Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington

Below is a photograph of the Rex Smith aeroplane, being piloted by Antony Jannus around 1911. Read More »

We dug up this great old Sanborn fire insurance map of Alexandria from 1912. Take a look at the same area today on Google Maps. Read More »

Our favorite officer and the patron saint of Ghosts of DC, Officer Sprinkle, took a trip up to New York City with a group of 21 contest winners from The Washington Post. Twenty-one winners in the Post’s European tour contest were in the Big Apple prior to heading across the Atlantic for their journey. Below is the account of a ... Read More »

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 ... Read More »

Going to an Inaugural Ball this weekend? The austerity of Obama’s second mirrors the desires articulated by newly elected President Woodrow Wilson. Take a look at the front page of the Washington Herald on Friday, January 17th, 1913, exactly 100 years ago today. Totally fascinating for GoDC history nerds. Read More »

This was the front page of the Washington Times in the evening of Monday, April 15th, 1912. It’s rather haunting seeing this today, over a hundred years later. Many Washingtonians likely went to bed thinking things would probably be fine with the Titanic (and D.C.’s famous resident and White House aide, Archibald Butt). Read More »

Take a look at how different Good Hope Road in Anacostia looked in 1916. And below is the Google Map of the same area, with a pin marking the intersection of Good Hope Road and 19th Pl. SE. Read More »

This is a great picture, shared by GoDCer Mike, showing Harry Atwood, taking off from the South Lawn of the White House. This photo was taken on July 14th, 1911. Atwood had traveled all the way from Boston, at the time, the longest distance ever traveled by airplane. He had only learned to fly three months prior. Below is an ... Read More »

It would appear that these men (and woman) are looking at an aerial show. The man in the middle with the radio is possibly in contact with the pilot. However, the caption for the photograph reads below: This photograph shows members of the Senate military affairs committee at a demonstration of the improved radiotelephone. Col. C. C. Culber [sic] is telephoning orders. ... Read More »

This is a great old photo of Lotos Lantern Tea House at 17th and G St. NW. Here is another view of the building. You can see it on the far right.   Read More »

Check out how massive Union Station looks in this photo. This is from 1910, several years after the railroad station was completed. Read More »

Shorpy always has great photos. You can spent way too much time digging through finding gems like this. The photo below is a scene replicating Joseph Leyendecker’s BSA Liberty Loan poster for bonds during World War I. Gotta love these colorized photos, though it’s not as good as the Lincoln or Lindbergh photos. And take a look at the original black ... Read More »

What an incredible photo of the Capitol Building. This is from between 1905 and 1915, part of the Detroit Publishing Company collection at the Library of Congress. Read More »

This is another great photo, again from the Library of Congress. The caption states that it is the counting of electoral votes for the 1916 Presidential Election, in which Woodrow Wilson beat Charles Hughes. I’m unclear why this count would be on April 14th when the inauguration was on March 5th. Click on it to see the faces of the ... Read More »

Hopefully you found our last post about Hell’s Bottom fascinating. At the very least, it was educational, and now you know how horrible this place was. We came across an interesting article in the Washington Post from February 4th, 1900, spotlighting the former “King of the Bottom,” Keith Sutherland. Like that last post, this one will give you some colorful ... Read More »