History

Mentions of Navy Yard in the Evening Star, October 31 – November 6, 1926. Searched for "Washington Navy Yard", "navy yard".

Clips are machine-read text (OCR) from scanned Evening Star pages on the Library of Congress's Chronicling America, lightly cleaned (line-break hyphens rejoined, stray symbols removed); misspellings are the scanner's. Newspapers this old are public domain. Each clip links to its page at loc.gov. Clips that mention race, covenants, deed restrictions or slurs are skipped automatically (keyword list: race, races, racial, colored, coloured, negro, negroes, white only, whites only, for whites, white people, white persons, white residents, caucasian, segregation, segregated, covenant, covenants, restricted, restriction, restrictions, plus a list of slurs), because they need an editor's context; legal notices and lists of private individuals are skipped too.

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  Washington Navy Yard · [between 1910 and 1925]Model Basin, Navy Yard, [Washington, D.C.]
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  Washington Navy Yard · [between 1909 and 1940]Seamen gunners class, Navy Yard, Washington, D.C.
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  Washington Navy Yard · 1917NAVY YARD, U.S., WASHINGTON. TORPEDO SHOP
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  Washington Navy Yard · [1925]Wash. Navy Yard, [Washington, D.C.]

Photographs from the Library of Congress (National Photo Company Collection; Harris & Ewing photograph collection), each with no known restrictions on publication or in the public domain, per the Library. Titles are the Library's, written when the photos were catalogued; some use the language of their time. Each links to its record.

Buzzard Pointby 1673

The peninsula where the Anacostia meets the Potomac appears as Turkey Buzzard Point on a 1673 map. In the 1790s it became Young's Point after landowner Notley Young, then Greenleaf's Point after speculator James Greenleaf, who bought many lots nearby. The older Buzzard Point name has since come back.

Earlier: Turkey Buzzard Point, Young's Point, Greenleaf PointSource: Buzzard Point - Wikipedia

Canal Park2012 (park opened)

Honors: The Washington City Canal

A three-block park north from M Street SE on the bed of the old Washington City Canal, whose eastern branch linked the city center to the Navy Yard area. The canal opened in 1815 and was later filled in and paved over. A school bus lot until 2009, the park opened November 16, 2012.

Sources: Canal Park (JDLand.com) · Washington Canal Park (Clio) · Washington City Canal - Wikipedia

Diamond Teague Park2010

Honors: Diamond Teague, 19-year-old Earth Conservation Corps member killed in 2003

The half-acre riverfront park and piers across from Nationals Park are named for Diamond Teague, a member of the Earth Conservation Corps, the youth group that works to clean up the Anacostia. Mayor Fenty opened it with Teague's parents in April 2010.

Sources: New Riverfront Park Opens on the Anacostia (DC Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, 2010) · Park Named for Slain Teen Opens (NBC4 Washington / AP, 2010)

Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge1965

Honors: Frederick Douglass, abolitionist

The bridge carries South Capitol Street over the Anacostia. The original 1950 swing span opened as the South Capitol Street Bridge and was renamed for Frederick Douglass in 1965. The arch bridge that replaced it was completed in 2021.

Earlier: South Capitol Street BridgeSource: Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge - Wikipedia

Latrobe Gate

Honors: Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect of the Navy Yard and the U.S. Capitol

The Navy Yard's ceremonial main gate at 8th and M Streets SE dates to 1806 and was altered in 1881. It is named for Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who designed for both the Yard and the Capitol.

Sources: Washington Navy Yard - Wikipedia · Latrobe Gate - Wikipedia

Navy YardNavy Yard founded c. 1800; BID created 2007

Honors: The Washington Navy Yard

The neighborhood takes its name from the Washington Navy Yard, which fills roughly half its area south of M Street. As the business improvement district took shape in 2006-07, the area went by many labels, among them ballpark district, Near Southeast Waterfront and Navy Yard, the Metro stop's name. The BID branded it Capitol Riverfront.

Earlier: Near SoutheastSources: Navy Yard (Washington, D.C.) - Wikipedia · Call It the Capitol Riverfront (Washington City Paper via NBC4, 2008) · Capitol Riverfront - Wikipedia

New Jersey Avenue SE

Honors: State of New Jersey

One of the four state-named avenues centered on the Capitol, with Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Its southern section runs from Independence Avenue down to N Street near the Navy Yard.

