The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.

Property Name	John Mercer Langston School
Reference Number	13000143
State	District of Columbia
County	Washington
Town	Washington
Street Address	43 P Street NW, Washington, DC
Multiple Property Submission Name	Public School Buildings of Washington. D.C. 1862-1960 MPS
Status	Listed 04/09/2013
Link to full file	http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/places/pdfs/13000143.pdf

The John Mercer Langston Elementary School, a school for African Americans for grades 1-8, was designed by architect Appleton P. Clark, Jr. and built in 1902 to handle the overflow of students from the adjoining 1891 Slater School. In its location at 43 P Street, Langston School forms part of a complex of schools built for African Americans along First Street, NW between L and P Streets in the Shaw East neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The new school was named for John Mercer Langston (1829-1897), the first African-American congressman from Virginia, who also had a distinguished diplomatic, academic and legal career in the District of Columbia. Langston School was one of 31 schools opened between 1895 and 1902 during a period of steady population growth in the District, including along the North Capitol Street corridor.

 

Properties are listed in the National Register of Historic Places under four criteria: A, B, C, and D. For information on what these criterion are and how they are applied, please see our Bulletin on How to Apply the National Register Criteria

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