Caroline Street Today
Caroline Street today is a snapshot of the city’s population at large. Black, white, US- and foreign-born, straight, and gay street residents have worked to create a homogeneous community. A block association, the Caroline Street Residents Association, was formed in 1976, and in May, 1980, the Washington Post did a story about the street and its then residents. That story highlighted the fact that the street was the first block in the city to participate in the then-new Neighborhood Watch Program.[1] The photo below accompanied the article and includes the following street residents who are still here today—Clint Williams, Jim Mears, Will Williams, Caroline Evans, Rick Busch, and Dan Gamber. It’s up to the reader to find them.
Caroline Street residents, May 1980
Over the years, the block association and its leadership have:
· Worked to get new street trees planted (back in the mid-1970s);
· Pressed the city to repave the street (which brought with it new brick sidewalks installed just after we had worked hard to have the city replace the individual areas needing attention in the then existing brick walkways);
· Worked to get wrought iron fencing around most of the tree boxes;
· Planted the tree boxes with iris bulbs so that each spring residents and anyone who walks along the street, have blooms to look at on their way. Street tree boxes and those who worked especially hard to get them planted—Peter Brehm, Mark Huey, and Christine Pembroke--were featured in The Intowners “Neighborhood Gardens” column in June, 1997;
· Carried out spring and fall street clean-up work;
· (Not to be forgotten) Worked constantly especially in the 1970s to get drug dealers and their customers off the street and abandoned vehicles removed at a time when there was always room for parking. The block chairpersons and vigilant neighbors didn’t let up until these situations were corrected;
· Kept after the city and other agencies to get storm sewer catch basins properly cleaned out and the entire storm sewer line behind the houses on the south side of Caroline repaired so that basements aren’t flooded with sewage backup during heavy downpours; and
· Continued to combat the rat population, increased noise and trash from clubs and restaurants that have moved to nearby U Street, and the impact of these clubs and gathering places have had on street parking for residents.
In addition to all this work, residents do take time out for fun. The block association holds an annual street picnic each fall, where the street is closed to vehicular traffic, grills are rolled out and stoked for roasting hamburgers and hotdogs, and all kinds of food is prepared for residents and guests to enjoy. Ticket to several of the street’s early picnics appears below.
[Insert image(s) from Jim Mears. Can three badges be clustered/overlapped?]
[Insert picnic pictures]
Annually in the winter, a progressive dinner gets street residents and their guests moving among four different Caroline Street homes where each host provides one of the courses—appetizers, soup and salad, a main course, and desserts.
[Insert Caroline Street winter scene, January 1996.]
Many Caroline Street residents have worked to create attractive garden spaces not only in front of their houses, but behind them too. In the past, some of the gardens hidden in the back have been featured in a spring garden tour that was formerly conducted the Residential Action Coalition. And, for several years 1520 Caroline had the silhouette of a tree painted on its rear wall. Continuing it effort to beautify the neighborhood with attractive gardens and tree boxes, the block association voted in the early 1990s to adopt from the National Park Service the small triangular park (Reservation 146) at the intersection of 16th Street and New Hampshire Avenue, NW. Replanting of and caring for that park by street residents has drawn praise from other nearby residents and passersby.
Over the recent past the street has been saddened by the death of some of its longtime residents. Mr. Davis, who lived in 1518, a World War I veteran who had served in France, died in the 1980s. Katie Mizell (1505), Eloise and Norman Bland (1501), and Inez and Marion “Buddy” Jackson (1519) have passed away, as had Eric Savader (1513). George Evans (1504) and Paulina Williams (1508) died more recently. This sadness has been somewhat balanced by seeing Christopher Carroll (1519—son of Doretha Jackson Carroll) join the street as a new baby, grow up, graduate from college, and move out into the world with a career in business. Barry Williams (1508) is growing up and always has a smile whenever street residents pick up packages left at his address. Alessandro and Anna Nardello (1512) are much more recent newborns to the street, as is baby Luca just arrived to Larissa van Geijlswijk and Eef van der Worp, the residents of 1510.
A list of current households appears on the following page. It shows, as earlier census data has, that the street is one of both long- and short-term residents and once again helps dispel the notion that Washington, DC is simply a city of transients.
This then is Caroline Street at 125 years-of-age, a microcosm of the larger surrounding area from the beginning. With continuing care its houses have stood the test of time, and street residents have, and do continue, to make it what it is today. There are fond thoughts of Caroline Evans’ day care services from years past, as there are of the fresh produce that the late George Evans frequently provided neighbors from his country garden. The Williams household continues to serve as a temporary repository for packages delivered to the street from the US Postal Service, FEDEX, and UPS whenever the intended recipients are not home to receive them. The current block association chair, Dan Gamber, makes a couple of daily rounds along the street and adjacent alleys to help ensure area safety and deter crime. Thanks, Dan! And several neighbors work on an informal yet regular basis to ensure that the street is litter free, litter free to the extent that that is possible. In general, Caroline Street residents continue to experience all the pleasures and problems of urban living, and we look forward with confidence and to more good times in the future.