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Engine Company No. 4: DC’s First All-Black Firehouse
Gordon Parks photographed Engine Company No. 4 in 1943: men trusted to run into a fire, and made to eat off separate plates.
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Suburban Gardens: DC’s Black Amusement Park in Deanwood
Suburban Gardens opened at 50th and Hayes NE in June 1921, built by a Black-owned company. It was the only major amusement park ever inside the District, born because the region’s white parks barred Black Washingtonians.
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Glen Echo Park: From Chautauqua to Carousel Sit-In
It started as a one-summer Chautauqua on the Potomac, built by twin brothers who had cashed in on an egg beater patent. By 1933 it was a streetcar amusement park with a Spanish ballroom and a Dentzel carousel. By 1960 that carousel was the flashpoint of a Howard University sit-in.
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Before she was the Duchess: Wallis Simpson in DC
Before the abdication crisis, the future Duchess of Windsor spent four quiet years in Washington as a young, separated Navy wife. She shared a small house in Georgetown, lunched at the Hotel Hamilton on K Street, and met an Argentine diplomat who would change her mind about her marriage. Her mother ran a boarding house on Woodley Road.
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Army and Navy Club: 140 Years at 17th and I in DC
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When Washington Tried to Ban Horses From Its Streets
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The Willard Brother Who Built the Ebbitt House
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Korea’s Logan Circle Legation: Sold for $5, Bought Back
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David Crockett’s Vote Against Indian Removal: The 1830 Stand That Cost Him Congress
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Martin’s Tavern Georgetown: JFK, Booth 3, and 93 Years