Georgetown
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Georgetown is a neighborhood located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., along the Potomac River waterfront. It was formerly a separate city, predating the establishment of the District of Columbia and the founding of Washington, D.C.
As the only existing town at the time, Georgetown was the fashion and cultural center of the newly-formed District of Columbia. As Washington grew, however, the center of social Washington moved east across Rock Creek to the new Victorian homes that sprang up around the city’s traffic circles, and to the gilded age mansions along Massachusetts Avenue. While many “old families” stayed on in Georgetown, the neighborhood was well past its prime by the early 20th century. The neighborhood began to return to its past glory when gentrification began during the 1930s, as a number of members of the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved into the area. By the 1950s, a wave of new post-war residents arrived. Many of these new residents were well-educated, from elite backgrounds and they took a keen interest in the neighborhood’s historic nature. At about the same time, the Citizens Association of Georgetown was formed. The area reached the height of fashionably when Georgetown resident John F. Kennedy was elected president. Kennedy lived in Georgetown in the 1950s as both a Congressman and a Senator. Parties hosted by his wife, Jackie, and many other Georgetown hostesses drew political elites away from downtown clubs and hotels or the upper 16th Street corridor. Kennedy went to his presidential inauguration from his townhouse at 3307 N Street in January 1961. Since then, Georgetown has acquired a reputation as the leading center of wealth and style within the U.S. capital.
Throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries the concentration of wealth in Georgetown sparked the growth of many private college preparatory schools including; Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, National Cathedral School, St. Albans School, and several others.
Many leading figures in politics, media, and commerce reside in this upper-bracket community. Current inhabitants include Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, past Washington Post Editor Ben Bradlee, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Clinton aide George Stephanopolous, and Montana Senator Max Baucus, among others. High-end developments and gentrification have revitalized Georgetown’s formerly blighted industrial waterfront. One remnant is the District’s old refuse incinerator smokestack, preserved as a historic landmark and, as of 2003, incorporated into the layout of a newly built Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Whitehurst Freeway has been proposed for demolition.