Then

Mentions of Petworth in the Evening Star, October 31 – November 6, 1926. Searched for Petworth, "Grant Circle", "Sherman Circle".

Clips are machine-read text (OCR) from scanned Evening Star pages on the Library of Congress's Chronicling America, lightly cleaned (line-break hyphens rejoined, stray symbols removed); misspellings are the scanner's. Newspapers this old are public domain. Each clip links to its page at loc.gov. Clips that mention race, covenants, deed restrictions or slurs are skipped automatically (keyword list: race, races, racial, colored, coloured, negro, negroes, white only, whites only, for whites, white people, white persons, white residents, caucasian, segregation, segregated, covenant, covenants, restricted, restriction, restrictions, plus a list of slurs), because they need an editor's context; legal notices and lists of private individuals are skipped too.

Allison Street NW1905

Namesake not documented in sources consulted. Wikipedia, citing a Washington Post 'New Street Names' article of August 2, 1905, says Petworth's Utica Street became Allison Street. Allison opens the three-syllable third alphabet that follows Webster.

Earlier: Utica StreetSource: Petworth (Washington, D.C.) - Wikipedia (cites Washington Post, Aug. 2, 1905)

Buchanan Street NWearly 1900s renaming

Namesake not documented in sources consulted. Ghosts of DC says Petworth's Buchanan Street was earlier mapped as Vallejo Street before the early-1900s renaming; a Crestwood list quoted by DCist pairs Buchanan with Zanesville instead, likely reflecting a different subdivision's old names.

Earlier: Vallejo StreetSource: Petworth: From Rural to Hipsters (Ghosts of DC)

Decatur Street NWearly 1900s renaming

No source consulted names the person honored. In Petworth this street was earlier mapped as Xenia Street, per turn-of-century fire insurance maps; it took its current name in the citywide renaming that fitted subdivisions to the alphabetical system.

Earlier: Xenia StreetSources: Petworth: From Rural to Hipsters (Ghosts of DC) · Who Wouldn't Want to Live on Xenia St.? (DCist, 2012)

Georgia Avenue NW1908 (appropriations bill; Ghosts of DC calls it the 1909 bill)

Honors: State of Georgia

Built as the Seventh Street road and later called Brightwood Avenue. Georgia Senator Augustus Bacon, unhappy with the run-down street then called Georgia Avenue in Southeast, pushed to move his state's name here. After failed tries in 1906 and 1907, an appropriations bill swapped them; old Georgia Avenue became Potomac.

Earlier: Seventh Street Pike / 7th Street Extended, Brightwood AvenueSources: Georgia Avenue: The Politics Behind the Name Change (Ghosts of DC) · Georgia Avenue - Wikipedia (cites Washington Post May 22, 1908, and Evening Star 1906-1908)

Grant Circle NW1889

Honors: Ulysses S. Grant, Union general and U.S. president

The circle at New Hampshire and Illinois Avenues honors Ulysses S. Grant. Wikipedia, citing 1889 Evening Star and Washington Post reports, says it first appeared on the Petworth plan as Sheridan Circle and was renamed in 1889. With Sherman Circle it echoes the scale of L'Enfant's circles.

Earlier: Sheridan CircleSources: Grant Circle - Cultural Landscape Inventory (Urban Heritage Project, Penn) · Grant Circle - Wikipedia (cites Evening Star, Jan. 21, 1889, and Washington Post, Jan. 31, 1889) · Grant Circle Historic District (DC Historic Sites, DC Preservation League)

Illinois Avenue NWby 1895

Honors: State of Illinois

Runs from Rock Creek Church Road through both Grant and Sherman Circles toward Georgia Avenue. Like other diagonal avenues under DC's Highway Plan naming scheme, it carries a state name. An 1895 newspaper piece already treated it as laid out in Petworth.

Sources: Highway Plan: Street Names of Washington, DC (DC Office of Planning) · List of state-named roadways in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia · Petworth: From Rural to Hipsters (Ghosts of DC)

Kansas Avenue NW

Honors: State of Kansas

A diagonal avenue cutting through Petworth and Sherman Circle. DC's Highway Plan naming system gave broad diagonal avenues the names of states and territories, and Kansas Avenue appears on DC's roster of state-named roadways.

Sources: Highway Plan: Street Names of Washington, DC (DC Office of Planning) · List of state-named roadways in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia

New Hampshire Avenue NWnorthern extension authorized 1908; route revised 1912-1913

Honors: State of New Hampshire

One of DC's state-named diagonal avenues. Its northern leg through Petworth came from a 1907-08 push to extend it toward Maryland, with a bill co-sponsored by New Hampshire Senator Jacob Gallinger; a deflected route to the state line was approved around 1912-13.

Sources: New Hampshire Avenue - Wikipedia (cites Washington Post articles 1907-1913) · Highway Plan: Street Names of Washington, DC (DC Office of Planning)

Petworth1803 (estate); 1889 (subdivision plat)

Honors: Petworth, a town in West Sussex, England

Colonel John Tayloe bought roughly 200 acres north of Rock Creek Church Road in 1803 and called his estate Petworth after the English town. Developers bought it from Tayloe heirs in 1887, merged it with the Marshall Brown estate, and filed a 387-acre subdivision plat in 1889.

Sources: Behind the Name: Petworth (DCist, 2011) · The Estate That Gave Petworth Its Name (Ghosts of DC) · Petworth (Washington, D.C.) - Wikipedia

Sherman Circle NWby 1889 (on the Petworth plat)

Honors: William Tecumseh Sherman, Union Civil War general

This circle where Illinois and Kansas Avenues meet 7th and Crittenden Streets honors General William Tecumseh Sherman. It appears on the original 1889 Petworth plat, though the circle and its four small triangle parks were not formally created until 1923.

