Think your commute home today will suck? Check this out … Constitution Avenue circa 1937. By the way, do you know why it’s called Constitution Avenue? If not, read this post. Related articles Bus Strike Creates Traffic Disaster (ghostsofdc.org) Why Is It Named Constitution Avenue? (ghostsofdc.org) Robert Brent: Friend of Thomas Jefferson and Washington City’s First Mayor (ghostsofdc.org) Read More »
This is a guest post by Rick. He also wrote a good one on the alley dwellings in Foggy Bottom. In recent years here in Washington pork has gotten a bad rap. Not the meat; the money. For much of American history one of the more touted claims of incumbents and aspirants alike has been an ability “to bring home the bacon” – ... Read More »
This is a cool drawing that we found in the Library of Congress’ archives. It’s centered on the White House, showing the surrounding area around the 1850s (done in 1984). The bottom left side would be the Ellipse today and the top right is Lafayette Park. Related articles From a GoDCer: A Family Connection to a Tragic Suicide (ghostsofdc.org) ... Read More »
What an amazing old map of Washington, D.C. in 1851. I found this gem on the Library of Congress’ website. Click on it for a much larger version. Dig this map? Want to see more? Sign up for our updates and follow us on Facebook. Related articles Facts and Fictions of D.C.’s Gentrification (urbanplanningblog.com) Epicenter of Macabre Tragedy in 1906: ... Read More »
Stories like this are great. We forget that the men and women we read about in history books and Wikipedia were also normal people just like us — okay, most of them accomplished great things that we likely won’t be able to. The following is a special piece we found in the New York Times from August 13th, 1929. America ... Read More »
This is great old film footage of John F Kennedy in the Oval Office. The narration is in German (I believe – correct me if I’m wrong). Related articles Six Nazi Saboteurs Executed in Washington (ghostsofdc.org) White House South Lawn Helicopter Landing Tests (1957) (ghostsofdc.org) Senator John F. Kennedy Outtakes (ghostsofdc.org) Read More »
Here it is again … your Friday Ghosts of DC trivia challenge. Last week’s winner, Katie, crushed it and is the proud owner of a brand new Officer Sprinkle shirt. We hope you proudly flaunt that shirt around town as the first official GoDC challenge winner. Who’s will be the next big winner? The prize this time is a black GhostsofDC.org ... Read More »
You know how bad it sucks to accidentally lock yourself out of your house. How about when you’re locked in and your home is the White House? Well, that actually happened to President Eisenhower. Here is an amusing article from the Baltimore Sun on August 2nd, 1958. Washington, Aug. 1 (AP)–A 19-year-old blonde from Texas padlocked the White House gate ... Read More »
How tragic is this? On June 15th, 1966, President Johnson‘s beagle was accidentally run over by the White House limousine in the driveway of the mansion. Ugh, that’s terrible. Here’s the report in the Washington Post the following day. The dog, according to the President’s deputy press secretary, Robert H. Fleming, was chasing a squirrel, ran between the front and ... Read More »
On November 27th, 1962, 361 days before Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, the Prime Minister of the Somali Republic, Dr. Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, had an official state visit to the White House. We were able to dig up this obscure film footage on YouTube (the Internet is amazing), which features the visit and ceremony on the South Lawn. Below is the ... Read More »
Everyone is aware of the communist scare stirred up by Senator McCarthy in the 1950s. Due to the media circus around that, sensationalizing it for the masses, it is still what we think of when we talk of anti-communism. We shouldn’t forget that there was a first Red Scare, earlier in the century. McCarthy was on a witch hunt to ... Read More »
We put out a call the other day for some story suggestions and GoDCer from Chicago, Rose, sent along the idea of digging into Clara Barton’s former office and boarding house on 7th St. NW. This excellent video by C-SPAN tells the incredible story of the building and how it had been “lost” for over a century before a construction ... Read More »
The Salahis ain’t got nuthin’ on Doyle Allen Hicks of Waynesville, North Carolina. The former wanted to socialize with the president. The latter wanted to warn the president of a communist takeover. This is a colorful article from the Washington Post, published on September 27th, 1963. Washington, Sept. 26–White House policemen and Secret Service agents subdued a screaming man almost ... Read More »
Things were quite different about a century ago. People were a little more trusting, maybe naïve or innocent. I think this short piece in the Washington Post from January 9th, 1916 illustrates this perfectly. If this happened today, you can bet the response would be vastly different. A man who said he was a physician of Asheville, N. C., caused great ... Read More »
Prohibition was a rowdy time in D.C., much like the rest of the country. The police had to deal with bootleggers constantly in the city. This article from the Washington Times illustrates that in dramatic fashion. The piece was written in the Washington Times, published on October 14th, 1921 (by the way, the first radio broadcast of a World Series ... Read More »
Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington