Howard University / Le Droit Park (November 6, 2020)
Today we walked through the campus of Howard University and neighboring LeDroit Park. Howard is a private, federally chartered historically black university. Tracing its history back to 1867, it is named after General Oliver Otis Howard, a Civil War hero, who founded the university. The campus covers 256 acres and caters to around 10,000 students. Among its distinguished alumni are the next Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.
Walking through the campus, we noticed the distinguished building photographed below. We assumed it was part of the University but wondered why it was surrounded by a high fence. Turns out that it is what surely must be one of the world’s grandest looking pumping stations.
Neighboring Howard is historic LeDroit Park. Originally, the neighborhood was for whites only. However, after multiple actions by Howard University students and others, the neighborhood became integrated. By the 1940s, it had become a major focal point for the African-American elite of the time with many prominent figures residing there.
The following house looked just to be another beautiful old house in the neighborhood.
However, walking around the back showed a surprising and extensive underground renovation under way.
Not all of the houses are so majestic. We liked this house which reminded us of a house that you would see in a Western movie.
Howard University, like Georgetown University and George Washington University, has an affiliated hospital. It is the nation’s only teaching hospital on the campus of a historically black college. The 300 bed hospital sits on the site of Griffith Stadium that was the home of the Washington football and baseball teams until 1965.
Walking The District 