History of 1100 New York Avenue

For more than 40 years, from 1940 to the early 1980s, this Greyhound Bus Lines Super Terminal was an important transportation hub for the city. In the first few years, the station experienced heavy use with servicemen and civilians moving all over the country for the war effort in World War II. Sailors, soldiers and airmen were being moved all over the country. Greyhound Lines played an important role in the war effort due to rationing of gas and rubber and advertised it.

In 1961, it served as the departure point for Freedom Ride 1961, with interracial pairs sitting together in the bus seats and Black riders stationed at the front of the bus. The Freedom Ride became a significant moment for the Civil Rights Movement.

Threatened with demolition after its closure in the 1980s, the Greyhound Bus Terminal was saved by preservationists from the DC Preservation League, the Art Deco Society of Washington, and the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, who mobilized quickly and successfully to have the building added to the DC Inventory of Historic Sites.