Trinidad, Washington, D.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trinidad is a neighborhood located in Ward 5, in the northeast quadrant of Washington, D.C. and is a largely residential area.
The land originally belonged to a member of the Corcoran family, and it later passed to George Washington University before being sold to one of the brickworks that once operated in the area. The brickworks intended to excavate clay from the land. Realizing that they did not need all of the land, the brickworks began selling off parcels, and, in the late 1800s/early 1900s, the first houses in Trinidad were built. Many of the rowhouses are flat porch-fronted houses (similar to craftman style, except in a rowhouse) built in a style that gained popularity during the 1920s. The area is predominantly African American, historically working class and has a large deaf student population (from nearby Gallaudet University).
Trinidad is bounded to the north by Mt. Olivet Road, to the west by West Virginia Avenue, to the south by Florida Avenue and to the east by Bladensburg Road. For many years, this area suffered from neglect and a high crime rate (as did many urban neighborhoods during the 1980s and early 1990s). Recent years have seen great change in the area as D.C.'s overall crime rate has dropped and high housing prices have forced buyers to look outside the traditionally coveted neighborhoods. Housing prices in Trinidad, once quite low by D.C. standards, have risen considerably. For 2004–2005, Trinidad's percentage change in tax assessment value ranked the highest in the District (around 33%)[1].
Lately, signs of gentrification have become visible in the neighborhood. Formerly vacant houses are being renovated and many new people are moving to the neighborhood. Crime in the area has dropped considerably in recent years. This area was hit hard by the crack epidemic, but Trinidad's decline actually began much earlier, in the 1950s/60s, and the 1968 rioting on H Street (following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.) was a hard blow from which the larger area is still recovering. A new community recreation center is being built on the former Trinidad Playground behind Webb Elementary School
Because crime levels are high, many residents are nervous to venture outside of their homes at night.
To the north of Trinidad is the more industrial (and impoverished) neighborhood Ivy City. To the west is Gallaudet University and the Florida Market (D.C.'s wholesale food district). To the east lies Carver Langston. To the south of Trinidad is Old City (so named from Pierre L'Enfant's original plan for the city), generally referred to as either Near Northeast or Capitol Hill North. The closest commercial strip, located immediately south of Trinidad, is the H Street Corridor (the eastern portion of this strip is occasionally referred to as the Atlas District).