Source: Sherman Circle - Wikipedia (cites NPS Cultural Landscapes 'Sherman Circle' entry)

Varnum Street NWearly 1900s renaming

Namesake not documented in sources consulted. Ghosts of DC, using early Sanborn maps, says Petworth's Varnum Street was formerly Savannah Street; an 1895 newspaper sketch of Petworth already mentions Savannah Street as laid out.

Earlier: Savannah StreetSource: Petworth: From Rural to Hipsters (Ghosts of DC)

Still looking for a reliable source on Crittenden Street NW, Emerson Street NW, Farragut Street NW, Gallatin Street NW, Hamilton Street NW, Ingraham Street NW, Jefferson Street NW, Kennedy Street NW, Longfellow Street NW, Madison Street NW, Nicholson Street NW, Oglethorpe Street NW, Quincy Street NW, Rock Creek Church Road NW, Shepherd Street NW, Taylor Street NW, Upshur Street NW, Webster Street NW. We don't publish a name's story until we can cite one. Know it? Tell us.

• Lewis Maiden interview, 2021-06-30Lewis Maiden · 2021 · audio · remembers the 1960s, 1970s, 2020s

  Maiden describes Petworth when his family arrived around 1960, when many neighbors and schoolmates were Italian. He recalls local businesses since he returned in 1971, including a former drugstore at Georgia and New Hampshire avenues that briefly became a boxing club and youth center, plus play at Lincoln's Cottage and Rock Creek.

  At The People's Archive, DC Public Library (Mapping Segregation in Washington D.C. Oral History Project) · Italian American neighbors, local businesses, youth and recreation, Georgia Avenue
• Marietta Crichlow and Linda Crichlow White interview, 2014-10-02Marietta Crichlow and Linda Crichlow White · 2014 · audio · remembers the 1950s, 1960s

  Marietta Crichlow recalls moving to Petworth in 1950 with her husband and daughter Linda, what the neighborhood was like before most white families left, and her later years in a monthly Block Club. Recorded for a project on Ward 4 school and neighborhood desegregation.

  At The People's Archive, DC Public Library (Mapping Segregation in Washington D.C. Oral History Project) · racial change, block clubs, housing
• Brinnie and Angie Whitehurst interview part 1, 2019-12-17Brinnie and Angie Whitehurst · 2019 · audio · remembers the 1950s, 1960s

  Mother and daughter recall the family's small house on Peabody Street backing onto Fort Slocum, their neighbors, Angie's schools, and a relative who lost her Petworth home to eminent domain. The archive tags it Petworth and Manor Park.

  At The People's Archive, DC Public Library (Mapping Segregation in Washington D.C. Oral History Project) · eminent domain, housing, schools, Fort Slocum
• Brinnie and Angie Whitehurst interview part 2, 2019-12-17Brinnie and Angie Whitehurst · 2019 · audio · remembers the 1960s

  Angie describes being one of few Black students at Wilson High School in the late 1960s and finding cannonballs in the woods behind their Peabody Street house. Brinnie discusses the struggle to find a new home after displacement. Tagged Petworth by the archive.

  At The People's Archive, DC Public Library (Mapping Segregation in Washington D.C. Oral History Project) · school desegregation, housing, childhood
• Memories of Community Change at "Celebrate Petworth"2019 · article · remembers the 1940s, 2010s

  Humanities Truck blog post on recording short oral histories with residents at the 2019 Celebrate Petworth festival at 8th and Upshur, covering memories and changes seen over time, plus a home interview on Varnum Street with a woman who moved to Petworth in the 1940s.

  At Humanities Truck (American University) · neighborhood change, festivals, community memory
• Celebrate Petworth Festival 20192019

  Archive collection of interviews and images gathered by the Humanities Truck at the 2019 Celebrate Petworth neighborhood festival.

  At Humanities Truck Community Archive, American University Archives · festivals, community memory
• Celebrate Petworth Festival 20212021

  Interviews and images from the September 25, 2021 Celebrate Petworth festival, plus interviews with Petworth residents collected before the event.

  At Humanities Truck Community Archive, American University Archives · festivals, community memory
• Celebrate Petworth Festival 20222022

  Archive collection of interviews and images from the 2022 Celebrate Petworth neighborhood festival.

  At Humanities Truck Community Archive, American University Archives · festivals, community memory
• Petworth Library 2019 - It's a Small World After All2019

  Records of a 2019 program at the Petworth library branch on DC history, public art and storytelling, where the Humanities Truck team also gathered oral histories from Petworth residents about how the neighborhood has changed.

  At Humanities Truck Community Archive, American University Archives · Georgia Avenue, public art, diaspora communities, neighborhood change
• Found at the library: One woman's remembrance of growing up in 1920s PetworthMargaret MacGill · 1995 · article · remembers the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s

  Petworth News post on a 1995 written memoir held by DC Public Library covering 1919-1950: her family home on Taylor Street, Petworth and Roosevelt schools, Upshur Street shops, the York Theater, streetcars, and the 1922 Knickerbocker snowstorm.

  At Petworth News (memoir held at DC Public Library) · childhood, Upshur Street businesses, schools, streetcars

Search the archives yourself: The People's Archive, DC Public Library · Historic Chevy Chase DC Oral History Archive · Humanities Truck Community Archive, American University · Tenleytown Historical Society · Boundary Stones (WETA). Summaries are ours; the recordings and their rights stay with each archive.

• DC Historic Preservation Office, Historic Data on DC Buildings (HistoryQuest), CC BY 4.0
• Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Chronicling America, Library of Congress; public domain

History data refreshed Oct 31.