DC: SOUTHWEST
Once home to tens of thousands of African-American and recent immigrant families, as well as over 1,000 black-owned businesses, Southwest DC was leveled during "urban renewal" in the late 1950s. Over 23,000 people were displaced and 95% of structures demolished. Within a decade, the homes, schools, and businesses of Southwest were razed to make room for I-395 and a series of hulking concrete federal buildings.
This is not Europe after World War II. Rather, this is a rectory being demolished at St. Dominic Church in Southwest, Washington DC to make way for the Southwest Freeway. Soon the rest of the neighborhood would go with it.
St. Dominic Church is at the northern end of Southwest, standing in the exhaust of the adjacent Southwest Freeway. An onramp wraps around its tall stone facade. However for most of this building's 170 year history it was in the heart of the dense African American and Jewish community that called Southwest home.
