By Frank Leone
One of our favorite activities at the FBA History Project is helping George Washington University students discover and share neighborhood history. We were delighted to provide some information to Janice Demings as she researched GWU’s impact on the neighborhood and interviewed our friends Ron Cocome, a former Foggy Bottom Association President (2002-2006), and Russ Conlon, a former FBA Treasurer. You can read her paper, How GW Changed The Demographics of Foggy Bottom, HERE.
The paper documents the impact on GWU real estate expansion on the Foggy Bottom neighborhood, including on the borders of the Historic District, from the viewpoint of the FBA leadership. GWU expansion was a controversial issue during the period President Stephen Trachtenberg led the University (1988-2007). The University was growing in student population and by land acquisition, posing “quite a threat to our neighborhood,” recalls Ron Cocome. In fact, Trachtenberg “joked” that the University was primarily a real estate development firm and would extend its property to the Potomac. During this time, the University jumped 23rd Street to demolish row houses and build Shenkman Hall, and take over the Howard Johnsons (now the Boathouse condo) as a first year dorm, as well as the apartment that is now the Varsity, and what is now the Arc Hotel.
Today, GWU has a much-improved relationship with the community. After litigation, GWU adopted a 20-year Campus Plan in 2007 that provided for “up not out” expansion. (Although casualties of that approach included older buildings that were not included in the GWU/Old West End Historic District or separately landmarked, including the Waggaman House, Staughton Hall, and more in the future). The Plan required GWU to house its first and second year students on-campus (resulting in more dormitory construction and less housing pressure on the neighborhood). The Plan also set up a Campus Plan Advisory Committee that meets quarterly (sign up for the community newsletter here). GWU is in the process of drafting its new 20-year Campus Plan – stay tuned.
The FBA History Project has been happy to work with GWU students on other projects including Julia Russo’s prize-winning paper on black Foggy Bottom, Ethan Benn’s video on the Foggy Bottom History Project, a video interview with Sophia Escobar, Eduardo Gonzalez del Valle, and Ava Thompson, teaching an honors class session on Slavery in Foggy Bottom, and our guest column in the GW Hatchet. See also the History Project Resources Page.
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