workers clean Franklin Square

Franklin Square is one of the biggest city square parks in the city, at 4.79 acres.

1. Natural spring water supplies the White House

Did you know that Franklin Square, once called Fountain Square, was once famous for its natural spring water. According to an article published in the Washington Post on September 22nd, 1929, it was one of the first investments in Washington real estate made by the federal government.

Prior to the arrival of the government in 1800, the land was part of a law and marshy plot of land on John Davidson’s farm, called Port Royal. The land was subdivided in 1796 and the lots comprising the square were acquired in 1801 by Benjamin Stoddert.

Newcomers to the Federal City would frequent the square for access to natural spring water and in 1816 an appropriation was made to acquire the land and spring. A pipeline of hollow logs was run down 13th St. to F and west on F St. to the White House. Water from the spring supplied the White House during Monroe’s time and some of the government offices in the surrounding area.

The water ran to serve the White House until 1832, then the log pipe was discontinued. The springs themselves were used well into the 1880s, until hotels were constructed to the west and north of the park. Constructing the foundations for the buildings seemed to cut off the supply and the springs no longer provided water to the city.

Franklin Square in the snow – April 9th, 1889

2. Franklin Square to be made parking lot

This surely would have been a disaster, leaving a horrible mark on downtown Washington. You might be surprised to find out that this story is not from the 1960s, but from the 1920s. In August of 1924, the District Commissioners were working to make K St. and downtown more driver friendly. K Street was to be widened so as to permit parking in the middle of the road.

Unfortunately, part of this plan needed to make the road 97 1/2 feet wide, which meant cutting into Franklin Square, and the stately homes on the other side of K St. (yes, hard to believe there used to be amazing mansions on K St.). In the middle of the street would be a concrete block of 37 1/2 feet, to be used for parking.

To make it even worse, plans were in the works to use the entire center of Franklin Square for parking. Albert J. Headley, chief of the traffic bureau, proposed to beautify the new lot and make it appear park-like by planting waist-high shrubs to conceal the automobiles.

That sounds like a terrible idea. An op-ed in the Post on August 7th, 1924, agreed.

Motor car congestion in downtown areas has become so serious a problem that the authorities are compelled to devise some means of relief. The recommendation has been made that Franklin square be rearranged to permit the parking of cars in the center, with sufficient shrubbery around the sides to keep up the pretense of a park.

This recommendation should be promptly turned down, and all other suggestions looking to the gobbling of public breathing spaces be rejected. The destruction of the city’s downtown park spaces is not the right solution in any sense. Those spaces are all too few. There should be more small downtown parks. The obliteration of those that have survived would be a blow at the city’s health, and the suggestion can not be entertained.

…

Underground and roof garages are required. The spaces under the streets could be utilized without becoming a public nuisance, as the use of the parks would prove to be. Enterprising downtown builders hereafter should include generous parking spaces in their construction plans. Three floors for parking could be compressed into the space occupied by two ordinary floors. Subbasements and roofs could be used as garages.

Franklin Square map in 1919

3. Civil War barracks

Col. Daniel Butterfield

In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, the park was home to hundreds of soldiers and incoming troops needed to defend the city of Washington. Wooden barracks covered the entire square and the first group to take up quarters on the square was the Twelfth New York State Militia, commanded by Colonel Daniel Butterfield.

It was a few years later, in 1864, that the square actually began taking on the appearance of a park. Walkways were laid out and trees were planted to transform the space into a true city park.

Also, check out this nice series of photos of the park from 1943.

Franklin Square Park in 1943

Franklin Square Park in 1943

mother and daughter in Franklin Square Park (1943)

The post Three Stories About Franklin Square appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Hotel Harrington will have its 100th birthday next year in March. It’s one of the landmark D.C. buildings downtown that was spared the destruction of the redevelopment of the 1970s and 1980s. For a little twist on our “Three Things…” posts, we are going to feature three old advertisements from the hotel’s first year.

But, before we dive into the opening year advertisements, here is a great old photo of the hotel from around 1916, thanks to the Library of Congress.

Hotel Harrington in 1916

1. Opening month advertisement

Here is an advertisement from the Washington Post on April 2nd, 1914, about a month after the hotel opened.

The Hotel Harrington – April 2nd, 1914 (Washington Post)

2. Christmas Day Dinner for $1.00

What a bargain! Christmas Day dinner celebration at the Hotel Harrington for a buck!

Hotel Harrington Christmas 1914 advertisement – December 20th, 1914 (Washington Herald)

3. Hotel Harrington – European Plan

Below is an advertisement we dug up from the Washington Times, listing all the companies involved in building and furnishing the new hotel.

Hotel Harrington advertisement – April 2nd, 1914 (Washington Times)

The post Three Ads for Hotel Harrington in 1914 appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

If you lived in D.C. in the 1980s, seeing a police chase screaming down K St., or any other major thoroughfare, was not a rare occurrence.

So, out of the thousands of chases mentioned in the newspaper archives, we have selected three to share in our next “Three Things …” post.

1. Rum runners crash into Library of Congress

Bootleggers and rum runners. Washington had its fair share in the Roaring Twenties. Below is an article we came across from March 11, 1928 about a wild police chase of rum runners, through the streets of D.C.

Speeding at 70 miles an hour through Southeast Washington streets early yesterday morning, an alleged rum runner, closely pursued by police, lost control of his machine, which crashed into the stone wall surrounding the Library of Congress. Unhurt, the driver of the car and his companion jumped and fled, but were captured. Two hundred and forty half-gallon jars of corn whisky were confiscated, police said.

Those held are Robert Thomas Burgess, 32 years old, charged with reckless driving, illegal possession and transportation of liquor, and Patrick E. Foley, transporting and possessing.

They were captured by Sergt. George M. Little, member of the police flying squadron, and Robert F. Cornett, Federal dry agent, who was recently exonerated by a Baltimore Federal court in the killing of Gundlach, St. Marys County, Md., farmer.

The chase began when the “dry” squad stationed themselves at the District line, on the Marlboro pike, to await the arrival of the suspected liquor car. In a previous skirmish, the machine had escaped, Sergt. Little had said.

Their quarry flashed past at a high rate of speed, and the police car swung into pursuit, which led through Alabama avenue to Good Hope road, and Naylor road to Pennsylvania avenue southeast.

Swerving to avoid wrecking a milk wagon at Second and B streets, the driver of the fleeing car lost control and it plunged into the wall, from which it glanced to an electric light pole, about 200 feet distant. Mowing down the pole the automobile again collided with the wall, and bounded back into the street, where it came to a stop against the curbing.

run runners wreck at the Library of Congress (Washington Post)

2. An 80-mile-an-hour chase from Chevy Chase Circle

Six months before D-Day, a wild police chase through from Chevy Chase to Georgia Ave., NW, ended in a massive crash and fireball. Behind the wheel was a young man in the navy from Bainbridge, Maryland. Below is the report in the Washington Post on January 7th, 1944.

An 80-mile-an-hour chase involving police scout cars and an automobile stolen from an undertaking firm, ended early yesterday when the auto, driven by a young sailor, crashed into the brick columns of a bus barn at Georgia ave. and V St. nw., and caught fire.

The sailor, Charles Steven Thornburg, attached to the Naval Training Center at Bainbridge, Md., suffered a broken leg, possible skull fracture and internal injuries. His condition as described as critical at Garfield Hospital.

The chase began when police observed the car at Chevy Chase Circle. They started pursuit and reported via two-way radio to Charles Clay, jr., police radio dispatcher. Clay assigned other scout cars to the chase, and the speeding car was later seen at Georgia ave. and Peabody st. nw.

The chase continued south to Park rd. as reports were flashed to Clay, who dispatched other scout cars to the vicinity with instructions to block the street. Finally reaching V st., the auto piled up against the brick columns. Segments of the radiator flew off and broke a plate glass window across the street at 2113 Georgia ave. Fire apparatus and an ambulance were dispatched there.

The wrecked sedan was stolen from Joseph Gawler’s Sons, Inc., 1756 Pennsylvania ave. nw, police said.

police chase wreck – January 7th, 1944 (Washington Post)

3. Officer Rainey chases ‘em down on his Harley

Officer Maurice A. Rainey, Park Policeman, gives you two chases here for the price of one. The first was a report we found in the Washington Post from October 2nd, 1921.

Park Policeman M.A. Rainey, who was reprimanded by Judge Mattingly in the Police court early in the week for alleged “wild west tactics” in bringing a speeding motorist to a halt, was yesterday commended for his work by Col. C.O. Sherrill, superintendent of public buildings and grounds.

Col. Sherrill conducted an investigation into the incident, and after a hearing in his office yesterday stated that Rainey’s “actions were beyond criticism and were most admirable.” He expressed his appreciation of the aid given Rainey in making the arrest by Serg. F. Wilson, Gen. Pershing’s chauffeur, and Park Policemen C.D. Fortner and O.E. Morgan.

Rainey’s second major chase, as reported by the papers was on Sunday, February 26th, 1922.

An exciting chase between Park Policeman Maurice A. Rainey, stationed on the speedway, and an alleged bootleg automobile through the streets of the northwestern section, early Sunday, resulted in the machine crashing into a tree at Twenty-sixth street and New York avenue northwest, wrecking it. The alleged bootleggers escaped. The bootleggers threw a quantity of Scotch whisky, Rainey declared, from the the speeding machine. The wrecked car was confiscated by the police and revenue agents. When the bootleggers jumped from the machine Rainey abandoned his motorcycle and gave chase on foot, but was outdistanced by the negroes.

Officer Rainey is pictured in the photograph below, posing on his sweet Harley, in front of the White House. He’s no Officer Sprinkle, but still … pretty cool.

At the White House gates. “M.A. Rainey, October 5, 1922.” National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

The post Three Wild Police Chases on the Streets of D.C. appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Ghost Dog took last week off, but she’s back this today with three stories about Sheridan Circle.

Ghost Dog standing guard at Sheridan Circle

The circle is a quiet one at the intersection of Mass. Ave, 23rd St. and R St. NW. In 1888, the District Commissioners decided to name the circle after Civil War General Philip H. Sheridan

1. Bomb blast kills ex-ambassador and aide

Political assassinations are not common occurrences in Washington. Given the abundance of embassies, diplomats and spies, it is extremely rare when something like this happens. Wednesday, September 21st, 1976 at 9:35 a.m. was one of those rare moments.

Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean Ambassador to the U.S., was driving to work with his aide, Ronni Moffett, and her husband Michael Moffitt in the back seat. The car entered Sheridan Circle, and as it was approached the Irish embassy, a massive explosion ripped through the vehicle, lifting it into the air.

It crashed into an illegally parked Volkswagon and came to rest.

aftermath of the car bombing in Sheridan Circle

Michael was able to climb out of the rear window and saw his wife Ronni staggering away from the vehicle. Assuming she was fine, he returned to help Letelier who was barely conscious. A large hole had been ripped below the driver’s seat, where the bomb had been placed to direct the force of the explosion up through the seat. Letelier’s lower torso had been blown away.

Ronni and Orlando were both taken to the George Washington University Medical Center. Letelier died almost immediately upon arrival, having little chance of survival. Ronni was bleeding profusely from her mouth, and it was later discovered that her larynx and carotid artery had been severed by shrapnel. She died at the hospital, an hour later.

It was later discovered that the assassination was an attack by Chilean secret police DINA, on the orders of dictator Augusto Pinochet during Operation Condor.

The saddest part was reading the Washington Post article published the following day.

The Moffitts were passengers in Letelier’s car by sheer coincidence, Michael Moffitt said last night in a tearful interview at his Potomac home, where he was provided a police guard. Because their own car had broken down Monday night, Moffitt said, he and his wife rode with Letelier to his Bethesda home. Then they drove to their own Potomac home in Letelier’s car.

Yesterday morning, the Moffitts returned to pick up Letelier, waiting inside his house for about 15 minutes while he talked on the telephone. Then all three left for work in the same car.

Letelier/Moffitt monument

Letelier was a senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Moffitt was a development associate. Each October, IPS hosts an award in their names, the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards.

Walking by the same spot today, you will see the Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt monument, inscribed with “Justice – Peace – Dignity.”

2. The city’s most beautiful residential district

It’s hard to counter the claim that the area around Sheridan Circle is the most beautiful residential neighborhood in Washington. Expanding out from the circle is a collection of some of the most massive and ornate mansions.

Their days of serving as the homes of Washington’s rich are long gone, but foreign embassies have taken over most of them and a large number survive today, though some in great disrepair (read the Post’s piece on this from 2008).

Washington Times – December 19th, 1908

The Washington Times has a great article about the rise of Sheridan Circle as the epicenter of Washington’s mansions, published on Saturday, December 19th, 1908.

One of the most prominent sections of Washington today is Sheridan circle. General attention to it was recently compelled by the unveiling of the statue of General Sheridan, and the resident public discovered that it had been drawn to what is perhaps the finest residential location in the city. It easily equals, if it does not surpass, famous Dupont circle.

Different from the latter exclusive section Sheridan circle is not intersected by car lines. The surroundings are quiet, seeming to create an atmosphere of substantial luxury and refinement. The circle is now almost completed. Save for unfinished residences in two or three instances, little remains to be done to make the section a permanent addition to the other fine residential sections of the city, famous throughout the country for architectural beauty, combined with the sumptuousness provided by wealth.

Sheridan circle may be said to be the center of palaces. Within a radius of a few squares, furthermore, are scores of other palatial residences, to use a well-worn but favorite term. There is some open space on the extreme west side of the circle, where, on account of the slope of the land toward Rock Creek valley the ground has naturally been the last to be taken for expensive residences. On practically every other lot in and near the circle, however, magnificent homes such as those referred to have been erected.

…

On the opposite side of Massachusetts avenue is the home of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, with Flemish bond finish and slated mansard roof. Adjoining it on the east is another magnificent house of similar style, and then follows a row of attractive, although less pretentious houses of Roman brick, with brownstone trimmings.

3. Pranksters dress Sheridan’s statue with undergarments

Here’s an amusing story from the Washington Post on May 8th, 1911. Seems like a few of the neighborhood kids were keen on pulling some pranks.

Decorated with a nightcap, laces, and other pieces of lingerie, the statue of Gen. Phil Sheridan, in Sheridan circle, Twenty-third street and Massachusetts avenue, presented a strange and unwonted appearance last night.

The nightcap, trimmed with laces and adorned with yards of pink and blue ribbon, perched rakishly on one side of the old warrior’s head, while long streamers of blue ribbon were drawn tightly under the chin of the statue and tied in a neat bow. Draped about the shoulders was a flimsy garment, abounding in lace and insertion, which was drawn across the breast and pinned, and streamers of ribbon hung down in front.

To be in keeping with the new dress of its rider, the horse also wore special adornments, several yards of ribbon and laces gayly floating in the light wind from the tail, while about the ears were tied bows of ribbon and lace.

In the outstretched hand of the statue was placed a lady’s handkerchief, with a wide border of lace.

The work is believe to be the prank of some boys of the neighborhood, for whom the police are now searching.

Sheridan statue in 1939 (Library of Congress)

The post Ghost Dog Has Three Stories From Sheridan Circle appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

This will be a nice twist on our “Three Things…” theme. GoDC buddy Wayne emailed last week and asked the question that everyone asks. Where is J Street? Because it’s not where it’s supposed to be, between I and K streets.

There are quite a few theories on this, and below are three of the most popular ones.

1. A political rivalry?

Many believe the missing J Street is due to Pierre L’Enfant’s disdain for John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Why would L’Enfant hold such contempt for Jay?

John Jay

Many amateur (and not very good) historians claim that it was due to the Jay Treaty, negotiated in 1794. The treaty averted the reignition of war between Great Britain and the young United States. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and the Federalist Party, with the support of President Washington, settled issues regarding remaining British troops in the northwest (i.e., just west of Pennsylvania), the northern border with Canada, and trade.

The Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican party was strongly against this, fearing closer ties with Britain, while leaning closer to, and favoring the French.

Being from rival political parties, Jay and Jefferson were at odds. Jefferson’s adoration of the French, L’Enfant being a Frenchman, tasked with designing the new federal city, plus Jefferson’s involvement in the new city, all allow people to draw the conclusion that the rivalry between Jefferson and Jay is the reason no J Street exists.

This sounds like a nasty, but subtle, way to get back at a political enemy. And, one that lasts for eternity (or as long as the  Federal City exists).

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this theory is false. Pierre L’Enfant had been relieved of his duties in 1792, basically due to stubbornness and inability to work well with others, and the job of designing the city was turned over the Andrew and Benjamin Ellicott. That’s a full two years before the Jay Treaty.

2. K is for kilo

The east-west streets of the new city, as laid out by Pierre L’Enfant, were to be in alphabetical order. The vision was already laid out for a grand public space, 400 feet wide, which would become the National Mall. Another grand boulevard was to travel between the house of Congress and the house of the President, to be named Pennsylvania Avenue.

Another grand street was made out of the 10th east-west street, north of the Mall. This street was to be twice as wide as the other streets and since it was the 10th street, it should have bore the letter J as its name. But, this is the street (and main thoroughfare) we now call K Street.

Maybe the instead of the 1000 block of any north-south street starting at J St., it should start at K St. After all, K is the universal symbol used to abbreviate the number 1,000.

Well, this too is false. K is short for kilo in the metric system, a the prefix derived from the Greek word meaning thousand. What debunks this theory is that the metric system was not introduced until 1799 in France, well after the L’Enfant Plan was formalized.

A theory that makes you sound really intelligent while telling it at bars, but … sorry, false.

1791 L’Enfant Plan of the new city

3. Blame it on the Latin alphabet

Okay, ready for the true story behind the lack of a J Street in Washington, D.C.? It’s not nearly as creative as the previous two, but people will be impressed, nonetheless, when you share this with them.

The real reason behind our missing J Street is because in the English alphabet, the letter J looked too much like the letter I. The alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and there is no letter J in Latin.

On occasion, during the Middle Ages, a j would be used as a substitute for the final i in Roman numerals (e.g., iij for 3 instead of iii, or xxviij for 23).

So, the real story for the lack of a J Street is due to the similarity with the letter I, and to avoid any confusion, it was omitted from the city grid.

To add one more interesting J-related bit of trivia, in order to avoid the same letter confusion, there is no company J in a U.S. Army battalion. Interesting.

We should note that there is a Jay Street in Northeast. Also, read the Wikipedia article on the letter “J.” It’s pretty interesting.

The post Where Is J Street? Three Competing Theories. appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Ghost Dog visits the Duke Ellington Bridge

Ghost Dog went on another walk this past weekend to seek out three more stories for the GoDC community. This time, she passed through Adams Morgan, en route to the Duke Ellington Bridge (formerly known as the Calvert Street Bridge). It was named in honor of Washington’s native son in 1974, after Ellington’s death.

Construction on the bridge began in 1933 to replace the original 1891 streetcar bridge built by the Rock Creek Railway. That old bridge was a steel trestle bridge with a wooden roadway … and most likely a scary experience, riding 750 feet across over 100 feet over Rock Creek.

What’s really amazing is the old bridge was moved 80 feet south to be kept in service while the new bridge was being built. And, the bridge was successfully moved in 48 hours!

original Calvert St. bridge around 1910 (Library of Congress)

Ghost Dog had no problem walking over the current bridge and she (BTW, Ghost Dog is a girl) scouted out some stories. These are the three she came up with.

1. Opening day after $1,175,000: December 19th, 1935

The opening of the bridge in the evening of December 19th, 1935, was a grand affair, attending by over 30,000 people. Below is the Washington Post piece detailing the formal dedication of the bridge.

In and above the valley of Rock Creek, where violet and green and red spotlights played upon the three limestone-faced arches, 30,000 Washingtonians and a United States Senator from Oklahoma last night formally opened the new $1,175,000 Calvert Street Bridge.

Actually, half of it had been open to traffic since October 14.

Two little girls–Geraldine Clark, 4, daughter of the Assistant Engineer Commissioner, serious and soulfully brunette  and tinier, smiling Ann Laser, 6, with a big blue ribbon in her tumbled yellow curls–snipped the white tape that let traffic through for the first time along both lanes.

Then the parade swung across–big black limousines, carrying Commissioners Melvin C. Hazen and Dan I. Sultan and Board o Trade and citizens’ leaders.

Off to Connecticut avenue, the parade blared; then up to Woodley road; and so to Cathedral avenue and down into the valley of Rock Creek.

The reviewing stand was halfway down the valley, and half the parade never got there–three sections, the labor, commercial, and American Legion groups, were disbanded on Woodley road to save reviewing time so that the reviewers might go on father down the valley to speakers’ stand in time for the radio program.

All told, the full parade had 1,413 participants, in 106 automobiles and five floats; it had 10 bands; and it took 35 minutes to pass Eighteenth street and Kalorama road.

…

Commissioner Sultan said:

“It is a monument to the engineering profession, a thing of beauty that should serve for many years to come–I hope for a century.”

Commissioner Hazen said:

“It is a magnificent Christmas gift to the City of Washington.”

Senator Elmer Thomas, of Oklahoma, who guides District appropriations through the upper House, said:

“This is the bridge that gasoline built. It was paid for out of gasoline taxes, most of it, not all of them paid by residents of the District. Pennies for this bridge came from residents of Virginia and Maryland, even of foreign countries. This is one of the wonders of Washington.”

I love that label. One of the wonders of Washington.

There is also another interesting Oklahoma connection in Woodley Park. The Oklahoma State Society used to occupy the Greenberg House at 2301 Calvert St. (currently occupied by Syracuse University’s D.C. program).

Duke Ellington Bridge (Wikipedia)

2. Girl survives 100-foot fall plunge

Barbara Truitt (Washington Post)

Yes, the story is as crazy as it sounds. Below is an article we came across in the Washington Post from May 26, 1953.

An attractive, 19-year-old radio station clerk survived a 100-foot plunge from the Calvert st. bridge yesterday afternoon.

The girl, Barbara Truitt, of 3025 15th st. nw., vaulted over a railing in the middle of the bridge about 1:15 p. m., a witness told police. Physicians said she will live.

Police said when they found her under the bridge, she was moaning: “Let me die. Why didn’t I die. Put me out of my pain.”

Eighth Precinct Pvts. Kenneth E. Tippet and George Meikle, who arrived shortly after the plunge, said the girl’s fall was broken by a thick cluster of tree limbs.

Taken to Emergency Hospital, she was reported to be in “fairly good” condition, though suffering from fractures of all limbs, including a compound fracture of the left left, and possible back injuries. She later was transferred to Gallinger Hospital.

…

Employed at WTOP since last August, Miss Truitt moved to her 15th st. apartment a month ago.

3. Compromise on aesthetics to save lives

Sadly the Duke Ellington Bridge, like all bridges, was a prime location for suicides. The newspaper archives are full of tragic stories of depression and death. In one 10-day span in the 1980s, there were three deaths. Between 1978 and 1985, there were 40.

It was a horrible, growing trend that needed to be addressed. Unfortunately, for some, it meant compromising the aesthetic beauty of this grand triumph of engineering.

Construction on a fence began in 1985, but it was halted midway through completion due to loud protests by Ward 1 residents.

By December of that year, Mayor Marion Barry stepped in to announce that the fence would be completed to prevent any further suicides. Below is the article from the Washington Post, published on December 19th, 1985.

Mayor Marion Barry said yesterday that the city will finish construction of an eight-foot suicide barrier along the Calvert Street bridge that was halted after strong opposition from neighborhood groups and preservationists.

“Life is more important than esthetics,” Barry said.

In the last eight years, 37 persons have jumped off the bridge, known officially as the Duke Ellington Bridge. and a nearby span on Connecticut Avenue.

Opposition to the fence has come from City Council member Frank Smith (D-Ward 1), neighborhood groups and preservationists who have argued that such a barrier would be unsightly and would not stop those determined to jump from the Ellington bridge, the landmark arch over Rock Creek where most of the suicides have occurred.

James Morrison of the Kalorama Citizens Association said his group opposes Barry’s decision.

The mayor said that the fence would be erected on a trial basis and that its effectiveness would be reviewed in one year. A spokesman for the mayor said he believe the fence would be completed only along the Calvert Street bridge and not the Connecticut Avenue span.

aerial view of Duke Ellington Bridge in 1993 (Library of Congress)

The post Ghost Dog Fetches Three Stories About the Duke Ellington Bridge appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Faithful and extremely patient GoDCer Jeff requests some time ago that we do a piece on the Northumberland, just north of U St. Our apologies for the long delay in getting to your request, but hopefully you’ll agree that it’s better late than never.

