New Capital Improvements Coming to Historic Tobytown (VIDEO & PHOTO)

The people living in the 26-townhouse community of Tobytown can expect some new capital improvements in their historic neighborhood. The Housing Opportunities Commission has already made progress on the cleanup of the Tobytown cemetery established by former slaves and their families. HOC’s Director of Legislative and Public Affairs says more work is planned for the community’s recreational building and outdoor spaces.

The Tobytown housing development built with federal funds is expected to be removed from the stewardship of the HOC and turned over to residents at some point in the future.

The HOC has taken care of drainage issues, parking lot paving, new sidewalks and handicap spaces in recent months. The residents of Tobytown Drive off of River Road finally got Ride On bus service last year. Most of the people still living in Tobytown are descendents of former slaves who founded the kinship community in the 1800s. The original families once owned hundreds of acres in the area of Montgomery County now known as Potomac.

About Phyllis Armstrong

Phyllis Armstrong is a multimedia journalist with more than 30 years of experience in writing, reporting and broadcasting. She covered a wide range of news interests and issues as a general assignment reporter for WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1984 to 2009. Phyllis has continued to produce feature stories about local restaurants, culinary professionals and minority achievers for several online publications. Cooking, reading and Tai Chi are among are favorite things to do.

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