DC: FREEWAYS & URBAN RENEWAL

The destruction of Southwest DC was swift and total, with a staggering 23,000 people displaced and 95% of structures demolished. Within a decade the entire neighborhood had been leveled, to be replaced with massive federal buildings and parking structures. From the Washington Post, “Southwest was once a vibrant African-American and Jewish neighborhood, but urban renewal projects in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s leveled this neighborhood—its homes, churches, and synagogues—displacing more than 1,500 businesses and 23,000 people.”