The building at 2039 New Hampshire Ave. NW, was built in 1910 by the famous local developer Harry Wardman and architect Albert H. Beers. Originally opening as luxury apartments, it was home to many prominent members of Washington society, including Members of Congress, and the wealthy local elite.

The Northumberland (Wikipedia)

As a side note, you might find it amusing that in 1914, the entire building was valued at $375,000, according to an article in the Washington Times, and it generated an annual aggregate rental income of $39,300.

In 1920, the building was converted into a cooperative, becoming the oldest, continuously self-managed cooperative building in the city. Read more about the building and its history at northumberlandapartments.com. I bet your building doesn’t have a website like this.

You know what’s even cooler? There is a full-scale, legit documentary  that you can watch online. Check it out at the bottom of this post.

1. The building becomes a cooperative

After a full decade as a luxurious apartment building, The Northumberland Apartments was converted into cooperatives. Ar article in the Washington Post mentions the disposition of apartments as cooperatives on October 10th, 1920.

The sale of the Northumberland apartments, New Hampshire avenue and V street northwest, to the “Northumberland Apartments, Inc.” has been announced by the Union Realty Corporation, Evans building. The purchasing company will dispose of individual apartments on the cooperative plan. C. C. Calhoun and James Sharp made the sale.

The Northumberland is a seven-story, modern, fireproof building, containing 69 apartments, varying in size from two to seven rooms. It was built about nine years ago.

real estate advertisement in the Washington Times – March 26th, 1921

2. Business man, Civil War veteran Charles F. Benjamin dies

Below is an interesting obituary that we came across from 1915. A prominent D.C. resident and Civil War veteran, Charles F. Benjamin, who had been living in Washington for half a century, died on May 5th, 1915. Below is the article from the Washington Post.

 Charles F. Benjamin, for more than 50 years a resident of Washington, died yesterday afternoon at his apartment in the Northumberland. He was born in London, England, 73 years ago. Coming to this country when a boy, he resided in New York until the outbreak of the civil war [sic], when he enlisted at the age of 18 in the Fifty-fifth New York Volunteers. He was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks. He was with Gen. Seth Williams, adjutant general of Mead’s army, at the battle [sic] of Gettysburg and shortly after was transferred to the War Department, where he became confidential clerk to Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. He remained in the department until Grant’s first administration, when he was appointed chief clerk of the Southern claims commission.

Mr. Benjamin, while still in government service, graduated from Georgetown University Law School, afterward taking the graduate course at Columbian University. He was an active member of the Washington bar at the time of his death. He was one of the founders of the Perpetual Building Association, and for the past eight years had been its president. …

…

Mr. Benjamin married, in 1869, Virginia Jay, daughter of Jabez and Nancy Jay, who resided for many years on Eleventh street, near F. His wife died six years ago. He is survived by his five children, Charles L. Benjamin and Frederick J. Benjamin, of Milwaukee, and Hobart Benjamin, Virginia Sarah Benjamin, and Irving C. Benjamin, of Washington.

The Northumberland Apartments between 1910 and 1915 (Library of Congress)

3. Who lived here in 1920?

If you live in the Northumberland, you’re going to like this. Who lived in your unit 93 years ago? Why not find out by checking out the 1920 U.S. Census below.

Initially this was going to be a story about a teenager, John H. Metzerott, Jr., who was shot in 1919. Two men were attempting to steal a tire from his father’s car, while they were at the family farm in Berwyn. John Jr. confronted the men and was shot at point blank range in the left shoulder. To make it even more bizarre, he had to drive himself to the hospital in his father’s car, because John Sr. did not know how to drive.

I came across the census looking for information on the Metzerott family, who lived in the Northumberland, and thought it would be great to have the GoDC community check out the full list of residents in the 69 apartments. Imagine the friendships, the rivalries, the strangers, the newcomers and the old-timers. It’s fascinating to think of the relationships and dynamics of the Northumberland community.

The Northumberland Apartments in the 1920 U.S. Census (page 1)

The Northumberland Apartments in the 1920 U.S. Census (page 2)

The Northumberland Apartments in the 1920 U.S. Census (page 3)

The Northumberland Apartments in the 1920 U.S. Census

And here is the video I mentioned earlier. I think it’s safe to say that your building doesn’t have a documentary made about it like this.

The post Three Stories from the Northumberland Apartments appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

The National Arboretum is an underappreciated gem in the heart of Northeast D.C. About two miles from the Capitol Building, situated on New York Ave., it covers 446 acres and has been in operation since 1927.

If you have never visited, you need to go there this weekend, because you can easily spend hours getting lost and enjoying the natural setting.

That is exactly what Mrs. Ghost, Ghost Dog, and I did this past weekend. Ghost Dog loved running around the old Capitol Columns so much that we collectively decided to dig up three stories to share with the GoDC community. So here you go … inspired by Ghost Dog herself.

Ghost Dog at the old Capitol columns in the National Arboretum (looking for stories)

1. Government inaugurates an elaborate experimental park

In 1927, President Coolidge approved the establishment of a national arboretum on Mount Hamilton, close to the Maryland border. Unfortunately for nature lovers and scientists, the approval did not include any appropriation of funding.

The vision for the arboretum was to create the best and largest garden on the planet, twice as large as what we actually have today. Below is an article from the Baltimore Sun on May 12th, 1929, detailing the birth of our great arboretum.

A great national arboretum in which will be gathered trees and shrubs from all over the world is about to be established by the Federal Government as a laboratory for the scientists who devote their lives to research in tree and plant life.

This unusual garden, which eventually will surpass anything of its kind in the world, will be situated in an 800-acre tract within the District of Columbia between the Bladensburg road, leading to Baltimore, and the Anacostia river. It will be but two miles from the Capitol.

There will be gathered the banyan tree, whose branches droop to the ground and sprout up new trunks until long colonnades are formed on all sides; the upas tree of Java, whose poison, it is said, will kill anyone who sleeps beneath its branches; the mimosa, some of which can be seen around Baltimore, whose leaves close and “go to sleep” at sundown only to reopen again in the morning; and many of her strange trees which scientists of the Department of Agriculture, which will have supervision of the arboretum, plan to set out for experiment and study. As the years go by, and curious species of trees and shrubs develop,e the arboretum will become an attraction for tourists and lovers of beauty.

…

The site selected, known as Mount Hamilton, from the largest of the three peaks it contains, consists of 400 acres adjoining another tract of 400 acres already owned by the Government. Negotiations for its purchase are now being made and it is contemplated that actual appropriations will be voted next winter. In the meantime scientists of the Department of Agriculture are planning their tree garden.

Mount Hamilton is said to be particularly suited to such a purpose. Its lands vary from the wood-covered knobs to the marshes of the Anacostia flats, where wild rice grows and birds gather for food. … Since Washington is midway between North and South, they pointed out, it will be more suitable to a general growth of different species than an arboretum situated in either extreme of latitude.

old Capitol columns at the National Arboretum (Library of Congress)

2. New York team wins annual White House police pistol match

This is an interesting article we came across from May 4th, 1958. The annual White House pistol match was held at the National Arboretum, and a team composed of New York police officers took the prize.

New York police teams took the two major trophies yesterday in the Fifth Annual Pistol Match sponsored by the White House Police at the range the National Arboretum.

The Coffelt Memorial Trophy went to New York State Police Team No. 1, with a score of 1195 out of a possible 1200.

Second was the New York Port Authority Police Team, defending champions, who score [sic] 1192. The Maryland State Police Team No. 1, with 1189, was third.

The trophy is named for White House Guard Leslie Coffelt who died Nov. 2, 1950, of wounds suffered when protecting President Truman from two assassins.

The Ford Memorial Trophy was won by the New York City Police Team No. 1, which set a new range record of 1197. Second was the New York State Team No. 1, 1194, and the Baltimore City Police team was third, scoring 1192.

Edward Campbell of the Baltimore Police won first place in the individual match with a perfect score of 300, including 27 bull’s-eyes. Pennsylvania State Trooper G, Evan was second, scoring 300, with 25 bull’s-eyes and New York Port Security Officer Joe Wraga took third in a play-off, with a base score equal to Evan’s.

I’m pretty sure that shooting range no longer exists.

path in the National Arboretum

3. Fire to keep warm accidentally burns five acres

Brush fires are something you really only see out west. Rarely are you going to read anything about them on the East Coast, and definitely not in D.C. But, that wasn’t the case in March 1957. The Washington Post had an article about an accidental fire set in the National Arboretum.

Edward Goodman, 43, who told police he set fires for warmth, was arrested yesterday after fire burned about five acres of brush on the National Arboretum, near South Dakota ave. ne. and the Baltimore-Washington pkwy.

Goodman, of no fixed address, was charged with vagrancy and sent to D. C. General Hospital for observation. Firemen were fighting the fire when they noticed Goodman starting another fire nearby, police reported. He was arrested on the scene.

Goodman told the police he recently had been released from the reformatory at Jessups, Md. The fire burned only brush and stumps and endangered no buildings. Two engine companies extinguished the flames in two hours.

The post Ghost Dog Visits the National Arboretum to Dig Up Three Stories appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

GoDCer Patrick sent in a great suggestion a couple of weeks ago and we’re now digging up some great stories about the Quaker house on Florida (i.e., The Friends Meeting of Washington, D.C.).

The Quakers, also known as the Religious Society of Friends, dates back to the mid 1600s in England. To escape religious persecution, they began emigrating to New England. Interestingly, only two original colonies tolerated Quakers, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, where the largest groups began settling.

Well known for their pacifism, a number of notable Brits and Americans have been part of the church, including Susan B. Anthony, Joan Baez, Judi Dench, George Cadbury (i.e., the chocolate guy), Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Dolley Madison, Dave Matthews (yes, that one), James Michener, Edward R. Murrow, Presidents Hoover and Nixon, William Penn, Bonnie Raitt, and quite a few more.

Contrary to common belief, Benjamin Franklin was not a Quaker.

So, let’s share three interesting stories from the Quaker Meeting House on Florida Ave.

Florida Avenue Friends Meeting House (Haverford College)

1. President and Mrs. Hoover at opening

Built in 1930, the dedication and first services at The Friends Meeting of Washinton, D.C. took place early in 1931. The Washington Post published the following account of the service.

President and Mrs. Hoover were present yesterday at the first services conducted in the new Friends Meeting House at 2111 Florida avenue northwest.

Many Government Officials, members of Congress and persons in all walks of life, gathered at the new house of worship with the President of the United States and the First Lady of the land. Long before the service began, the building was filled to capacity, and hundreds crowded about the doors.

The edifice is of colonial design and is considered the most beautiful building of its kind in the Eastern section of the United States.

It was constructed as a national institution and will be used as a meeting place by Friends from all parts of the country.

Those who made addresses were Dr. Augustus T. Murray, of Palo Alto, Calif.; Henry Roth, Miss Esther Smith, George Waltham and Dr. Hornell Hart.

Never knew that Hoover was a Quaker. Frankly, didn’t know Nixon was either. Did you?

inside the Florida Avenue Quaker Meeting House (Haverford College)

2. Dynamited civil rights leader to speak

On Tuesday, February 26th, 1957, the meeting house hosted the Ralph D. Abernathy from Montgomery, Alabama. At the epicenter of the civil rights movement, he served as the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Montgomery and was targeted in a bomb attack in January of that year.

The Washington Post published a short piece about Abernathy speaking at the meeting house.

The Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Montgomerty, Ala., whose home was damaged by dynamite last month, will speak at the Friends Meeting House, 2111 Florida ave. nw., 8 p. m. Tuesday.

Mr. Abernathy is vice president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and an associate of its president, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in the months-long bus strike in Montgomery.

“Non-Violence and the Struggle for Equality and Justice” will be the subject of his talk, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and the Joint Committees on Peace and Social Order of the Washington Friends.

Ralph was a contemporary and good friend of Martin Luther King, Jr., enduring numerous injustices at the hands of southern police officials, including 44 arrests and numerous property confiscations. Abernathy was at the March on Washington with King and shared Room 306 with him at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King was assassinated.

Florida Avenue Quaker Meeting House (Haverford College)

3. Washington Post editor, Ben Bradlee, sued for assault

Yes, very bizarre. The headline “$500,000 Suit Filed Against Post Editor” was certainly intriguing, especially in the context of a pacifist Quaker post. This was published on November 14th, 1979.

A $500,000 suit has been filed in D.C. Superior Court accusing Benjamin C. Bradlee, executive editor of the Washington Post, of assault, battery and defamation.

The suit was brought by Henry Rosin of the District of Columbia in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred Aug. 14 at the Friends Meeting House, 2111 Florida Ave. NW, following funeral services for Laurence M. Stern, assistant managing editor for national news of The Post.

Bradlee declined yesterday to comment on the suit. He referred questions to his attorney, Edward B. Williams.

Sadly, we couldn’t dig up much else on this lawsuit, but we were able to find out that Rosin had written some letters to the editor denouncing the Post’s coverage of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s. He claimed that the Post characterized much of what was said about Khmer Rouge as being “cold war propaganda.” Given this disdain for the publication, we’re guessing there was a less-than friendly exchange of words between the two men.

Friends Meeting House of Washington, D.C. (Wikipedia)

By the way, Haverford College has a great collection of images for the meeting house that you can check out.

The post Three Stories About the Quaker Meeting House appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

As Mrs. Ghost went Christmas shopping this past weekend, I decided to go for a walk to explore the streets of Georgetown.

The part of town most tourists think of when Washington history is mentioned, Georgetown is home to innumerable notable people and some regular folk as well.

This installment of “Three Things…” will highlight the homes of three notable United States Senators, all with the name John and all three ran for president.

1. John F. Kennedy – 3307 N St. NW

John F. Kennedy’s former residence – 3307 N St. NW

The former home of the 35th president is not numbered, but you can’t miss it. JFK and Jackie had several homes in Georgetown during their time before the White House, but one is notable because it was from this house that he departed on January 20th, 1961 to take the oath of office at the Capitol and give his famous “ask not what your country can do for you” speech.

2. John Kerry – 3322 O St. NW

John Kerry’s Georgetown residence

This is one of at least five homes owned by John and Teresa. The Bodisco House at 3322 O St. is a massive brick building, just a block away from Kennedy’s old home.

When the senator is in town, this is where he hosts his super fancy, ridiculously expensive fundraising dinners. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say none of you have been inside this home or attended an event there … that is, unless you’re reading this Harry Reid.

3. John Edwards – 3327 P St. NW

former residence of John Edwards at 3327 P St. NW

This is where the former one-term senator from North Carolina, presidential and vice presidential candidate, lawyer, pricey haircut getting philandering McDouche used to live. It’s a pretty massive home built in 1820, but surprisingly, is affordably valued at only $8 million. What a great investment for the individuals who acquired it in 2011 for a mere $6.7 million.

So, enjoy your time wandering the 3300 blocks of N, O and P streets in Georgetown. You’ll see some seriously amazing old homes, three of which used to be the homes of some notable D.C. residents.

Oh ya, maybe I should change the title to “Three Georgetown Homes Owned by Three Rich White Dudes Named John, Who Served as Democratic Senators and Ran for President.”

The post Three Georgetown Homes of Notable Senators appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Our neighborhoods don’t have quite the colorful names of yesteryear. Much like Murder Bay, Hell’s Bottom was a seriously dangerous place to live, or even walk through. It was not the beat you wanted as a policeman.

There is a delicious local beer, which takes its name from the notorious neighborhood (evidently inspired by our friend and GoDCer, Kim). So, we’d like to share a few more untold historical stories from the neighborhood.

Enjoy the ones we dug up below … three tales from Hell’s Bottom.

DC Brau Brewing Company – Hell’s Bottom Oatmeal Stout

Oh, one more thing for the guys at DC Brau. Ghosts of DC loves DC Brau beer (“we” are having one right now). GoDC would be more than happy to serve as inspiration for the next special brau Kick us an email if you want to brainstorm: beer@ghostsofdc.org.

1. The killing of Officer Crippen

The Washington correspondent for the Baltimore Sun wrote the following story, published on November 7th, 1889 about a chase and fatal shooting in the notorious Hell’s Bottom neighborhood.

 WASHINGTON, Nov. 6.–Three men are dead today in consequence of the affray in a part of the city called Hell’s Bottom, in the northern section of the city, referred to in The Sun this morning. Osborne Busey, a negro, was wounded by another negro, George Bush, who ran, but was pursued by Officer A. N. Crippen, who shot at him. The negro Bush took refuge in Bob Brown’s saloon, on Twelfth and Q streets northwest, and ran upstairs, saying he would kill any policeman who followed him. Officer Crippen was not daunted, but followed Bush upstairs where Bush fired at him, and Officer Crippen returned the fire until he fell dead, leaving Bush mortally wounded and speechless. The officer’s body was taken off in a patrol wagon and the wounded negroes carried to the hospital, where Busey died at 8 o’clock this morning and Bush was a corpse at 8 o’clock. Both had bad reputations. As all the parties to the tragedy are dead the coroner gave burial certificates without an inquest. No braver officer ever lived than officer Crippen. He came here from Dranesville, Va., in 1877. He had a wife, but no children.

Bob Brown’s saloon was an the northwest corner of 12th and Q St. NW, in the little triangle formed by Vermont Ave. You can see it below in the 1888 map of the intersection. It’s the yellow structure labeled “Sal. S.”

Sanborn fire map of 12th, Vermont and Q St. in 1888

2. A female lamplighter

drawing of English lamplighter

It was quite rare for women to have any occupation in the 1880s, let alone that of lamplighter. Now, throw on top of that the responsibility for the crime-ridden district known as Hell’s Bottom, and you have the makings of fascinating story. Below is an article from the Washington Post on October 13th, 1881, detailing the professional exploits of Washington’s woman lamplighter.

Washington possesses what no other city, perhaps, in the United States does, a woman lamplighter. Her name is Mrs. Welsh. She is of Irish extraction, and is represented as a busy, bustling little woman of about forty years of age. Her district is situated in what is known as hell’s Bottom, one of the worst sections of the city, and through this section, at all hours of the night, Mrs. Welsch may be seen hastening from lamp-post to lamp-post, either lighting or extinguishing. She does not use a ladder, but runs up the post with the agility of a squirrel. On the darkest nights she penetrates the inmost recesses of the alleys with a bravery that knows no fear. The lamps along her route are lighted with the utmost regularity and extinguished with equal promptness. In fact, she may be regarded as the model lamplighter of the city. Her husband is now in jail, serving out a sentence for an offense which his Irish impetuosity led him into, and to retain the position in the family the little woman assumed to take her husband’s place and do his work. In striking contrast with this case is that of a six-foot man who has charge of a certain district, and who whistles vigorously while extinguishing the lamps that are in secluded spots, for the purpose, it is said, of keeping up his courage.

D.C. slums in 1935

3. Wretched homes condemned by health department

Hell’s Bottom sounds like the worst of the worst places to live. Descriptions of daily life in abject poverty, with a complete lack of sanitation or safety, gives the impression of a bleak existence.

Below is one of the more incredible descriptions we came across. This is an article from August 12th, 1879 in the Washington Post.

… Notices were served on a number of the owners of these places some time since to have them vacated, or the sanitary condition changed, but when it was found that, as a rule, no rent was collected, it was resolved to proceed directly against the occupiers, the owners not being willing to go to the expenses involved in ejectment suits. The usual abatement or condemnation notices were therefore served on the miserable squatters, for such, in most cases, they practically are. Yesterday twenty-six of these expired in the locality known as “Hell’s Bottom,” a former contraband camp, situated in the northwest portion of the city, and extending, irregularly, from Seventh to Fourteenth streets, and from O street to the Boundary. Fourteen of the dens are on Eleventh street between P and Q streets, and eight on P between Tenth and Eleventh streets. The tenants have been removing rapidly for the last day or two, and only a few needed the pressure of the police yesterday  when the time expired and the doors were ordered to be nailed up. They moved to other shanties in the localty [sic], not hitherto under the ban, but which, from their new accession of inhabitants, probably soon will become so. The only permanent remedy, no doubt, lies in the erection of cheap places where the nature of the sanitary provisions will tempt a certain amount of cleanliness for very laziness sake. The present places are of the rudest possible construction, few having any sashes in the window aperture, a board shutter closing out the cold winds, light and ventilation together, when shut. The only salvation from suffocation lies in the gaping cracks existing round the doors and windows, without which many a family would doubtless be found dead in the mornings of cold nights. For warmth in winter all the denizens are forced to lie huddled up together, irrespective of age or sex, and all sense of modesty or morality is lost, long before maturity, in both sexes. A locality thought to compare unfavorably even with Hell’s Bottom is situated on the square bounded by Vermont avenue, Q, Twelfth, and Thirteenth streets. Notices have been served on fourteen of the worst cases there, and they too have commenced to pack less crowded localities in the same way as those already mentioned. All the vacant shanties are to be thoroughly cleansed and disenfected [sic], and will then probably be condemned by the building inspector as dangerous to life and limb.

Surely everyone in the GoDC community finds this as shocking as we do. The area discussed above is where people are buying up condos for $500,000 and more. As described in the article, it sounds like an unbelievably unhealthy and dangerous shanty town, the likes of which you only see in third-world countries today.

Take a look at the Google Map of the area today.

The post Three Tales From Hell’s Bottom appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

You know you’re intensely fascinated by the Mormon Temple in Kensington, Maryland. The six spire temple, rising on the edge of Rock Creek Park, is easily visible on the Capital Beltway (read some Beltway history) between the Georgia Ave. and Connecticut Ave. exits.

The massive structure, the first Mormon temple east of the Mississippi river since the original Nauvoo Temple, was completed in 1974 at a cost of $15 million. Based on the Salt Lake Temple’s design, it’s built from Alabama marble, is the tallest U.S. temple at 288 feet and the third-largest.

Washington, D.C. Mormon Temple (Wikipedia)

Evidently, in order to gain admittance to the temple, one must not only be an exemplar Mormon, a full 10% of your annual income must be donated to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After that, you have to make sure you have your annual “temple recommend” renewed by a bishop who evaluates your worthiness.

Whatever your opinion may be of Mormonism, their rising influence is abundantly clear, with the Republican presidential candidate and current U.S. Senate Majority Leader both being members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

So, GoDC will focus on this prominent Mormon citadel on a hill, just outside of the District.

1. Mormons hope to build temple near Washington

The temple just outside the Beltway started as the dream of the local Mormon community, to have their own, impressive house of worship. One so impressive, that people would come from hundreds and thousands of miles to see and worship in it.

Washington, D.C. Mormon Temple at night (source: lds.org)

The Washington Post wrote a story on New Year’s Eve, 1966 about a movement slowly gaining steam in the area to build this temple.

Washington area Mormons made lengthy strides this year on a multi-million-dollar building program, which they hope will be crowned by construction of a temple, the first east of the Mississippi on a 57-acre tract north of the Beltway.

“Several general authorities of the church have visited the site and expressed themselves in favor of a temple here,” Milan Smith, president of the Washington Stake district said yesterday.

The tract, which cost between $800,000 and $900,000 in 1962, is located in Kensington about seven blocks east of Connecticut Avenue.

In Salt Lake City, a Spokesman for David O. McKay, 93-year-old president of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints, said no final decision had been made about use of the property.

Smith pointed out that President McKay has “traditionally” visited every proposed temple site before giving his approval.

In Mormon temples, marriages are performed in which the bride and groom are “sealed” to each other for eternity, church members are vicariously baptized for their ancestors, and (in the Salt Lake City temple) the first Presidency meets with the Council of the Twelve. Of the 13 existing temples, eight are in the United States, including four in Utah.

Since the first Washington Mormon congregation was formed in 1900 in the home of Sen. Reed Smoot, Mormon membership in the area has grown to more than 10,000.

For many years the only Mormon church building in Washington was familiar monumental chapel at 16th and Harvard Streets nw. erected in 1933.

At the beginning of the 1960s, however, a massive construction campaign began which has resulted in eight additional chapels. Three more are under construction. The buildings are valued at more than $3 million.

Mormons here belong either to the Washington Stake, north of the Potomac River, or to the Potomac Stake, to the south. The stakes, which are divided into wards (parishes), correlate their building programs with that of the national church; church headquarters in Salt Lake City provides 60 per cent of building costs and the local wards the other 40 per cent.

