- Suburban Gardens
Suburban Gardens was the first and only major
amusement park withinWashington, D.C. Located at 50th and Hayes Streets, NE, in theDeanwood neighborhood near the National Training School for Women and Girls, Suburban Gardens opened in 1921 and was in operation for almost two decades. It was a welcome site forAfrican Americans who were excluded by whites from Glen Echo Amusement Park in nearbyMaryland .Suburban Gardens was created by the Universal Development and Loan Company, a black-owned real estate and development company. Engineer Howard D. Woodson, writer
John H. Paynter , and theater magnateSherman H. Dudley were among the investors. Here Washingtonians enjoyed aroller coaster ,Ferris wheel , swimming pools, games of chance, andpicnic grounds. There was also a large dance pavilion where popularjazz musicians performed. The seven-acrepark , in far Northeast, was on the city's undeveloped outskirts borderingPrince George's County , Maryland. Washingtonians and out-of-town visitors came to Suburban Gardens bytrolley car ,commuter train , privatecar , or on foot.The park closed by 1940. In 1961, African Americans joined with whites to engage in non-violent
civil disobedience that finally ended the racist admissions policies of Glen Echo Amusement Park. Today Merritt Elementary School occupies part of the site of Suburban Gardens.
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