A Brief History of Cleveland Park

Once a single farm of about 1000 acres belonging to General Uriah Forest, an aide-de-camp of George Washington, Cleveland Park can trace its origins to the 1740's. Forest and his business partner, Col. Benjamin Stoddert, called the area about Forest's farmhouse Rosedale. Dating to about 1793, the farmhouse structure is still surrounded by open space reminiscent of its original setting as gardens and farmland. Neighbors banded together to preserve the area which is now held in perpetuity by The Rosedale Conservancy.

During the 1800's the original owners sold off large parcels of land, much of it bought up by wealthy Washingtonians, many of whom built stately summer homes. Several of these remain to this day. While President, Grover Cleveland moved into an existing estate which he named Oak View which no longer exists. However, the Presidential name stuck and thereafter the area became known as Cleveland Park. One of the earliest was Woodley, now the Maret School. Twin Oaks was built in 1886 by Gardiner Greene Hubbard, founder of the National Geographic Society. In 1912, the Causeway was built as a year-round estate, not just a summer house. Renamed Tregaron by new owners, Joseph Davies and Marjorie Merriweather Post, it now houses the Washington International School.

In the late Nineteenth Century, developers and land speculators began to buy up land and estates with a view to suburbanization of Cleveland Park. As the streetcars began to run out Connecticut Ave, the Cleveland Park Company built a waiting area at Newark Street where the Cleveland Park Library now stands. The first stage of development featured houses individually designed by local architects and builders, typically large single, frame-built homes. In the second phase, developers purchased land in areas adjoining the original subdivision of Cleveland Park and began building simpler, more standard houses such as the Foursquare, the Semi-Detached and the Bungalow.

Another distinctive feature of Cleveland Park is the topography and the extensive use of green space throughout and bordering the area. The Washington National Cathedral Property, the Klingle Valley leading into Rock Creek Park and the Melvin Hazen Park provided the natural boundaries for the Cleveland Park Historic District.

New residences continued to be constructed, especially along the northern borders of Cleveland Park on Quebec, Idaho Porter, Rodman etc. Ordway houses continued to be built through the 1970's. Especially notable was the home by I.M. Pei in 1962 and a series of homes on the Ordway side of The Rosedale Conservancy in the early 21st Century.

Cleveland Park today is a dynamic, still evolving community with an active, diverse population. We are still involved in preserving our original architecture, promoting our commercial areas, maintaining our green spaces, and embracing necessary changes.