This active waterfront community offers restaurants with river views; a colorful, historic Fish Wharf; the award winning theater, Arena Stage; and plenty of boating activity. You can also visit Ft Lesley J. McNair, a Southwest landmark established in 1794, one of the nation's oldest military posts.

In Washington's early years, Southwest was referred to as “the island,” cut off from the city by the old Washington Canal, which followed the route of today's Constitution Avenue. You can still see a Lockkeeper's House at 17th and Constitution Avenue.

Southwest evolved as a multi-ethnic working-class community, which provides this neighborhood with a rich historic past. Anthony Bowen, an educator and former slave, made this a stop on the Underground Railroad. Entertainer Al Jolson, whose father was the rabbi at one of the immigrant synagogues, learned African American dialect playing in the neighborhood streets. And many prominent Washington families got their start in the modest homes that once lined Southwest's shaded streets.

Urban renewal revitalized Old Southwest in the 1950s. The unique street layout and housing arrangements of the new Southwest present a dramatic example of the vision of post-World War II urban planners and architects. The housing cluster of River Park, as well as Tiber Island's creative medieval design of apartment house, town house courts, green ways, walkways, and plazas, offer excellent examples of urban renewal's promise.

You can still find remnants of the Old Southwest, not far from the waterfront. On a walk around the neighborhood, you'll see St. Dominic's Church, an inspiring gothic structure, Wheat Row, the earliest row houses built in Washington, and nearby, a few significant late-18th- and early-19th-century structures. Most notable are two Federal-era homes, Thomas Law House, once home to Martha Washington's granddaughter and the Duncanson-Cranch House.

Check out our CALENDAR OF EVENTS for up-to-date information on exhibitions, lectures and other heritage happenings in the city.

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