I received a great email the other day from GoDCer Patricia, a woman with some great historical ties to Washington. Below is what she sent.
Some great transportation photos from the past. These are pictures of my grandfather’s cars (and buggy). He (Oliver Hazard Perry Johnson) was President of the National Metropolitan Bank on 15th St, NW, facing the Treasury building. The facade is still there but the building has been gutted out and rebuilt as private offices. When Eisenhower was elected, I stood on the balcony of the bank with my mother and waved. Of course, I am sure he waved back up to me! A child’s memory.
My mother’s story is the basis of my book ‘A CRUEL CALM, Paris Between the Wars’. She left Washington in 1927 and was in Paris when Lindbergh arrived in the Spirit of St. Louis. Her story was recently written up in Washington Life Magazine (Dec 2012 issue).
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Attached to the email were the following four photos, which are amazing.
She provided a little more background information on these images, but sadly, no family members of hers are alive to give better descriptions of them.
My mother’s family lived at 2205 Mass. Ave, NW. It is now the headquarters of the Daughters of American Colonists. Most appropriate since our family dates back to pre-revolutionary USA. Since summers in Washington are so hot, and air conditioners were way in the future, the family had a summer home in Port Hope, ONT. My mother was born in August so she was born in Canada, always a problem when traveling to Mexico from California when I was a child and we were living in La Jolla. So she just decided to tell a white lie and say she was born in Washington. They just did not understand how she could be an American and born in Canada.
My grandfather is shown driving with his chauffeur in one photo, my grandmother in another. The chauffeur is shown with another of my grandfather’s cars, perhaps in front of their home. The horse and buggy with my grandfather at the reins is perhaps downtown?
There are no family members alive to ask! Maybe someone will recognize the background in these pictures and tell us where they are located.
Thanks Patricia! These are great, and I’m sure all GoDCers will agree.
And to other GoDCers out there … if you have photos like this, or great stories you want to share from your family’s history, please let us know by emailing us at hello@https://ghostsofdc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2012/01/beatles4-1.jpg.org.
