The Fairmount Heights Historic African American Walking Tour
Historic Sites
5907 K Street-A brick mason by trade, Samuel Hargrove is believed to have built his own house in 1918. Some of the features, including a molded brick decorative detail, are not common in Prince George’s County. When Hargrove and his wife bought the four lots on which the house sits, another smaller structure was on the property. It’s not certain if Hargrove and his family lived in the smaller house while the larger one was under construction or if the smaller structure was incorporated into the larger house.
John N. Francis, a foreman for the water company, had the house that stood on this site built in 1912. The house was similar in style to the nearby Samuel Hargrove House. The Italianate style house was built in wood rather than brick. Around 1995, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development demolished the house.
Louis Brown was a carpenter who built his house in the 1920s in the Tudor Revival style. The original wood siding is now covered by synthetic sheathing of two different colors and textures. Louis Brown’s father, Daniel, built a smaller home on the property in 1905. That building was demolished in the 1920s when the present house was built.
802 58th Ave-When it was built in 1908, the Robert S. Nichols House was considered one of the community’s most handsome and substantial houses. Nichols moved to Maryland from Texas and worked in the U.S. Pension Office. He also headed the citizens committee. When the committee approved the construction of the town’s public school, he served on the building committee. In 1935, when the town was incorporated, he was elected as its first mayor. He served two consecutive one-year terms.
The Town of Fairmount Heights erected the World War II Monument in 1946 to honor the community’s citizens who served in the armed forces during the war. The small park was once the property of the Reverend Joshua Barnes. He held services in his house on this site before the Fairmount Heights Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1911. The monument and park were restored in 2012, and both are now protected by an established easement held by M-NCPPC.
708 59th Avenue-The Towles-Brooks House, a cross-gabled building with late-Victorian decorative detail, was a popular style in the early twentieth century. Samuel Towles, a messenger at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, built the house in 1910. The property passed to his nephew, Lawrence Brooks, who served on the Town Council of Fairmount Heights and as its mayor from 1967 to 1972.
The Isaac Brown House, built in 1911 for Isaac and Maria Brown, reflects a house style that was popular in the developing suburbs during the early twentieth century. The house was originally built without indoor plumbing and central heat but a bathroom was later added to the rear of the house. The house originally had a one- story hip-roof porch with plain rail balustrade and turned posts with jig-sawn openwork brackets. The original porch collapsed in the 1990s and was rebuilt without the decorative brackets and turned posts.
When the Fairmount Heights Methodist Episcopal Church (now known as Grace United Methodist Church) was established in 1909, the first services were held in Charity Hall and later in Pastor Joshua Barnes’ home near the church’s present location. In 1909, after Barnes’ death, the trustees of the church acquired two unimproved lots on Fairmount Avenue and built the church in 1911. The original simple frame meetinghouse-style structure was expanded in 1950 with the construction of the entry tower. The entire structure was also covered with stucco.
The Trammell-Taylor House was once considered one of the most substantial houses in the town. The home’s first owners were John and Martha Trammell, who purchased two unimproved lots from developer Robinson White in 1907. John Trammell worked as a waiter in a restaurant when he first settled in Fairmount Heights. Circuit Court Judge James H. Taylor purchased the house in 1961 and had his offices there.
Up until 2001, this site was the location of the Rice House, which was built in 1920 by developer Robinson White. The small bungalow was identical to the houses White built in Bungalow Row. It is believed that White used materials from Sears, Roebuck and Company to build it. The one-story, four-room building closely resembles Sears’ “Rosita” style of bungalow that the company produced in the 1920s. Around 2001, the town purchased the property and demolished the house.
When James F. Armstrong graduated from Howard University Law School in 1904, he purchased three lots in the original Fairmount Heights subdivision. The house was completed in 1905 and is an example of late-Victorian domestic architecture. Armstrong went on to work in education. In 1911, he was appointed as a member of the building committee for the proposed Fairmount Heights Elementary School, and a few years later was named Director of Manual Training at the school. Until 1919 he served as the Supervisor of Colored Schools in Prince George’s County. He chaired the citizens association and was one of the first council members after the town was incorporated.
Alice Dorsey was a messenger for the U.S. Treasury. She had the house built in 1904 and lived here with her sister, her daughters, and two grandchildren. The house is one of the larger dwellings among the early houses built in Fairmount Heights. The footprint is a variation on the Foursquare house plan, which was popular at the turn of the twentieth century. The home’s original wood siding is covered with synthetic siding.
The Fairmount Lodge has been heavily remodeled since it was first built in the 1940s. When it was constructed it closely resembled the Old Treasury on the State House grounds in Annapolis.
Samuel Fowler, a carpenter by trade, is believed to be the builder of the Dorsey-Bush House. Fowler purchased the lots in 1904 from Robinson White, the original subdivider. Fowler’s family owned the house until 1919, when it was conveyed to Charles M. Dorsey. Dorsey enlarged the property in 1923 with the purchase of an adjoining lot. The two story, two-bay single-family dwelling has a rectangular, detached rowhouse form. Over the years, the building has been altered and stucco now conceals the original German siding.
