August 31, 2006
Mid-City Revisited
Earlier this week Matthew Yglesias took us to task for referring to a "Mid-City" part of town when discussing a campaign for a new Trader Joe's near U Street. Matt is actually quite wrong to suggest "shady real estate cabals" are the architects of the term Mid-City, but the fault for his misinformation is likely ours.
You see, last winter we ran a post mocking the MidCity Business Association's moniker, basically accusing them of trying to re-name the sections of Shaw and Columbia Heights they claim in their boundaries as being part of some made-up neighborhood called "Mid-City" — as if calling this part of N.W. something different will make it sound more desirable to potential developers and residents.
But, as the comments to that post unfolded, it turned out we weren't entirely correct about the name's newness. The name Mid-City dates back to at least 1937, according to the WPA map we found above. This map actually encompasses a much larger area of Northwest D.C. than the neighborhoods surrounding U street, but it's clear the term Mid-City is hardly new to the city.
The origins of Mid-City as a description for the larger Shaw area seem to come from early Metro plans for what eventually became the Green Line, which was commonly called the Mid-City Line in planning stages. On page 106 of his recent book The Great Society Subway, Zachary Schrag quotes a 1962 National Capital Transportation Agency (predecessor to WMATA) report to Congress that said they had contacted Rev. Walter Fauntroy "to suggest renewed efforts for a mid-city line capable of first class service" after they heard of his work in the neighborhood. Schrag continues to use the term "Mid-City" liberally in his book, describing its location this way: "The same Metro that would serve the Capitol, the suburbs, and office buildings of K Street would extend to the Mid-City - a portion of the inner city directly north of downtown, comprising the neighborhoods of Shaw, Cardozo, and Columbia Heights." And don't forget the longterm existence of places like the Mid City Fish Market at 14th and P NW (pictured), or the old Mid City Post Office.
It's important to keep in mind that the term Mid-City doesn't really seem to represent a specific neighborhood (as we lazily wrote in our Trader Joe's piece), but rather a collection of neighborhoods which, appropriately, fall under the purview of the relatively new MidCity Business Association. As full disclosure, I personally am involved with the Cardozo Shaw Neighborhood Association, which works closely with the MidCity Business Association and as such, am probably more accustomed to saying Mid-City than most people. But to be clear, the name itself is not a brand-new invention.
Rob Goodspeed contributed research to this post. Photo of the Mid City Fish Market by Flickr user wageslaves
|
Also keep in mind that "MidCity" as a moniker encompases an area generally around the line bisecting the city north to south (16th street to be exact). I would say that anything running up and down that mid city line can be considered MidCity...
Meh, I still say we call it DAMU (Dupont-Adams Morgan-U Street), or at the very least, WeCaHi (West Capitol Hill). I mean, condo buyers need a point of reference, right?
Waitaminit, what condo buyers?
I'll throw in another "official" mid city example. The Post Office that used to be on 14th St. NW between RI Ave and P St. was called the Mid-City Station. I don't think it's still there - haven't passed by in a while.
You people crack me up. You'd argue over which was better: Canada Dry or Schweppes.
Oh my gawd, come on, EVERYBODY KNOWS that Canada Dry is superior to Schwepps... Schwepps sounds like some kind of skin infection....
Vernors Ginger Ale is far superior to either Canada Dry OR Schwepps.
History is interesting- and so is the fact that so many of us have so little a sense of it. There was (and is) a downtown, and Mid-City, and an Up-Town area to DC. Each regional term encompasses many neighborhoods, many of whose names are only now being (re)discovered by folks moving here. A previous poster made a good point about the Mid City Post Office.
Other random examples: 15th aound P, Q, R,and S used to be "Dupont East", never Logan Circle. Harvard and Columbia at 11th or Sherman are called "Columbia Heights, rarely "Pleasant Plains", the older correct name. Folks in SE will tell of the historic (and current in some places) "Uptown" heroin market.
I'd guess uptown starts at about landfall, above Florida.
Folks in SE will tell of the historic (and current in some places) "Uptown" heroin market.
I'd guess uptown starts at about landfall, above Florida.
Huh? Please sir, a few more details; your post is most confusing. And no, I'm not trying to buy smack; I'm just a little confused by this geography lesson your giving here.
Blenheim Ginger Ale is superior to them all.
Condor Soda of California is head and shoulders above the national brands...case closed.
Ginger Beer > Ginger Ale
Not to dispute that Midcity may have historical precedent, but I'm a little suspicious of that map as evidence. It appear to cover an area significantly larger than the supposed Midcity area. Could it be that the name on that map is purely descriptive? Perhaps "mid city", as used here, is just a generic term for "central". Also, if it were treating Mid City as a specific neighborhood, like Capitol Hill, wouldn't it say "Map of Mid City", not "Mid City Map"?
Anyway, that's not to say it's not a legitimate term, just that this map doesn't seem to support it.
Hill Rat: I tried to make the point that not only is there a Downtown and a Midcity, but also an Uptown.
I speculated that historic mid-city went North to about geographic landfall (which in places follows the old Boundary St/Florida Ave), and that Up-Town was above that. Down, Mid, or Up, each designation covers a lot of neighborhoods.
I’m not sure what, if any other than historic, interest/use this might have. Probably alot of this depends on what year we're talking about, too.
The uptown heroin market in "Columbia Heights East" seems pretty hot, btw.
No, "Mid-City" itself is not a brand-new invention. But "NoMa" is, and it's inexcusable.
The "Midcity at the Crossroads: Shaw Heritage Trail," like all the other trails around the city, was mostly designed and shaped by the residents: they chose the stories that would tell the neighborhood's history. One of the major questions for the neighborhood working group, mostly old timers whose family's lived in the 7th/9th Street corridors between K and U a couple generations, was "what's the name of your neighborhood?"
Shaw was a name imposed by urban renewal and school planners in the 1960s. Some gentrifiers were starting to use the phrase Mount Vernon Square. The oldtimers recalled Midcity as the common name for the area during the 1930s. Several busninesses were named Midcity Pharmacy, Midcity Cleaners, etc. They also said that when their neigbhorhood was a movie and club hotspot in the 30s, that people would say they were going to Midcity.
In their minds also, Midcity was a more specific, smaller neighborhood, than the larger, Urabn Renewal moniker of Shaw which had once been the name for everything between Logan Circle and Union Station.
In the end the neighbohrood group chose the name "Midcity at the Crossroads: the Shaw Heritage Trail," specifically to incorporate the older, historic name and the more familiar recent name. Midcity is definitely a real name, with a real history and it referred to a specific neighborhood. It is most definitely not a real estate agent gimmick like NoMa.
Check out all of the other neighborhood heritage trails at Cultural Tourism DC.
I'm more a fan of local "boutique" Ginger Ales like Faygo or Rock Creek.
Swampoodle > NoMa
Perhaps these old neighborhood names are responsible for some of the strange monikers in flickr's geotagging function, which works off Yahoo maps, e.g., Pretty Prospect for Adams-Morgan.
It would be interesting to see if the same people who are complaining about gentrification and condo-buyers are the same who decry the "invention" of the term mid-city to carve up their long-time into new real-estate classifications. Kind of makes you think whether people really care about the historical preservation of the city, or just the preservation of their personal snapshot of the city as it was whenever they moved in.