Satellite Images of Crispus Attucks Park over the Years

The images below show aerial views of the park site and its surroundings at different points in its recent history. The orientation is the same for all the photos -- Up is North, Left is West, etc.  V Street runs horizontally across the top, U Street runs horizontally across the bottom, First Street runs vertically along the left side, and North Capital runs vertically along the right side.

1995

The resolution on this image isn't great, but you can clearly make out the large black square roof of the CAMPA building that used to stand at the west end of the park. The building had been closed for 5 years at this point after fire struck in 1990, and was now serving as a place of shelter for homeless people. Drug activity and prostitution were commonplace in the building and across the whole site at this time. Most of the site is asphalt or concrete. All those rectangles you see are illegally parked cars and trucks. This photo must have been taken shortly before the police raided and cleared the site that same year. That was closely followed by the Embassy of Australia's "Clean Up the World" event, which cleaned up the site, sealed the building, and even brought new trees.

1999

Four years later, the extraordinary and sustained efforts of a handful of neighbors with green thumbs and strong backs brought new sections of green to the site. The earlier fire damage to the roof of the CAMPA building is much more clear in this photo.

2002

The CAMPA bullding was demolished in 2001. A few months after this phots was taken, CADC received a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to fill the hole where the building used to be and to begin landscaping the west end of the park.