Seventh Street Develops
. ’ opened a new mis- sion church — Immaculate Conception Church — for Catholics living far from St.Patrick’s downtown F Street home.The current imposing, Gothic style building opened a decade later. Renowned actress Helen Hayes was baptized here in .Immaculate Conception’s community work included its Washington Catholic Hour radio show on WOL ( - ). For years, until ,the church operated Immaculate Con- ception School for boys at N Street.It is now an elementary school.Girls attended Immaculate Conception Academy nearby at Eighth and Q streets until .After much of this area was destroyed in the riots,Monsignor Joshua Mundell of Immaculate Conception worked to stabilize the neighborhood,encouraging church and federal government collaborations to build modern apartments. The Seventh Street Savings Bank building is a remnant of the block’s business era.The combi- nation bank/residential building opened in . After many mergers,it closed for good in . Seventh Street developed as a business street because of good transportation.Back in , Congress chartered the Seventh Street Turnpike from Pennsylvania Avenue to Rockville, Maryland. At first omnibuses (horse-drawn wagons) carried passengers along Seventh.Then in Congress chartered street railways,with a Seventh Street line.Leading abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner made sure that the charter prohibited segregation on the streetcars.The first electric streetcars ( ) ran along New York Avenue to Seventh, but in were replaced by buses.The latest innovation, Metro’s Green and Yellow lines, opened in after seven disruptive years of construction.
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