| KENILWORTH HISTORY AND STORIES |
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Kenilworth is a neighborhood
in the far northeast section of Washington, DC. Located east of the
Anacostia River, it started as a white suburb in the late 1800's but is
now a largely African-American community dominated by Kenilworth
Courts, a sixties-era, orange-brick, "garden apartment" government
housing complex.
Within the neighborhood, the
Douglas Street area is an exception to both the former
characteristics. Formed in the early 1900's as a safe space for blacks
to build single-family homes, it today retains the essence of its
residential, front-porches-and-gardens community.
I was born in Kenilworth, into the family of a white, Mennonite pastor who moved to the area in the 1960s and started a church. In 2003 I returned to my childhood street. For the next three years I lived in Kenilworth, researching the history of the neighborhood, writing stories about my family, and occasionally taking on the mantle of 'community activist.' My years there resulted in my publishing a 32-page booklet of Kenilworth neighborhood history and completing an extensive oral history project that is now archived in the DC public library system. You can learn more about both these projects below, as well as find other stories from Kenilworth's past. Please contact me if you have questions, feedback, or a story of your own to share! |