Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site

Location1318 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington D.C., United States

Coordinates38°54′28″N 77°01′49″W / 38.90778°N 77.03028°W

Area0.07 acres (283 m²)

EstablishedOctober 15, 1982

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House
Location within Washington, D.C. Show map of Central Washington, D.C. Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site (the District of Columbia) Show map of the District of Columbia Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location	1318 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington D.C., United States
Coordinates	38°54′28″N 77°01′49″W / 38.90778°N 77.03028°W / 38.90778; -77.03028
Area	0.07 acres (283 m²)
Established	October 15, 1982
Visitors	3,123 (in 2025)^[1]
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site

The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site preserves the house of Mary McLeod Bethune, located in Northwest Washington, D.C., at 1318 Vermont Avenue NW. National Park Service rangers offer tours of the home, and a video about Bethune's life is shown. It is part of the Logan Circle Historic District.^[2]

The house is about five blocks north-northeast of the McPherson Square Washington Metro on the Blue and Orange Lines, and about five blocks south of the U Street Metro station on the Green Line. It is a half block southwest of Logan Circle.

The site consists of a three-story Victorian^[3]^[4] townhouse and a two-story carriage house. The carriage house contained the National Archives for Black Women's History,^[5] until 2014, when the National Park Service relocated the records^[6] to the National Park Service Museum Resource Center in Landover, Maryland. The archives and a research center at the property are open only by appointment.^[7]

Bethune made her home in the townhouse from 1943 to 1955.^[8] She purchased it for $15,500.^[9] Bethune lived on the third floor, while the National Council of Negro Women occupied the first and second floors. The floor plan of the home remains unchanged from the days when Bethune lived there, and most of the furnishings are original to the home and owned by Bethune and the NCNW.^[10]

Legacy at the Council House

In 1958, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), headquartered in the Council House, launched a campaign to create a permanent memorial to Bethune in Washington, D.C. This initiative reflected Bethune’s enduring legacy, which included founding the NCNW, the largest Black women’s organization in the United States as well as Bethune-Cookman University, which she started as a one-room school with only $1.50. The Council House also preserved important archives documenting Black women’s history, maintained by both the NCNW and the Bethune Foundation. These efforts made the site not only a strategic base for national advocacy but also a lasting symbol of African American women’s leadership and historical preservation.^[11]

Becoming a National Historic Site

After Bethune's death, title to the house passed to the National Council of Negro Women, who continued to use it as a headquarters.^[12] The Council of the District of Columbia added the site to the D.C. Register of Historic Places in 1975, and began a major restoration of the home, carriage house, and grounds.^[9] Archivist and historian Bettye Collier-Thomas was hired to manage the house, which the NCNW and the city hoped to turn into a research archive and museum. Collier-Thomas turned the museum into a nationally prominent one.^[13] After a $150,000 restoration, it opened to the public as a historic house museum in 1981.^[14] The American Institute of Architects awarded the facade and first floor restoration effort a historic preservation citation of merit.^[15]

The structure was proposed as a National Historic Site the same year, but the National Park Service controversially refused to conduct a study that would make this determination.^[2] In 1982, Congress passed legislation requiring the United States Department of the Interior to sign an agreement with the National Council of Negro Women to further restore the house and carriage house, and to establish and maintain a museum and archives in the structure.^[12] Although the NCNW would retain ownership of the house, it would "affiliate" with the National Park Service.^[12] The museum and archives were established. Another $1 million in federal money was spent refurbishing, renovating, and conserving the house.^[16] By 1987, the federal government was paying $300,000 a year to maintain the house and museum, with the remaining two-thirds of the museum's budget coming from corporations, foundations, and private citizens.^[13] Collier-Thomas left the museum in 1989.^[16]

The National Park Service purchased Council House in 1994 and renamed it the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site.^[9] The National Council of Negro Women purchased as its new headquarters Sears House—an $8 million, six-story, 42,000-square-foot (3,900 m²) historic building at 633 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.^[17] The Council House was transferred to the Park Service in October 1996.^[18]

