Col Arthur Emmett Randle

Congress Heights can trace its history to a billboard placed by a hopeful developer, Colonel Arthur Emmett Randle. Randle owned a parcel immediately south of the National Race Course and a small frame public schoolhouse that served all the children in this corner of the District. Congress Heights residents (originally truck farmers, nurserymen, bulb growers, florists, and fruit dealers) coupled with travelers from Maryland created a demand for the basic services and eventually the commercial establishments that today populate an area intersected by Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X Avenues.