2012-01-07

Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail




Mount Pleasant, Washington, D.C.

Mount Pleasant Historic District
Mount Pleasant Street NW, the commercial corridor of the Mount Pleasant neighborhood
Location: Roughly bounded by 16th Street, Harvard Street, Adams Mill Road, and Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C.
NRHP Reference#: 87001726
Added to NRHP: October 5, 1987

Mount Pleasant is a neighborhood in the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The neighborhood is bounded by Rock Creek Park to the north and west; and Harvard Street, NW and the Adams Morgan neighborhood to the south; and Sixteenth Street, NW and the Columbia Heights neighborhood to the east. The neighborhood is home to approximately ten thousand people, which is approximately two percent of the population of the city.

History

In 1727, Charles Calvert, 5th Lord Baltimore (then governor of the Maryland Colony) awarded a land grant for present day Mount Pleasant to James Holmead. This estate also included the present-day Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, and Pleasant Plains neighborhoods. James's son, Anthony, inherited the estate in 1750 and named it Pleasant Plains. After the United States Congress created the District of Columbia in 1791, Pleasant Plains estate became part of Washington County, a section of the District lying between what now is Florida Avenue and the Maryland border. The Holmeads began selling tracts of the Pleasant Plains estate until they had sold everything. Today, the family name is preserved in Holmead Place, a short street located west of Thirteenth Street between Spring and Park Roads NW, in what now is Columbia Heights. During 1794 and 1796 , Georgetown's pioneer businessman, conducted title descriptions and maps were created for tracts of some of his land in Mount Pleasant for transactions with commissioners of the city.

During the Civil War, New England native Samuel P. Brown purchased 73 acres (300,000 m) of land between Fourteenth and Seventeenth Streets, NW. Brown built a house and allowed a wartime hospital to be constructed on his land. After the War, he began selling his land in parcels. He named the area, Mount Pleasant Village, because it contained the land having the highest elevation of the original Pleasant Plains estate. Brown sold all his land except for the parcel he retained around his house at 3351 Mount Pleasant Street, NW. His house was demolished in the 1890s.

Population

Education

Heritage Trail

A series of "Heritage Trail" historical markers have been installed in Mt. Pleasant. The markers, which may be followed as a walking tour, consist of 17 poster-sized street signs featuring narrative, photographs and maps.

Markers

The markers are captioned as follows, at these locations:

  1. Fashionable 16th Street - 16th and Mt. Pleasant Streets N.W.
  2. Upheaval and Activism - 16th Street between Irving and Lamont Streets N.W.
  3. Mount Pleasant Library - 16th and Lamont Streets N.W.
  4. Sacred Heart Academy - 16th Street and Park Road N.W.
  5. Avenue of Churches - 16th and Newton Streets N.W.
  6. Village Life - 17th Street and Oakwood Terrace N.W.
  7. Twenty-seven Little Flags - Newton and 18th Streets N.W.
  8. The Oldest House - Newton Street between 18th and 19th streets N.W.
  9. Czech Row - Park and Klingle Roads N.W.
  10. Voices at Vespers - Rosemount Avenue and Klingle Road N.W.
  11. Defying the Restrictive Covenants - Park Road between 18th and 19th streets N.W.
  12. Changing Fashions - 18th Street and Park Road N.W.
  13. War and Peace - Triangle Park Park Road and Mt. Pleasant street N.W.
  14. Main Street - North end of Lamont Park N.W.
  15. Streetcar Suburb - Lamont and Mt. Pleasant Streets N.W.
  16. The First Bodega - Mt. Pleasant Street at Kilbourne Place N.W.
  17. The Urban Village - Mt. Pleasant and Kenyon Streets N.W.

References

External links



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