Washington Highlands is bounded by 13th Street SE on the northeast, Oxon Run Park on the northwest and southwest, and Southern Avenue on the southeast.

At the time of European colonization of North America, the area known as Washington Highlands was occupied by Nacotchtank tribe of Native Americans, a non-migratory band whose villages lined the northern and southern banks of the Anacostia River.

The flat area below the highlands became farms owned by white settlers, with large numbers of African American slaves working the fields.

[4] In 1890, Colonel Arthur E. Randle,[a][5] a successful newspaper publisher, decided to found a settlement east of the river which he called Congress Heights.

[8] Randle understood that this new bridge would bring rapid development east of the Anacostia River, and he intended to take advantage of it.

[9] On March 2, 1895, Randle founded the Capital Railway Company to construct streetcar lines over the Navy Yard Bridge and down Nichols Avenue to Congress Heights.

Even so, large parts of Washington Highlands remained undeveloped: Many streets existed only on paper, and the southern end of the area was primarily still farmland.

The war brought hundreds of thousands of defense workers into the city, creating a severe housing shortage.

Washington Highland residents were angry that their neighborhood was being turned into a low-income area, but the NCHA pushed the plan through.

But in 1951, the NCHA announced it would not longer segregate its housing complexes in Washington Highlands, and opened them to black residents.

The District of Columbia Housing Authority received 2009 stimulus funding, and allocated $11 million towards rehabilitation of Highland Dwellings.

[24][25] Wheeler Creek is a 314-unit community developed with a 1997 HOPE VI grant which replaced two earlier housing complexes, Valley Green and Skytower.

The apartment building for moderate- and low-income families was financed with federal money, and built by a group of private investors led by Polinger Construction and Judge Marjorie Lawson (a civil rights advisor to President John F.

The Overlook features separate entrances and elevators for the senior citizen and family section, and each unit was wired for broadband Internet.

Retail space in the complex was occupied by a bank, convenience store, hair salon, and geriatric care center.

[30] The Park Southern Apartments were built in 1965 as a public-private partnership, with funding coming from the city, the federal government, and a group of private investors led by Polinger Construction and Judge Lawson.

Strict in his enforcement of housing rules and selective in who he rented to, Crawford created a safe, well-landscaped, well-maintained apartment building which won national praise.

[32][33] The Park Southern attained what The Washington Post called an "iconic" status for both helping very low-income people but maintaining a high standard of living.

[33] The Park Southern Apartments declined after Crawford's departure, and suffered heavily from crime, vandalism, and other problems during the crack cocaine epidemic in the city in the 1980s and early 1990s.

[29][30] The Washington Post reported in July 2014 that PSNC failed to make $628,262 in loan repayments to the city, owed more than $400,000 in unpaid utility and other bills, and that tens of thousands of dollars in tenant security deposits were missing.

Scott, a long-time supporter of D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray, is a notable power-broker in local D.C. Democratic Party politics.

[36] Gray subsequently lost the straw vote, and Bowser was catapulted to front-runner status in the Democratic mayoral primary.

[30] D.C. City Council member David Catania, an Independent candidate for mayor, accused Bowser of improperly intervening in the situation and engaging in ethically questionable conduct.

The Southeast Tennis and Learning Center at 701 Mississippi Avenue SE lies adjacent to Washington Highlands, just across Oxon Run Parkway.

The library was demolished in 2009 and a new $15 million structure, designed by noted international architect David Adjaye, opened in September 2012.

[46] The neighborhood became the focus of media attention in January 2008 when city officials discovered that Washington Highlands resident Banita Jacks had been living for months in her rowhouse with the bodies of her four murdered children in advanced states of decomposition upstairs.

[47] Former notable residents of Washington Highlands include the late Calvin and Wilhelmina Rolark, co-founders of the United Black Fund.

[48] Country music singer and performer Roy Clark (who moved to the District of Columbia at the age of 11) grew up on 1st Street SE.