The D.C. Council approved a plan in 2014 to renovate the historic site and build a 10-story office building on the site’s playground. The private Ivymount School for students with disabilities was slated to move into the building after renovations were completed, but those plans fell through earlier this year. (WTOP/Jack Moore)
WASHINGTON — A historic D.C. school that closed nearly a decade ago is set to reopen under a new plan announced by Mayor Muriel Bowser this week.
The Thaddeus Stevens School, which closed in 2008, will reopen as an infant and toddler development center and as an additional classroom space for the nearby School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens, which runs from prekindergarten to eighth grade.
The school was the first in the District built with public funds to educate African American children when it opened its doors in 1868. For years, it stood as the oldest school still in operation.
Bowser, along with Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Niles and D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson announced the move Wednesday.
“By reopening Thaddeus Stevens, we will be able to provide more child care options for D.C. families while expanding access to one of our most sought after elementary and middle schools,” Bowser said in a statement.
Earlier this year, the D.C. Council adopted a Bowser plan to provide more space for child care in D.C.-owned buildings and allocated $11 million for the effort.
Stevens elementary, which has been declared a historic site, sits just off the corner of 21st and L streets in downtown D.C. Named for the abolitionist senator Thaddeus Stevens, it long served as the cornerstone of the historically African-American West End neighborhood.
Its notable roster of alumni includes: Charles Drew, a pioneer in the preservation of blood and plasma who led the American Cross Blood Bank during World War I; Fred Gregory, an Air Force colonel and astronaut, the first African-American to command a space flight; and Grammy-winning soul singer Roberta Flack.
The school became the subject of intense media scrutiny when President Jimmy Carter enrolled his daughter there in 1977 — the only president besides Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 to enroll a first child in public school.
The D.C. Council approved a plan in 2014 to renovate the historic site and build a 10-story office building on the site’s playground. The private Ivymount School for students with disabilities was slated to move into the building after renovations were completed, but those plans fell through earlier this year.
Developers Akrdige and the Argos group are working on the renovations.
