On February 2, 1935, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt made a visit to several poor areas of the District of Columbia, including Marshall Heights. She had long been concerned with substandard housing, and visited areas of the city with large numbers of alley dwellings and people displaced from their homes by the Great Depression. Roosevelt found dwellings in Marshall Heights to be almost all sheds, and city relief workers began to encourage people to leave the neighborhood and move into better housing elsewhere. At Roosevelt's urging, the District of Columbia Emergency Works Administration (established in early 1934) acted swiftly to improve living conditions in Marshall Heights. By mid-March, the agency had laid of drinking water pipelines in an area bounded by St. Louis Street SE, Central Avenue SE, Fitch Street SE, and 49th and 54th Streets SE. Although only hydrants were supplied, more than 700 people (in 80 families) now received drinking water from city's water supply system.