Watts Going On DIVISION AVENUE & FOOTE STREET NE
Across the street is Watts Branch, an actively used creek that has tied together many communi- ties. Unfortunately humans have not always been respectful of this resource. In 1938 the U.S. government brought flood control measures to Watts Branch’s 1.6-mile-long park. In the decades thereafter, children played in the creek, and churches baptized parishioners in its waters. Yet residents and outsiders also dumped trash here. A massive clean-up began in 1965 under Lady Bird Johnson’s Committee for a More Beautiful Capital, but another 30 years of neglect followed, when polluters, drug dealers, and addicts over- whelmed the park. Then in 2001 area children collected 1,500 signatures to petition the City Council to restore the park. Consequently resi- dents, the nonprofit Washington Parks & People, the District’s Department of Parks and Recreation, and thousands of volunteers joined in a multi- million dollar effort that continues to spark new life and new enterprise. To your right is the Riverside Center, which opened in the former Barnett’s Crystal Room in 2004. Armstead Barnett had owned and oper- ated this restaurant after working for 15 years in the Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower White Houses. There he rose from pantry man to butler, and eventually to messenger, while building a catering business that employed and trained many Deanwood residents. Legendary R&B artist Marvin Gaye (1939-1984) spent part of his youth in this area, often singing a cappella with friends in the park. On April 2, 2006, the city officially rededicated Watts Branch Park as Marvin Gaye Park.
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