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Asbury Dwellings is a senior citizen housing complex opened by Asbury United Methodist Church in 1982.

The complex occupies the former Shaw Junior High School, named for Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, white commander of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Shaw Junior High School moved here in 1928, but the building, with a distinctive curved façade, dates back to 1902 when it opened as McKinley Technical High School (a white public school). The first Shaw Junior High School opened in 1902 at Ninth Street and Rhode Island Avenue, NW.

Among Shaw's noted teachers was artist Alma Thomas. After the old Shaw building became inadequate to house its student population, a new Shaw Junior High School was completed two blocks away in 1977. That year Asbury United Methodist Church began converting the building for residential use.