In last week’s column, I described the name change of B Street SW to Independence Ave SW. Today, I will examine a change that comes much closer to home for most of us – the renaming of the SE portion of B Street to Independence Avenue.
This change, in contrast to the earlier renaming, came with some controversy, but it was also done by the city’s Commissioners with public input, in contrast to the earlier law, which had simply been passed by Congress.
It was not long after B Street SW was renamed that plans began to surface showing the road east of South Capitol Street with a new name. In 1941, a radical plan that would have remade the area between B Streets NE and SE from the Capitol to the Anacostia was promulgated. The plan foresaw the removal of all non-governmental buildings and their replacement by federal buildings as well as some parks. On the plan, B Street SE is labeled ‘Independence Avenue Extension,’ a nod towards the street’s greater importance under the new plan.
Fortunately, the 1941 plan was never implemented, due to violent opposition by those affected, who complained that 80 blocks of houses, as well as “13 churches, several schools, and many long-established businesses” would be eliminated. It can’t have helped that the plan was unveiled a few short months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
In 1950, though, the city tried again. The Washington Post reported on June 11th that a public hearing was to be held eight days later on the proposal to rename B Street NE as Constitution Ave and B Street SE as Independence Ave. The reason given was the increased importance of these two streets in light of the new East Capitol Bridge that was being proposed.
A column by Harry N. Stull published in the Post on June 25 of that year (and from which the quote two paragraphs up is taken) described the unease that some people felt with the project:
Another reason assigned for the change is that it would fit into the long-range plan for developing the area east of the Capitol into an extension of the Mall. The plan referred to has been on the agenda of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission for many years.
Mr. Stull continued that it was unlikely that the full project would come to fruition, as it hadn’t been implemented during the war, so the need for federal office space would likely diminish, rather than increase over the coming years.
In the end, the commissioners voted for the change, and at 7:30 AM on Wednesday, August 30, 1950, city workers began dismantling the old “B St” signs and replacing them with “Independence Avenue” as well as “Constitution Avenue” signs.