References

↑ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved March 23, 2026.
1 2 Latimer, Leah. "Bethune Home Is Center of Historical Site Debate." Washington Post. May 26, 1982.
↑ Ewert, Sara Dant and Rothman, Hal. Encyclopedia of American National Parks. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2004, p. 406; Kaiser, Harvey H. The National Park Architecture Sourcebook. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008, p. 441; Danilov, Victor J. Women and Museums: A Comprehensive Guide. Lanham, Md.: AltaMira Press, 2005, p. 29.
↑ Some sources say the house is Second Empire in style. See: Vorhees, Mara. Washington, D.C. Melbourne, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 2004, p. 91; Fitzpatrick, Sandra and Goodwin, Maria R. The Guide to Black Washington: Places and Events of Historical and Cultural Significance in the Nation's Capital. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2001, p. 151; Murphy, Kevin D. and Kurzaj, Radek. The American Townhouse. New York: Abrams, 2005, p. 155; "Bethune Home Gets Official National Landmark Status." Jet. December 30, 1991-January 6, 1992, p. 7.
↑ Moker, Molly. The Official Guide to America's National Parks. New York: Fodors Travel, 2009, p. 109.
↑ Ruane, Michael E. (February 26, 2014). "National Park Service to go ahead with Moving Archives from Bethune House". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on November 19, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
↑ "National Archives for Black Women's History". National Park Service. Washington, D.C.: US Department of the Interior. September 20, 2019. Archived from the original on October 22, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
↑ Pohlen, Jerome. Progressive Nation: A Travel Guide With 400+ Left Turns and Inspiring Landmarks. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2008, p. 174.
1 2 3 Holland, Jesse J. Black Men Built the Capitol: Discovering African-American History In and Around Washington, D.C. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press, 2007, p. 93.
↑ Minetor, Randi. Passport to Your National Parks Companion Guide: National Capital Region. Guilford, Conn.: Falcon, 2008, p. 82.
↑ Warren, Kim Cary (August 1, 2024). "Recasting Mary McLeod Bethune's Legacy: Permanence in the U.S. Capitol and Memorializing the Present". Pacific Historical Review. 93 (3): 388–416. doi:10.1525/phr.2024.93.3.388. ISSN 0030-8684.
1 2 3 Eisen, Jack. "Bethune's Home Will Be A National Historic Site." Washington Post. September 24, 1982.
1 2 Elder, Charles. "Funds Sought to Keep Bethune's Legacy Alive." Washington Post. April 27, 1989.
↑ "Black Women's Museum Dedicated." Washington Post. November 12, 1981.
↑ Suave, Frances. "Architects Laud Bethune Museum's Restoration." Washington Post. October 20, 1982.
1 2 Jackson, Leigh. "Bethune Founder Leaves To Take Temple U Post." Washington Post. November 16, 1989.
↑ "Council of Negro Women Buys Building." Washington Post. December 9, 1995.
↑ Trescott, Jacqueline. "An Affirmative Action." Washington Post. September 21, 1996.

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types
Lists by state	List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Lists by insular areas	American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
Lists by associated state	Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau
Other areas	District of Columbia American Legation, Morocco Territorial waters
Lists of specific structure types	Amusement rides Jails and prisons University and college buildings
Related	National Historic Preservation Act Historic Preservation Fund
National Register of Historic Places portal Category

v t e Protected areas of Washington, D.C.
National Historic Sites and Parks	Carter G. Woodson Home Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Ford's Theatre Frederick Douglass Mary McLeod Bethune Council House Pennsylvania Avenue
National Memorials	Dwight D. Eisenhower Franklin Delano Roosevelt Korean War Veterans Lincoln Lyndon Baines Johnson Grove Martin Luther King, Jr. Theodore Roosevelt Island Thomas Jefferson Vietnam Veterans Washington Monument World War I World War II
National Monuments	Belmont–Paul Women's Equality President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home
National Parkways	Baltimore–Washington Clara Barton George Washington Memorial Rock Creek and Potomac
National Trails	Potomac Heritage Captain John Smith Chesapeake Star-Spangled Banner Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route
President's Park	The Ellipse Lafayette Square White House
National Capital Parks-East	Anacostia Fort Circle Fort Dupont Fort Stanton Kenilworth Oxon Run Parkway Shepherd Parkway
Rock Creek Park	Rock Creek Barnard Hill Bryce Dumbarton Oaks Fort Slocum Georgetown Waterfront Glover-Archbold Little Forest Meridian Hill Montrose Old Stone House Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway
Other	National Historic Landmarks National Register of Historic Places

Authority control databases
International	VIAF FAST
National	United States Israel
Other	Yale LUX

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site

Legacy at the Council House

Becoming a National Historic Site

References

External links

Related Articles