…

Besides their many church buildings, Mormons in the Washington area own and operate a 600-acre mechanized dairy farm in Trappe, near Easton on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, called Bountiful Farms. There are 215 milkers in the herd of more than 400 cows.

the temple at sunset (Flickr user: Gore Fiendus – Jerry Frausto)

2. Construction completed with the sealing of a time capsule

Construction was coming to a close when the Washington Post published a story on September 10th, 1974 about the shining new temple.

Spencer W. Kimball, worldwide president and “prophet, seer and revelator” of the 3.3 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, yesterday cemented a time capsule into the cornerstone of the church’s newest temple, marking the completion of the golden-spired edifice just off the Capitol [sic] Beltway in Kensington.

In an outdoor ceremony before a specially invited audience of some 300 leaders of the church, government officials and the press, President Kimball declared that the structure was built “for eternity.”

…

Washington, D.C. Mormon Temple Baptistry (source: moroni10.com)

Once a Mormon temple has been formally dedicated, only members who carry a “temple recommend”–a certification of their devotion to their faith–may enter.

In the Mormon faith, a temple is not used for worship services but for special rites. In a press conference following the ceremonies, President Kimball said the new $15 million structure will be used for “marriages for time and eternity” and for “work for the dead.”

Mormons believe in proxy baptisms for the dead as well as other rites designed to assure the dead of a higher place in the after life. Faithful members are obligated to work for the salvation of the souls of the dead as well as the living.

Asked why he thought the Mormon church is growing so rapidly while other churches are losing members, President Kimball replied: “Because we teach the truth. If the people of this world knew what we know, many more would join the church.” He said Mormon membership has tripled since the early 1940s.

…

Included in the time capsule buried in the cornerstone yesterday, were copies of yesterday’s newspapers, the Bible and other books sacred to Mormons and a copy of a letter written by Brigham Young to the Secretary of War in 1845, bidding for a contract to build forts for the government along the trails to the West.

Church officials reported that they have been “overwhelmed” by the public demand for tickets to visit the temple.

The supply of 500,000 tickets printed is expected to be exhausted before the end of the week. As long as they last, tickets may be secured, free of charge, by calling 432-2500.

view of the temple (Flickr user: vividcorvid)

3. Gunman enters Mormon Temple, takes hostages

A horrifying series of events unfolded Wednesday night, October 22nd, 1986. The Washington Post wrote a piece on a terrifying hostage crisis at the Mormon Temple.

A man armed with a handgun forced his way into the Mormon Temple in Kensington last night and was reported to be holding at least one person at gunpoint there early today as Montgomery County police surrounded the white marble shrine.

One man who was held by the gunman managed to escape shortly after 2 a.m. and was reported unharmed.

Police said the incident began shortly after 8 p.m. when a man went to a rear basement door of the temple and tried to get in by displaying “an expired pass.”

Only members of the faith–the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–who have special permission from the church elders, called a “temple recommend,” are allowed into the building, and police said a security guard tried to deny the man admittance.

At that point, police said, the man produced a gun and entered, forcing the guard to accompany him. Police were called a few minutes later when the man was seen making his way to the temple’s upper floors with the guard.

Shortly before midnight, County Police Chief Bernard Crooke said police had just made contact with the gunman by two-way radio, apparently over a portable radio that the guard had been carrying.

About 2:15 a.m., Crooke said the police were “99 percent sure we have identified him,” although he declined to disclose who the gunman was thought to be. Crooke said the man was not from the Washington area, although he might have been staying here. He said some of the man’s relatives had arrived at the temple and that at least one other family member was being flown in from out of town.

Police said one man who had been held had escaped while the gunman was “distracted” and was being questioned by police. Police said at least one man was still being held, apparently on the temple’s seventh floor.

…

The chief said the man “seemed to be making sense,” but police negotiators were having a “hard time” getting their conversations with the man “off one subject.” He said that subject was not the Mormon church, but would not elaborate further.

The man entered the temple grounds–a fenced 57-acre tract at 9900 Stoneybrook Dr. just outside the Capital Beltway–in a car, Crooke said.

The incident came to a peaceful end after 12 harrowing hours with more than 50 police officers on the scene.

the temple viewed from the Beltway (Flickr user: MShades)

Leake was 29, and a member of the church since 1978, living in Centreville at the time, sporadically attending his home church in Langley During the ordeal, his hostages saw him place ammunition in the middle of the temple’s assembly room and turned on the radio to listen to the World Series. That night was game four of the famed Mets vs. Red Sox match-up (i.e., Buckner’s tragic error was game six of that series).

To make matters even more bizarre, he released one of his hostages because “he seemed pale.”

A month later, Leake was indicted in Montgomery County (why is it named Montgomery County?) and his mental health was questioned by defense attorneys. To mental health professionals testified that he asked his attorneys to subpoena 14 Mormon prophets, long-since deceased, because he was convinced they had been resurrected and had witnessed the course of events. He also stated that he had been called by God to cast out the demons on the seventh floor of the temple.

On June 24th, 1988, he was found guilty of assault and false imprisonment, after the jury deliberated for eight hours. However, he was not found “criminally responsible” for reasons of insanity on the two counts.

Washington, D.C. Mormon Temple from a distance (ldschurchtemples.com)

The post Three Stories About the Mormon Temple appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Meridian Hill was once graced with the presence of a magnificent castle. Yes, a castle.

Boundary Castle, also known as Henderson Castle and sometimes Prospect Castle, was the home of John and Mary Henderson. John, being the former Senator from Missouri who authored the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery and Mary being the powerful socialite who established 16th St. NW as the epicenter of culture and society in the early 20th century.

Boundary Castle in the 1920s by Theodor Horydczak (Library of Congress) – Click for greater detail

The Hendersons paid $50,000 for a six acre plot of land and in 1888, the castle on Meridian Hill was completed, slightly north of Boundary St. (i.e., Florida Ave.) and on the west side of 16th St. NW. Made from Seneca sandstone, the same material used in the Smithsonian, it boasted 30 rooms and was an imposing presence on the hill.

The Henderson’s had purchased 300 lots along 16th St. in the hopes that they could develop the area into the center of Washington society, attracting the vice president as well as prominent diplomats and their embassies. This was the height of the Gilded Age.

Sadly, the castle was razed in 1949 and now is the site of 216 townhouses in Beekman Place.

1. Monday, February 10th, 1890: The first dinner

The Evening Star reported on a very special event being held at Henderson Castle: the first formal dinner. The beginning of the article gives an excellent description of the castle’s interior.

Boundary castle, the superb hone of ex-Senator and Mrs. Jno [sic] B. Henderson of Missouri, was thrown open last night for the first time to a large company, the guests of honor being the delegates to the international American congress, of which the host is a member. This new home, recently completed, is situated at t he head of 16th street on a grassy terrace and overlooks, from the windows of the square towers, Arlington heights, the river, the Capitol, the monument, the White House, and commands a fine view of the whole city. To the north of it one square is the cabin that was built and owned by Joaquin Miller and which his friends hoped he would occupy for many years. Mr. Henderson’s house is modeled on the style of a Normandy castle and is built of Connecticut brown stone. It has square towers and rounded recesses, balconies, porticos and archways of stone. Inside the hall is decorated in green and mastic color, in the Moorish fashion, and about the door casings, windows and ceilings are engraved mottoes from Mahomet’s [sic] Koran in the Arabic characters.

Mary Foote Henderson in 1913 (Library of Congress)

Fascinating. Does anyone else find it really interesting that mottoes from the Koran were engraved on the ceilings? The article continues …

The drawing rooms open one on each side from the hall; to the left is the buttercup yellow room, with its onyx mantel and hearth, and out of this opens the domed picture gallery, which last night had its faded rose plush divans pushed back against the walls that the polished oak floors might be cleared for the dancing. The walls are hung with plush that makes an agreeable background for a fine collection of paintings from the French and Flemish schools. The drawing room to the right is also in faded rose plush and its open into the oaken dining room, which has its walls above the fluted oak wainscot hung with a green tapestry woven in a pattern of oak leaves. The staircase of oak ascends from the rear side of the square hall. The library is in the front of the house, on the second floor, and is shelved to the ceiling in mahogany; Mrs. Henderson’s pretty pink boudoir opens out of it. On the third floor among others is the room of Mr. Jno. N. Henderson, jr., all in blue, and out of it by a spiral staircase is reached the square room in the top of the highest tower. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson received their guests in the yellow drawing room, Mrs. Henderson wearing a Paris princesse [sic] gown of velvet and silk. The back and train were of pink and white striped pompadour silk, and the sides and sultana front were of faded rose leaf velvet. The Turkish jacket and front opened over a vest and petticoat of white silk lisle embroidered in gold, and in the opening of the bodice at the throat she wore a necklace of pearls with a diamond star pendant. Mrs. Henderson is slight, petite and blonde, and being bright and vivacious in manner is a charming hostess of her magnificent surroundings. Mr. Jno. B. Henderson, jr., who is in his junior year at Harvard, was present, assisting his parents to extend the hospitalities of the castle, and with him was his friend Mr. Thos. Barron of New York. Supper was served in the dining room throughout the evening. It consisted of dishes hot and cold, oysters and salads, fruit and confectionery, coffee, bouillon and lemonade, but no wines or liquors were offered.

The event was a pretty big deal, as the guest list included a large number of ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, several dozen senators, Members of Congress, high-ranking generals, as well as Andrew Carnegie, John Nicolay and countless other members of high society.

Built in 1888 for Senator John Brooks Henderson, the castle stood at the intersection of Florida Avenue and 16th Street, NW (northwest corner). Henderson was a skilled politician and was the man who drafted the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. In 1949 the house was razed, with only the great stone entrance gate posts having survivied the wrecking ball. (DC Public Library Commons)

2. Singing the praise of temperance

Mrs. Henderson was a stubborn and staunch teetotaler, as well as vegetarian. As such, it made little sense to continue to keep wine in the large castle cellar. On May 18th, 1908, the Washington Post reported on what many would call a tragic waste of fine wine and liquor.

Gallons of rare old vintage prized for age and quality trickled through the gutters and went the way of many good “jags” when the Rechabites emptied the cellar of Boundary Castle, the home of former Senator John B. Henderson, of Missouri, and sang the praises of temperance with the babble of the river of wine.

On the invitation of Mrs. John B. Henderson, wife of former Senator Henderson, members of the Independent Order of Rechabites, of John B. Henderson Tent and Onward Ladies’ Tent, headed by High Chief Ruler Wayne W. Cordell, dumped demijohn and jug into the gutters, and imported whiskies, brandies, cordials, and other beverages ran together and mixed their royal nectar with the common “suds.”

It was a ceremonious affair. A long line of Rechabites, carrying at the head of the column and American flag, were received in the art gallery of the castle on the hill, on Sixteenth street extended. They wore the red, white, and blue regalia. Mrs. Henderson wore the white and gold regalia of Onward Tent.

“There has been a burden on my mind these last three years about what to do with a dramshop in my cellar,” said Mrs. Henderson at the proper time. “Previous to that time we had been accustomed to serving wines and liquors, supposing that people in general were not physically strong enough to fully enjoy themselves at dinner without such stimulants. Should I give it away? No; that is no better than serving it one’s self. Should I send it to a hospital? The new school of medical practice is more and more in line with hygienic methods and less and less in the way of drugs.

“Should I sell it? What in all this wide world could be more abominable than to give a person the right to poison his neighbors for a money consideration? Now, fellow-Rechabites, I shall leave it to you what to do with the dramshop.”

The high chief ruler made a reply to this invitation, and then the ceremonies of emptying the jugs took place.

This is just tragic. So much great wine … wasted.

Boundary Castle view at intersection of 16th and Belmont in 1920s

3. Boundary Castle as the new White House

We have written about proposed new Executive Mansions before, but this is a new one and we were not familiar with this story. In a Washington Post article on July 8th, 1906 entitled “Castle for President,” it is suggested that there was talk of purchasing the property for use as the President’s home.

The proposition for Congress to purchase the Henderson property, upon which is located the handsome building known as Boundary Castle, on Sixteenth street extended, and make it the home of the President is favored by the District Commissioners, but they are of the opinion that the proposed price of $600,000 is excessive.

The purchase of this property was suggested during the last session of Congress. It was provided for in an amendment to the bill for the purchase of land for the extension of Rock Creek Park, and it was for this reason, that the Commissioners were consulted as to the merits of the proposed addition of the Henderson place to the government tract.

The Commissioners contended all along that the price quoted was too high. They declared that at the present time property is not worth the amount asked. The property is assessed for taxes at $240,000. Despite the high price, the Commissioners urged Congress to make provision for the purchase of the land, as its price might increase still further in the future.

Neither the Rock Creek Park extension bill nor the amendment for the purchase of the Boundary Castle was enacted by Congress, and it is certain that another effort will be made in December to have the necessary amount appropriated for purchase of the property.

Commissioner West ventures the suggestion that the purchase of the Boundary Castle to be used as the President’s home is the proper thing but he deems the price quoted too high.

It’s such a shame this building no longer exists.

Below is a great photograph of Boundary Castle we uncovered on one of our favorite blogs (and inspirations), Streets of Washington. They posted it on Flickr and if you’re a photo or postcard buff, you’ll love everything they post up there … some seriously amazing stuff.

Boundary Castle postcard

The post Three Stories About Boundary Castle appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

The Department of Commerce‘s massive, beast of a building is bound by Constitution Avenue (why is it named Constitution Avenue?), 14th St., Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th St. Construction finished and it opened in 1932, at the end of President Herbert Hoover‘s lame duck presidency and in the depths of the Great Depression.

The Public Buildings Act of 1926 set aside $165 million for the construction of a number of government buildings in Federal Triangle, $17 million of which was dedicated to the Commerce building. In 1929, Herbert Hoover, former Secretary of Commerce, and then president, laid the cornerstone for the building using the same shovel George Washington used when laying the cornerstone of the Capitol Building.

Constructed with 9 million bricks and Indiana limestone, it has 3,300 rooms, has hallways that stretch a 1/5 of a mile and at the time of dedication, was the largest federal office building in the country with 1.8 million square feet of space.

Upon completion, the building required 3,701 radiators to heat the space during the winter, with a total weight of 420 tons. I could go on with these crazy statistics, but I think this building makes a perfect subject for the next “Three Things…” post.

Department of Commerce

1. Reporter walks 7 3/4 miles of hallways

You could easily complete a marathon by running the hallways of the Commerce Department. The building opened in January 1932 and, that month, a Washington Post reporter spent three hours walking the hallways of the new federal building.

A. N. Wecksler walked 7 3/4 miles of Commerce Department hallways with a pedometer and watch, furnished by the Post’s editor, to determine how many miles of corridor actually existed in the building.

The Washington Post goes a long way to greet the workers of the new Department of Commerce Building as a matter of fact, the editor presented a small watch-like arrangement and good wishes to me with instructions that his regards were to be relayed the workers, and the watch, a pedometer, would check the distance I walked.

A visit to the captain of the guard, Tom Breslin, who assured me that if I lost the way, he would instruct me by telephone which way to turn, began an excursion into the strange and hidden labyrinths of the new structure, of which any single offi,ce floor is larger than that of any other building.

Questioning a few of the passersby on the seventh floor as to their estimate of the length of the corridors, I received replies ranging from five to twenty-five miles. A messenger boy, some one said, could, if his shoes lasted, walk the halls in a day, and perhaps have time for lunch.

A number of persons were walking, some peering at the doors to read the numbers; others seemed to have given up hope and were just wandering.

The corridors are wide and a large diagram of the floor plan is posted near every elevator, with a large star labeled “this star indicates your present location.” You might doubt the sign, but no one has as yet been able to do so on good authority.

The pedometer, housed in a watch pocket, clicked slowly as I paced the halls. Stops at the different offices to impart the message of good will–accordingly silence its click. Thoughts of the watchman as he made the rounds at night, walking the same miles that were being registered on the meter, blended with a vision of a new easy chair that was most likely before some Patent Office official, in the building, for his stamp of approval.

Three hours had passed when the last corridor hove in sight, and an end to the exploration jaunt seemed imminent. The pedometer registered seven and three-quarter miles, and I registered fatigue. It’s a long, long trail through the new Commerce Building, and it gets longer in the walking. Pity the messenger boy who traverses the walks, and don’t forget your roller skates when visiting the Department of Commerce.

And there you have it … 7 3/4 miles of wandering the halls of the Department of Commerce. Any GoDCers work there? How many miles have you walked?

By the way, my GoDC curiosity took over and I had to know at least where this Wecksler guy lived. According to city directories of the time, he resided at 1420 Oak St. NW in Columbia Heights. His given name was Abraham and he was born in 1913, so he was just 19 when he was wandering the halls of the Commerce building, on assignment for the Washington Post.

By 1940, he had left D.C. for Houston with his wife Julia and taken a job as an advertising salesman.

Department of Commerce, 15th St. side

2. Alligators in the building … literally

alligators are scary

Um, this is weird. Not just one, but a handful of articles about alligators in the building. In the early days of the building, three humorously named gators lived in the basement of the building. Below is an article from the Washington Post on June 24th, 1932, with a little more detail.

There are just three things causing a great amount of worry among the thousands of Government employes in Washington–Pay Cut, Furlough and Dismissal. But only those working the new Department of Commerce Building have actually come face to face with these problems.

From 9 o’clock in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon, employes of this building are kept on the jump attempting to avoid Pay Cut, Furlough and Dismissal. Even Secretary of Commerce Lamont directs his steps in the opposite direction when confronted with these problems.

But these folks can’t be blamed, Pay Cut, Furlough and Dismissal are really something to worry about. They are alligators, and have free run of the entire Commerce Department basement.

The three ‘gators came from Chicago, a present of the Bureau of Fisheries. Zoo officials have refused to accept them. There is no room to house them, they say.

Lovely names for the reptiles, but WTF?! Letting alligators roam loose in the basement?

Commerce Department entrance

3. Built on top of an ancient pirate, ghost river

Well, not exactly a ghost river, but that’s a catchy name given the blog’s name! A fascinating Washington Post article from August 14th, 1929 mentioned that the building was being constructed right on top of an old, long passed, river bed. This old river didn’t give up its flow, causing water problems with the foundation during construction.

Seepage from a river of a hundred years ago–an historic ribbon of water that now wends its way beneath the streets of Washington–has caused a large pool of water to appear in a portion of the foundation of the new Commerce Building, it was learned yesterday.

The constant flow of this old river, that refuses to be stemmed, will necessitate the installation of seven pumps on the new building to drain off the water, it was discovered. The Roman-like pool that now lies at the end of the foundation nearest Pennsylvania avenue is being allowed to gather so that a test can be made, it was explained.

Years ago, before Washington and L’Enfant visualized the National Capital, a river flowed east from the Potomac. Pirates used this tributary for their nefarious traffic. Proof of this fact was given about a year ago when a boat was excavated as the foundations were being made for the new Revenue Building, the location of which lies in the path of the river.

On and on the river flows, and as long as the new Commerce Building stands there will be danger of damp basement floors if the seven pumps loaf on the job. When the Commerce Building was first started, it was thought that the constant appearance of water in the foundation excavation was from the Potomac, but since then it has actually been proved that the seepage comes from the ancient river, a river whose name has gone with the lost memories of the pirates.

Consequently, the new Commerce Building is a modern castle built upon sand–and upon the bosom of an old river. The foundation of the new building does not rest on bed rock. No bed rock exists. But, as the architects and contractors who are erecting the building will explain, the absence of bed rock will not interfere with its strength.

The construction of the new Government edifice will be as firm as any skyscraper that rests on the bed rock of Manhattan. The entire foundation is anchored and made secure by 13,500 concrete piles. Thes [sic] piles, together with many other kinds of reinforcement, support the steel columns that will form the framework of the new building.

So a huge building to be built upon sand and a river will endure as long as those erected on solid rock. If you are still skeptical, remember that Uncle Sam is particular about the durability of his monuments.

Besides the pumps, an elaborate drainage system will carry off the water that seeps into the foundation. The large pool that now exists will continue to form until architects have discovered the maximum height the seepage will reach. Then, they will know at what point to place the pumps. The pool started July 24 and it is rising about one-half inch a day. Architects believe that in about two weeks it will reach its maximum level.

Public health officials are keeping a careful watch on the pool in case mosquitoes start breeding. Mosquitoes have bred in many small pools that formed in other parts of the foundation and were exterminated through oil. Oil, however, can not be placed in the large pool, as it will destroy the waterproof lining on the foundation sides. If mosquitoes do appear from the test pool a colony of hungry fish will be put in the water to eat the larvae and the eggs, it was announced by public health officials.

Okay, an ancient pirate river? This is one of the most fascinating discoveries we have come across and it makes the building ten times cooler. Spread the word Department of Commerce employees! You are working on top of a river, formerly traversed by swashbuckling pirates! So cool.

B St. between 15th and 14th St. in 1913 (Baist real estate atlas)

The post Three Stories About the Department of Commerce Building appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Something big happened at the Watergate in 1972 and it led to a very defensive President Nixon giving this painful press conference. This is not about that event. In true Ghosts of DC style, let’s dig up three other things that happened at the Watergate.

Watergate in 1977 (Washington Post)

1. The Reagans make a candlelit exit

Seem like an odd title? We thought so too. This is a quick article from the Washington Post on May 25th, 1984.

President and Mrs. Reagan made a candlelit exit from the Watergate South building last night–after tramping down a darkened stairwell from the ninth floor–when electricity in the building failed while they were attending a private dinner at Clare Boothe Luce’s apartment.

The White House said the Reagans and other guests had finished eating and were “engaged in after-dinner conversation” when the lights went out about 10:15 p.m.

As some Secret Service agents knocked on doors of nearby apartments seeking candles, auxiliary electricity was turned on, but it wasn’t enough to power the elevators of light the stairwells.

So, as agents and hotel employes held candles, the Reagans walked down the steps and out of the building.

The building management blamed the power failure on Pepco, but utility officials said there were no problems on lines serving the complex.

Blame Pepco? How dare they.

Ronald and Nancy Reagan

2. Two bomb threats empty Watergate

If Officer Sprinkle was around in 1972, this wouldn’t be an issue. Alas, he passed away in 28 years earlier, so … The Washington Post wrote about a number of bomb threats at the complex on October 6th, 1972, the same year of the Watergate burglaries.

Police evacuated two Watergate office buildings, 600 New Hampshire Ave. and 2550 Virginia Ave. NW, yesterday after anonymous phoned bomb threats against the Federal Reserve System offices there.

Phoned threats at 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. by a female caller sparked the evacuations and searches by the police bomb squad, assisted by police dogs. The evacuations ended at 9:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.

A third bomb scare occurred at 2:10 p.m. when a man phone the Watergate apartment switchboard. That search lasted until 4:30 p.m., but no one was evacuated.

Watergate as viewed across the Potomac

3. Residents welcome police protection

The Watergate East was the site of a protest in early 1970, where political activists were rallying against the jury verdict in the Chicago Seven trial. Street fighting erupted between a large police force and demonstrators attempting to enter the residence of U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell.

Riding up in the elevator to her 12th floor apartment yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Messore, the wife of a Washington psychiatrist, discussed the Thursday afternoon confrontation between hundreds of angry demonstrators and police about a block from her luxury apartment.

“It inconvenienced me,” she said of the abortive “People’s Tour of The Watergate . . . I had to cancel my plans for the afternoon.” She said she had decided against leaving her 14-month-old child in the apartment with a baby sitter while the demonstration took place outside.

…

At least a dozen policemen were still scattered around the Watergate complex yesterday afternoon to see that the demonstrators made no second attempt.

…

The refreshments were provided for the police by the Watergate management, but Curtis Bagett, manager of the luxury complex that houses Attorney General John Mitchell, Secretary of Transportation John Volpe, Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans and other administration notables, would not comment on the cost of the coffee, cookies and sandwiches.

rioters and police at the Watergate in 1970

The post Three Other Things That Happened at the Watergate appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

The massive structure at 2480 16th St. NW dominates the Kalorama block across from Meridian Hill Park. Most D.C. history nerds know that John F. Kennedy lived their with his his sister Kathleen from October 1941 to January 1942, sharing apartment 542 (some sources say apartment 502).

The building has a rich history ever since it opened in 1941, just prior to World War II. Here are three stories about the iconic apartment complex that Ghosts of DC has dug up.

