Young Lillian Bangerter posed with Dolley on the family’s Reno City farm, 1910.
After the Civil War, Fort Reno became farmland again until developers carved up most of it into small lots. Formerly enslaved African Americans who had sought refuge at the fort joined working- class white and black families to build a commu- nity called Reno City.
Fort Pennsylvania, soon to be Fort Reno, sketched in 1862.
In the 1890s all remaining traces of Fort Reno disappeared when the District government con- structed an underground reservoir and red-brick water tower – today the most visible of Tenley- town’s distinctive landmarks. About the same time an electric streetcar line arrived, making down- town DC easily accessible from Tenleytown. Developers bought large tracts of land and planned subdivisions for middle-class white families. They touted the neighborhood’s modern amenities: police and fire protection, electric lights, and water and sewer service.
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker