Located about three miles from Washington, D.C., the Penrose Historic District is a planned community in Arlington County associated with the historic, economic, and cultural contributions of African American families. During and after the Civil War, free Blacks and formerly enslaved individuals lived in the government-established Freedman’s Village, but as residents became assimilated into the work force, many families relocated to nearby communities that began to cater to African Americans. Planned development in the area that became Penrose began in 1882 when former Village residents William Butler and Henry Louis Holmes established the Butler-Holmes Subdivision. The neighborhood also attracted middle- and working-class populations with the arrival of streetcar lines that allowed easy access to Washington, D.C. Today, Penrose is a firmly established multicultural and multiethnic neighborhood with domestic architecture representing vernacular forms and Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Craftsman styles.