Location

Trace the development of Columbia Heights from rural hinterland to upscale suburb, middle and working-class neighborhood, and now an ethnically and economically diverse residential area with many commercial, entertainment, and cultural amenities. Learn about its residents, business leaders, and community activists. See where Marriott got its start as a 14th Street root beer stand, where George Washington University’s predecessor, Columbian College, was founded in 1821, and where housing segregation crumbled in the late 1940s. Understand more about the up/down/up of 14th Street as a major city-wide business district.