Discover Hillsdale brochure

A one-sheet, three-panel brochure funded by a subgrant awarded through the DC Historic Preservation Office's DC Community Heritage Program. From the brochure: "Even though the emancipation proclamation set forth legislation to end slavery, there were land covenants that forbade the sale of land to blacks. The Barry's Farm Project was established by the Freedman's Bureau in 1867 to make land available for purchase by African Americans who had come to Washington in great numbers before and during the Civil War (1861-1865). The bureau acquired 375 acres of land that was originally a tobacco plantation, from the Barry Family. A thriving community of formerly enslaved and free persons twas established. The acreage was subdivided into approximately one-acre lots and sold on installment plans or leased. The proceeds went to fund the start of Howard, Lincoln and Wilberforce Universities. St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, established 1879 at 13th and V Streets SE, began as a mixed-race congregation serving the religious needs of the white and black communities of Anacostia and Hillsdale. However when the white congregation wanted its black parishioners to worship in the basement, a group of black parishioners left and founded Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church around the turn of the 20th century. Many of the new residents came from alley slums in Georgetown and Washington City, the only places they could find to live in freedom. By 1870 more than 500 families had made Barry Farm their home and had started creating a community. For each buyer the Bureau provided enough lumber for a small house. Families worked in the city by day and built their homes across the river by night undercandle light. Macedonia Baptist Church and Mt. Zion Hill School were the first institutions built by residents; the school's lot was purchased with Freedmen's Bureau funds generated by land transactions. The community was renamed Hillsdale in 1871." Project funding was provided in part by a 2014 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Anacostia Coordinating Council (project number DC-14-012) administered by the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Office (grant number P14AF00180) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Discover Hillsdale brochure

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