Adams Morgan

Adams Morgan is a neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C., centered at the intersection of 18th Street NW and Columbia Road, about 1.5 miles (2.54 km) north of the White House. Notable establishments in the neighborhood include the Washington Hilton and Madam's Organ Blues Bar. Notable residential buildings include Euclid Apartments, Fuller House, Park Tower, Meridian Mansions, and the Pink Palace. Embassies in the neighborhood include the Embassy of Lithuania, the Embassy of Poland, the Embassy of the Central African Republic, the Embassy of Gabon and the Embassy of Cuba. Notable public artwork in Adams Morgan includes '' Carry the Rainbow on Your Shoulders'', '' The Servant Christ'', and ''The Mama Ayesha's Restaurant Presidential Mural''.

Adams Morgan is a thriving spot for nightlife and live music, particularly along 18th Street NW. Approximately 100 establishments possess liquor licenses. A moratorium on new liquor licenses has been in effect since 2000.

It has been referred to as D.C.'s last funky neighborhood, although some say it is past its prime. It has also been referred to as "quirky".

It is composed of rowhouses and classically-styled mid-rise apartment buildings, including many cooperatives and condominiums, along with various commercial structures.

The name Adams Morgan, once hyphenated, is derived from the names of two formerly segregated area elementary schools—the older, all-black Thomas P. Morgan Elementary School (now defunct) and the all-white John Quincy Adams Elementary School, which merged in 1955 following racial desegregation.

Adams Morgan is bounded:
*to the south by Florida Avenue NW and the Dupont Circle neighborhood
*to the southwest by the Duke Ellington Bridge and by Connecticut Avenue NW and Kalorama-Sheridan
*to the north by Harvard St. and Mount Pleasant
* to the east by 16th Street NW and Columbia Heights

Reed-Cooke is a sub-neighborhood of Adams Morgan, consisting of the easternmost area between Columbia Road and Florida avenue.

History

Before the colony of Maryland was established in 1632, what is now Washington, D.C. was home to the Nacotchtank Native American tribal group, a branch of the Piscataway people.

When the District of Columbia was created in 1791, Robert Peter and Anthony Holmead, two prominent colonial-era landowners, held the land comprising Adams Morgan. At that time, these local tracts were north of the original planned City of Washington, and were either undeveloped or only lightly farmed. As the population of D.C. expanded, this land was divided into several estates purchased by wealthy residents, including Meridian Hill, Cliffbourne, Holt House, Oak Lawn, Henderson Castle, a part of Kalorama, and the horse farm of William Thornton.

After the American Civil War, these estates were subdivided and the area slowly grew. Once the city's overall-layout plans were finalized in the 1890s, these various subdivisions, using modern construction techniques, developed more rapidly, and the area of Adams Morgan then grew into several attractive and largely upper- and middle-class neighborhoods.

In the early 20th century, the area was home to a range of people, from the very wealthy living along 16th Street, to white-collar professionals in Lanier Heights, to blue-collar residents east of 18th Street NW.

After World War II and '' Plessy v. Ferguson'', racial desegregation began. When D.C. was formally desegregated, some whites abruptly left the area, other whites stayed and worked to integrate the neighborhood, and some African Americans and Hispanics moved into the area. With cheaper housing, the area also became home to some artists and social activists.

In 1948, Charles Lazarus founded Toys "R" Us in Adams Morgan.

In the early 1950s, before desegregation, the neighborhood was considered "ritzy".

Pursuant to the 1954 '' Bolling v. Sharpe'' Supreme Court ruling, district schools were desegregated in 1955. The Adams-Morgan Community Council, comprising both Adams and Morgan schools and the neighborhoods they served, formed in 1958 to implement progressively this desegregation. The boundaries of the neighborhood were drawn through four existing neighborhoods— Washington Heights, Lanier Heights, Kalorama Triangle, and Meridian Hill—naming the resulting area after both schools.

In 1955, Herbert Haft founded Dart Drug in Adams Morgan.

In the late 1960s, a group of residents worked with city officials to plan and construct the Marie H. Reed Recreation Center, an elementary school and recreational complex. The development was named after the minister and civic leader. It features a daycare center, tennis and basketball courts, a solar-heated swimming pool, health clinic, athletic field, and outdoor chess tables.

After the 1968 Washington, D.C., riots, white flight continued.

In the 1960s, the neighborhood's attractions included the Avignon Freres bakery and restaurant, which furnished the White House with cakes and pastries, it was destroyed by the 1968 Washington, D.C., riots and although it reopened in 1976, it was never the same, the Café Don restaurant, the Ontario motion picture theater, and the Showboat Lounge jazz nightclub. In 1967, the Ambassador Theater opened; it closed in 1969.

In the 1980s, Hazel Williams operated Hazel's, which featured live blues and jazz, and its soul food offerings made it a favorite of Dizzy Gillespie and Muhammad Ali when they were in Washington, D.C.

The January 20, 2005 counter-inaugural protest included a march through Adams Morgan.

From 2010 to 2012, the city reconstructed 18th Street NW, one of the neighborhood's main commercial corridors, with wider sidewalks, more crosswalks and bicycle arrows, resulting in a more pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare.

In September 2014, the American Planning Association named Adams Morgan one of the nation's "great neighborhoods", citing its intact Victorian rowhouses, murals, international diversity, and pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly streetscape.

In 2021, many local businesses attempted to disband the local business improvement district. However, they were unsuccessful.

Demographics

Along with neighboring Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan long has been a gateway community for immigrants. Since the 1960s, the predominant international presence in both communities has been Latino, with the majority of immigrants coming from El Salvador