Washington Park is a
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
located in central
Roanoke,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, that initially developed in the 1920s as an early Roanoke
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
. It borders the neighborhoods of
Roundhill on the north and
Williamson Road
Williamson Road is an approximately 8.0 mi (12.9 km) long road in Roanoke City and Roanoke County, Virginia. The road runs from downtown Roanoke in the south through the Botetourt County line in the north. For the majority of its length William ...
on the north and east,
Gainsboro and
Harrison
Harrison may refer to:
People
* Harrison (name)
* Harrison family of Virginia, United States
Places
In Australia:
* Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin
In Canada:
* Inukjuak, Quebec, or " ...
on the south, and
Melrose-Rugby on the west.
Its northern and eastern boundary is concurrent with
Interstate 581
Interstate 581 (I-581) is a spur off I-81 into Roanoke, Virginia, completely overlapping US Route 220 (US 220). It is planned to be connected to I-73. Future I-73 Corridor signs are marked on I-581 on the southbound side just ...
, and its southern boundary is concurrent with
U.S. Route 460
U.S. Route 460 (US 460) is a spur route of U.S. Route 60. It currently runs for 655 miles (1,054 km) from Norfolk, Virginia, at its parent route U.S. Route 60 at Ocean View to Frankfort, Kentucky, intersecting its parent route once ...
(Orange Avenue). As of the 2000 census, Harrison had a population of 1,254 residents, with 531 households.
History
Taking its name from the park that lies at the corner of Orange Avenue and Burrell Street, Washington Park developed between 1920 and 1960.
The area where the park is now located was a
landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
in the 1950s, but was subsequently capped, with the park being established by the early 1960s.
The area is also the location of the Lincoln Terrace
public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...
project, dating from 1952, which has since been refurbished and renamed the Villages at Lincoln.
The Roanoke city landfill was placed in the middle of this black neighborhood. The trash dump became a scene of confrontation between the white city government and the black residents. "At one point in 1963, the Rev. R. R. Wilkinson, then president of the city's
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
, talked of organizing a 'baby carriage brigade' of young mothers with carriages to block the entrance to the dump and prevent trash trucks from entering." To avoid confrontation, the city closed the landfill.
"Washington Park."
''The Roanoke Times''. February 17, 2017. Page 8, "Opinion".
References
External links
Harrison & Washington Park Neighborhood Plan
Washington Park Alliance for Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods in Roanoke, Virginia
{{RoanokeCityVA-geo-stub