Source: List of state-named roadways in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia

Potomac Avenue SE1908 (Wikipedia; Ghosts of DC says the 1909 bill)

Honors: The Potomac River

This was the original Georgia Avenue. Georgia Senator Augustus Bacon, unhappy with the run-down street bearing his state's name, pushed to move the name north. An appropriations bill gave Georgia's name to Brightwood Avenue and renamed this road Potomac Avenue.

Earlier: Georgia AvenueSources: Georgia Avenue: The Politics Behind the Name Change (Ghosts of DC) · Georgia Avenue - Wikipedia

Tingey Street SE

Honors: Commodore Thomas Tingey, first commandant of the Washington Navy Yard

The main street through The Yards is named for Commodore Thomas Tingey, who supervised the building of the Navy Yard and served as its first commandant for 29 years, until 1828.

Sources: Club members, guests tour historic Washington Navy Yard (National Press Club) · Washington Navy Yard - Wikipedia

Yards Park2010 (opened)

The waterfront park at the center of The Yards development, just west of the historic Navy Yard, forms part of the Anacostia Riverwalk. It was built by the District, the General Services Administration and Forest City Washington, opened in 2010, and is run by the business improvement district.

Source: The Yards (Washington, D.C.) - Wikipedia

Still looking for a reliable source on Half Street SE, Canal Street SE, Isaac Hull Avenue SE, Dahlgren Avenue SE, Sicard Street SE, Patterson Avenue SE, Warrington Avenue SE, Kidder Breese Street SE, Charles Morris Court SE, Paulding Street SE, Rickover Street SE, Parsons Avenue SE, Cushing Place SE, Eberle Place SE, Bowyer Street SE, Kennon Street SE, Poor Street SE, Quander Street SE, Van Street SE, Harwood Street SE, Stevens Street SE, Tingey Crescent SE. We don't publish a name's story until we can cite one. Know it? Tell us.

• Michael Shiner diary (his "book"), 1813-1860sMichael Shiner · manuscript · remembers the 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 1860s

  Shiner, born enslaved in 1805, was leased to the Navy Yard paint shop in 1828 and worked there most of his life, later as a free man. His journal opens with the British invasion and burning of the Capitol and Navy Yard, then follows Yard working conditions, the city's racial tensions and military and civilian life. The manuscript is held by the Library of Congress.

  At Library of Congress (Manuscript Division; exhibition biography) · Washington Navy Yard, slavery and freedom, War of 1812, working conditions
• Carolyn Mitchell interview, 2017-08-07Carolyn Mitchell · 2017 · audio · remembers the 2000s, 2010s

  Mitchell, who came from Detroit in 2004 and works for the American Society of Landscape Architects, talks about helping shape community-led plans for Southwest. She describes frustration that officials set aside residents' plans in favor of projects she feels hurt people living near the Buzzard Point industrial area. Part of the Buzzard Point Oral History Project.

  At Dig DC, DC Public Library (Buzzard Point Oral History Project, DC Oral History Collaborative) · Buzzard Point, redevelopment, community planning, gentrification

Search the archives yourself: The People's Archive, DC Public Library · Historic Chevy Chase DC Oral History Archive · Humanities Truck Community Archive, American University · Tenleytown Historical Society · Boundary Stones (WETA) · Glover Park History: Oral History and Reminiscences · Cleveland Park Historical Society Oral Histories · Rainbow History Project Digital Collections · hometown DC (DC History Center) · Hola Cultura: Adams Morgan History · Citizens Association of Georgetown · Peabody Room, Georgetown Neighborhood Library (DC Public Library) · Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum Archives: A Right to the City Exhibition Records · Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project · Mosaic Theater H Street Oral History Project · Library of Congress, Manuscript Division · Anacostia Community Museum Archives (Smithsonian) · Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Department Library · The Catholic University of America Archives · Bygone Brookland · Dig DC, DC Public Library · hometown DC (HumanitiesDC / Historical Society of Washington, D.C.) · Dig DC, DC Public Library's digital repository · A Right to the City exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives (Smithsonian) · Rainbow History Project Digital Collections · Palisades Community Association · Forest Hills Connection (neighborhood history series). Summaries are ours; the recordings and their rights stay with each archive.

• DC Historic Preservation Office, Historic Data on DC Buildings (HistoryQuest), CC BY 4.0
• Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Chronicling America, Library of Congress; public domain

History data refreshed Nov 1.