From Rural to Residential 4900 BLOCK GRANT STREET NE
Deanwood once was farmland belonging to slave-holding families. Some of their names— Sheriff, Lowrie, and Benning—still mark local roads. In 1833 Levi Sheriff purchased several hundred acres along Watts Branch from William Benning’s nephew. With the labor of some 19 enslaved people, Sheriff raised livestock and tobacco. His three daughters—Mary Cornelia, Emmeline, and Margaret—inherited the family farm in 1853. Sheriff’s house, which stood near today’s 5000 block of Jay Street, passed to Mary Cornelia, who married John Dean. The last Sheriff descendant to live there was the Reverend Dr. Randolph W. Lowrie, Margaret’s son, who died in 1913. A sur- viving family home at 4421 Jay Street later became a church. In 1871 the Southern Maryland Railroad built a station near the old Bladensburg-Piscataway Road (Minnesota Avenue) bordering the Sheriff farm. Hoping to improve their fortunes, the Sheriff sisters carved their farmland into lots for sale in three subdivisions: Whittingham, Lincoln Heights, and Burrville. They were disappointed with sales, but eventually a mix of black and white skilled laborers and craftsmen built houses there. After 1895 what was now called Deanwood had a majority black population. Residents took the train to work, often at the Navy Yard weapons factories. On August 4, 1965, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed a rally on the open land across from this sign. Sargent Memorial Presbyterian Church hosted him in Deanwood. The following day, Dr. King met with President Lyndon B. Johnson and received assurances that Johnson supported home rule for DC.
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