Dorchester House – 2480 16th St. NW

1. Elderly woman robbed at gunpoint

Poor Hattie Griffin, Dorchester House resident, was robbed of $500 in her own 8th-floor apartment apartment. Below is the article, published in the Washington Post in June 1965.

Two men forced their way into a Dorchester House apartment yesterday, robbed a 75-year-old woman of about $500 and then fled after binding her and ransacking the apartment, police reported.

…

Mrs. Griffin told police she answered a knock and was greeted by a man who asked, “Are you Hattie?” When she answered yes, she said, the man told her “If you don’t want to get hurt, do as we say.”

The man produced a revolver, police said, and was joined by the second man. As they forced thei way in, they asked “where’s the money.”

When the woman said she had no money, police added, the thugs pushed her. She went to a cedar closet, they said, and gave the men about $500.

Police said the two then bound Mrs. Griffin with adhesive tape, locked her in the bathroom and ransacked the apartment.

Mrs. Griffin freed herself and called police, describing the pair as whites, about 27 or 28, both 5 feet 10, about 160 pounds.

Terrifying.

2. Dogs no longer welcome in Dorchester House

please don’t kick me out of my apartment

Man’s best friend was welcome to stay in Dorchester House for the first few years, but things quickly went south when some residents complained about their furry neighbors. Check out the Washington Post article about it from March 30th, 1945.

That “every dog will have his day,” is being proved by the 13, 17, or 30 dogs whose owners, living at the modernistic and highly fashionable Dorchester Apartment House, 2480 16th st. nw., have received an ultimatum either to dispose of their pets or vacate the premises by April 30.

No one, not even the owners of the building, tenants, or Randall Hagner & Co., real estate agents for the property, seem to know just how many doggies live there. But it seems that a few of the pups either barked too loudly, scampered too much on the expensive carpeting in theh [sic] allway or weren’t entirely housebroken, and so Hagner & Co. termed the pets a “nuisance” to the other 400 tenants and wrote letters on March 23 that either the pets or the tenants had to go.

“But how can anybody expect us to give up our dogs, much less find a place to live in this city,” exclaimed Mrs. Bernice Breen, free lance writer, and organizer of the pet owners in the builing.

“We had a meeting of some of the dog owners yesterday and we plan to draw up a set or rules governing our dogs’ behavior and then we will ask the owners if we can’t stay if we all see that our dogs cause no trouble,” she said.

…

Another meeting will be held soon, Mrs. Breen promised, to draw up a set of rules on dog behavior. So far not one of the dogs or dog-owners have made an attempt to move.

That seems a little abrupt and unforgiving. A month’s notice? Also, shouldn’t the tenants and building owners be worried a little more about the giant war raging in both Europe and the Pacific?

3. House fire kills elderly woman

Mary Gooch

Every “Three Things…” post seems to require a tragic tale, and the Dorchester House is no exception. This story is from February 1949, when a freak fire took the life of Mary Gooch.

Mrs. John Hite Gooch, 69, wife of the general agent of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, was burned to death about noon yesterday in an armchair in her seventh-floor apartment at the Dorchester House.

Mrs. Gooch, who was alone, was apparently dead in the flaming chair near the living room window of her apartment, No. 706, when firemen arrived. They tossed the overstuffed chair from an open window to a patio seven flights below where the flames were extinguished.

An alarm was sounded throughout the fashionable apartment house at 2480 16th st. about 11:45 a. m., bringing residents into the halls. Heavy smoke, which poured through the seventh-floor halls, drove occupants to lower floors, but few persons fled the building.

…

The fire was virtually confined to the armchair in which Mrs. Gooch was sitting, according to Detective Sergt. John L. Sullivan. It was charred a patch less than two feet square in the floor of the living room, and merely scored an adjacent wall and the ceiling.

Sullivan said Mrs. Gooch had been alone in the apartment since 9 a. m., but was all right at 10 a. m., when she received a phone call from her daughter, Mrs. Mary Jane Hesser.

Part of the burned armchair had a cigarette hole in it, according to Sullivan. He said a stool near the chair contained cigarettes, a lighter and a holder.

This has to be one of the more bizarre fire-related deaths we’ve read about. A blaze, completely confined to a chair?

Dorchester House

The post Three Stories About Dorchester House appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

The “Three Things…” post about Cannon was pretty popular, so we’re going to continue our Hill-oriented posts with another one on the Longworth House Office Building. We suspect that the building houses and equal to possibly larger number of GoDCers (we’ll see with our traffic stats).

Longworth House Office Building (Architect of the Capitol)

1. Elevator plummets five stories with Congressman’s daughter inside

Absolutely terrifying. How are those elevators today? Maybe you will be more inclined to take the stairs after reading this article by the Washington Post from February 23rd, 1934.

Miss Reba L. Doughton, pretty daughter of Representative Robert L. Doughton (Democrat), of North Carolina, narrowly escaped serious injury yesterday when an elevator in the New House Office Building dropped five floors.

The elevator failed to stop at the floor Miss Doughton had ordered and the operator, fearing it was out of control, turned off the electric current, stopping the cab by emergency device.

Miss Doughton, who is employed by her father, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was treated for shock in her father’s office and later sent home.

An inspection of the ultramodern elevator system in the New House Office Building will be made today as a result of the accident.

Doughton last night declared that the “elevator service never has been satisfactory” despite the fact that the system is of the most modern type.

David Lynn, architect of the Capitol, said that the elevator, had not actually dropped but that the operator, Early Gilkey, had become frightened when the cab did not stop when he thought it should.

Miss Doughton spoke highly of the presence of mind of the operator, however, and said that her life was probably saved by the alacrity with which he turned off the power.

Reports that the elevators had dropped on previous occasions, though without injuring any one, were “news” to Lynn.

Don’t worry. I’m sure the elevators have been replaced since 1934. You should be fine.

Representative Robert L. Doughton of North Carolina

2. Foreign steel not welcome

If you’re pro-union, or maybe from Pittsburgh, this is right up your alley. the Longworth building (then known as the new House Office Building) was being built and a large quantity of foreign steel was discovered to be included in the building materials. And of course, the Washington Post was there to report on it in 1932.

The office of the Capitol architect has ordered the removal of 15,000 feet of foreign made steel, which had been delivered at the new House Office Building for use as “channels” in holding metal lath as a basis for plaster.

When the McNulty Bros. Co. of Chicago, the plastering contractors, were unable to furnish affidavits that the steel it had purchased from the Hudson Supply Co., of this city was of domestic make, the removal order was issued.

The Hudson Supply Co., according to Horace D. Rouzer, assistant Capitol architect, admitted that it had foreign steel in his storeyard, as well as domestic steel. The foreign material was removed and the company agreed to replace it with steel of domestic manufacture.

The removal order came clsoe on the heels of an order of President Hoover that domestic material is to be used wherever possible in all Government projects. In the building contracts made between the Government and contractors, there is a clause providing that domestic material be given preference over foreign products.

Federal building inspectors have been on the alert for foreign steel as the result of information given by the Concrete Steel Institute that a large quantity of steel has been imported from Belgium.

If you ever happen to be giving a Capitol tour to a Belgian family, now you can tell them that the Longworth building is not made from Flemish steel. I’m sure they’ll enjoy that fact.

3. This shotgun is for the Congressman

The guy in this story would be arrested in a nanosecond. This is from a Washington Post article on March 31st, 1954.

A man strode into the new House Office Building the other day with a shotgun under his arm. He looked the guard in the eye and said: “this is for Congressman Latham.”

If there was ever any thought that the Capitol Hill police had recovered their aplomb since the Puerto Ricans shot up the House of Representatives, this dispelled it.

The guard stared at the shotgun in wide-eyed horror. Obviously he didn’t think he was long for this world. He was still gibbering when the man deposited the shotgun on the guard’s desk and departed without potting a single Congressman.

It may be months before the guard recovers, although he has learned that the episode had an innocent explanation.

It developed that the shotgun belongs to Rep. Henry J. Latham of Queens Village, Long Island. The Republican Mr. Latham is a naval reservist.

Some time back, he loaned the gun to a fellow naval reservist. The latter called up Representative Latham a few days ago and said he wanted to return the firearm because he is leaving Washington.

“All right,” Representative Latham replied without thinking of the effect it would have, “bring it to my office at the Capitol.”

So … literally, it was for the Congressman.

Do not try this today.

The post Three Bits of Trivia About the Longworth House Office Building appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Taking a look at our web analytics, we see that we are reasonably popular among those of you working on the Hill (with a large spike during August recess – not a lot to do then other than surf the Web).

So, to pique your interest and see if we can write our most emailed article by those of you with @mail.house.gov addresses, we’re going to focus our latest “Three Things…” post on the building you work in (at least a good chunk of Hill GoDCers).

Cannon House Office Building (Library of Congress)

Of course, keeping true to Ghosts of DC style, only obscure stories that will be great additions

1. No admittance or “watermelon parties” after 5 p.m.

According to an article on September 8th, 1923, wild parties were a common occurrence in the building. When Congress was on recess, the staffers went a little nuts. Remember that this was during prohibition, inside a federal building.

In an effort to stop an epidemic of wild parties which have been held with great frequency in the House Office building during the recess of Congress, the superintendent of public buildings and grounds has had erected this sign in the rotunda of the main floor:

“Visitors not allowed after 5 p.m.”

Policemen stationed at the entrance to the building have been instructed to enforce the rule strictly and they are, much to the embarrassment, if not disgust, of the employes of the representatives.

…

However, all sorts of reports are current as to the nature of the offense which brought forth the ban on visitors. One is that at one of the parties staged in the office of a dry representative corn whisky and hard cider were the chief liquid refreshments. All went well for a short time until the whisky and the cider got in their work and the men got in a free-for-all fight over the girls. One of the men was knocked against a wash bowl in the room and so badly cut that it was necessary to take him to a hospital.

On the heels of that affair a “watermelon party” was held in the office of a representative on the fourth floor. Corn liquor was also served at that function and the guests became extremely hilarious. Two of the girls dressed like Eve, ran up and down the corridors it is said.

For some time certain offices in the building have been under surveillance and policeman stationed in offices have been able to learn the names of the offenders. Just what action they intend to take has not been disclosed.

I suspect the same shenanigans and tomfoolery exists today, however, mostly located in the bars on Pennsylvania Ave.

DISCLAIMER: If congressional staffers throw a “watermelon party” after reading this post, Ghosts of DC cannot be held liable, nor responsible for any damage caused to federal property (unless GoDC is invited and materially participates).

Washington Post headline 1923

2. Pennsylvania Congressman ends his life in office

Samuel A. Kendall (Library of Congress)

This is a sad and tragic story of Samuel A. Kendall, the 73-year-old Republican representing Pennsylvania’s 24th Congressional District (eliminated in 1983), representing Fayette, Greene and Somerset counties.

On January 9th, 1933, the Washington Post reported on the tragic end to Congressman Kendall’s life.

Seeking from death an anodyne that life denied him, Representative Samuel Austin Kendall, 73-year-old Pennsylvania Republican, yesterday calmly ended his career with a .38 caliber pistol as he sat in his easy chair at his suite in the House Office Building.

A neatly penned note lay on the dead Representative’s desk, saying he had been unable to “throw off my grief” caused by the death of his wife last August and of a favorite son 20 years ago, and was going to “join them in heaven.”

The body of Representative Kendall was found by William Whelan, House mail clerk, just before 11 o’clock yesterday morning. A number of persons in the office building said they heard a shot some time between 10:15 and 10:45 a. m. Among these was Representative Hall (Republican), North Dakota.

A second note simply declared “notify J. W. Kendall, son, 2401 Calvert street,” giving the telephone number. Another son, Samuel A. Kendall, jr.,  also was notified and, searching among effects of his father at his home, discovered another missive identical with that found on the representative’s desk. This indicated to Capitol authorities that Representative Kendall’s death had been contemplated for weeks. The note found on his desk read:

“Dear children: My work on earth is completed. The sudden death of your dear mother was the most severe shock of my whole life and I have been unable to throw off my grief.

“Every day has added to my sorry, and I can no longer bear my suffering which I have kept from you.

“Mother has been calling me to join her and little Van in Heaven and I can no longer resist th call and am going to join them. Good-bye.

“FATHER.”

Sad.

According to the newspaper, this was the first suicide at the Capitol.

Representative Kendall served from 1919 until his death. His term was to expire that year, as he lost the election in 1932. While serving in Congress, his office was 408 in what is now the Cannon House Office Building, currently occupied by Democrat Karen Bass (CA-33)

3. Lost dog takes up home in House office building

Who doesn’t love a dog story? On January 18th, 1924, the Washington Post had a story about a dog who had started shacking up in the building.

A chow dog, aristocratic in appearance, evidently lost ,has been making the House office building his home since Wednesday morning.

Shy of strangers, the chow divides the day between trotting through the corridors and sitting on the front steps, awaiting the return of his owner.

Representative John C. Speaks, of Ohio, yesterday treated the dog to a sumptuous feast of meat. Mr. Speaks said the owner probably can find the chow at the main entrance to the office building.

super poofy chow

Stay tuned … Longworth is coming up tomorrow!

The post Three Bits of Trivia About the Cannon House Office Building appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Life was pretty good for the young women in this photo. From left to right we have Peggy Walsh, Clytie Collier and Ethel Barrymore Colt (i.e., Drew Barrymore’s cousin, once removed). These young women were living the good life during the summer of 1926.

June 21, 1926. Washington, D.C. “Peggy Walsh, Clytie Collier and Ethel Barrymore Colt.” National Photo Company glass negative.

Peggy Walsh

Peggy was born in 1909 to Edward, a successful broker, and Margaret Walsh. By all accounts, she was a popular girl from a wealthy family, and clearly associated with the upper crust of society, being in with the Barrymore family.

ON Cotber 17th, 1937, the Washington Post reported on her wedding to Norman E. McGrath, of Buffalo, New York.

Miss Peggy Walsh, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Walsh, of Chevy Chase, Md., became the bride yesterday morning at 11 o’clock of Norman E. McGrath, son of Mrs. Frank L. McGrath and the late Mr. McGrath, of Buffalo, N. Y.

The ceremony took place at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, with the Rev. Thomas Smythe officiating.

…

Other attendants were Miss Ethel Barrymore Colt, of New York, daughter of Ethel Barrymore, the dramatic star; Miss Rita Walsh, sister of the bride; Miss Honor McGrath, sister of the bridegroom, and Miss Mary Flora Wenstrup, of Cincinnati.

The article also mentioned that the groom attended Dartmouth, was a member of Psi Upsilon and part of the swim team. After marriage, they would make their residence in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Clytie Collier

We could find little on Clytie, the girl in the middle. The only substantive mention of her in the news was her obituary from 1987.

On Tuesday, February 3, 1987, Clytie Whitson of Bethesda, Md., beloved wife of Lish Whitson; mother of of [sic] Clytie W. Taylor and Lish Whitson. Memorial service will be held at Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church, 102123 Connecticut Ave., Kensington, Md. on Saturday, February 7 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, sympathy may be expressed in the form of memorials to Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church for charitable purposes.

Ethel Barrymore Colt

The most recognizable name of the three, Ethel was born in 1912 to Ethel Barrymore and Russell Colt (i.e., of the Colt firearms family). Much like her mother, and most of the Barrymore family, she was also in show business, appearing in a number of plays in the 1930s and early 1940s.

The younger Ethel was a close friend of Peggy Walsh, and was listed frequently in the social pages with Peggy. The two of them were schoolmates at Notre Dame Academy near Philadelphia.

Below is a piece from the Washington Post on Mar 27th, 1932, noting her stay with the Walsh family in Chevy Chase.

Miss Ethel Barrymore Colt has been the house guest of Miss Peggy Walsh, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Walsh, for the past week in her home in Newlands street. Miss Colt is a featured member of the cast of George White’s “Scandals,” which filled an engagement at the Washington Auditorium last week.

What are the chances Ethel and Peggy were at Marjorie Morris’ “Whoopee” party in 1929? I’d say pretty good, since it was only about a five minute walk to 28 Grafton St.

Ethel Barrymore Colt died in 1977 after a battle with cancer.

Another bit of trivia for you … before the older Ethel married Russell, she was actively courted by a gentleman by the name of Winston Churchill.

The post Three Young Women in Bathing Suits (Including Drew Barrymore’s Cousin) appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

A great new site launched today and the GoDC community is going to love this one. It’s called Bigwig Digs, put together by the folks at Urban Turf.

This is a cool site, not only for the obvious stars in their lineup — Richard Nixon, Duke Ellington and Bob Dole — but more so for the lesser known, untold stories of properties in our area.

Bigwig Digs

We spend, what amounted to, too much time (because we love this stuff) poking around the site, and every other page was a “huh, I didn’t know that” moment. Here are some of the highlights in our favorite “Three Things…” format.

1. Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison

Did you know the Doors‘ wild front man grew up in the area? He was the son of a U.S. Navy Admiral and spent much of the 1950s living in Arlington, graduating from Alexandria‘s George Washington High School in 1962. Jim lived for a time at 2320 North Evergreen St., as well as 1327 South Glebe Rd, in Arlington.

Five years later, he would be fronting his psychedelic rock band for an audience in the International Ballroom at the Washington Hilton.

2. Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford

Okay, this is obviously the least surprising of the bunch, but I’m not talking about the White House. He went from House Minority Leader and Congressman from Michigan to Vice President and then President in about nine months. The only election he won was being elected by the citizens of Michigan’s Fifth Congressional District.

He lived in Alexandria with his wife, Betty, at 514 Crown Dr. and continued to live there as vice president as well as a short time as president.

3. Warren Beatty

Warren Beatty

Unbeknownst to us, Beatty spent a large chunk of his adolescence in the 1950s, growing up in Arlington (do you know why it’s named Arlington?). That’s right, he grew up in the quite Dominion Hills area, just north of Wilson Boulevard.

Beatty built his career on extraordinary acting talent but happens to be the younger brother of famous actress Shirley MacLaine. The two spent their teenage years in this brick colonial house, located at 930 N Liberty Street, in Arlington, Virginia.

Am I the only one that didn’t know he’s related to Shirley MacLaine? Two points for Bigwig Digs. Zero points for Ghosts of DC.

The post Three Things You Didn’t Know From Bigwig Digs appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

We love the 9:30 Club, and we’re pretty sure most GoDCers do as well. How many concerts, big and small, have you seen there? The old venue at 930 F St. NW and the current one at 815 V St. NW have played such an integral role in the music history of this city that n conversation about the cultural history of this city is complete without mentioning the 9:30.

Moe live at the 9:30 Club

A small club was born in the early 80s, fostering a thriving local punk scene, evolving to host the grunge bands of the 90s (i.e., Nirvana and Pearl Jam). The current incarnation, has seen the likes of James Brown, Tori Amos, Trey Anastasio, Wilco, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, The Black Crowes, Lou Reed, The Red Hot Chili Peppers,  Blues Traveler, Primus, My Morning Jacket and hundreds more grace their stage to nights of packed shows.

It’s nearly impossible to pick only three shows to feature here, but we’ve selected three big and memorable shows to share with the GoDC community. Many of you, I’m sure, were at one of these shows.

Opening Night: The Smashing Pumpkins

Billy Corgan at the 1996 VMA’s (source: mtv.com)

The 9:30 Club was officially taking over the old WUST Radio Music Hall space to kick off 1996 with an opening, headlined by The Smashing Pumpkins. This was a big deal. This was a huge deal, because this was a band on top of the music world at the time.

They exploded in popularity with Siamese Dream in 1993 and were coming off the monster success of their double album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. On Friday, January 5th, 1996, the band was in town to inaugurate the city’s newly renovated music venue at 815 V St. NW.

The Washington Post’s Mark Jenkins had a slightly less than favorable write-up of the official opening night of the new 9:30 Club.

Both the Smashing Pumpkins and the 9:30 club were on their best behavior last night, the first evening the newly relocated venue was open to the public. As expected, though, the club proved more interesting than the band.

…

Playing from 9 p.m. to nearly midnight with only one short break, the band turned its performance into an endurance contest. “We’re not tired,” boasted Corgan during the second set of encores. The Pumpkins started with an “acoustic” set that featurd the band members sitting down and wearing pajamas. This part of the show enabled the group to dispense some of its older material, notably “Today,” which the audience happily turned into a sing-along. It also made clear, however, that Corgan’s thin, raspy voice is not well served by being so exposed. (For what it’s worth, guitarist James Iha sounded even shakier when he took the mike.) This set, during which most of the band members played electric instrucments, ended with Corgan also plugged in (and standing up).

Okay, so WaPo didn’t like the show. But, I’m sure this was a pretty fun one to be at … and also one of those “I was there” moments to talk about with your friends. Not only because it was The Smashing Pumpkins and the opening night of the new venue, but the second night of their run was the first night of the epic 1996 snowstorm (aka, Snowpocalypse 1.0 for those of you who remember 2010).

Our friend Lisa White, the 9:30 Club’s music booker, recalled the sense of anxiety that pervaded the club’s staff as the band was wrapping up it’s final set. The entire region knew what was coming and was bracing for the worst storm in decades. The race was on after the show to pack everything up and get the band out before the city faced white-out conditions and was covered in snow.

The Tuesday after their weekend shows, the Might Might Bosstones played the club, with the entire city blanketed by two feet of wet snow.

Thanks to YouTube, here is a video of the January 6th 9:30 Club show. Setlist.fm has the setlists available for both January 5th and January 6th, if you want to check those out.

9:30 Club lineup 2/15/91

This wasn’t the first, nor the only time they played the venue. On Friday, February 15th, 1991, they played the club’s old location on F St. with Mother May I and Special K. Bad Religion followed up the next night and Gwar on Monday night! Who doesn’t love Gwar?

The Smashing Pumpkins were back at the club that July too, with tickets costing only $5. I’m sure they never would have predicted rocketing to monster band status and opening the new 9:30 Club in less than five years.

Radiohead, Michael Stipe … Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt

Two dozen bands were in town back in June 1996, the summer of the Tibetan Freedom Concert at RFK Stadium. If you lived in the area at the time, you will remember that this was a huge deal. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beastie Boys, R.E.M., Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam … a seriously awesome lineup for two days of music. Unfortunately, one of the days was cut short because of a lightning storm that injured 11 fans. In total, about 130,000 fans attended the concert at RFK.

That night, for a small number of lucky ticket holders, a surprise concert was given at the 9:30 Club by Radiohead with a guest appearance by Michael Stipe of R.E.M. Two of the lucky attendees in the VIP section that night were Jennifer Aniston and her beau, Brad Pitt.

Check out this video from the following day. Radiohead plays “Lucky” on stage with Michael Stipe at the second day of the Tibetan Freedom Concert.

Bob Dylan

The legend was in town in 1997 to be celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors (watch Paul McCartney receive his). But before he received his prestigious award, he played two nights at the 9:30 Club, Thursday, December 4th and Friday 5th.

Dylan seemed to be far more comfortable on stage at the 9:30 Club than receiving his award at the Kennedy Center. The Post gave a great review of the Thursday night performance.

When Bob Dylan went rumbling down “Highway 61 Revisited” at the 9:30 club Thursday night, he did so full throttle, his four-piece band a souped-up Humvee and Dylan himself as fueled and ready to go as he’s been in two decades. Dylan may be receiving a Kennedy Center Honor tomorrow, but he came to the 9:30 as a working musician, not a legend, and seemed particularly thrilled to be fronting a rock-and-roll band.

Indeed, Dylan appeared to be having the time of his life, taking long, loping leads in most of the 15 songs he performed over two hours, and clearly relishing the interaction with the capacity crowd, which stood transfixed, hardly believing its good fortune in catching Bob Dylan up close and personal. A few times, Dylan actually smiled.

Stepping onto the 9:30 stage in a gray suit with tuxedo-striped pants and a western hat, the 56-year-old Dylan looked like Hank Williams and other country stars of the ’50s. When he played guitar, particularly electric, his feet would slip and slide, and he’d bob and weave with the supple rock-and-roll pleasure of a Carl Perkins. And when Dylan sang, it was with familiar raspy-voiced conviction, even on those occasions when it took a verse or two to figure exactly what song he was performing.

Bob Dylan

So there you have it. Three memorable concerts from the city’s hub of music history and culture.

The post Three Shows at the 9:30 Club appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Washington National Cathedral at twilight

Exactly one year ago today, one of the most spectacular buildings in Washington was badly damaged by the earthquake that shook our city. So much so, that the repairs are going to cost millions of dollars and keep it under scaffolding for several years.

