Box #20
Box Location:
SE corner T & 15 Sts.

View Box Location
on Map

This is part of the Shaw neighborhood of upwardly mobile African Americans (1875-1950). Prior to the Civil War (1861-1865), this was the northernmost edge of the city, an area of small farms. By the late 1890s, the farms had been subdivided and covered with the rows of Victorian dwellings (below) that you see today. African Americans and whites lived in close proximity. By the 1920s, however, housing segregation through restrictive covenants changed people’s habits. With the widespread adoption of automobiles by the middle classes and suburban development for whites only, what had been a bi-racial residential community became a self-sufficient black community.

This call box is sponsored by:
Apex, Richard Busch, Louis J. Goodson, William J. Herron, Jr., Daniel McLaughlin and Chris Armstrong, Carol Mitten and Desmond Foynes, Omega DC

Lily Spandorf (1915-2000),  a prolific local artist who was born and trained in Europe, emigrated to the United States in 1959 and lived near the present Dupont Circle north Metro exit. She chronicled everyday Washington, especially Dupont Circle. Her work can be found in the Senate’s collection of fine art.

 More info: Artist Website, City Museum Research

Artwork courtesy of The Historical Society of Washington, D.C.

POLICE CALL BOXES such as this one (originally painted blue) were installed in the District after the Civil War. Officers on foot patrol used this secure telegraph system to contact the station, accessing the box with a now highly collectible “gold key.” This system was used until the late 1970s when it was abandoned in favor of more modern communication methods.

This community project is also supported by Dupont Circle Citizens Association and The Dupont Circle Conservancy, Inc. and generous donations from community residents and businesses.

©2005 Dupont Circle Call Box Project No reproduction or distribution of any site content without consent of author.Links to this or any other page on the site are permitted. No hyperlinks to pictures are permitted, query info@dupontcirclecallbox.com for copying permission.