The Fairmount Heights Municipal Center was first built as a fire hall. The building also housed a health clinic, library, general meeting space and the town hall. Between 1939 and 1941, the town purchased the lots and built the Municipal Center, which served as a fire house and a meeting place. The town demolished the building in the 1990s.
The John S. Johnson House, a cross-gabled frame dwelling built in 1911, is representative of the type of house built on larger lots or groups of lots in developing subdivisions in the early twentieth century. Johnson worked as a Pullman porter and later became the first president of the United Citizens Associations of Fairmount Heights. The house has undergone some changes; the windows were originally two-over-two in configuration, but were replaced with vinyl in a one-over-one configuration.
Henry Pinckney served as White House steward and President Theodore Roosevelt’s personal valet. Pinckney was known throughout Washington, D.C., especially at Eastern Market, because he frequently made purchases for the president. Pinckney’s children played with the Roosevelt children as well. Pinckney’s wife, Lenora, worked for the United States Department of Agriculture. She and her husband were among the founding members of the First Presbyterian Church of Fairmount Heights. Pinckney’s house, built in 1905, is representative of the popular American Foursquare floor plan.
Built around 1910, the Juliet Hill House is similar in style to the William B. Coles House. The Coles House is cross-gabled and two and a half stories high. The façade is sheltered by a one-story porch with turned posts and plain balustrade.
Cornelius Fonville, who worked as a messenger for the Bureau of Engraving and was an active member of the citizens associations, built the house in 1912. The Fonville House is an example of the Foursquare houses popular in the early years of the century. The original wood siding of the house is covered with white vinyl siding, and the original wood columns have been replaced by metal tracery supports.
Ezra and Florence Kemp, the original owners, built the William B. Coles House in 1906. The Kemp family purchased the unimproved lot from developer Allen C. Clark in 1900. In 1908, after the death of Ezra Kemp, his widow sold the property to William B. and Isadora Coles, who raised their family in this house. Coles, who worked as a clerk at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, contracted with the Detroit Heating Company to have a complete system of central heating installed in the house. Today, the original wood siding is covered with white aluminum siding.
Demolished in 1991, the house was the home of James A. Campbell, who served as Fairmount Heights’ mayor from 1943 – 1955. Similar in style to the Doswell Brooks House, the James A. Campbell House was built by carpenter Louis Brown in 1921. The house was a frame bungalow with a pyramidal roof. It also had a semi-octagonal dormer with four bays across. The entrance was sheltered by a porch in the westernmost bay.
When architect William Sidney Pittman formed the Fairmount Heights Mutual Improvement Company, his goal was to develop a social center for the community. In 1908, the company purchased two lots on Chapel (now 61st) Avenue and built the main part of this building based on Pittman’s design. In addition to serving as a social hall, the building was the first location of Methodist Church services in 1909. It also served as a classroom until the public school was completed in 1912. In the 1960s, the hall was rebuilt after it was severely damaged by fire. Today, the building bears little resemblance to its original form. It was enlarged with a rear wing and two asymmetrical flanking additions to the gable front.
Constructed in 1912, the school was the first public elementary school to be built in a planned African American suburb of Washington, D.C. Three years after construction, the two-story building served 160 students and five teachers. In 1915 when a carpentry shop was added, the school became the only public school in Prince George’s County with “industrial” training facilities for Black students. The building served as the public school until 1934, and since then has been home to a church.
After serving in the armed forces during World War I, Prince Albert Washington bought property in the West Fairmount Heights subdivision. With the help of friends, he built his house over the next two years with plans and materials he ordered from Sears, Roebuck and Company. The model was similar to Sears’ popular “Westly” model. Washington moved into the house in 1924 with his new bride, and following his military service worked at the Department of the Interior.
William Sidney Pittman was an architect and son-in-law of Booker T. Washington. He built the house in 1907, the year he married Washington’s daughter, Portia. The house was known to the family as “Little White Tops,” likely because of the roof decorations. Pittman played an active role in the community, establishing the Fairmount Heights Mutual Improvement Company that oversaw the building of a social club. The house was damaged by fire and demolished in 2013.
In 1920, developer Robinson White built 19 identical small frame bungalows on the lots on both sides of a block of Fairview (now 62nd) Avenue. These one-story, four-room dwellings closely resemble the “Rosita” style of bungalow Sears, Roebuck and Company produced during this period. White began to sell these small, inexpensive dwellings as soon as they were completed.
Built in 1928 in the Mount Wiessner subdivision, the Doswell Brooks House is a small one-and-a-half story high bungalow. This type of house was popular between the world wars. Brooks served as Supervisor of Colored Schools beginning in 1922. In 1956, he was appointed as the first African American member of the Board of Education. He also served as a member of the Fairmount Heights Town Council and as mayor of the town from 1955 until shortly before his death in 1968.