Truxton Circle, Washington, D.C.
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Truxton Circle is a neighborhood of Northwest Washington, D.C.. It is named for a traffic circle that no longer exists, meaning that the neighborhood has long been presumed nameless or lumped in as a part of Shaw, the neighborhood immediately to its West, or Eckington, the neighborhood to the north. It has only recently reclaimed its historical identity.
Truxton Circle is bordered by New Jersey Avenue to the west, Florida Avenue to the north, North Capitol Street to the east, and New York Avenue to the South. Politically it is a part of Ward 5.
The old traffic circle, named for Navy Commodore Thomas Truxtun, was constructed in approximately 1900 at the intersection of Florida Avenue and North Capitol Street. A large and ornate fountain stood in the center of the circle as a monument to Truxtun. However, the circle was a cause of a number of traffic jams and accidents, and was demolished in 1947. With its destruction, the identity of the surrounding neighborhood was obscured, residents who populated the area long after the circle was gone had no idea of its prior existence and therefore no reason to call the neighborhood Truxton Circle. It was frequently claimed as part of Eckington or Shaw, or under the dubious name of "Florida Park." Most residents, however, considered the predominantly African American neighborhood to have no name.
It was only recently that name Truxton Circle returned to common usage, and there has even been some talk of rebuilding the circle itself. However, some older residents who have never known it as Truxton are ambivalent or resistant to the label.
Truxton Circle is a residential neighborhood characterized by 19th century houses and a number of important and historical schools, including Armstrong Manual Training School (where Duke Ellington received his high school diploma) and the original Dunbar High School, the first all-black public high school in the United States.
A small park, Truxton Park, lies at the corner of First Street and Florida Avenue.
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