Reno School

Last updated
Reno School
Jesse Reno School 02.jpg
Reno School in 2016
Location map District of Columbia street.png
Red pog.svg
Location4820 Howard Street, NW, Washington, D.C.
Coordinates 38°57′9″N77°4′38″W / 38.95250°N 77.07722°W / 38.95250; -77.07722
Built1903
ArchitectSnowden Ashford
MPS Public School Buildings of Washington, DC MPS [1]
NRHP reference No. 10000242
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 7, 2010 [2]
Designated DCIHSNovember 19, 2009

The Reno School is a historic school building located at 4820 Howard Street NW, completed in 1903 to serve the needs of the Reno community in Washington, D.C. Like all public schools in the District at the time, it was segregated and served African American students in the area west of Rock Creek Park and north of Georgetown. [3] The school was closed in 1950 after the Reno community was evicted to create Fort Reno Park and the adjacent Alice Deal Middle School.

Contents

Subsequently, the D.C. government converted the structure into a Civil Defense office and constructed antenna towers on its grounds. The building later was converted back into a school serving special education students, later called the Rose School after Rose Weintraub Alpher. [4] After sitting abandoned for several decades, preservation groups succeeded in granting the structure historic designation in 2009 ahead of a planned renovation. In 2015, the historic building was restored and incorporated into a wing of the Deal School.

While the National Register of Historic Places listing refers to it as the Jesse Reno School contemporary accounts do not reference Civil War General Jesse L. Reno and no formal documentation has been found for this name. Newspapers instead refer to it as the "Reno School" or "Fort Reno School." The neighborhood was named after the fort, which was named after the general. [3]

History

The building prior to its renovation. Jesse Reno School DC.jpg
The building prior to its renovation.

Reno was a subdivision of property that included a Civil War fort, in what was at the time the rural unincorporated areas of the District of Columbia. As suburbs around DC grew, an African American community developed from a few families and the Rock Creek Baptist Church into a sizable neighborhood, with many school-aged children. The growing population put pressure on the school African American children attended, the Grant Road School, located roughly on the site of the current Murch Elementary School. Representatives of the community appealed to school board officials for a new building, citing an enrollment of 156 with facilities for only 74. [5]

In 1902, the United States Senate passed an appropriation to purchase the building's site, on the report that 83 of 112 anticipated pupils lived in Reno. [6] It was designed by municipal architect Snowden Ashford in 1902. Construction on the building began in the summer of 1903 and was submitted as complete on October 26, 1903. Grading, utility connection, and other work to complete the school was not completed for several months afterward.

The school became a center of the Reno neighborhood for African Americans. In addition to educating the community's children, it hosting meetings of social groups and its citizens' association. It held eight classrooms originally, later converted into four. The building was fully occupied until 1926, when the first purchases of adjacent land for a white-only junior high school, now Alice Deal Middle School, began. [7] By 1950, the African American population in the area had been reduced to the point that the school had only six pupils. The District of Columbia School board ended instruction at the building that year.

D.C. Public Schools would remain segregated until 1954, when the United States Supreme Court ruled separate but equal doctrine unconstitutional in Bolling v. Sharpe , a companion case to Brown v. Board of Education that dealt specifically with the federal, rather than state, jurisdiction of the District of Columbia.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tenleytown</span> Place in the United States

Tenleytown is a historic neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anacostia</span> Neighborhood in Washington, D.C.

Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. It is located east of the Anacostia River, after which the neighborhood is named.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Pleasant (Washington, D.C.)</span> Neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Mount Pleasant is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The neighborhood is primarily residential, with restaurants and stores centered along a commercial corridor on Mt. Pleasant Street. Mount Pleasant is known for its unique identity and multicultural landscape, home to diverse groups such as the punk rock, the Peace Corps and Hispanic Washingtonian communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia Heights (Washington, D.C.)</span> Neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Columbia Heights is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The neighborhood is an important retail hub for the area, as home to DC USA mall and to numerous other restaurants and stores, primarily along the highly commercialized 14th Street. Columbia Heights is home to numerous historical landmarks, including Meridian Hill Park, National Baptist Memorial Church, All Souls Church, along with a number of embassy buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Logan Circle (Washington, D.C.)</span> Neighborhood in Northwest, United States

Logan Circle is a historic roundabout park and neighborhood of Washington, D.C., 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. Today, Logan Circle is also one of D.C.'s most prominent gay neighborhoods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U Street (Washington, D.C.)</span> Historic district in Washington D.C.

The U Street Corridor or Greater U Street, sometimes known as Cardozo/Shaw, is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. Centered along U Street, the neighborhood is one of Washington's most popular nightlife and entertainment districts, as well as one of the most significant African American heritage districts in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brightwood (Washington, D.C.)</span> Place in the United States

Brightwood is a neighborhood in the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C. Brightwood is part of Ward 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Reno Park</span> Park in Washington, D.C., U.S.

Fort Reno Park is an urban park in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Northwest Washington, D.C. It is named after Fort Reno, one of the only locations in the District of Columbia to see combat during the American Civil War. The park was established in the 1920s to clear an African American neighborhood called Reno from the site, in what was becoming an affluent white suburban area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Reno (Washington, D.C.)</span> American Civil War fort in Washington, D.C., U.S.

