colesville–Ashton Line, designated Route Z2, is a weekday peak-hour bus route operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Olney and Silver Spring station of the Red Line of the Washington Metro. The line operates every 30–35 minutes during the weekday peak hours only. Route Z2 trips are roughly 60–70 minutes long.
The Georgia Avenue–7th Street Line, designated as Route 70, is a daily bus route that is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Silver Spring station of the Red Line of the Washington Metro and Archives station of the Green and Yellow lines of the Washington Metro. With late night and early morning trips extending to L'Enfant Plaza station of the Blue, Orange, Silver, Green and Yellow Lines of the Washington Metro. The line operates every 12 minutes during the weekdays, 15 minutes during the weekends, and 20 minutes during the late nights. Trips are roughly 60 minutes.
John Clagett Proctor (1867-1956) was a local historian, newspaper columnist, and printer in Washington, D.C., best known for a long-running weekly column in the Washington Star newspaper.
The Metropolitan Hotel at Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street NW in Washington, D.C. was a major hotel of the capital city of the United States from 1863 to 1933. Built in 1850 by the heirs of Jesse Brown, the Metropolitan was "brick with marble veneer, originally five stories, approx[imately] twenty bays." In its day it was home "to many distinguished congressmen and visitors." The Metropolitan had a reputation as the hotel of politicians from the Southern states.
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