TRB History

True Reformer Building (TRB) is an historic building constructed for the True Reformers, an African American organization designed to promote social change. The TRB was the first building in the United States to be designed, financed, built, and owned by the African American community after Reconstruction. The building is located at 1200 U Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. in the Shaw neighborhood. It was designed by John Anderson Lankford, the first African-American to be registered as an architect in Washington, D.C. The building was commissioned by the Grand United Order of True Reformers in 1902 and was dedicated on July 15, 1903.

Over the years, the building has housed numerous civic and cultural institutions, including the Washington Conservancy, the DC Chapter of the National Negro Business League, the Boys Club of the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia and the First Separate Battalion, an African-American branch of the DC National Guard that drilled in the building’s basement prior to volunteering to go to the Arizona border during the Mexican-American crisis of 1916 and to Europe in 1917.

The building was used over the years by a host of community organizations, musical groups, and societies for events, celebrations, and concerts. The legendary jazz musician Duke Ellington gave performances here. The Public Welfare Foundation, a DC-based grant making organization purchased the True Reformer Building in 1999 and carefully renovated the building as its new headquarters to better suit the needs of the community.

Today the Public Welfare Foundation is committed to keeping the spirit alive by hosting various events, convenings and celebrations in the auditorium and conference spaces.