If you love this building like we do, consider donating a few bucks to help restore this national treasure. You can give money online, so it’s effortless.

And since we love this building so much, we want to highlight to tremendous history of the place with a “Three Things…” post. Also, a shout out goes to GoDCer Laura for suggesting this too. Three things won’t do justice to the place, but here are some fascinating stories about the place for you to share with your friends.

1. Thousands come see Martin Luther King, Jr.’s final Sunday Sermon

Martin Luther King Jr. at Washington National Cathdral – March 31st, 1968 (Associated Press)

The great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his final Sunday Sermon at Washington’s National Cathedral. On Sunday, March 31st, 1968, a crowd of several thousand people packed into the Cathedral to hear him speak. Little did they know that their revered leader would be taken down by an assassin’s bullet that Thursday.

The Washington Post highlighted his sermon the following day.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Washington yesterday and made an apparent effort to rebuild support for his planned April 22 Poor People’s campaign here, shaken last week when his Memphis demonstration erupted with violence.

Speaking to an overflow audience of more that 4000 at National Cathedral, Dr. Kin declared again his intention to bring 3000 poor people to Washington this month for “a nonviolent demonstration.”

“There will be a Poor People’s Campaign,” Dr. King told his predominantly white audience at the Cathedral.

…

“I don’t like to predict violence,” he added, “but if nothing is done between now and June to raise ghetto hope, I feel this summer will not only be as bad, but worse than last year.”

…

He told cathedral morning worshipers that the U.S. spends $50,000 to deal death to a Vietcong soldier in Vietnam, while spending only $53 for every poor person in this country.

Reading his words with hindsight, it’s sad to realize how true his words were about violence. And the magnitude of the violence, sparked by his assassination, forever changed the fabric of urban America. The commercial corridors of Washington — 7th St. NW, H St. NE and U St. — all became bombed out war zones as a result of the 1968 riots. Many of the areas are still slowly coming back to life with through economic revival and urban renaissance.

Another thing to note … March 31st, 1968 was the day Lyndon Johnson famously announced to the country that he would not seek reelection.

2. Woodrow Wilson’s funeral procession

This is one of those amazing pieces of footage that you can watch over and over. It’s fascinating.

On Wednesday, February 6th, 1924, the nation mourned as the funeral procession for the late President Woodrow Wilson slowly made it’s way from his Kalorama home to Washington National Cathedral. Countless thousands of people lined the route, braving the bleak winter weather to catch one last glimpse of the 28th president.

The Washington Post had this piece the following day.

The nation stood at salute yesterday while the body of Woodrow Wilson was conveyed to the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, and there laid in the crypt of Bethlehem Chapel with appropriately simple ceremony. The minds of millions, in many lands, attended the funeral of the late President, and reviewed the many incidents of his eventful life. His name is known to the remotest parts of the earth. Wherever it is known it is linked with the universal aspiration for peace. As the exhausted body was laid away the thoughts of multitudes softened toward the memory of Mr. Wilson, emphasizing the good which he had accomplished, and granting to him full honor for his faithful effort to make the world better.

The choice of a burial place for the late President is approved on every hand. Future ages will adorn and hallow the pile that is rising on Mount St. Alban. Many of America’s great sons will find their graves in that sacred edifice. Wilson, the pioneer of world peacemaking, broken by effort and dying with hope unfulfilled, may be joined hereafter by another famous American whose efforts will be blessed with success. The knowledge acquired by consideration and test of Mr. Wilson’s plan is not useless, granting that the league of nations in unacceptable to the United States. The nations have learned much, and by knowing what to avoid they will the sooner find the path to universal permanent peace. Experiment was necessary. Upon the ruins of one experiment after another the edifice of peace will stand, if it is ever erected at all.

…

Mr. Wilson’s long illness and his fortitude in meeting an adverse stroke of fate earned for him the kind regard and admiration of all Americans. Mrs. Wilson was universally applauded for her splendid example of wifely devotion, which eased the last days of her distinguished spouse. The country cherishes the memory of its departed son, and recites with pride the great role he played in the world’s affairs.

President Wilson was to be the first of many distinguished Americans to be buried in Washington National Cathedral. It was to be our Westminster Abbey, yet sadly, that plan never seemed to take hold.

3. Thousands mourn the death of the greatest pitcher of all time: Walter Johnson

Do you get the feeling that we love Walter Johnson, hero of the early Washington Senators? Thousands came out to Washington National Cathedral on December 13th, 1946 to pay their last respects to Walter Johnson. Johnson had battled a brain tumor, and sadly, passed away at the age of 59. Several of his teammates were pallbearers, including his catcher Muddy Ruel, first baseman Joe Judge and third baseman Ossie Bluege, outfielder Sam Rice and resident team clown, Nick Altrock.

Also in attendance was his 83-year-old mother, Minnie Johnson and two brothers Leslie and Earl.

After a simple ceremony (no eulogy was given), his body was taken to Rockville and laid to rest at Union Cemetery, next to his wife, who predeceased him by 16 years (read about their simple wedding in a Columbia Heights apartment).

Below is the Washington Post article from the next day.

Bare-headed hundreds, high personages of the baseball realm, notables of Washington’s civic life and the peanut vendors who knew the great pitcher at Griffith Stadium, stood in saddened clusters with Johnson’s family at the brief graveside services.

…

From the Cathedral, the funeral procession had moved almost bumper to bumper in blocks-long file with police escort, closing side streets to traffic for more than a mile on the Wisconsin Avenue route to Rockville.

As Dean Suter officiated from the Cathedral’s Great Choice, with the body of Johnson resting in The Crossing, draped in red velvet pall with brocaded golden cross, the white-haired mother of the famed pitcher dabbed continually at tear-filled eyes.

Family and friends almost taxed the capacity of the Cathedral’s Nave, with its nearly 1000 seats fronting The Crossing on three sides.

…

Present, too, were Stanley (Bucky) Harris, Johnson’s former manager, and George Weiss, representing the New York Yankees. Also, Jack Bentley, his pitching opponent in the famed seventh game of the 1924 Giant series that brought Washington its first World Series triumph; and Clyde Milan, Washington outfielder of Johnson’s heyday.

Bentley, what a class act. That was a day of great mourning for the city and baseball, with the loss of the pitcher that helping bring the only World Series title to this city. Is this the year when we celebrate our second?

Walter Johnson’s casket leaves Washington National Cathedral (Washington Post)

Related articles

• The National Cathedral School for Boys (St. Albans) in 1910 (ghostsofdc.org)
• Mr. and Mrs. Walter Johnson Tie the Knot on Monroe St. NW (ghostsofdc.org)
• Video: Wilson, Harding and a Nation Pay Respect to the Unknown Soldier (1921) (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Things That Happened at Washington National Cathedral appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

It’s been a while since our last “Three Things…” post, so we queried the Twitterverse for GoDC suggestions on our next one. DrCapsFan, an old school GoDCer (i.e, a follower since week two) threw out a great suggestion to focus on Cleveland Park’s Uptown Theater, seconded by another frequent tweeter, stephaniekays (and big Nats fan). So that seals it … the Uptown Theater it is.

And of course, since it’s a movie theater with great history, we’ll dig up some of the bigger movies that have played at the favorite Cleveland Park movie house.

neon sign Uptown Theater in Cleveland Park (tawbaware.com)

1. Clark Cable and opening night at the Uptown

Cleveland Park had its own giant movie theater ready to dedicate in the fall of 1936, right in the heart of the Great Depression. The dedication ceremony was to be held on Thursday night, October 29th, 1936 at 8:15 p.m., according to the Washington Post. Below is the article announcing the public unveiling of the uptown gem.

The Uptown Theater, Warner Bros. new picture playhouse, located on Connecticut avenue at Newark street, will be dedicated this Thursday evening, October 29, at 8:15 o’clock, according to an announcement made late yesterday by John J. Payette, Warner Bros. general zone manager. Doors will open at 7:15 to give patrons ample time to inspect the theater throughout.

Two distinguished Washingtonians–District Commissioner Melvin C. Hazen, chairman of the Board of Commissioners, and Thomas E. Clark, president of the Cleveland Park Business Men’s Association–will take part in the program.

…

The inaugural attraction at the Uptown will be “Cain and Mabel,” Cosmopolitan Production, released by Warner Bros., and starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable. The presentation Thursday evening will be the Washington premiere of this new musical comedy.

…

The most modern type of projection and sound equipment have been installed in the new house, which will seat 1,500 people in the orchestra, balcony and loges. Appointments throughout are the most modern available. Throughout the year, winter and summer, the Uptown will maintain an even temperature, the latest type of air-conditioning equipment having been provided.

Check out the trailer for “Cain and Mabel” below.

2. ‘Star Wars’ wreaks havoc in Cleveland Park

Star Wars – 1977

This might be the greatest epic saga in the history of film. Star Wars was playing at the Uptown in Cleveland Park (along with probably 10,000 other theaters).

A great Washington Post details the chaos that ensued when the movie opened to the public in 1977 … and for some reason, it slightly reminds me of a scene out of Dazed and Confused (also great).

Scene I, Take I: A quiet, residential street in Cleveland Park around the corner from the Uptown Theater where “Star Wars” is playing.

Time: A half hour before the 7:30 show.

Action: Moviegoers in cars frantically searching for parking spaces. A group of teen-agers near the end of the block-and-a-half line casually having a picnic on a resident’s front lawn as they wait for the movie to open. The Good Humor truck plying its way up and down the queue of people, tinkling out the allure of frozen goodies.

Close-up: discarded beer cars, burnt-out marijuana joints and McDonald’s hamburger wrappers.

It’s not a new motion picture under production yet, but if there is ever a sequel to that intergalactic spectacular “Star Wars,” some of the residents of Cleveland Park would like to call it “Earthly Fallout.”

“It’s … it’s an invasion,” says Marcy Schuck, a Cleveland Park resident who no longer recognizes her peaceful neighborhood since “Star Wars” started playing. “There are people, people crawling up the streets constantly. We’re constantly being awakened when people line up for the midnight show. My alley was blocked up once and I just wanted to scream and beat up the cars.”

…

Territorial imperative aside, however, [Ron] Hoffman did come home one time to discover a car blocking his driveway  “I told my wife, ‘Hey, some clown is blocking the driveway.’ The funny thing is that it turned out to be a friend of my wife whose car was blocking the drive, a person who had just graduated from clown school.”

That damn George Lucas … screwing up peaceful Cleveland Park. Any of you GoDCers wait in line to see it back then?

Here’s the trailer for Star Wars … AMAZING!

3. T-Rex and velociraptors terrorize Connecticut Avenue

You guessed it. Jurassic Park played at the Uptown, but not only that … it was the world premiere! The Washington Post wrote about it on Friday, June 11th, 1993 (the screening was Wednesday at the Uptown). All the celebrities were in town to see and be seen.

The Scene: World premiere of Universal’s “Jurassic Park” in Washington. The screening Wednesday was at the Uptown Theater, the after party was in the National Building Museum. Locally, a movie premiere is a major attention-getter since “glamour is as extinct in Washington as dinosaurs,” as one woman put it.

Who Was There: The film’s stars, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Samuel Jackson; plus 1,100 guests, including Muhammad Ali, Tom and Peggy Pollock, Sid and Lorraine Sheinberg, Lew Wasserman, Sens. Barbara Boxer, Arlen Specter, Harris Wofford, Patrick Leahy and Bob Kerrey; Reps. Tony Beilenson, Henry Waxman, Maxine Waters and Pat Schroeder; plus Mickey Kantor, Ron Silver and Peter and Eileen Norton.

Who Wasn’t: Director Steven Spielberg (still working on “Shindler’s List”) and President Clinton and family; recent petty sniping from reptilian East Coast media pundits about Hollywood influencing the White House was said to have kept them away. L.A. media consultant Josh Baran said, “Rampaging dinosaurs reminded him too much of the press corps.”

Best Line From a Politician: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California): “This is the first dinosaur Hollywood has sent to Washington since Ronald Reagan.”

Quoted: Of co-starring in this film, Samuel Jackson said, “Steven is basically the star of his own film. Then you have the dinosaurs. Everybody’s anticipating what they look like. People are coming to see them. Then they’re coming to see us. Kind of. We’re kind of filler.”

Of course we wouldn’t leave you without the trailer. Here it is … in crappy quality though.

Related articles

• A Day in the Life of Washington, 1936 [VIDEO] (ghostsofdc.org)
• First Lady Grace Coolidge Visits the Tivoli Theater in Columbia Heights (ghostsofdc.org)
• If Walls Could Talk: Tivoli Theater Was “The Temple of the Arts” (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Big Movies at the Uptown Theater appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

This is one of the most popular weekend spots in the city. Who doesn’t love to wander through the aisles of Eastern Market and take in the sights, sounds and smells of the old market? And to think that they wanted to knock this beautiful building down in the 1960s to replace it with some crappy suburban-style grocery store. The development of the 50s and 60s ruined so much of D.C.

Eastern Market after fire renovations (source: Flickr user A Culinary (Photo) Journal)

It’s high time we focus a little bit on one of our own favorite stomping grounds, Eastern Market. So, without further ado … three things about Eastern Market.

1. The Holy Hill band plays the grand opening in 1873

The opening of Eastern Market was cause for great celebration on Capitol Hill as it brought a great center of commerce to the neighborhood east of the Capitol Building. To put a frame of reference around the opening, the country was less than a decade out of the Civil War, Union General Ulysses Grant started his second term as president, the population of D.C. was a little over 130,000 and the country only had 37 states (Colorado would be next in 1876).

The first day of business was November 12th, 1873 and the National Republican published the following write-up about it.

The new Eastern market house was opened for business yesterday morning. The attendance of sellers and purchasers was fair, considering the stormy day, and it was conceded by those that the opening was a suspicious one. The butchers and others having produce for sale had generally the very best commodities on their stands, and there was some competition among them as to who would make the best display. There are eighty stalls in the market, of which about fifty have been sold, and these were yesterday occupied, while on the west side of the market were some country people. In the centre of the market were the butter merchants–Oyster, Weitzell, Fearson and others. On the sides were the butchers talls of Carroll, Hoover and others, making good displays. The Holy Hill band was in attendance for several hours during the morning, and discoursed very pleasing music. Mr. Joseph Carroll, who introduced and worked energetically for the passage of the bill authorizing the establishing of this market, was complimented with a serenade by the band. It is proposed to erect fish stands west of the building.

Sadly, I couldn’t find anything else on the Holy Hill Band. I’m imagining a bluegrass-type band “discoursing very pleasing music.”

west rear on south side – Eastern Market, 7th St. SE (Library of Congress)

2. Highway bandits assault farmer en route to Eastern Market

This is a horrible way to start a day. A farmer and his wife were heading down to sell their goods at Eastern Market early (really early) in the morning when they were approached by a band of men intent on robbing them. Here’s the Post’s account of the incident as published on August 1st, 1915.

attempted highway robbery

The police have been unable to find any clew [sic] to the identity of the two highwaymen who assaulted Philip T. Sweeney, a farmer living near Forestville, about a mile outside the District line, while he and his wife were driving to the Eastern Market, this city, shortly before 4 o’clock yesterday morning. One of the highwaymen struck Sweeney with a hard, blunt instrument, inflicting a deep cut on his head. After the two assailants had been beaten off they fired two shots, one penetrating the shoulder of Sweney’s [sic] coat and the other going wild.

A posse composed of residents of Prince Georges county, Md., scoured the vicinity of Forestville and two central office detectives detailed from police headquarters worked on the case all day yesterday, but owing to the meager descriptions given of the robbers great difficulty was experienced in finding a clew.

Detective Sergeant Weedon, who is in charge of police headquarters after midnight, sent Central office Detective Boyle to the scene of the assault immediately after the Maryland authorities had notified him of the attempted robbery, although the assault took place outside the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan police department.

An active interest in the hunt for the two robbers was taken by Sheriff Hardy, of Prince Georges county, who with three deputies has been working on the case since early yesterday morning.

Mrs. Sweeney escaped without injury. Sweeney’s injuries were treated at Casualty Hospital, and later he completed his journey to Eastern Market.

On account of the darkness and the suddenness of the attack, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Sweeney could give any adequate description of their assailants. Last Sunday morning two farmers living in the vicinity of Forestville were held up by four young white men and robbed of $10, and it is thought that both crimes can be traced to the same parties.

3. Child abductor sentenced and fined

Here is a bizarre story I came across in the Washington Post. This is from September 11th, 1907.

William Page Southern, the negro charged with the attempted abduction of Gertrude Miller, daughter of C. B. Miller, who resides at 216 Seventh street southeast, from the Eastern Market last Saturday evening, was fined $500 and sentenced to serve 364 days in jail by Judge Mullowny, in the Police Court, yesterday morning.

Southern was accused of having picked up the little girl while she was playing about the market and carrying her for about ten squares. For some reason, he left the child upon the street and fled. Detective Smith, of the Fifth precinct, stated that Southern had been arraigned several times before on similar charges. Owing to certain technicalities, it was impossible to charge the defendant with attempted criminal assault or kidnapping, and, consequently, he was charged with assault, a misdemeanor offense.

east front of Eastern Market, 7th St. SE (Library of Congress)

Related articles

• Three Notable People Connected to Old Ebbitt (ghostsofdc.org)
• Three Things About Poplar Point and Anacostia Flats (ghostsofdc.org)
• The Flea Market at Eastern Market Every Sunday, Year Round!!! In the Hine Schoolyard, 7th & C St. SE, Capitol Hill (filipinofestival.wordpress.com)
• Arrival of First Japanese Embassy at the Navy Yard (1860) (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Stories About Eastern Market appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

We’re on a roll with these “Three Things…” posts, so why not crank out another one. This time, we’re going to focus on The Westchester at 4000 Cathedral Ave. NW.

Christy, The Westchester’s resident ambassador for GoDC sent in the suggestion and, after a little digging in the archives, it appears that the building has some interesting tales to share. Thank you for your kind words Christy, always much appreciated.

The Westchester (Flickr user Anomalous_A)

The above photo was taken by Flickr user Anomalous_A. Check out the their other photos, because there are a number of other great shots of the building.

So, without further ado, the next installment of “Three Things…”

1. New Westchester building to house 800 units, beauty shop and drug store

Here’s a great article from the early days of the building, published by the Washington Post on November 22nd, 1931 … when America was in the painful throes of the Great Depression.

The newest and largest unit at the Westchester, recently completed at 4000 Cathedral avenue northwest near Wesley Heights, provides many unusual features and conveniences to its residents, which already number more than 400.

The dining room, for example, is now open from 7:30 a. m. to 8:30 p. m., serving excellent food at reasonable prices. Pleasingly varied and well-balanced menus offer a choice of many tempting dishes, with both a la carte and table d’hôte service. Meals can also be sent up to any tenants who so desire and are served in apartments by very capable waiters.

Let me pause it right there. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say those perks probably do not exist any more, but how sweet would that be? I imagine it was quite a glamorous place to live in the 1930s. On second thought, after a little Googling, I found out that there still is a restaurant in the building. I have to check it out.

It continues …

The basement of this new building cleverly conceals a drug store and a Piggly Wiggly store–which, aside from carrying a full line of high-grade groceries, will have a meat market and a vegetable department–offering everything, in fact, that will be needed in the kitchens of the Westchester’s residents. Both of these stores are being rushed to completion now and should be open very soon.

In the basement there is also a 300-car garage, offering 24-hour service, and a modern laundry plant, equipped with the latest electric washing machines and hot air driers–for use by any tenants who desire to use them.

Adjoining the main lobby of the new building, there is a thoroughly up-to-date beauty salon, which makes available to the Westchester’s residents a complete beauty service, at standard rates, without necessitating a trip downtown. The men living at the Westchester have been quick to take advantage of the convenience of the barber shop, which is also located near the main lobby of the new building.

Sounds like an incredible place to live.

Dining Room of The Westchester Apartments by Theodor Horydczak in 1947 (Library of Congress)

2. Diplomat attacked by thugs inside The Westchester

Every “Three Things…” post needs to have a little crazy story in them. This is that crazy story, published by the Washington Post on August 25th, 1934.

Hussein K. Navab, secertary [sic] of the Persian Legation, was mysteriously assaulted yesterday in his home at the Westchester Apartments, 4000 Cathedral avenue northwest.

Answering a knock on the door of his apartment, Navab was confronted by two well-dressed men who addressed him in English. The attaché does no understand the language and when he sought to convey this to his visitors, one of them pulled a blackjack and slugged him on the right side of the head.

Navab was dazed momentarily. Then he ran through the halls shouting for help. His assailants fled from the sixth floor to a waiting car in the driveway and sped from the exclusive residential neighborhood.

…

Navab was unable to give police any reason for the assault. No attempt was made to enter the apartment, or rob him, he explained, and the only factor which might have given a clew [sic] to the motive for the assault–the remark made by one of his assailants–was not understood by him.

There was no further report in the papers about capturing or even identifying the assailants. My guess is that they got away. What a bizarre experience for Navab.

Grounds of The Westchester Apartments by Theodor Horydczak in 1947 (Library of Congress)

3. Republican Senators have no water pressure

Here’s a good story from the Washington Post. This was published on July 26th, 1947.

More than 300 units comprising the upper floors of the fashionable Westchester Apartments, 39th st. and Cathedral ave. nw., have been without water since 11 p. m. Thursday. Eight Republican Senators live in the apartment development.

Water department and building engineers worked all day yesterday, but had not been able to find the trouble.

Arthur J. Harnett, manager of the Westchester, said water department men were still working last night and that the water supply “would be all right” by 7 a. m. today.

Harnett said he had heard several theories as to the cause of the trouble, but cared to advance none himself.

The water was originally turned off Thursday night so that an additional fire line could be installed in the buildings. When it was turned on again at 7 a. m. yesterday, only the residents on the lower floors were able to get any.

Among the occupants without water are diplomats, Washington socialites and Government figures.

The Senators are Raymond E. Baldwin (Conn.), C. Wayland Brooks (Ill.), C. Douglass Buck (Del.), Homer Ferguson (Mich.), Harry P. Cain (Wash.), Wayne Morse (Oreg.), Alexander Wiley (Wis.) and Chapman Revercomb (W. Va.).

Harnett laughingly said he “guessed we don’t have any Democratic Senators here.”

Other prominent persons were reside at the Westchester are: Raymond Foley, Lieut. Gen. Leroy T. Lutes, Milton P. Slesinger, Maj. Gen Everett F. Hughes, Rear Admiral Robert O. Glover, Judge George D. Neilson of Municipal Court and Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Giles.

That’s a pretty impressive list of tenants and I suspect they were not terribly pleased to forgo their morning showers before hitting the Senate Floor.

By the way, July 26th, 1947 is the day President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, establishing the Department of Defense by merging the Departments of War and Navy, in addition to creating the separate military branch of the Air Force. The Act also established the new Central Intelligence Agency.

If you live in the area or near the building, share this on Facebook or Twitter to show your friends, or better yet, pin the photos on Pinterest.

Main lobby of Westchester Apartments by Theodor Horydczak in 1947 (Library of Congress)

Elevators of The Westchester Apartments by Theodor Horydczak in 1947 (Library of Congress)

Grounds of The Westchester Apartments by Theodor Horydczak in 1947 (Library of Congress)

Related articles

• If Walls Could Talk: Chateau Bonaparte on K Street (ghostsofdc.org)
• Move to Cathedral Highlands: An Unobstructed View of the Entire Surrounding Country (ghostsofdc.org)
• Calvin Coolidge, Vermont Native and Our 30th President (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Things About The Westchester at 4000 Cathedral Ave. NW appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

In my call for suggestions last week, GoDCer Rych emailed a request to look into the last fire horses for the District fire department. John Kelly did a piece a few years back in the Post which is an excellent read.

To put a true Ghosts of DC spin on Rych’s story idea, we’re going to do a “Three Things…” post on the final trio of fire horses, Barney, Gene and Tom.

1925 fire run with Barney, Gene and Tom

1. Last run thrills three old fire horses

Below is an article on the final run, albeit for show, of the last three fire horses. The article was published on June 10th, 1925 in the Washington Post.

The last run! There’s something pathetic about it. More so because Barney, Gene and Tom, three gray steeds of the fire service don’t seem to realize it.

For the past year they have stamped impatiently in their stalls waiting for the familiar clang that didn’t come. Men spoke cryptically in their presence of their fire running days being over; of their being sold at auction or transferred to some lowly pursuit. The equestrienne veterans couldn’t believe it.

It was a long time between calls and the three horses found life hardly worth living. For ten of their fourteen years of life they had given their best to the first service. They couldn’t understand their idleness.

Yesterday the movies appeared to give them a new lease on life. The Department of Agriculture wanted some pictures of “The Last Run” for a film it is making. Barney, Gene and Tom were the only ones that could give it to them.

Early in the morning they were taken from No. 19 engine house to No. 8 and placed in the all-familiar stalls. This must be a return to service, they though, and they pawed the sawdust floor and whinnied nervously. It was good to be back under the overhanging harness.

And then came the gong. The years and worries fell from their shoulders as the harness dropped into place. Although they had made only three runs in the past year, they responded as if they had been in retirement only a day.

Firemen slid down the poles, throwing on their clothes as they did so. The kids came running, yelping, from everywhere. Driver D. Dwyer mounted an old engine, the chain across the front of the engine house dropped and they were off, bellowing kids and barking dogs in their wake. This was the life. Movie men were cranking away, but the veterans paid them no heed.

Out to Lincoln park, the job done, and then the triumphal trot back. A brisk rub down while the kids stood around admiringly. Then back to their stables. The last run!

Washington, D.C., circa 1914. “Three-horse team pulling water tower.” A fire truck racing past the Tea Cup Inn on F Street. Harris & Ewing

2. Fire horses given retirement floral tribute

By the 1920s, fire horses were becoming outdated, a little dangerous and obsolete (read the perils of a Columbia Heights fire run circa 1900). Below is an article I came across in the Washington Post from June 16th, 1925 … the retirement of the District’s final three fire horses.

With tributes such as are rarely if ever, given pensioners, Barney, Gene and Tom, the last of Washington’s fire horses went into retirement yesterday. Before going to Blue Plains to pass the rest of their days in pasture, however, the horses gave the large crowd at Engine house No. 8 a thrill by galloping through the streets as of old, with an old pumper rumbling at their heels.

The horses dashed along North Carolina avenue southeast, stopped instinctively at a fire plug, and returned leisurely to the engine house. There they were met by Commissioner Frederick Fenning, Fire Chief George J. Wagner, retired. Huge bouquets of flowers were bestowed on the trio, who, appreciating their fragrance less than their taste, ate them.

D.C. fire house with horse drawn engines circa 1909 (Library of Congress)

3. After a career answering 700 alarms, two buddies die

Barney, Gene and Tom on a fire run (source: Washington Post)

Below is a sad tale of the finals days for two of the last D.C. fire horses, Gene and Barney. This is from an article in the Washington Post on June 13th, 1925.

A gong is sounding in the old building that once housed No. 8 Fire Engine Company. Barney stirs restlessly. Gene glances at Tom. Several times the bell rings, then ceases. Minutes elapse. Again the loud clang, pounding out an alarm of fire, sounds–1, 2, 3, 4–That’s the number!

Barney, Gene and Tom. That number is theirs. Even before the gong has finished ringing they are stamping about their stalls, waiting to be liberated. The gates are opened. In less than a minute the three are tearing madly along the city streets, drawing behind them the bright red apparatus of No. 8 Engine Company.

Every one who remembers “way back” remember Barney, Gene and Tom. They were the last of the District’s veteran fire horses. Never again will they hear the clanging of bells. Never again will they ever be together–in this world.

Tom, youngest of the trio, is the sole survivor. Barney and Gene have passed away–to a land of rewards for their valiant efforts on earth.

Gene was the first to go. It was a quiet moonlight night about a month ago. He had no regrets. His purpose had been fulfilled well, and he had reached the ripe old age of 19. Barney and Tom stood beside him in a pasture of the District Home for the Aged and Inform at Blue Plains.

“Carry on, old pals,” were Gene’s last words to his comrades, “and hold your heads high when you march along Pennsylvania avenue in the Labor Day parade.”

His companions vowed to uphold honors for all three. But a week later Barney was found dead near the same spot. He was 21 years old. Tom had wandered away and stood looking into the distance at a far corner of the pasture.

Yesterday Srgt. A. J. Bargagni, of the Fire Department, and originator of the firemen’s parade on Labor Day, went to Blue Plains to see Tom and find out if he was willing to appear in the line of march without his partners.

“My eyesight isn’t what it use to be,” Tom told the sergeant, “but I promised Gene and Barney to carry on, so whenever you say the word, I’m ready.”

Sergt. Bargagni said that Tom would be teamed with two big bays. Tom is pure white, and will be in the center of the pair, carrying floral tributes to his departed comrades. The trio will pull one of the early types of fire apparatus.

During the career of Barney, Gene and Tom, it was estimated they answered more than 700 alarms. The smell of smoke and screech of sirens was all they lived for. They never moved in their stalls until the number calling their station into action was sounded on the gong over the door.

In 1925 the trio were retired and sent to the farm at Blue Plains. Only on Labor Day were they returned to the scene of former days of action. They were purchased by the department when Tom was 5 years old. He is 17 now.

“I’ll be here some time yet,” Tom avers. I’ve got to carry on.”

That’s such a sad piece, although it’s a little much, giving voices and thoughts to the horses.

Fire Department activities: horse-drawn hook & ladder truck leaving firehouse (Library of Congress)

Related articles

• John Kelly: On a Burning Quest to Find the Monument to D.C.’s Last Fire Horse (washingtonpost.com)
• Opium Den Holdup at Moy’s on Pennsylvania Avenue (ghostsofdc.org)
• The Bambino, Beer, The Tivoli, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Our First T-Shirt and the Vice President of What? (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Things About the Last Three Fire Horses: Tom, Gene and Barney appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

I came across an article in the Washington Times about three giants of the Washington police force … and I mean real “giants,” as in super tall cops. Well, super tall by standards back in 1903, not Gheorghe Muresan.

Three giants of the Metropolitan Police Force – 1903 (Washington Times)

Though these men do not eclipse GoDC favorite, Officer Sprinkle, our next “Three Things…” post will highlight these 20th century “giants.” Charles F. Osterman, John T. Kennedy and Bernard McCormick were featured in this article from Sunday, September 13th, 1903.

Among Washington’s “finest” are found several big men, four of whom are specially noted for their great height and weight. They are giants as compared with an ordinary man, and are among the most striking figures, physically speaking, to be found at the National Capital.

Big men gravitate to the police departments of the country. In all the cities are to be found a squad of tall fellows who look fine in the coats of blue and high helmets constituting the regulation dress. In fact the whole body of the police, especially in Washington, are men above the average height and weight.

1. Charles F. Osterman is a big fellow

Charles Osterman

Officer Osterman (great name) was of German decent, having been born into the German immigrant community in Cincinnati.

Charles F. Osterman is a big fellow in the Sixth precinct, who measures 6 feet 3 1/2 inches in his stockings, and weighs 238 pounds. He was born thirty-two years ago in Mount Adams, a suburb of Cincinnati, and for many years had no thought of becoming a policeman. the family came to Washington when he was nearly through his “teens,” and Osterman and his father engaged for some time in the dairy business. Not finding it so profitable as they had hoped, the young man became an apprentice and learned the carpenter’s trade. While working in a house one day the chance remark of a friend led him to think of joining the police force. He made an investigation, found out that he was eligible, and, because the position offered a steady salary, decided to don the blue coat and helmet. He joined the force July 1, 1897. he was first assigned to No. 5 precinct, where he remained five and one-half years. In this time his beat was about the navy yard and the streets leading thereto. In the course of his five years’ service there he learned to know most of the marines, and in cases of desertion he was frequently called upon to aid other policemen in identifying them. In this way he has added considerable to his finances from his share of the rewards offered. Osterman served under Lieutenants McCathran and Gessford, and was from the start a utility man who could be trusted to execute special orders for his superior.

The big man Osterman was still living with his family at the time of the 1900 U.S. Census. It was a large household of seven, with parents Herman and Anna overseeing five sons, with Charles being the only one listed as being born outside of the District. They were living at 161 Maple Ave.

Herman Osterman household in the 1900 U.S. Census

2. John T. Kennedy is the giant of them all

John Kennedy

The tallest of them all was John T. Kennedy, so tall in fact, that he was entered into a national contest for largest police officer in the country.

John T. Kennedy is the giant of them all. A year or two ago a contest was arranged by the chiefs of police of the various cities and a prize offered to the tallest policeman in the United States. Kennedy was photographed for this contest and was the competitor for Washington. In helmet and shoes he measured six feet nine and one-third inches, and tipped the scale at 285 pounds. He was third in the list when the returns were all in.

One curious fact regarding Kennedy is that he grew three inches in height after he joined the force. He was appointed July 1, 1893, when he was twenty-two years old. Within four years he actually grew three inches. His official height the the time of appointment in his bare feet was six feet three inches, and his measure taken several times since has been invariably six feet six inches. His weight at twenty-two was 197 pounds, and he has been gradually creeping up until he now registers 265.

Kennedy is a striklingly [sic] handsome man. He came from the “Green Hills of Virginia,” and is one of the fairest of the sons of the Old Dominion. His face is round and smooth as a boy’s and he generally wears a pleasant smile. So far as looks indicate the burden of life rest lightly upon him, and the duty of the policeman is a mere pastime. Kennedy is a good talker and has a fund of pleasant anecdotes with which to while away a leisure hour.

Kennedy lived with his wife of five years, Belle and young son Frank at 1812 8th St. NW (now conveniently located right next to the Shaw metro station).

John T. Kennedy household in the 1900 U.S. Census

3. Bernard McCormick, the terror of evildoers

Bernard McCormick

The last officer mentioned was Bernard McCormick, one of the men responsible for policing H St. NE, keeping it free of scoundrels and ruffians. I suspect he was either on the scene (or at least aware) of the great bicycle accident of 1896.

One of the most striking characters of the Metropolitan police force is big Bernard McCormick, of the Ninth precinct, the pride of the Northeast section, and the terror or evildoers at Chesapeake Junction. McCormick is older in point of service than those described, and boasts of having broken the most of the younger men of the old Eighth precinct into the business. He joined the force in 1890, at which time he was 5 feet 3 1/2 inches in height, and “kicked the beam” at 218 1/2 pounds. Since then Bernard’s girth has expanded a little and he now weights 285 pounds. McCormick had the grip two years ago followed by pneumonia and he came out of his illness with the asthma and otherwise somewhat broken in health. He is, however, on the active list and works his beat every night at Chesapeake Junction. Within one year, since he was assigned to it, the big fellow has succeeded in establishing comparatively good order in that resort of notorious wickedness. His own way of expressing it is that he “holds them down.” Of course, there are many arrests, and “Mae,” as he is familiarly called, has a tussle now and then with some hard-headed rioter, but he brings them in to Fifteenth and H Streets northeast, where the patrol wagon is awaiting him, and the prisoners who make a fuss usually receive additional penalty upon McCormick’s testimony in court.

In the 1900 U.S. Census, Officer McCormick lived at 616 10th St. NE with his wife of 11 years, Ellen, two daughters, Katherine and Margaret, plus their oldest child, a son, Thomas. Interestingly, their oldest was born in Idaho in 1890, which happens to be the same year the newspaper reported he joined the police force. So, either the Times is wrong, the Census is wrong, or they crossed the country in 1890 with an infant, arriving in Washington that year.

Bernard McCormick household in the 1900 U.S. Census

There actually was a fourth man mentioned in the article, Otis J. Trenis, but he declined to be interviewed by the Times reporter.

Related articles

• They Were Neighbors: Officer Sprinkle Lived Here (ghostsofdc.org)
• A “Bomb” is Found and Officer Sprinkle Saves the Day (ghostsofdc.org)
• 143 Days In … Time For a Break (ghostsofdc.org)
• Officer Sprinkle Breaks Up Street Brawl (ghostsofdc.org)
• Old Police Call Boxes of Washington (ghostsofdc.org)
• Three Things About the Bryant Street Pumping Station (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Giants of the Metropolitan Police Force appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Ebbitt House in 1865 as photographed by Matthew Brady (Wikipedia)

GoDCer and long-distance reader Ben sent in a request to do a little digging on local favorite Old Ebbitt Grill. The restaurant has a great story, deeply tied to the history of our city, dating back to 1856.

You’re just as likely to run into a tourist from Texas, a sports celebrity, a local from somewhere uptown or some politico from Capitol Hill.

This latest “Three Things…” post will highlight three notable people and their connections with our favorite local establishment, Old Ebbitt.

1. President-elect William McKinley takes up residence at the Ebbitt

McKinley in 1896 – “Prosperity at Home; Prestige Abroad”

The Old Ebbitt’s website claims that McKinley is “said to have lived there during his tenure in Congress.” Well this can be updated to say it is confirmed by historical newspaper articles that he lived there while serving as the Representative from Ohio. Not only that, he chose it as his temporary residence leading up to his inauguration as the 25th President of the United States.

A special dispatch from Washington to the Baltimore Sun was printed on November 23rd, 1896 about the selection of McKinley’s new accommodations in the city.

WASHINGTON, NOV. 22–Hon. William McKinley has engaged rooms at the Ebbitt House for himself and a large party for the inauguration, and arrangements are now being perfected by Mr. Burch, the manager of the hotel, for the entertainment of the distinguished guests. The selection of rooms for the next President and his family has been left to Mr. McKinley’s brother, who is now in the city, and to Mr. Burch. The latter proposes to make the rooms as luxurious and convenient as can possibly be done. Mr. McKinley’s party will occupy portions of three floors of the hotel. On the second floor there will be reserved for Mr. McKinley’s own use three suites of rooms, two double bedrooms and a large private parlor all overlooking F street.

On the third floor all the rooms on the Fourteenth street side of the building will be occupied by the party and similar rooms on the fourth floor will be reserved for their use. These rooms include the suite that was occupied by Mr. McKinley when he was a member of Congress. It is Mr. Burch’s idea that the members of Mr. McKinley’s family will prefer these rooms to any others because of their association with Mr. McKinley’s former life in this city. The rooms which were occupied by Vice-President Stevenson when he came to Washington four years ago are also included in the suite.

The fact that Mr. McKinley is to stop at the Ebbitt House has caused the applications for quarters in that hotel to pour in upon the managers. Eight hundred applications for rooms had been received up to Saturday night. The hotel, however, is not reserving rooms so far in advance, and only the regular patrons of the house are given the privilege of engaging rooms at this early date.

It sounds like a mass of opportunistic lobbyists were trying their best to place themselves in manufactured serendipitous proximity to the incoming president. Good luck.

There is another pretty funny hotel story that we posted that you should read. Poor Vice President Calvin Coolidge … Silent Cal gets zero recognition.

2. Samuel Gompers endorses Speaker of the House Champ Clark for President in ’12

The New Ebbitt – Washington, DC (Flickr user StreetsofWashington)

Samuel Gompers, the former cigar manufacturer, founder of the American Federation of Labor and giant in the labor movement attended a large dinner with 500 others at the New Ebbitt. The Washington Post reported on the event the following day, June 15th, 1911 — extremely early for a presidential endorsement back then.

The executive order issued by former President Roosevelt and reissued by President Taft denying government employes the right to petition Congress directly was attacked by Speaker Clark, of the House, and Representative W. B. Wilson; Speaker Clark was indorsed [sic] for the Presidency by President Samuel Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor, and the decision of Justice Wright, of the District Supreme Court, in the Buck’s stove boycott case was criticised [sic] by Mr. Gompers at a dinner given last night at the New Ebbitt by the Washington Central Labor Union in honor of labor union members of Congress and the members of the executive committee of the American federation.

…

Representative Wilson declared that under present conditions civil service employes of the government are helpless. The order of President Roosevelt, which forbade all government clerks to petitions members of Congress, and directed them to refer their grievances to the heads of their departments, he attacked as being unconstitutional. This order, according to Mr. Wilson, has been made more dangerous by President Taft, who also directed that no government employes give information to Congress except through their department heads.

“Neither government nor industrial employes want to strike,” he continued, “but some times they are forced to do so. The orders of Presidents Roosevelt and Taft have created a condition in which the employes are helpless. These conditions must be improved, or the workers are liable to strike. Were these orders repealed, the possibility of a strike would be removed. Let the clerks organize, take away these orders, and then the government service will be improved.”

Speaker Clark made a humorous address, referring to the fact that he is as poor now as he was in 1888, and that he expected to remain poor until he retired from Congress. He paid a high tribute to the workingmen of the country. Secretary James Wilson, of the Agricultural Department, he praised highly for his work in building up the farming industry of the country.

“I like to praise a Republican occasionally,” he said, “and take the opportunity whenever I think they deserve it. But I admit that I do not spend all of my time at it.”

Does that last sentence also amuse you?

Samuel Gompers – 1908

3. William F. Cody (aka, Buffalo Bill) pays a visit to the Ebbitt

We posted about wild west hero Buffalo Bill in the early days of our blog. Our hardcore GoDCers might remember that — all nine of you — you know who you are. He was visiting the Willard back in 1903 and he was getting up there in age.

Well, Buffalo Bill passed through Washington on a number of occasions, and one of them included a stay at the famed Ebbitt back in 1891. Below is the article from the Washington Post.

Col. William F. Cody, better known as “Buffalo Bill,” arrived in the city yesterday. He held quite a levee in the lobby of the Ebbitt last night, being the most prominent figure about the hotel. “Bill,” although a trifle grayer than he was when he visited Washington three years ago, does not look a day older. He has the same long hair, the same fine, silken mustache and imperial which give him such a pronounced military appearance. Col. Cody, although always sensitive on the age question, confessed last night to having seen fifty-two hard winters, most of them in the wild and woolly West.

Hist visit to Washington is not of any special interest. He attended the Sherman funeral at St. Louis, Saturday last, and being over half way to the National Capital, thought he would run over and see how things were being managed by President Harrison and Speaker Reed. He expects to start for his home, on the North Platte, Nebraska, on Thursday. Before leaving the colonel will call at the White house to pay his respects. He will also call at the Indian Bureau and tell Commissioner Morgan what he knows of the recent Indian troubles, and will probably give that gentleman a key to the question. the colonel knows more about the American Indian, his habits, and what he needs, than any other man living. He has made him a study all his life.

Col. Cody says he will leave for Europe in April to look after his show, which is in winter quarters near Strasburg, Germany. The entire outfit is over there, cowboys, mustangs, buffalo, &e. His cowboys are apt scholars and expects them to be talking German when he returns.

Buffalo Bill is a pretty good third notable person to round out this “Three Things…” post.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and Congress of Rough Riders of the World – Circus poster showing cowboys rounding up cattle and portrait of Col. W.F. Cody on horseback – 1899 (Wikipedia)

One of our favorite local blogs, Streets of Washington has an excellent history post on the Ebbitt House and Ebbitt Hotel. He also has a great book out, which you need to check out.

Related articles

• Three Random Facts About the Corcoran Gallery (ghostsofdc.org)
• Old and Older: The Ebbitt House and New Ebbitt Hotel (streetsofwashington.com)
• Old Ebbitt Grill – Washington, DC (withoutbacon.wordpress.com)

The post Three Notable People Connected to Old Ebbitt appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Tragedy! I was tipped off by DCist that the Corcoran Gallery might be leaving the District for Alexandria?! Wow, that would be bad. Say it ain’t so. And who is in the market to buy a big 115-year-old art gallery? What’s the market price anyway … $50 million? Hey, the White House is apparently estimated at $110 million.

Well, the good news is that this was inspiration for another “Three Things…” post. Let’s see if GoDC can dig up some bizarre and odd tales about the Corcoran Gallery.

1. The new Corcoran Gallery opens on 17th St.

The New Corcoran Gallery (Washington Times)

Out with the old and in with the new. Early 1897 was a time for change in Washington, D.C. A new president was two weeks away from being inaugurated. William McKinley had defeated William Jennings Bryan in the fall of 1896 and inaugurations were held in March (watch film of his second inauguration in 1901).

The new Corcoran Gallery was set to open just before the celebrations for the incoming president. The Washington times had a column in their newspaper on February 23rd, detailing the grand opening ball held the night before.

Nearly five thousand people visited the new and beautiful Corcoran Art Gallery last evening by the courtesy of the trustees, who had issued cards to the friends of the institution for a private view of the treasures in this exquisite temple of art.

It was understood that Mrs. Cleveland would be present, as she had accepted her invitation, and this possibly secured the continued attendance of the crowd until after 11 o’clock, when the doors were to be closed. Between 9 and 10, however, the notables arrived in great numbers, among them being Sir Julian Pauncefote, his three daughters, Lord Aberdeen and the Countess of Aberdeen, and their daughter, Mr. and Madame Patenotre, the Chinese Minister and Madame Yang Yu, the Japanese Minister, and members of the legation, Minister De Lome, Madame De Lome, Senator Hoar and party of ladies, Senator Pasco and party, Vice President Stevenson and party, M. Andrade and party, Senator Blackburn and party, President H. L. Whitman, of Columbian University, and party, Rev. Howard Wilbur Ennis and party, Rev. Mackay-Smith, D. D., and Mrs. Smith, Senator Lodge, Mr. McMillin and Mrs. McMillin, and quite a number of other Representatives and Senators. All of the embassies were represented.

Possibly the proudest man in the building was Dr. Barbarin, the curator, and there was much to be proud of. The arrangements were as perfect as if they had been chiseled or painted by artists, and there was much appreciative comment on the disposition of the works of art in all the halls. Good critics said that the view is vastly superior to that in the Museum of Chicago, and in the exquisite symmetry of the hall and its contents even the much vaunted interior of the Congressional Library will have to look to its honors.

The public will not see this often, but after the formal opening tomorrow night the gallery will be as usual open all week and on the usual terms.

The committee under whose management the affair of last night was given was composed of Mr. S. H. Kauffman, Mr. Walter S. Cox, Mr. Fred B. McGuire, Mr. Charles C. Glover, Mr. Edward Clark, Mr. Calderon Carlisle, Mr. Matthew W. Galt, Mr. Wilham Corcoran Eustis and Mr. Thomas Hyde.

2. Calvin Coolidge leaves White House to visit the Corcoran; Nobody notices

Calvin Coolidge (Wikipedia)

Poor silent Cal. He never gets any recognition or acknowledgement (read this post and you’ll know what I’m talking about).

A brief Washington Post article from January 5th, 1925 mentions the impromptu visit by the president and his wife.

Unheralded and almost unnoticed, President and Mrs. Coolidge, accompanied by three secret service men, slipped out of the White House yesterday afternoon and visited the Corcoran Gallery of Art to view the Willard Metcalf and daniel Chester French exhibits on display there.

Only the usual Sunday afternoon visitors were in the gallery when the President and Mrs. Coolidge arrived. They were greeted by C. C. Glover, president of the gallery’s board of trustees, and C. Powell Minnigerode, director of the gallery. Few noticed the presence of the presidential group as it went quietly from picture to picture or from marble to marble, and after three-quarters of an hour slipped out the students’ side entrance and returned to the White House.

…

The President and Mrs. Coolidge attracted little attention as they left the White House. They preferred to walk the short distance and left the White House car behind. There were few people on the streets and only here and there persons recognized the President as the group walked quietly along Seventeenth street.

…

The party returned almost unnoticed to the White House.

How many times does the article have to say the group went unnoticed? Poor Cal. Check out the photo of Calvin and Grace Coolidge leaving the gallery, secret service in tow.

Calvin and Mrs. Coolidge leaving the Corcoran. Nobody is noticing. – 1925 (Library of Congress)

3. Bronze statue stolen in 1885 mysteriously reappears in the gallery 15 years later

This is a bizarre story. I found this in the Washington Post, dated December 17th, 1900.

Two or three days ago a wooden box, carefully sealed and with express charges prepaid, was received at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, which, on being opened, revealed a statue of a bear. It was thought for a time that it was a contribution, but when one of the old employes happened to see it he recognized the bronze as one which had mysteriously disappeared from the Old Gallery of Art at Seventeenth street and Pennsylvania avenue, about fifteen years ago.

Frederick B. McGuire said the statue was taken in 1885, when William McCloud was curator, and although and investigation was made, no clew [sic] to its whereabouts could be obtained. It is a small statue weighing eight or ten pounds, and could have been carried off under a heavy overcoat or cloak. It is valued at $200, but as it was one of the gifts of the late W. W. Corcoran, it was highly prized.

The box was expressed from Boston, Mass., but otherwise there is no clew to the person who has held possession of the statue all these years, and probably no action will be taken to ascertain his or her identity.

The figure has been placed on a small table in the main hall of the gallery, where it attracted much attention yesterday.

Bizarre right? They never did find out who stole the bear.

Corcoran Gallery of Art between 1910-1925 (Library of Congress)

If you liked this post, share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter.

Related articles

• Corcoran Gallery Thinking of Selling Building and Moving (dcist.com)
• If Walls Could Talk: Chateau Bonaparte on K Street (ghostsofdc.org)
• Calvin Coolidge, Vermont Native and Our 30th President (ghostsofdc.org)
• Corcoran Gallery May Relocate After 115 Years (blogs.nytimes.com)
• Corcoran Gallery to test market for sale of landmark building (washingtonpost.com)

The post Three Random Facts About the Corcoran Gallery appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

The popular “Three Things…” post about Dulles Airport prompted me to give equal treatment to our other local, older and much more convenient airport: National Airport (not Reagan National Airport, thank you very much). Actually, the airport was once known as the National Airport at Gravelly Point.

Maybe we should change the name to George Washington National Airport (Reagan made a great quip about our first president in his State of the Union Address). Or, we could also name it after another favorite Virginia son, Thomas Jefferson … Reagan made a great comment about him as well. I’m sure the 40th president wouldn’t mind.

1. Guam-to-D.C. direct in 35 hours

The first interesting story I uncovered was from November 21st, 1945. Just after World War II, the airport had only been open for a few years, when a B-29 Superfortress — the type of aircraft that had dropped incendiary bombs on Tokyo near the end of the war and brought the war to a close by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – flew nonstop from Guam to D.C. without refueling.

At the time, this was the world’s longest flight, totaling 8,198 miles, breaking the previous mark set in 1938 by almost 1,800 miles. The U.S. Army Air Forces used the flight to demonstrate both the superiority of their technology, but also highlight a new age in warfare and vulnerability to attack from anywhere at anytime.

B-29 Superfortress in flight (Wikipedia)

The plane was commanded by Col. Clarence S. Irvine, supported by a nine-man crew from their base on the island of Guam.

Below is a brief excerpt from the Washington Post’s report on their arrival.

Irvine said the heavily loaded craft waddled into the air at Guam just as the 9500-[foot] runway “gave our,” and was not flown above 50 feet for the first five hours. From the moment Guam faded behind them, the crew did nto [sic] see land again until they raised Cape Flattery, northwest of Seattle. There they cut out one engine to save fuel.

Along the way Irvine said, they ran into seven weather fronts “full of ice.” In one of them they had trouble with icing because the airplane had no de-icing equipment.

“Crossing the Rockies,” Irvine said, “we couldn’t get over 12,500 feet and it was very unpleasant. “We were in the soupr all the time.”

Otherwise, he said, they “didn’t have any trouble.”

Wow. Don’t forget that the Rockies top out at 14,400 feet … an exceedingly dangerous place to fly an airplane, not to mention one as large and cumbersome as a fuel-laden bomber.

When the crew landed at National Airport after their 36-hour adventure, they still 300 gallons of fuel remaining in their tanks, enough for one more hour of flight. They started their journey in Guam with 11,110 gallons.

2. TWA ticket agent murdered at National Airport

TWA logo

Okay, this is nuts. If you were living here over 30 years ago, you might remember this.

An article in the Washington Post from November 20th, 1980 details the tragic murder of a long-time employee of TWA (if you’re 30 or older, you’ll also remember this airline).

Michael F. Papa, a 25-year employe of Trans World Airlines at National Airport, was fatally stabbed in an airport restroom yesterday in an apparent robbery attempt near the TWA ticket counter where he worked as agent-in-charge.

Airport police took an 18-year-old Fort Belvoir solider into custody moments after a TWA customer service agent stopped him as he tried to leave the restroom in the main terminal building.

…

Police identified the suspect at Pvt. Joseph Patrick Shay of the 11th Engineer Battalion’s 902nd Engineer Company at Fort Belvoir, a former resident of El Paso, Tex. Shay was arraigned at U.S. Magistrate’s Court in Alexandria yesterday afternoon and ordered held without bond on a charge of first-degree murder.

Papa was stabbed over 25 times in the bathroom with a five-inch hunting knife and was hunched over clutching his bloody chest when he was discovered. Shay was exiting the bathroom as an alert ticket agent entered to investigate reports of a fight. The agent ordered Shay to stay put, which he surprisingly did, while law enforcement were called.

Shay claimed to have been high on amphetamines and he had no prior criminal record or known issues with drugs.

View of National Airport with plane in foreground (Library of Congress)

3. The airport is actually in D.C.?

The airport is largely built on top of landfill in the Potomac River. The boundary between D.C. and Virginia was established in 1846, after retrocession, as the high-water mark of the river (i.e., the land was Virginia, the water was Washington, D.C.).

It’s pretty clear today that when you fly into DCA, you’re landing in Arlington, Virginia, with an amazingly scenic approach over D.C. from the north. Well, it wasn’t so clear back in the 1941 when the airport was opened. And as with most jurisdictional fights, a large part of this was over money. Virginia wanted to tax both gasoline and liquor sold at the airport.

There were even suggestions to solve the problem by making Arlington part of the District again, especially since the War Department had already expanded across the river with the Pentagon.

In June 1945, a bill passed the House fixing the border as the mean high water mark on the new shoreline, placing the airport squarely in Virginia. The Post reported the story on June 26th, 1945 (a little more than a month before the end of World War II).

The House passed by a voice cote and sent to the Senate a bill which would end the century-old uncertainty about who has jurisdiction over a “No man’s land” on the southwest shore of the Potomac River.

…

“If a murder were to be committed in the area tomorrow,” Representative Smith (D., Va.) told the house, “there would be grave doubt that the guilty person would ever be brought to trial because of the uncertainty over jurisdiction.”

Someone recalled that a man died a month or so ago at the National Airport, across the river from the Capital, and no coroner would declare him dead.

The dispute between D.C. and Virginia was settled by Congress, placing the airport in the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, but permitting the taxation of liquor sales by Virginia.

Well, taxes weren’t the only thing. The desire to limit bureaucratic limbo and paperwork was another. An article in the Washington Post from February 8th, 1945 added an interesting twist.

Employes at the National Airport have been instructed, in a pseudo-official memorandum, to do their dying at home, and save the officials of Arlington County, Alexandria and the District of Columbia a jurisdictinal [sic] headache, it was learned yesterday.

“If you’re going to die, don’t do it here!” because the by-word last September, according to Airport Manager Harvey F. Law, after it took 36 hours to get permission to bury an airport employe who died on the job.

Check out some more photos of National Airport in 1941 at the Library of Congress.

Also, if you liked this post, share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter.

Related articles

• Three Things You Didn’t Know About Dulles Airport (ghostsofdc.org)
• Extra! Extra! Brave D.C. Residents Establish Beachhead in Virginia; Move to Reclaim Arlington County Pondered. (Or Something Like That.) (dcist.com)
• Three Random Stories About Farragut Square (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Things You Didn’t Know About National Airport appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Last week, we did a quick post on Fort Lincoln Heights. Now, I’d like to focus a little more on Deanwood, the former neighborhood of both Nannie Helen Burroughs and Marvin Gaye.

1. Before the Deanwood metro … way before

Deanwood’s metro stop recently had a dubious label attached to it. You’ll read later in this post that a different kind of danger was present in Deanwood over a hundred years ago.

I thought it might be interesting to share what the area around the metro stop looked like in 1907. Below is the Baist real estate atlas for the area near the current metro stop.

Deanwood in the 1907 Baist Real Estate Atlas (Library of Congress)

Play around with the current map below. The road above labeled Anacostia (near 5122 and 5118) became Anacostia Freeway (295), M is now Meade, N is Nash and L is Lee.

2. Frightful railroad crossing accident kills a prominent lawyer

The Baltimore Sun had a special dispatch from Washington on August 21st, 1897, detailing a horrific accident at the Deanwood crossing of the Baltimore and Potomac railroad tracks.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29.–One of the most frightful accidents which has occurred here in years took place this evening at 6 o’clock at the Deanwood crossing of the Baltimore and Potomac tracks when Judge H. O. Claughton, a prominent lawyer of this city, and Miss Villa Custis lost their lives by being struck by a train.

Judge Claughton and Miss Custis had been out driving and were returning to the city. As they approached the railroad crossing at Deanwood the whistle of the New York express due at this time blew. Gateman Baker attempted to lower the gates to prevent the carriage from passing over the tracks. As he did so he saw that the gates would strike the top of the carriage, so he immediately raised them again. By this time the horses had passed upon the tracks, and in a moment more the carriage would have been over.

Just then the express, going at the rate of sixty miles an hour, crashed into the team, apparently striking it between the horses and the carriage. In a moment the air was filled with splinters and flesh, and the horses, carriage and occupants disappeared from view. The train was stopped as quickly as possible and backed up to Deanwood, and the conductor and trainmen gathered up the wreck.

The body of Judge Claughton had been thrown a distance of seventy yards and that of Miss Custis nearly as far. Both lay at some distance from the track. They had been killed instantly, apparently, by the tremendous shock. At one side of the road lay the horses, both dead. The carriage was in splinters. An incoming train was stopped and the bodies placed on it and brought to this city.

An inquest will be held tomorrow to determine, if possible, where the blame lay. The gateman is the only witness to the accident, and he says that he did all that was possible to prevent it. The team the Judge was driving was an elegant span of horses and they were coming down the road at a fast clip. At the crossing there is a slight cut, and, it is believed, that the view was obstructed by houses and a fence, so that the occupants of the carriage had no idea they were in danger until they had been struck. Their bodies showed bu slight wounds.

Miss Custis is a daughter of Dr. W. B. N. Custis, of 112 East Capitol street.

Judge Claughton was born in Westmoreland county, Va., May 20, 1828. He was consul at St. Martins, West Indies, in 1850-1, and in 1873-6 he was a member of the Virginia Senate. In the latter year he removed to this city, where he soon accumulated a large and lucrative practice. He was made a professor at the law school of the National University in 1882, and has ever since been in the faculty. He was one of the counsel in the famous Potomac flats case, now pending before the United States Supreme Court.

Is it me, or is it weird that a 69-year-old man is out for a drive with the daughter of a local doctor? The papers did state that Judge Claughton and Dr. Custis were friends. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it seems odd. In the 1880 U.S. Census, Claughton is listed as married to Jennie, with two daughters, a son and two adopted daughters — the judge’s father, a servant and cook also lived in their home on 3rd St., just north of the Capitol Building. Maybe he was a widower by 1897 and maybe it was just an innocent ride to the country.

After a little digging, I found out that Custis was 28 years old at the time. By 1897, Claughton no longer was living near the Capitol, having a residence at 1740 P St. NW and there was no mention of his next of kin in the article.

Hiram O. Claughton household in the 1880 U.S. Census

The Pennsylvania Railroad was declared responsible for the accident, having been negligent in sufficiently protecting the Deanwood crossing. The gates at the crossing were lowered and raised manually and it was company policy to only lower them when the oncoming train was in sight. There were two 12-hour shifts operating the gate, with the day man being paid $45 a month and the night man receiving $40 for his shift.

3. President Roosevelt’s train at Deanwood

I stumbled across an interesting, but very brief, mention of the President passing through Deanwood over a hundred years ago. This was in the Washington Post on November 23rd, 1902.

The Pennsylvania Railroad informed police headquarters last night that the President’s special train of four cars, from Philadelphia, would remain on a siding at Deanwood from 4 o’clock this morning, until 7:30 o’clock, at which hour the Executive wished to be awakened. the train, scheduled to leave Philadelphia at midnight, arrived in the city at an unseasonable hour. It was thought best not to disturb the President’s rest by rousing him before his usual hour of rising.

President Roosevelt was in Philadelphia on November 22nd to attend the dedication of the Central High School for Boys during the day and at night, he went to the celebratory banquet of Founders’ Day at the Union League. The party went quite late and Roosevelt boarded his train home at the Pennsylvania Railroad station.

Teddy Roosevelt in Philadelphia – November 22nd, 1902 (Library of Congress)

Related articles

• Deanwood: A Little Bit of Country Just Inside the District’s Borders (dc.urbanturf.com)
• Fort Lincoln Heights: Parts of Barbadoes and Scotland (ghostsofdc.org)
• Violence on Streets of Old Anacostia ["Washington Letter," Baltimore Sun, 1886] (ghostsofdc.org)
• Doctor and His Carriage at the Smithsonian (ghostsofdc.org)
• Gonzaga, Sidwell Friends, St. Albans and Farewell to a Local Legend (ghostsofdc.org)

MrsAntonette

The post Three Things About Deanwood appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

We haven’t done a “Three Things…” post in a while, so let’s go to the far reaches of the District, up to the Maryland line, and talk about some things you didn’t know happened there long ago.

Chevy Chase Circle (Wikipedia)

1. The tragic suicide of a local tailor

There’s always a macabre story when doing one of these posts … and this is sad and graphic story published by the Post on August 30th, 1905.

William G. Zimmerman, a tailor, of 912 Eight street southeast, shot himself through the head yesterday morning, near Chevy Chase circle, and died a short time afterward. About 11:45 o’clock Policemen Maher and Sullivan, of the Tennallytown substation, heard the sound of a pistol shot from the direction of the pavilion at the circle, and hastened to the sport. There they found Zimmerman unconscious, and rapidly bleeding to death from a bullet wound above his right temple. They summoned the Emergency Hospital ambulance, but the man was dead before he reached the hospital, of hemorrhage of the brain. The body was viewed by the coroner, who issues a certificate of suicide.

…

His money is to go to his widow, according to a note which he left behind. The note read:

“In the pocket of my chinchilla coat my wife will find something; I hope that she will forgive me, as I pray God will; I leave all for the benefit of my wife and children, without bond or authority. I am beyond where there is care and reset. It is better that I rest forever.”

2. Washington Cricket Club takes on the Baltimore club

The Washington Post reported on June 16th, 1907, that a cricket match was to be held within the circle … something you’re not terribly likely to see these days.

The first of a series of eight games between the Washington Cricket Club and the St. George Club of Baltimore will take place at Chevy Chase Circle to-morrow at 1 o’clock. The local club has been practicing hard of late and expects to the the Monumental City team a hard game.

Capt. Bob Barr will use Dick Roberts and Harry Holmes, as bowlers, while William Warren will be wicket keeper.

Bob Barr in 1889 (Wikipedia)

You might not know this, by Bob Barr was an excellent Major League pitcher two decades prior to this. Way back in 1885, he single-handedly pitched the Washington Nationals (then affiliated with the Eastern Association) into the league championship. He pitched in 15 of the teams’ final 24 games, winning 14 of them, a remarkable feat. Bob Barr, Walter Johnson, Stephen Strasburg … the line of dominant Washington pitchers lives on.

Also, back then, being a baseball player was a regular job, and when you hung up your spikes, you had to find other employment since you have an Albert Pujols-like contract. After bouncing around to a number of the teams, the native Washingtonian returned to the city and was employed in the Engineering Department of the District government. Bob and his wife Fannie lived at 1816 Kalorama Rd. NW in today’s Adams Morgan.

Bob & Fannie Bar in the 1900 U.S. Census lived at 907 Q St. NW

3. Tornado his Chevy Chase

The thunderous sound of an approaching tornado, normally reserved for Kansas or Oklahoma, were heard in the vicinity of Chevy Chase Circle in September 1896. In the blink of an eye, the storm caused tremendous damage, as reported by the Post on September 20th, 1896.

The vicinity of Chevy Chase Circle was visited by a miniature cyclone yesterday afternoon at 5:30 o’clock which did more damage in the five minutes than can be repaired in as many days. The storm was about a quarter of a mile in width and passed between the post office and the Inn. It was heralded by clouds which entirely obscured the su and for some time complete darkness prevailed. Then came a funnel-shaped cloud moving at great speed. Big trees were uprooted and broken off, bushes and hedges were ruined, and a score of poles on the Capital Traction Company’s line between the Chevy Chase Club and Chevy Chase Inn were blown down. The wires were badly tangled, and for four hours traffic was at a standstill. Superintendent Claude had 150 men at work as soon as the rain, which followed the windstorm, had blown over, but little could be done. At 9 o’clock two cars were run as far as the circle, where they were met by horse cars connecting the Inn with the lake. Up to the time of stopping the cars little had been done, but it is announced that the cars will be running on schedule time this morning.

The storm did considerable damage to corn fields over which it passed. Outhouses were torn up and blown away, but no damage was done to the larger buildings. The country outside of the strip where the poles were blown down did not suffer at all. No one was injured.

Given the magnitude of the damage, it’s a miracle nobody was hurt. On a side note … cornfields and outhouses? Different times for sure.

Image of tornado (Wikipedia)

Related articles

• Opium Den Holdup at Moy’s on Pennsylvania Avenue (ghostsofdc.org)
• Three Things That Happened at the Washington Monument (ghostsofdc.org)
• Babe Ruth Runs Into Wall; Knocked Unconscious (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Things That Happened At Chevy Chase Circle appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

If you’re fortunate enough to be participating in WABA’s “Down the Tubes” ride tomorrow, the last stop on your journey is going to be Poplar Point. Probably 70% of District residents don’t know what this is or where it is, but a number of important historical events have happened here. One of these events involved a future president.

1. Bonus Army and the Summer of 1932

Over 43,000 marchers came to Washington in 1932 demanding payment for their World War Adjusted Compensation Act bonuses. The law was passed on May 1924, entitling each veteran of World War I to $1.00 for each day of military service within the United States and $1.25 for each day served overseas during the war.

This was a financially viable idea during the Roaring Twenties, but the economic implosion on Wall Street and the subsequent Great Depression, times were tough, and budgets were tight. Many of the veterans were awarded these bonuses in the form of certificates, with compound interest, not redeemable until 1945. Most of the men, having lost their jobs, were without income and came to Washington demanding immediate payment for their service in the military.

The men came to Washington with their families and camped on the south bank of the Anacostia River and, within a short period of time, a Hooverville had grown on the banks of the river.

Bonus Army encampment in 1932 (Shorpy)

On July 28th, Attorney General William Mitchell ordered police to remove the Bonus Army from their illegal campsite. After their brief eviction, the veterans returned, but in doing so, a crowd rushed two policemen, cornering them. The policemen drew their guns and shot two veterans at close range, William Hushka and Eric Carlson. Both Hushka and Carlson died — they were later buried with honor at Arlington Cemetery.

President Hoover was informed of the incident and demanded the immediate eviction of the camp by the U.S. Army. General Douglas MacArthur (familiar name?) was the commanding officer, supported by Major George Patton (also familiar?) and the General’s aide, Dwight D. Eisenhower (in 20 years, he’s going to be president).

The Bonus Army had been congregating near Pennsylvania Avenue, north of the Anacostia River, when they were confronted with the MacArthur’s 12th Regiment and 3rd Cavalry. They (and their families) were charged and chased by fixed bayonets, across the river back to their campsite on the Anacostia Flats. Hoover ordered the assault to stop, but MacArthur disobeyed, feeling the Bonus March was a Communist insurrection, designed to overthrow the government.

The U.S. Army forcefully evicted the veterans from their campsite, this time permanently, burning all the structures to the ground. Countless veterans were injured in the process, over 100 were arrested, one woman had a miscarriage and a baby died after being caught in a tear gas attack.

This was one of the lowest points in United States military history as well as American history and it happened on the banks of the Anacostia River (aka, the Eastern Branch of the Potomac), all within site of the Capitol Building.

Bonus Army eviction in 1932 (Wikipedia)

2. A proposed stadium site

The southern bank of the Anacostia River is an excellent place to put a stadium. D.C. United would love a shiny new home there. Well, they were not the first to think about this. I dug up an article from October 25th, 1925, proposing a new stadium on the river.

Sixty-six acres of the Anacostia Flats, known as section E, was recommended as a suitable site for the construction of the proposed athletic stadium at a meeting of the Anacostia Citizens Association last night in the Masonic temple at Fourteenth and U streets northeast.

This tract is bounded on the north by the Pennsylvania and B. & O. railroad tracks and on the south by Pennsylvania avenue. Need of such a stadium in the National Capital was stressed by the citizens. It was pointed out that a stadium would attract intersectional games here as well as large crowds of visitors.

Well, the stadium didn’t happen then, and it’s not going to happen today.

3. Bolling Field opens for air mail

An article in the Washington Post on July 5th, 1918 marks the opening of Bolling Field, the day earlier. On the Fourth of July, the air field was opened to provide air mail service for the Washington area.

Bolling field is the name given to the aviation station opened yesterday on the Anacostia flats, opposite the War College, under an order issued by Maj. Gen. William L. Kenly, director of military aeronautics. It is a single-squadron field, with capacity of eighteen planes.

It will serve as a place for experiments, as the terminal of the New York, Philadelphia and Washington air mail line and as a training field for administrative officers to practice. It will supplement the Potomac Park field, where the mail heretofore has been landed. The first mail was delivered on Bolling field yesterday.

The field is named in memory of Col. Raynal C. Bolling, of the signal corps, who was killed in action March 29 on the road between Estree and Foukan Court, France, during the German offensive.

In 1938, the disastrous crash in Anacostia originated from this field, killing Leslie MacDill (they named a base after this guy) and Joseph Gloxner.

This was an epic post and I hope you enjoyed it. More importantly, I hope you enjoy your bicycle tour of our city. WABA is a great organization with an important mission. If you’re not on the ride, maybe you can give them a small donation to help advocate for more bicycle use in Washington.

Related articles

• A Plane Crash in Anacostia (ghostsofdc.org)
• A 17th Century History of Anacostia: Captain John Smith, Natcochtank and Settlement (ghostsofdc.org)
• Anacostia River Walks, Vegan Burgers & Fries (vitasveganventures.wordpress.com)
• Three Things About the Bryant Street Pumping Station (ghostsofdc.org)
• Anacostia River and Surrounding Area Development Ideas (anc7d01.wordpress.com)
• 1932 Bonus March – Re Patton; MacArthur; Eisenhower, etc. (gunnyg.wordpress.com)

The post Three Things About Poplar Point and Anacostia Flats appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Your second major stop on the WABA “Down the Tubes” bicycle ride on Sunday is going to be the O Street Pumping Station, down by the Navy Yard. This is a beautiful old Beaux-Arts building from the early 20th century, and I’m a little jealous of you all, since I won’t be on the ride to see it.

So, our second “Three Things…” post in support of the WABA ride will be about this building.

West side of O Street pumping station (JDLand)

1. Navy Yard wins two

In 1911, amateur baseball was big in Washington … really big. There were a number of leagues, and one of those was the Capital City League, and in September of that year, the championship for the southeast quadrant was held at Capital City park (South Capitol St. and L St. SE).

Navy Yard was playing the Sewage Pumping Station “Pumpers” for bragging rights and defeated them handily, 5 to 3 and 6 to 1. Check out the box scores for the two games below.

Box score from September 25th, 1911 (Washington Post)

2. Lost boy found dead

This is a sad story fit for “From the Crazy Vault.” This is from August 4th, 1913 in the Post. Young Everitt Sherry had been missing for several days when he turned up dead.

The body of Everitt Sherry, the 8-year-old boy who had been missing from his home near the Anacostia bridge since Friday afternoon, was found floating in the Anacostia River near the foot of New Jersey avenue and Second street southeast yesterday afternoon by two youths who were paddling about in a bateau. The boys, Ballard Mall, of 518 L street southeast, and Noah Gross of 1250 Second street southeast, towed the body to the District sewage pumping station, which was nearby, and informed L. J. Barr, who is employed there, of their discovery. Barr communicated with the harbor police, and the body was removed by them to the morgue. It was soon afterward identified by the father of the boy, William Sherry, of 1312 Eleventh street southeast.

…

The boy’s father is inclined to the view that his son fell into the river from the top of a houseboat which is moored just east of the bridge, on which he often played. On the night following the boy’s disappearance there was a storm with an unusually heavy fall of rain, and it is thought that the flood waters washed the body down the river past the point where the dragging has been in progress.

3. Barefoot, without overcoat or hat, wandering in a daze

I came across an odd article from the February 5th, 1917 Washington Post, detailing the aftermath of a robbery near the Department of Treasury. The victim somehow ended up near the pumping station down by the Anacostia River, yet he couldn’t explain how he arrived there.

