History
The name of this charming neighborhood is derived from a plantation owned by Charles Ridgely, who acquired the estate as dowry from his wife, Rebecca, the daughter of John Eager Howard. In 1732 he combined the property with another known as Brotherly Love and named the entire area Ridgely's Delight.
Legend has it that George Washington stopped in one of the homes in Ridgely's Delight to nurse an injured arm, the same home that later became a stop on the Underground Railroad. Participation in the events of both the Revolutionary era and Civil War era is quite an incredible mixture for one neighborhood, and especially one house, but Ridgely's Delight is full of interesting mixtures.
The neighborhood has oscillated between low and high income inhabitants, attempting, sometimes successfully, to have both live in the same area, a very rare phenomenon. In the early 19th century , the small, cozy, Federal-style houses were inhabited by the poorer craftspeople, the first settlers. In the latter part of the century, when the affluent professionals moved in (the area was once nicknamed Professional Row because of the abundance of dentists and doctors who lived there), the architecture gradually transformed to ornate rowhouses.
In the 1970s a similar blending of classes took place, with similar efforts to live together happily without displacing anyone. Gradual urban decay, a phenomenon that effected all center city areas at the time, resulted in a resurgence of lower income residents in the area. The city's Urban Homesteading Program, started in 1973, helped rebuild Ridgely's Delight to its former splendor. The City's $1 homesteading program gave 20th century pioneers a chance to restore faded houses to their former glory with the help of low interest loans. The program attracted many middle and upper income people, particularly from the expensive Washington DC housing market, but made efforts not to cause the displacement of former low rent inhabitants.
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