Petworth (Washington, D.C.)


Petworth is a residential neighborhood in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. It is bounded to the east by the Armed Forces Retirement Home and Rock Creek Cemetery, to the west by Arkansas Avenue NW, to the south by Rock Creek Church Road NW and Spring Road NW, and to the north by Kennedy Street NW.
The neighborhood is primarily residential with a mix of terraced houses and single-family homes. It is accessible via the Georgia Ave–Petworth station on the Green Line and Yellow Line of the Washington Metro. Petworth borders to two expanses of historic greenspace, Rock Creek Cemetery and President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home.
Petworth is represented on the Council of the District of Columbia by the Ward 4 council member: since May 2015, Brandon Todd. Muriel Bowser served as Ward 4 councilmember until she became the city's mayor on January 2, 2015.

History

Petworth was the name of the 205-acre country estate of John Tayloe III, likely named for the ancient town in West Sussex, England. The estate was bequeathed to his son Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, located at the northeast corner of 7th Street Pike and Rock Creek Church Road. In 1887, it was sold by Tayloe's heirs to developers for $107,000. In 1889, developers registered “Petworth” with the District surveyor as a 387-acre plat of subdivision containing the former Tayloe estate and the Marshal Brown estate. In 1893, additional real estate deals formed "West Petworth," from land west of Brightwood Avenue, including the Ruppert Farm, which was sold for $142,680, the 20-acre Burnaby tract, and a 14-acre property known as Poor Tom’s Last Shaft. In 1900, Henry J. Ruppert sold an additional 31.7 acres west of Brightwood and Iowa Avenues and south of Utica Street to the District for a proposed municipal hospital.
In the early 1900s, the expansion of a streetcar line along Georgia Avenue to the border of Silver Spring, Maryland, made Petworth more accessible.
Many of the thousands of similar brick row houses in the neighborhood were constructed by Morris Cafritz and by D.J. Dunigan Company in the 1920s–1930s. Dunigan donated the land that became the site for St. Gabriel's Church and School next to Grant Circle.

Demographics

Community events

Since 2006, the Upshur Street Art and Craft Fair has been an annual event in December.
The Petworth Community Market, a farmer's market, is held along 9th Street between Upshur and Taylor Streets weekly on Saturdays from May through October. The market features produce, local vendors, and prepared foods.
The Petworth Jazz Project is a free music series of jazz performances held at Petworth Park at 8th and Taylor Streets from May through September.
Since 2014, the Celebrate Petworth street festival has been held annually during the late spring or early summer on Upshur Street between 8th and 9th Streets. In 2017 it was moved to September. In 2018 it will likely be in the Fall again.
From 1993 to 2011, the DC Caribbean Carnival parade was held annual each June along Georgia Avenue, passing through Petworth en route to Howard University.

Education

Libraries

Petworth Neighborhood Library

The two-and-a-half story Georgian Revival Petworth Neighborhood Library building opened in 1939 at the corner of Georgia Ave. NW, Kansas Ave. NW, and Upshur St. NW. In addition to providing access to DC Public Library general circulation items, the library’s collection includes a Spanish Language collection, job and employment literature, and Adult Basic Education materials. In June 2009, the library underwent a two-part renovation and re-opened on February 28, 2011.

Public schools

It is a part of District of Columbia Public Schools.

Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School

enrolls students in ninth through 12th grade. The high school is also home to Roosevelt S.T.A.Y. program, an alternative academic and career/technical program that will lead to a high school diploma or vocational certificate. The high school, located at 13th and Upshur streets NW, was built in 1932 to accommodate 1,200 students. In 2013–15, it received a $121 million renovation, during which classes were held at the nearby MacFarland Middle School campus on 13th Street NW. The school reopened for the 2015–16 academic year.
During the renovation, The American Panorama, a 1934 New Deal–funded fresco by the Baltimore-born artist Nelson Rosenberg, was uncovered in the school cafeteria in fall 2013. The fresco was restored as part of the renovation.

Truesdell Education Campus

Truesdell Education Campus enrolls 480 students in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Powell Elementary School

Powell enrolls students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The school opened in 1929 as a two-story brick building on Upshur St. NW near 14th St. NW, and was expanded in 1959 with a second structure. As of 2016, the school is undergoing a $42 million modernization and expansion.
On March 4, 2014, President Barack Obama visited the school, where he announced the fiscal year 2015 budget and spoke about Powell's early childhood education program. "We know—and this is part of the reason why we're here today—that education has to start at the earliest possible ages," Obama said. "So this budget expands access to the kind of high-quality preschool and other early learning programs to give all of our children the same kinds of opportunities that those wonderful children that we just saw are getting right here at Powell."

Charter schools

In the 2000s, Petworth has seen more commercial establishments courting its growing urban population. There are many restaurants and bars in the neighborhood though the Upshur Street commercial corridor saw several restaurants close in late 2018.

Public art

Notable people from Petworth include: