Avenue of Churches 16th and newton streets nw
The relocation of Canaan Baptist Church here from Georgia Avenue in 1963 was the fulfillment of Rev. M. Cecil Mills’s dream to preside over the first African American church on this grand avenue of churches. The congregation celebrated the new church for an entire month. Canaan Baptist replaced Gunton-Temple Memorial Presbyterian Church, whose white congregation had moved to Bethesda, Maryland. Like many white Washingtonians in the period following World War II, they left because of school desegregation and also because the suburbs offered newer housing. Across 16th Street is St. Stephen and the Incarna- tion, known as the first racially integrated Episco- pal church in the city. During the controversial tenure of Father William Wendt (1960–1978), St. Stephen’s also became known for its political activism. Father Wendt came under fire in 1967 for inviting civil rights activist H. Rap Brown to speak in the church. In 1974 he was censured by Episcopal Church leaders for permitting a woman to celebrate the Eucharist before the practice was accepted. During the riots following Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968, St. Stephen’s distributed emergency food and supplies. The Northbrook Apartments across Newton Street were built in 1916 by prolific developer Harry Wardman, known for his blocks of substantial rowhouses and grand apartment buildings. As you walk to Sign 6, be sure to notice two of Mount Pleasant’s original wood frame houses: 1626 and 1640 Newton Street.
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