Kenilworth (Washington, D.C.)
Kenilworth | |
---|---|
Neighborhood of Washington, D.C. | |
Country | United States |
District | Washington, D.C. |
Ward | Ward 7 |
Government | |
• Councilmember | Vincent C. Gray |
Kenilworth is a residential neighborhood in
The boundaries of Kenilworth are not always agreed upon. A broad interpretation of neighborhood area has Kenilworth bounded by Eastern Avenue to the north, Nash Street to the south, Anacostia Avenue to the west, and the tracks of the Washington Metro to the east. A stricter interpretation of neighborhood boundaries, based on present-day resident understanding, would be the DC-MD line to the north, Piney Branch or Nash Run creek to the south (on the other side of which is the Eastland Gardens neighborhood), Anacostia Avenue to the west, and Kenilworth Avenue to the east.
To meet the needs of the expanding population of Washington, D.C., in 1942 the Kenilworth Dump was created on the riverside south of the Kenilworth neighborhood, where piles of garbage were burned in the open space.[2][3] The community complained about the pollution from open burning, and Lady Bird Johnson became involved in the campaign to close the dump.[3] In February 1968 a boy was accidentally burned to death at the site. Shortly afterwards the city banned the open fires and the Dump became a sanitary landfill instead. In the early 1970s, the Dump closed and the land was converted to a park.[2]
Kenilworth gained national attention in 1988 when its government-built housing development, Kenilworth Courts (along with a small sister development called Parkside, located about a mile southwest of Kenilworth), became the first
About 40% of Kenilworth-Parkside residents lived below the poverty level in 2016. The DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative works with local schools and provides supportive services to families. Almost half of the neighborhood's 2,000 children in attend schools in other parts of the city.[4]
The Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, a city-chartered corporation charged with developing the area along the Anacostia River, has plans to revitalize the Kenilworth's sister neighborhood of Parkside as a mixed-income, mixed-use neighborhood, including 2,000 new residential units and 500,000 square feet (50,000 m2) of commercial space.
The neighborhood was cut off from the rest of the city when the
References
- ^ "Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens". National Park Service. Retrieved 2014-11-20.
- ^ OCLC 164566167.
- ^ a b Seldman, Neil (2017-08-02). "Brief History of Solid Waste Management and Recycling in Washington, DC". Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
- ^ a b Lei, Serena (September 6, 2016). "Bringing Change to a Forgotten Community". Urban Institute. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
- ^ Anacostia Waterfront Corporation
External links
- "Washington D.C. Turning Public Housing Over to Resident Owners"—1988 TIME article on Kenilworth-Parkside housing project
- Kenilworth/Parkside—Information about AWC plans for the neighborhood