Fort Reno was a major fortification of the Civil War Defenses of Washington, located in what is now the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The fort sat on the highest natural point in the District of Columbia. Fort Reno played a part in the only Civil War battle to take place in the District of Columbia, at the Battle of Fort Stevens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twelfth Street YMCA Building</span> United States historic place

Twelfth Street YMCA Building, also known as Anthony Bowen YMCA, was home to the first African American chapter of YMCA, founded in 1853 by Anthony Bowen. It is located at 1816 12th Street NW in the U Street Corridor (Cardozo/Shaw) neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The building was reopened on February 20, 2000, as the Thurgood Marshall Center in honor of the first African American Associate Justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court. The Thurgood Marshall Center now serves as a community center for residents of the U Street Corridor and Shaw neighborhoods. The permanent organization of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity was established in the Bowen Room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Philip Sousa Junior High School</span> Historic school building in Washington, D.C., United States

The John Philip Sousa Middle School, formerly the John Philip Sousa Junior High School, is a public school located at 3650 Ely Place in SE area of Washington, D.C. Located in the city's Fort Dupont neighborhood, it serves grades 6–8. Its school building, built in 1950, was the scene of civil rights action not long after its construction. Twelve black students were denied admission to the all-white school. This action was eventually overturned in the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision in Bolling v. Sharpe, which made segregated public schools illegal in the District of Columbia. The defeat of the legal doctrine "separate but equal" marked an early victory in the modern Civil Rights Movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strivers' Section Historic District</span> Historic district in Washington, D.C., United States

The Strivers' Section Historic District is a historic district located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Strivers' Section was historically an enclave of upper-middle-class African Americans, often community leaders, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It takes its name from a turn-of-the-20th-century writer who described the district as "the Striver's section, a community of Negro aristocracy." The name echoes that of Strivers' Row in Harlem, a New York City historic neighborhood of black professionals. The district is roughly bounded by Swann Street and the Dupont Circle Historic District on the south, Florida Avenue and the Washington Heights Historic District on the north and west, and the Sixteenth Street Historic District on the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Sumner School</span> United States historic place

The Charles Sumner School, established in 1872, was one of the earliest schools for African Americans in Washington, D.C. Named for the prominent abolitionist and United States Senator Charles Sumner, the school became the first teachers' college for black citizens in the city and the headquarters of its segregated school system for African American students. It currently houses a small museum, a research room, art exhibits, and the archives of the District of Columbia Public Schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anacostia Historic District</span> Historic district in Washington, D.C., United States

The Anacostia Historic District is a historic district in the city of Washington, D.C., comprising approximately 20 squares and about 550 buildings built between 1854 and 1930. The Anacostia Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. "The architectural character of the Anacostia area is unique in Washington. Nowhere else in the District of Columbia does there exist such a collection of late-19th and early-20th century small-scale frame and brick working-class housing."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grant Road Historic District</span> Historic district in Washington, D.C., United States

The Grant Road Historic District is located in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The two-block historic district is what remains of a former settlement in rural Washington County in the District of Columbia. It includes 13 contributing buildings and the road itself, a narrow remnant of a country road that was used by soldiers in the Civil War. Following the war, the road was named after Civil War general and President Ulysses S. Grant. Grant Road developed into a residential street lined with mostly small, two-story homes for working-class people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowden Ashford</span> American architect

Snowden Ashford (1866–1927) was an American architect who worked in Washington, D.C., his native city. Born on January 1, 1866, Ashford was educated at Rittenhouse Academy and at the Christian Brothers Roman Catholic school. He studied architecture at Lafayette College and, upon graduation, entered the office of Alfred B. Mullett, who had formerly been supervising architect of the United States Treasury. Ashford entered the District service in 1895 and became Washington's first municipal architect. The Washington Post characterized him as "Architect of the Everyday", and noted: "Ashford designed or supervised everything the District built between 1895 and 1921, including the North Hall at the Eastern Market. But he was most proud of his schools."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roosevelt High School (Washington, D.C.)</span> Public high school in Washington D.C., United States

Theodore Roosevelt High School is a public high school operated by the District of Columbia Public Schools in the Petworth neighborhood of Ward 4 neighborhood of Northwest Washington, D.C. Roosevelt enrolls 698 students (2017–2018) in ninth through 12th grade. Additionally, the high school is also home to Roosevelt S.T.A.Y. program, an alternative academic and career/technical program that leads to a high school diploma or vocational certificate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Mercer Langston School</span> United States historic place

John Mercer Langston School is a historic structure located in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The two-story brick building was designed by Appleton P. Clark, Jr. The structure was completed in 1902. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melvin Hazen</span> Leader of Washington, D.C., U.S., 1933-1941

Melvin Colvin Hazen was a Washington, DC politician who served as the 17th president of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, from 1933 to 1941; and the only one to die in office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reno (Washington, D.C.)</span> Former mixed-race neighborhood in Washington, D.C., U.S.

Reno was a town and then neighborhood in Washington, D.C. that existed from the 1860s into the mid-twentieth century on the ground that is now Fort Reno Park in the Tenleytown neighborhood. The town's residents were largely African American, which eventually led to its clearance for Fort Reno Park and Alice Deal Middle School. Its original developers referred to it as Reno City, however this name faded from use before the 1920s.

References

  1. National Register of Historic Places Listings
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  3. 1 2 "School Dedication". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. November 4, 1904.
  4. Richard Pearson (March 31, 1997). "Rose W. Alpher, Educator". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  5. "School Building Wanted". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. February 21, 1898.
  6. "School Building Site". Washington Post. Washington, D.C. February 25, 1902.
  7. Neil Flanagan (November 2, 2017). "The Battle of Fort Reno". Washington City Paper . Retrieved May 9, 2021.