Exploring the Past: A Look at the McDowell Gas Station at 5252 Wisconsin Ave. NW in Friendship Heights

Published September 17, 2013Updated May 6, 20261 min readby ghostsofdc

Here’s a cool old World War II-era photograph of Friendship Heights. It shows the old gas station at 5252 Wisconsin Ave. NW, owned by the McDowell family.

Washington, D.C. "At 7 a.m. on June 21, 1942, the day before stricter gas rationing was enforced, cars were pouring into this gas station on upper Wisconsin Avenue." If they still made cars that looked like this Packard, we'd run right out and buy one. Photo by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. — Washington, D.C. “At 7 a.m. on June 21, 1942, the day before stricter gas rationing was enforced, cars were pouring into this gas station on upper Wisconsin Avenue.” If they still made cars that looked like this Packard, we’d run right out and buy one. Photo by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information.

Source: Shorpy

Today, the spot is the location of a sweet parking garage near Mazza Gallerie.