The Outer Limit FLORIDA AVENUE and 14TH STREET NW
Until 1 89 0 , to day’s Flo r id a Avenue was called “Boundary Street.” That’s because Washing-ton City planner Peter Charles L’Enfant ended his city here at the foot of this daunting hill. The rest of DC north of Boundary Street and across the Anacostia River was called “Washington County” until 1 87 1 , when it merged with Washington City to become Washington, District of Columbia. This segment of the trail follows the old city boundary. The two buildings with glass-block windows, at 1326 –46 Florida Avenue, once belonged to Manhattan Laundry. The red-brick building originally opened in 1 877 to house the streetcars and horses of the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company. Joe Turner’s (later Capitol) Arena once stood near the corner of 1 4th and W Streets. For 3 0 years Turner’s presented boxing, wrestling, big bands, and dances. In the mid- 1950 s it hosted Jimmy Dean’s Town and Country Jamboree TV show. In 1 966 the New School for Afro-American Thought opened at 220 8 1 4th Street. Founded in the Black Power era by poet Gaston Neal and 11 others, the school was a national leader in Afro- centric education. Back in the 1 94 0 s, Club Madre occupied 220 4 1 4th Street. Owner Odessa Madre, known as the Al Capone of Washington for her involvement in bootlegging, prostitution, and numbers running, operated a legitimate nightclub there. Since 1 944 the Florida Avenue Grill has stood at the corner of 11 th Street, dishing up North Carolina-style home cooking to cabbies, notables including Dr. Martin Luther King, and all comers.
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