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| About Glover Park |
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| A Glover Park History |
by Ariadne Henry
with the assistance of Jean Snowden
Glover Park is a family-friendly neighborhood located in the District of Columbia high on a hill above the Potomac River, just north of Georgetown. It includes both sides of Wisconsin Avenue from Whitehaven Parkway to Calvert Street and then extends northward on the west side of Wisconsin to Fulton Street. Its western boundary is 42nd street along the edge of Glover-Archibald Park. Glover Park is a neighborhood of row houses, apartment buildings and a busy commercial strip of Wisconsin Avenue. Residents appreciate the convenience and hometown atmosphere of the neighborhood and its beautiful natural setting.
Glover Park was developed for the most part in the mid- to late-1920s, although several houses were already standing before that time. Records which date to the 1800s show that the land on which Glover Park is built was owned primarily by Henry Kengla, Charles Homiller and Joseph Weaver. These three were known in their day as Master Butchers, and were very influential men. The Kengla family now operates the Kengla Flag Store at 4708 Wisconsin Avenue and the Weaver family run the hardware store, W.T. Weaver & Sons, at 1208 Wisconsin Avenue. The “Weaver House” stood on the east side of Wisconsin until the late 1970s when it was razed to build the Georgetown Holiday Inn (which is really in Glover Park).
Back in the Master Butchers’ days, Schneider’s Slaughter House stood between what is now Calvert Street and Tunlaw Road. Cattle and sheep would be driven up from Drovers Rest Stockyard, on MacArthur Boulevard across from the Reservoir where the firehouse now stands, through what is now Wesley Heights, along Cathedral Avenue to the slaughterhouse. At that time, Wisconsin Avenue was just a muddy road and Georgetown was a thriving port.
Before the site on which the Russian diplomatic and residential compound stands had ever been developed, the area was known at Sailor’s Hill. There was a very tall oak tree, known as Sailor’s Oak, which could be seen from miles away. As ships were sailing up the Potomac River, the captains would set their course by this oak tree and come safely into port.
During the Civil War, a brigade of Scots, known as the Highlanders, confiscated Sailor’s Hill which was then owned by the Master Butchers. The Scots chopped down many large oak trees to build barracks for an encampment which they names Camp Lochiel. When the camp was vacated shortly before the first battle of Bull Run, the Signal Camp of Instruction moved in and used the facilities through the end of the war. Some time later, Mt. Alto Veterans Hospital was established on the site and remained in operation until 1965. A cupola which sat atop the hospital is now located on the property at the corner of Van Ness Street and Nebraska Avenue.
With the residential development boom of the 1920s, Glover Park evolved into a modest community with few amenities at first. There was no school until 1932, no traffic light at the intersection of what is now Wisconsin Avenue, 37th and Calvert streets until 1955, and until the mid-1930s, little but undeveloped woodland north of Calvert. Calvert street was originally called Schneider’s Lane and ran only from the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and 37th street across what is now the bank parking lot to Tunlaw Road. Tunlaw Road (walnut spelled backwards) was named for the trees which grew on Tunlaw Farm, part of which is now Wesley Heights. The east side of Calvert, where St. Luke’s Church is now, was the site of a trolley car barn.
Before Stoddert Elementary School was built and named after Benjamin Stoddert, the first Secretary of the Navy, the residents of Glover Park petitioned the city to add extra trolley cars to the Wisconsin Avenue route because the trolleys were so crowded by the time they reached Glover Park, there was no room for the children who needed to get to school.
The Guy Mason Adult Recreation Center, previously named the Home Industrial School, started out as a vocational school for poor and orphaned children, and then became a home for truant children.
Our Glover Park community has always been innovative and has fought for many worthy causes. During the November 1939 meeting of the Glover Park Citizens’ Association, for example, members discussed a proposal to endorse the Randolph Bill, which sought a one cent increase per gallon on all motor fuel to replace the District income tax. In 1942, the GPCA established the first Victory Gardens in the city at 42nd Street and Tunlaw Road. Today two victory garden sites remain in Glover Park, the original and one at W Street and 42nd.
Neighborhood lore includes stories about President Teddy Roosevelt fox hunting in the woodlands that became Glover Park and about President Truman regularly playing poker with friends in the area. His Secret Service agents came into Pearson’s Liquor Store every week to get him a bottle of Jack Daniels. President Kennedy’s cook got his French bread from Sam’s Argentine Bakery and Delicatessen which was located at 2348 Wisconsin. Lady Bird Johnson was a regular customer of Sam’s as well.
Glover Park’s commercial district has evolved significantly over time while still keeping the flavor of a small town center. Glover Park even had its own movie theater. By 1936, the Calvert Motion Picture Theater had opened. The theater closed down in the early 1970s but the marquee remained in place until 1982, above the Calvert Liquor Shop. But both the marquee and the liquor store were torn down when the Sheffield Apartments were built. Now residents and visitors can dine at a wide variety of restaurants and then enjoy homemade ice cream from Max’s while watching baseball under the lights at Guy Mason field.
For more Glover Park history and lore, visit www.gloverpark.org. |
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