Douglass (Washington, D.C.)

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Douglass is a residential neighborhood in Washington DC. It is considered part of the larger Congress Heights area of Southeast DC.

This specific area was called "Stantontown" before being redevolped twice. It was first redeveloped in the 1940's as public housing and in the 2000's as mixed income housing. Before any redevelopments occurred, this tract of land used to belong to freed slave Tobias Henson, whom purchased his freedom in 1813. Tobias then purchased the land now known as "Douglass" but at the time known as "The Ridge", which also included the area on the other side of Alabama Avenue where a Giant now stands. This purchase was meant for his family as Henson bought his wife and daughter's freedom; but as time went on, the land became partitioned as Henson helped buy the freedom of other slaves. Homes were then built for the then newly freed slaves in this land. Due to a federal ambition to rebuild DC housing, this area, and the homes of those who descended from slaves were condemned in the 1940's to build public housing, which replaced the alley homes that were a staple of DC during the segregation period. At this point, the property belonged to DC and subsequently, the DCHA. It is said that while DC condemned the homes that were built in Stantontown, the descendants of Tobias Henson still owned the remaining area until the 1980's. It is also said his descendants still live in Congress Heights.

After redevelopment, Douglass was home to two public housing complexes. The Frederick Douglass Dwellings, which were named in honor of Frederick Douglass whom lived in nearby Anacostia (now considered "Historic Anacostia") and the Stanton Dwellings, which got its name from the road that passes through the area.

The public housing units fell into disrepair as part of a larger problem with public housing. Crime became rampant, DCHA failed as a landlord to properly maintain the buildings and as such became uninhabitable, and the area became synonymous with substandard living conditions. DCHA then condemned the then mostly empty Douglass dwellings and the Stanton Dwellings. The area was redeveloped in 2000 as a Hope VI project and the public housing units were torn down.

Today, this area is the home to Henson Ridge, a mixed income housing development dominated by townhouses. It is partly owned by DCHA, which has scattered houses throughout the complex and it is also privately owned via townhouse sales. There are also affordable housing rentals in this area. The current complex gets its name from Tobias Henson, whom owned the property before the DCHA. There is a residential road that connects to Stanton Rd. SE named Tobias Drive. The complex name is derived from Tobias' last name (Henson) and the original 1800's name of this land parcel (The Ridge).

Further reading if interested here:

siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!285981!0
xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/ANACOSTIA/fed.html
wdchumanities.org/docs/2010DCCHP/CongressHeights002.pdf