At first Greater Deanwood’s subdivisions sheltered a racially mixed, working-class population. By 1895 the community was majority African Ameri- can. Here home-grown draftsmen and carpenters designed and built small, wood-frame houses on lots with plenty of space for chickens, a garden, or even a horse. At a time when banks were reluctant to lend to African Americans, Deanwood builders kept costs low with simple designs, minimal win- dows, and bartered labor. From the beginning the community paid great heed to matters of the soul and mind. The roots of Contee AME Zion Church were planted here in 1885, and many other congregations followed. By 1910 two important educational institutions were in place. First came the pioneering National Training School for Women and Girls, founded by Nannie Helen Burroughs. An outspoken activist At first Greater Deanwood’s subdivisions sheltered a racially mixed, working-class population. By 1895 the community was majority African Ameri- can. Here home-grown draftsmen and carpenters designed and built small, wood-frame houses on lots with plenty of space for chickens, a garden, or even a horse. At a time when banks were reluctant to lend to African Americans, Deanwood builders kept costs low with simple designs, minimal win- dows, and bartered labor. Just inside the front gate of Suburban Gardens around 1935. decades, patrons thrilled to the roller coaster and the strains of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway in the popular dance pavilion. Then, as the specter of World War II brought thousands of newcomers to work in the rapidly expanding federal government, the amusement park closed. Housing and a school rose on its site. A few years earlier, garden apart- ments had filled the racetrack site.
Architect Lewis Giles, Sr., and craftsman Randolph Dodd designed and built the first two houses from the right (5007 and 5011 Lee St.), photographed in 1950.
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