Everyday Life in D.C. #4 (Part 3 of 3)

More about the 12th Street Y.M.C.A.

Susan teaches adult literacy at the Washington Literacy Center, which is housed in the 12th Street Y.M.C.A.

The building, located in the historically African-American neighborhood of Shaw, was completed in 1912, after John D. Rockefeller, Sr. pledged matching funds for the building's construction.  The building was the new home to Shaw's Y.M.C.A., which was started in 1853 and was the first African-American Y.M.C.A. branch in the United States.  

Architect William Sidney Pittman, one of the first African-American architects and the son-in-law of Booker T. Washington, designed the building in the Renaissance Revival style.  

Facade of the 12th Street Y.M.C.A., with a Tuscan style portico

During the first half of the 1900's, the Shaw neighborhood around the 12th Street Y.M.C.A. was a thriving middle- and upper-class African-American community and cultural mecca.  The Y..M.C.A. likewise thrived during that time and was home to notable persons, such as famed poet Langston Hughes, who lived there while working around the corner as a busboy in the Wardman Park Hotel.  

When Shaw residents relocated to other city neighborhoods and to the suburbs following WWII, the Shaw neighborhood slowly declined and then was devastated during the April 1968 riots following the assassination of the the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.  Many stores and homes were boarded up and abandoned after being burned and looted.  The Y.M.C.A. survived the fires and looting and reopened after the riots.  It continued to operate despite the unfortunate condition of the neighborhood, which became known as a drug haven around 14th and T Streets. 

The 12th Street Y..M. C.A. in the 1970's 

The Y.M.C.A. closed in 1982 and the building was shuttered.  Fortunately, the building was designated a national historic place in 1983 and a national historic landmark in 1994 and was restored.  In 2000, the building reopened as a community center, the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage.  Future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall had previously met with his colleagues at the Y.M.C.A. while developing the legal strategy for overturning the precedent of "separate but equal" education.  

Today, the once devastated Shaw neighborhood has been gentrified.  The main thoroughfare is U Street and it is lined with bars, restaurants and new condominium buildings filled with Millennials.  Still, the neighborhood's history is evident and is celebrated.  For example, the 12th Street Y.M.C.A. is featured on the Greater U Street Heritage Trail.  You can read more below.

Thanks for visiting the 12th Street Y.M.C.A. with us.  

P.S.  A fun fact:  John Thompson, Jr., coach of the 1984 NCAA National Champion men's basketball team, once played youth basketball at the 12th Street Y.M.C.A.  Go Hoyas!