After the Civil War, modern transportation transformed Anacostia. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opened a branch line along the river here in 1874, bringing industry. Two years later businessman and developer Henry Griswold launched the Anacostia & Potomac River Railroad Co., the first streetcar east of the river. Horse-drawn cars carried passengers over the bridge from the Navy Yard to this area and encouraged Washingtonians with jobs across the river to settle here, while businesses opened near the streetcar stops to serve them. Griswold used the streetcar to help sell property he owned and quickly sold more than 200 lots on the hill to the right, later extending the line to Congress Heights and downtown Washington. In 1900 electric streetcars replaced the horsecars here, shortening the commute to downtown and encouraging more residential development. In 1935 the Anacostia line was among the first in DC to be replaced with buses, considered cheaper to maintain, more flexible, and more modern, and streetcar service in Washington ended completely in 1962. Anita F. Allen remembered that after the tracks were removed and new concrete had been laid, neighborhood children enjoyed a few days of roller skating before traffic resumed. Union Temple Baptist Church, founded in Anacostia in 1967, moved to this block in 1990, and under activist pastor Rev. Willie Wilson the church has fought for community improvements and sponsored the annual Unifest.
