Whitlow’s on Wilson wasn’t always in Arlington. For a really long time, starting around the end of World War II, it was down at 11th and E St. NW. Oliver Carr, a developer, had acquired much...
Complaining about our bizarre weather? Try having your Presidential Inauguration in crappy, snowy weather. That’s what happened to our most rotund president (and latest Nats racing president). Here is a photograph of him in the carriage...
Sad. Just tragic. The building below is the old Southern Railway Building, formerly located at 13th and Pennsylvania. This building was purchased by the United States Government in 1928 for $2,680,000 to make way for the...
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...
Here are two amazing photographs from Teddy Roosevelt‘s Inauguration in 1905. Thanks again to the Library of Congress.
Here is another excellent old saloon from 1913, lost to history. Mullany’s Saloon had a neighbor with Hohmann’s Saloon. The most amazing part of this photograph is the Washington Monument peeking out in the background. The...
Here’s a page from the Alexandria Gazette and Virginia Advertiser from Monday, March 25th, 1907, exactly 96 years ago yesterday (I should have posted this on Monday). The most interesting ad is the one for Portner’s...
We’re trying out a new category called “Lost History” today. We spent a good part of the weekend reading James Goode’s excellent (and depressing) book Capital Losses, and wanted to feature some more lost history of D.C....
Here is a terrific old photograph of the old post office on F St. back during the 1860s.
What’s up with this invite? Is Abe trying to tip the balance in the favor of his male advisors? Bizarre … two to one ratio?
It’s amazing to see how rural Washington was in the early 20th century. This is the Baist map of the area around Walter Reed in 1911.
It’s sad to think of all the nice homes that were bulldozed to make way for the “modern” Southwest quadrant.
For our 900th post (OMG!), we are sharing this series of amazing old photos of People’s Drug Store No. 3. This store was at 14th and U and the photographs are from the 1920s. We love...
This is such a cool shot of the Lincoln Memorial only a few years after it was dedicated (with Robert Todd Lincoln in attendance).
This is a set of maps from 1916, showing a very different, and sparsely developed Petworth.
Here is something you are highly unlikely to see today. Kids on the South Lawn, riding a goat cart. Quaint.
What a terrific old photo of the State, War and Navy Building around the turn of the century.
Here’s a great photo from around the turn of the century. It’s of a policeman, standing guard in front of the White House, taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston.