Call Box 7 - 7th, R and Rhode Island

Location:  Seventh and R Streets and Rhode Island Avenue, NW (in front of the Watha T Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library
Style:   Modern Fire
Color Scheme:  Red/Orange
Condition:  Missing Access Panel
Subject of Plaque:  Who was Shaw's neighborhood library named for?
Draft Text:

Watha T. Daniel was a Shaw neighborhood resident and activist who lived from 1911 to 1973.  A master plumber by training, in 1967 he became the first African-American appointed to the DC Plumbing Board.

Mr. Daniel was deeply engaged in the livelihood of the Shaw neighborhood and served on numerous boards and commissions. He served on the DC Board of Education's Board of Examiners for Trade Instructors. He was also chairman of the Citizens Housing Advisory Council.  Mayor Walter E. Washington appointed Mr. Daniel to the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Health and the District's LEAA Criminal Justice Advisory Committee.  In the 1960s Mr. Daniel was elected to the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Shaw Neighborhood Development Center, and he became a charter member of the Model Inner City Community Organization (MICCO). Later becoming vice-president of MICCO. He also served as the first chairman of the DC Model Cities Commission, an urban renewal program, between 1968 and 1972.

On September 27, 1975 the DC Public Library opened the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library at 7th St. and Rhode Island Ave., NW.  The original library bearing Mr. Daniel's name was of the Brutalist architectural style.  It was razed in 2008 and replaced by a modern ne, award winning library on the same site that opened in 2010.  

Follow-Up:  

Secure Image of Watha T. Daniel

Image of current condition (6/2012)