History of NMPCA

Initially planned as actual suburbs to the original federal city, Michigan Park is a neighborhood in the Upper Northeast area of Ward 5.  The boundaries of Michigan Park and North Michigan Park neighborhoods are contested due to the history of racial disparity between the two; North Michigan Park being historically Black while Michigan Park being predominately White.  As a whole, the two lie between Eastern Avenue and the Metro tracks to the east and west, and between Gallatin Street to the north and Taylor Street and Michigan Avenue to the south.  Online sources split the area vertically, with some identifying the eastern neighborhood as North Michigan Park. The two civic associations divide the region horizontally, with a line that extends east past Buchanan Street to Eastern Avenue.

Michigan Park was a predominately Catholic community.  The Catholic church owns/owned numerous properties on 12th, 13th and 14th Streets, NE, as well as Providence Hospital, the St. Joseph's Seminary, all of the seminaries on Varnum Street, NE, and the Kennedy Institute. It was routine to see priests and nuns walking in the community. 

The Catholic Church has sold off and/or is leasing numerous properties making way for new development including: 

1) Townhomes of Michigan Park on the St. Joseph's property (opened Nov 2020); 

2) Providence Hospital making way for large tract development; 

3) Kennedy Institute (moving down the block and building the new school) on Buchanan Street; 

4) Carroll Manor Nursing Facility (2006); and 

5) 87 Townhomes coming on Buchanan Street, NE. 

Today, Michigan Park is a diverse family-oriented community (data from the U.S. Census Bureau:  2019-2023 American Community Survey). 

The advent of automobiles and later buses and trucks necessitated new or improved roads. These were built along with or over streetcar tracks, and made way for residential development along South Dakota Avenue, including construction of auto-accessible detached homes in Michigan Park.  Many of these newly developed homes (1920-1950) had restrictive covenants barring blacks from buying in.  A 1937 map from the Federal Housing Administration graded the Michigan Park area as “C3”.  The property in residential areas with this designation represented the third best grade of residential property in the Washington Metropolitan District.

In 1961, residents organized to oppose the construction of the proposed Three Sisters Bridge, I-66, I-95 and the North Central Freeway through Washington, DC.  They successfully blocked the interstate freeway plans from destroying communities in Northeast DC. Funding was subsequently diverted from the proposed freeway to Metro Rail construction - including the Fort Totten Station accessible to the community.

• The first McDonald’s (1961) built in Washington, DC was located at 4950 South Dakota Avenue, NE in North Michigan Park.  McDonald’s is currently being renovated and plans to reopen at the same location in October 2025.

• Established in 1957, the NMP Civic Association serves to unite the citizens of the community for the common good of all, and promote community interest by encouraging members to take an active part in the Association and community affairs.

• In June 1993, Boys Town, U.S.A purchased the 12-acre campus of St. Gertrude’s School at 4801 Sargent Road in Michigan Park to turn it into the first site in the Washington area for an emergency foster home run by Boys Town U.S.A.  

• Boys Town closed in 2024 and planning is now underway by Urban Atlantic for a 170 Unit home development.