The Old Congress Heights Highschool .

I LOVE this building! Everytime I pass by it or go to the Ward 8 Farmer's Market which is held on it's grounds I find myself wishing that someone would restore it ASAP to it's former glory. It would make an excellent community center, I can see already art, music and vocational classes being taught within its walls. When I really have ambitious dreams I see it as a wonderful boarding school for girls and boys in the community. An opportunity not only to become educated but to learn "life skills".

Wouldnt be surprised if this building is purchased and renovated by a developer into condos. It has great "bones".

Did a little searching on the web and found some information on the history of this building.

"Congress Heights School Location: 3100 Martin Luther King, Jr., Avenue, SE. The old Congress Heights School (originally the Giesboro School) opened in 1897 as an elementary school for white students at a time when the Congress Heights neighborhood was primarily white. With a congressional appropriation in 1913, white architect Snowden Ashford turned the building into a more modern structure and added classrooms. The original frame school building was also demolished in the same year. Ashford designed a tower and clock and, for the first time, the name Congress Heights appeared on the school. There were subsequent additions in 1931. African Americans began moving into the neighborhood in substantial numbers after World War II. The school became desegregated after the 1954 Brown decision. Within a decade the school would be primarily African American.
No longer in use as a school, the building remains an important landmark for residents and is slated for renovation and use as a community center. "

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