The riots that tore through Washington, D.C., after Martin Luther King’s assassination in April 1968 left many neighborhoods physically and emotionally scarred for decades. Columbia Heights was one of the most adversely affected.

Joseph F. Horning is a  Washington, D.C, native and he is the president of Horning Brothers, a development, construction, and property management company based there. He has worked extensively with nonprofit groups, including community development corporations, in the construction of affordable housing and retail properties.

Tivoli Theater before rehabilitation. Credit: Horning Brothers.

Horning was a key participant in the redevelopment of the Tivoli Theater in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. I interviewed Horning as part of the LISC oral history project (2007-2009). DC LISC has posted excerpts from the 2007 interview at its oral history page (The Transformation of Tivoli Square). Listen to Horning describe his work in Columbia Heights.

Tivoli theater after rehabilitation and redevelopment. Credit: Horning Brothers.

Read more about Columbia Heights and Horning’s work in Becoming What We Can Be: Stories of Community Development in Washington, DC by Tony Proscio (2012).

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