Barefooted, without overcoat or hat, cut, bruised and suffering from exposure, a man who said he was Dr. H. V. Treakle, 50 years old, of White Stone, Lancaster county, Va., wandered into the sewage pumping station at the foot of Second street and the Anacostia River southeast, yesterday morning at 5 o’clock. To the man in charge of the station, he said he was assaulted and robbed by three colored men in Fifteenth street near H street northwest, He said that these men, one of whom he knew, took his overcoat, watch and shoes, and between $15 and $20 in money. He was unable to tell where he had been between the hour and the time when he appeared at the pumping station–eleven hours later–or how he wandered from the vicinity of the Treasury into the southeast near the Washington navy yard.

This may have been reported as a robbery, but frankly, this sounds like a guy that got drunk, possibly robbed (crime of opportunity) and found himself stumbling the streets of southeast near the Anacostia River.

O Street pumping station (JDLand)

Related articles

• Three Things About the Bryant Street Pumping Station (ghostsofdc.org)
• Anacostia River Walks, Vegan Burgers & Fries (vitasveganventures.wordpress.com)

The post Three Things About the O Street Pumping Station appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Bryant Street pumping station (DC Water)

You may or may not be aware of this, but it you’re part of the latter group, listen up. WABA (aka, the Washington Area Bicycle Association) is having a family-friendly event, collaborating with DC water to highlight some lesser-known local sites with some great hidden history.

The ride begins at Fort Reno, heads over to the Bryant Street Pumping Station (near Howard University), down to the O Street Pumping Station and finally, across the South Capitol Street bridge to Anacostia and Poplar Point.

The ride is happening this weekend, so you should sign up to participate this Sunday, April 1st. And to prep for this ride, GoDC will highlight some of the sites you will pass along the route.

On the ride with WABA, you’re likely to learn quite a bit, including some obscure facts and trivia that you never would have known. I will attempt to augment the information you’ll obtain on this bicycle ride with the most random information I can dig up on some of the main sites you’ll be dropping by. Thus, I thought a giant “Three Things…” style post would be appropriate to infuse you with an abundance of local trivia.

Before you depart from Fort Reno, make sure to push for a route that takes you down North Capitol Street so you can pass by the old Irish block where Annie O’Connell lived … and read her story before you go (or print it and take it with you). I’ll have a couple more posts on this topic, so stay tuned.

By 1905, Washington was outgrowing the aqueduct system that had been supplying water to the population since 1859. The demand for more water led to the development of the McMillan Reservoir and Bryant Street pumping station in 1905. The area surrounding the pumping station saw an increase in population in the early 20th century and a dramatic upswing in residents after World War I.

By the way, you should know that Bryant Street was originally called Trumbull Street (in case you

1. Surrounded by wretched buildings

Shortly after being built, an article in the Washington Post described the dramatic contrast between the pumping station and the surrounding buildings. Below is an interesting excerpt from the October 25th, 1908 newspaper.

Washington, more perhaps than other large cities in the United States, is a city of strong contrasts. While the city is becoming more an more as the years go by a city beautiful, many places can be pointed out where a wretched, tumbledown hovel adjoins a palatial building.

…

One of the most striking of these contrasts is to be seen at the magnificent new Bryant street pumping station, not only one of the largest and most efficient, but also one of the handsomest buildings for such a purpose to be found in the United States. Everything in and about the building is kept as clean as possible. A visitor going into the building any day will find the floors and walls spotlessly clean and the machinery polished until it shines and without a speck of dirt or grease where it can be kept away. The walks and lawns outside the structure are kept in an equally neat condition.

On the west side of the building, however, only a few feet from its rear end, there stand on a high bank several old weather-beaten frame structures, which mar the exterior surroundings of the pumping station to such an extent that an effort was made recently by the officials of the water department to secure a reasonable purchase price offer on the property, so that the old buildings might be torn down. Failing in this, the owner of the property, it is said ,asking about twice as much as the water department officials thought the land was worth, it has been decided to build a high board fence, over which during the summer vines will be trained, so as to shut off as much as possible of the objectionable view of the old buildings.

2. Fever epidemic forced work

I came across an article in the Washington Post on December 16th, 1905, talking about the rapid pace at which the underground piping system was constructed. It seems that the pressure to hastily construct the system was driven in part by a typhoid fever outbreak in the summer of 1905.

While it was well known by the officials of the water department that this 48-inch main would have to be laid as a necessary result of the completion of the filtration works by the authorities of the Washington Aqueduct, it was not anticipated at the District Building that this plant would be put in operation before the 1st of January, 1906. As a result of the typhoid fever agitation last summer, however, a change in the original scheme of the Aqueduct officials was decided upon, and the filter beds were put in operation as fast as they were finished without waiting until the entire project had been completed before beginning the distribution of filtered water to consumers.

For this reason, and also because of the fact that it was considered unwise to delay the work util cold weather, when water pressures would be materially reduced as the result of excessive waste, it was determined to begin the work of laying the 48-inch main in August, and orders were issued by Superintendent McFarland that it was to be a “hurry-up” job. It was fear that if the work of laying this main were delayed until the winter season, the probabilities were that the water pressures, especially in the western section of the town, would be barely sufficient to force water to the second stories of houses in that locality. As a result of turning the water into this large main, water pressures have been restored to the level pertaining when part of the gravity system was fed directly through the large mains in Georgetown belonging to the United States government.

The construction job progressed with extreme haste, laying about 8,000 feet of 48-inch cast-iron pipe in less than two months and at a cost of $120,000. The pipe was laid at a depth of nine feet in a trench that was about five feet wide and the most astounding fact was that each section of pipe weighed about 8,800 pounds.

Clearly, this was an easy job.

Bryant Street pumping station (Wikipedia)

3. Pumping station machinist run down on Pennsylvania Avenue

This is a tragic story from December 6th, 1910 … and I’m sure this is not something you’ll learn when they talk to you about the history of the Bryant Street pumping station.

Milton Brown, 23 years old, a machinist employed in the Bryant street Pumping Station, who was run down in Pennsylvania avenue southeast early Sunray [sic] morning by a party of “joy riders,” died yesterday afternoon at 5:30 o’clock at Casualty Hospital.

Brown never regained consciousness. His death was due to fracture of the skull and internal injuries. The body was removed to the morgue. Coroner Nevitt will conduct an autopsy today.

Andrew B. Carlsen, chauffeur for George W. Stuart, a wholesale fish dealer, who, ten hours after Brown was run down, surrendered to the police of the Third precinct, is held at the Fifth precinct for investigation.

I uncovered Milton’s U.S. Census record from 1910. He was actually listed at 27 years old, married for three years to Irene Brown, 28, with a young son Gilbert. They lived at 127 W St. NW, a couple blocks away from the pumping station.

Milton Brown's 1910 U.S. Census record

Also, you know who was at the Fifth precinct? That’s right … Officer Sprinkle, resident badass! I have an unhealthy obsession with this guy, but I think at least a quarter of the readers do as well, so I’m in good company.

Related articles

• A Plane Crash in Anacostia (ghostsofdc.org)
• A 17th Century History of Anacostia: Captain John Smith, Natcochtank and Settlement (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Things About the Bryant Street Pumping Station appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

The Washington Monument

The next “Three Things…” post will be about one of the most iconic monument in our city: The Washington Monument.

Since the cornerstone was laid on July 4th, 1848 (check out a photo of it under construction), the Monument has seen it’s fair share of history; there isn’t a shortage of events to choose from, but selecting three that you aren’t aware of will be a challenge.

I’ll forewarn you … two of these are worthy posts for “From the Crazy Vault.”

1. Woman hurls herself 470 feet down the elevator shaft

Washington Monument circa 1915

This is not a pleasant story. Naturally, given the massive height of the structure, there comes a time when someone decides to jump and end their life.

The Monument made it about 30 years after it’s official opening before the first suicide. Mrs. Mae Cockrell of Covington, Kentucky threw herself down the elevator shaft on February 23rd, 1915.

Mr. and Mrs. Cockrell had arrived a week prior to visit some relatives in the area and see a specialist about Mrs. Cockrell’s ill health. She suffered from insomnia and “nervousness,” which likely was anxiety or severe depression. She was despondent when the doctor was unable to give her any recommendations to help her and felt she was doomed to a depressed existence.

Earlier in the 20th century, reports of death were far more graphic, so I’ll spare you the morbid details. But, the story details her ascent in the elevator with the rest of a tour group. Two Walter Reed Army Hospital nurses were standing near the top landing when Mae headed down a flight of steps to start scaling the grate covering the elevator shaft.

The nurses were unsuccessful at preventing the climb and watched in horror as Mrs. Cockrell paused at the edge for a few seconds before throwing herself down the shaft.

Here’s a brief excerpt from the article:

Ill health is given as the cause for the act. Mrs. Cockrell left a note to Dr. Thomas A. Williams, of Washington, saying she could never get well. Another note written on a prescription blank was found addressed to her husband, in case of Mrs. J. Gary, Del Ray, Va., which read as follows:

Forgive me, sweetheart, but this is my only way out. Always remember I love you and you are the dearest husband in the world. Please burn my body.

A sad, sad story about a woman who saw no way out.

Positive side note: 11 days earlier, on the far end of the Mall, the cornerstone was laid in what would become the Lincoln Memorial.

2. Senators’ Gabby Street, the first to catch a baseball dropped from the Monument

Gabby Street of the Washington Senators

Old Gabby was not the best baseball player. He appeared in parts of eight seasons as a catcher in the Major Leagues for the Cincinnati Reds, Boston Braves, New York Highlanders (i.e., the Yankees), St. Louis Cardinals and our hometown Senators.

To his credit, he did have two major accomplishments to be proud of. The first was being the primary catcher and mentor to a young Walter Johnson, greatest pitcher in Washington history and quite possibly all of baseball. The second was being part of a publicity stunt to catch a baseball dropped from the top of the Washington Monument.

In August of 1908, journalist Preston Gibson stood at the top of the Monument and dropped a baseball. It plummeted over 500 feet to the ground where Gabby was standing in street clothes and a catcher’s mitt.

The ball hit the heel of his mitt and bounced out. Twelve more tries and he finally caught the ball, winning a $500 bet as the first person to catch a ball thrown from the top of the monument.

Street confided many years later that he was disappointed he didn’t catch the first one.

Actually, I should have caught the first ball they threw out … Had my mitt on it and dropped it, when I should have held it. I knew then that it could be done, but the winds bothered me until I finally snagged the thirteenth toss.”

He finished 1908 as the Senators’ catcher and played three more seasons in Washington before Clark Griffith sold him to New York prior to the 1912 season.

3. Sniper shoots and kills purported bomber

That’s right, back on December 8th, 1982, Norman D. Mayer, a 66-year-old Navy veteran, drove his white van to the entrance at the base of the Washington Monument (some of you might remember this).

He exited the vehicle wearing a black motorcycle helmet, a blue snowsuit, carrying a remote control and threatened to destroy the Monument with 1,000 pounds of explosives loaded in his truck.

Norman Mayer and his van and the base of the Washington Monument

Mayer was vehemently against nuclear weapons and attempting to bring national attention to his cause, banning the weapons. He had moved to Washington that June to better directly protest the government. Frustrated by his ineffectiveness, he chose this dramatic method to garner attention to his cause.

Eight people were trapped inside the Monument but were eventually released after successful negotiations with Mayer.

Mayer held scores of lawmen at bay through the day, pacing around the monument and threatening to detonate explosives in the truck he had pulled up to the base of the monument shortly after 9 a.m. Police evacuated nearby buildings and closed all streets in a several-block area around the Mall. Mayer refused to negotiate with any law enforcement official, police said, but insisted on dealing with a reporter.

In give meetings with Associated Press reporter Steve Komarow, Mayer issued rambling demands for a “national dialogue” to prevent nuclear annihilation, a warning that politicians were “genocidalists,” a call for a ban on nuclear weapons and an instruction that the media concentrate on this issue. Mayer warned police to stay away. Komarow said, cautioning at one point: “If anybody gets cute, tries to play games, they’ll have a pile of rock.”

The entire standoff lasted 10 hours until Mayer entered his vehicle and attempted to drive away and wreak havoc on the rest of the city. Police snipers, positioned on top of the Department of Commerce building, opened fire on the van, killing Mayer and ending the ordeal that evening.

A subsequent search of the vehicle found no explosives nor weapons. Mayer was interred at Arlington National Cemetery before Christmas, 1982.

As a side note, I read a few of sources that stated this was the longest recorded police sniper killing in U.S. history at about 480 yards. And also, it is the earliest recorded use of night vision scopes by police snipers.

Related articles

• The Washington Monument Under Construction (ghostsofdc.org)
• Robert Todd Lincoln Attends Dedication of His Father’s Memorial (1922) (ghostsofdc.org)
• Vista of Monument From Lincoln Memorial (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Things That Happened at the Washington Monument appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

The Three Amigos

I really enjoyed researching the last “Three Things…” post and from the traffic and Twitter buzz, it seemed like a number of you enjoyed reading it. So here’s another one to add to your trivia treasure chest: Farragut Square.

You all know it and love it, because this is where you go in the warmer months to partake in the recent explosion of D.C. food trucks. Pies, pitas, gyros and kebobs (yum) … it’s all awesome, cheap and you can sit on a little patch of grass to soak up some rays.

I also love the food, but the real reason for this post is a conversation I had the other day with someone about the two Metro stations, Farragut North and Farragut West. It seems so odd and inefficient that two separate lines have stops just a couple hundred yards from each other … and I didn’t know why this was until I read a great book about the history of Washington’s Metro system, “The Great Society subway: a history of the Washington Metro” … great book, read it.

I’ll give you that story and two more about Farragut so you have some conversation topics for your next food truck run.

1. Why do we have two Farragut Metro stops?

WMATA did not originally design the system to have this odd configuration, so you’re not wrong in complaining about it, nor questioning the inefficiency. You can place the blame squarely on the bureaucratic and political battles between two large organizations. One of course was WMATA and the other was the steward of Farragut Square, the National Park Service.

Farragut Square (Wikipedia)

The new subway system was designed in the late 1960s and early 70s to have two concurrent transfer stations, allowing those on the Eye Street line (Orange line) to easily transfer to the Connecticut Avenue line (Red line) and vice versa.

The two transfer spots were to be Farragut Square and Metro Center, and this was planned to provide relief for the impending congestion during rush hour. This sounded like an excellent plan; WMATA and head architect, Harry Weese, just had to overcome two hurdles.

The first was selling the idea of escalators emerging from within Farragut Square itself to the Park Service. The second was requesting permission to temporarily relocate the statue of Admiral David Farragut (“Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!“) to allow for digging and underground construction. The National Park Service’s response: absolutely f*cking not (I can’t confirm these were the exact words).

The National Park Service had spent the better part of the 60s battling the surge of road construction and interstate highway development. Needless to say, progress at the continued expense of their parks was a bitter pill for them to swallow and this was their opportunity to halt the destruction of one of the city’s treasured squares.

By the way, a decade earlier, there was another proposal to tear up the square to put a giant parking garage under it. The Park Service said no then too.

So, WMATA and Mr. Weese had to go gack to the drawing board, splitting up the station into its current configuration. Ever the perfectionist, Harry rightfully dubbed the Farragut Square stations the worst in the entire system. I tend to agree, but I also like the undisturbed appearance of Farragut Square … and food trucks.

I should also add that the Park Service did a good thing when they killed the proposed metro bridge over Rock Creek Park near Connecticut Ave. and the Taft Bridge (yuck). This required WMATA to bore a tunnel under, necessitating the ridiculously deep Dupont and Woodley stations, and long escalator rides.

Doors closing. Next stop … Farragut Square, transfer stop for the red and orange lines.

2. Despondent woman attempts suicide in Farragut Square

Illustration of Velma Grissom attempting suicide (Washington Post)

This is one that could be categorized as a “From the Crazy Vault” post. I came across this story in the Washington Post from 1905.

Poor Velma Grissom, who lived in Spray, North Carolina and was divorced from her husband William Grissom for about four years. Things were heading seriously south for Velma and her emotional outlook was quite bleak. As part of her divorce settlement, she was required to transfer custody of their young boy, Lawrence, on a semi-annual basis to her ex-husband, so as to split time between the parents.

Velma had been living in Washington for a short while in 1905, beginning in mid-summer. She started out in a boarding house at 14th and K St. NW, then moved to the Ingleside apartment house at 12th and K St. NW and finally, her last stop was 902 12th St NW.

The middle of November was when Lawrence was to be taken to his father’s home in North Carolina. She took the boy down by train and was just devastated having to take the train back to Washington alone. She went about her life quietly at her 12th Street boarding house, often wandering the neighborhood looking worried and morose.

One quiet Saturday morning, she sauntered over to Farragut Square, sat down on a bench near the statue and pulled out a small revolver. She placed the barrel of the gun in the middle of her chest and pulled the trigger … twice. The two loud bangs alerted passersby, who quickly came to her rescue and hailed for medical attention.

Velma fought furiously against treatment, pleading to die. She eventually relented and they took her to Emergency Hospital. There she remained in critical condition for quite some time, but she survived. Her ex-husband came to the city to be by her side during her convalescence.

Well, in an interesting twist, William and Velma remarried the following year on June 3rd. That’s right … ain’t no drama in poor little Lawrence’s life. I’d be really curious to see where he ended up.

3. April 25th, 1881 was Farragut Day

World War I recruitment poster with Admiral David G. Farragut

A total of $20,000 was allotted by Congress on April 16th, 1872 to erect a statue dedicated to the Civil War Union admiral, David G. Farragut. Nine years later, the statue by Vinnie Hoxie was complete and ready to be unveiled and dedicated by President James A. Garfield (BTW, he had a very bad encounter with a fellow by the name of Charles Guiteau a few months later).

By all accounts, the day was perfect. The weather was excellent, the crowd was large and in awe of the ceremony, and the military was out in full regalia to honor Admiral Farragut. Tickets were limited, and people began arriving as early as 10 o’clock for the ceremony and within an hour, the seats were full. By noon, the immediate area held over 30,000 people, jockeying for a spot to see the speaker’s podium.

The ceremony began just before 1 p.m. with the sound of a signal gun to announce the arrival of the procession at the Treasury building. A short time after the procession arrived in the square, the Marine band belted out “Hail to the Chief,” after which, Secretary of the Navy, William H. Hunt had the honor of announcing the President of the United States.

Garfield gave a speech of about four minutes to honor Farragut and the unveiling of a new statue in Washington to a Civil War hero, paraphrased below.

…This Capital is silently being filled up with the heroes of other times men of three wars have taken their place in silent eloquence as guardians and guards of the Nation they love so well. And as the years pass on these squares and public places will be rendered more and more populous, more and more eloquent by the presence of the heroes of other days. From all quarters of our country, from all generations of its life, from all portions of its service, these heroes come by the ministry and mystery of art, to take their places and stand as the permanent guardians of our Nation’s glory.

…

In the name of the Nation I accept this noble statue, and his country will guard it as he guarded his country.

A succession of speeches was given after the president, keeping audience’s attention for some time and at the conclusion, Farragut received a booming seventeen gun salute (read up about gun salutes on Wikipedia … very cool).

The entire event was full of pomp and circumstance, far greater than the space allotted for this post, but let’s just say, it was a pretty big deal.

Do you remember the last time a major statue was dedicated in the District? Yep, think MLK Memorial dedication … a big deal (except that was delayed by a hurricane).

Farragut Square circa 1881 (maritimequest.com)

If you’re into this new series, let me know … add some comments below. Also, if you were there when the statue was dedicated, I’d like you to add some comments to let us know how hard it was to hear Garfield speak. I would have been so pissed at the guy next to me chatting away.

Happy hump day. It’s all downhill from here, but if you follow us on Twitter (@GhostsofDC), it usually goes much faster.

Related articles

• In D.C. Stories, Geography Is Destiny (thinkprogress.org)
• Metro Report Shows Deanwood Station Most Dangerous (baltimore.cbslocal.com)

The post Three Random Stories About Farragut Square appeared first on Ghosts of DC.

Three things

Today I’m kicking off another new series called “Three Things…” I will do my best to keep these brief and pack in three key points or “ah ha!” moments for the regular and curious GoDC readers.

This first one will be about Dulles Airport and I’ll list three things that you (probably) don’t know about it. We already posted twice about the airport, so you won’t be learning about Concorde or the airport’s inauguration in 1962. The airport has been serving the Washington region for 50 years now, so it won’t be difficult to find three random facts, but it will be challenging to pick the best ones.

1. The consecutive airshow accidents of 1972

In the early summer of 1972, Dulles Airport was playing host to a large transportation exposition called Transpo ’72, a celebration of the airport’s 10th anniversary.

This was a nine-day event sponsored by the Department of Transportation and attended by over one million visitors from around the world. According to the Wall Street Journal, it was the “biggest show the government has put on since World War II.”

On the third day of the event, May 29th, 1972, the pilot of a Kite Rider hang glider was killed in a crash. On June 3rd, during the afternoon sport plane pylon race, the propeller of a trailing aircraft clipped the right wing of the leading airplane, immediately tearing it from the fuselage. The leading plane plunged to the ground, killing the 29-year-old pilot, Hugh Alexander of Louisville, GA.

Thunderbirds F-4 Phantom (airport-data.com)

On the final day of the event, June 4th, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds were performing when Joe Howard’s F-4 Phantom II lost power during a vertical maneuver. The plane stalled and plummeted to the ground. Howard safely ejected from the aircraft, but while his parachute floated to the ground, the wind carried him over the massive fireball wreck of his jet. The intense heat from the flames melted his parachute and he dropped the final 200 feet, sustaining fatal injuries. This final tragedy was the first accident in the Thunderbirds’ history, and to make it even more tragic, he left behind his wife and a one-day old son.

Three fatal accidents within a few days of each other. That’s horrible.

2. The current location of Dulles was the second choice

Every time I drive out to Dulles, I’m reminded of a funny thing a friend said once said to me. He was driving me to the airport a number of years ago and about half way down the Dulles Toll Road, he blurted out, “where the hell did they build this airport?”

I agree. That thing is far away, but what many people don’t know is that the current location was not where it was supposed to be built. Construction was initially ready to go on the new airport in Burke, Virginia.

Air travel was growing rapidly after World War II, and outpacing the capacity of National Airport. Congress passed the Washington Airport Act of 1950 to back a second airport for the region. Throughout the 1950s, land was acquired around a site in Burke, ready for the new airport. The neighbors of the new site were against the location and organized against it and the D.C. suburbs were expanding at a rate much faster than anticipated. The Burke site was not going to work.

A number of alternate sites were considered, including the current Andrews Air Force base and Baltimore’s Friendship International Airport (i.e. BWI). In 1958, President Eisenhower selected the current site, which was the former community of Willard (i.e., as in the same Willard family that owned the famous hotel near the White House).

The presidential decision was unilateral and there were no public hearings. Condemnation letters were sent to all Willard area landowners. They were unable to successfully form an organized opposition and ended up deeding almost 10,000 acres to the government for $500 per acre.

Four years later, in November 1962, John F. Kennedy dedicated the new airport, and it was christened Dulles International Airport. Below are some clips from that day.

3. Connection to the Unabomber

Unabomber sketch (Wikipedia)

On November 15th, 1979, American Airlines Flight 444 was inbound to Dulles from Chicago when a package in a mailbag ignited, filling the plane with smoke. The Boeing 727 was forced to make an emergency landing at Dulles.

There were no fatalities, but 12 passengers were treated for smoke inhalation. Investigations following the incident concluded that the bomb did not explode due to a faulty timing mechanism, and had it been successful, the airplane would have been obliterated.

The FBI became involved because the attempted bombing of an airliner is a federal offense. They started to piece together various bombings across the country and gave this new case the code-name UNABOM, short for “UNiversity and Airline BOMber,” which the media seized upon, dubbing the assailant the “Unabomber.”

He remained on the run (or rather, in hiding) in the Montana wilderness for a little over 16 years, but without the unsuccessful attempted bombing of Flight 444, making this a federal case, things could have been very different.

And there you have it. Hopefully you learned three new things today. If you already knew these, then you are a trivia master and I want you on my team.

Related articles

• First Supersonic Transatlantic Commercial Flight Lands at Dulles (1976) (ghostsofdc.org)
• Ludington Airlines Sets New World Passenger Mark (ghostsofdc.org)

The post Three Things You Didn’t Know About Dulles Airport appeared first on Ghosts of DC.