 Construction of "affordable" housing, notably the Gregory Estates apartments in 1949, was the catalyst for the migration of African-American families from the District of Columbia; before that time, the community had been all white.The right of way of the former Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway was utilized in the early 1940s for the George Palmer Highway, later renamed the Martin Luther King, Jr. Highway.The Addison Road Metro station opened for service on November 22, 1980.