Faces & Places of Yesterday

Photos of yesterday, featuring regular people and regular places.

Looking south from the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 11th Street, the silhouette of the Smithsonian Institution Building is seen in the distance. The photograph, taken by William Henry Holmes and signed "W.H.H. Phot.," shows horse-drawn carriages along the avenue of storefronts. Above the first building to the right of 11th Street, the sign reads "Latimer & Cleary Auction and Commission Merchants", the next building has a sign "Star Buildings," and the third building "Metropolitan."

Smithsonian Institution Building from Pennsylvania Avenue in 1874

We are loving the Smithsonian Archives! This is a great one from 1874.
Washington street in 1919

Need Your Help. Identify This Street

Any GoDCers out there recognize this block? I’m guessing that most of these buildings are gone, but maybe that church is still around? Source: Smithsonian Institution Archives
This landscape image features the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., two of the capital's most recognizable landmarks (date unknown)

Old Man Fishing With Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in the Background

Great photo. Speaks for itself. Sadly, no larger version. Thanks Smithsonian.
view down Pennsylvania Ave. NW

A View of Old Washington Down Pennsylvania Avenue

Here is another excellent photo of Pennsylvania Ave., also from the 1920s. We did a little Googling for this one too and came across it here.
winter driving in DC

Winter Driving on Pennsylvania Avenue

This is a cool old photo that we dug up via Google. We found it here. It appears to be some time in the 1920s, looking down Pennsylvania Ave. towards the Capitol.
traffic heading down Route 1 (1940)

I Hate Traffic … in 1940

Here’s an interesting shot of traffic heading up Route 1 towards Maryland. To be honest, this traffic doesn’t look bad at all.
Photograph shows the ruins of a store in Washington, D.C., that was destroyed during the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Help Us Identify This: Riot Damaged Store

I see 1806 as the address for the American Rescue Workers Thrift Store. Is this 14th St.? 7th St.? Can anyone identify the location of this image and whether the buildings are there today? UPDATE: Thanks...
July 31, 1921. Washington, D.C. "Pie eating contest at Tidal Basin bathing beach." In the back row: the blurry but unmistakable facial contours of Iola Swinnerton. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

Pie Eating Bathing Beauties

Oh, it’s been too long since we posted some bathing beauties. Well, today we post pie-eating bathing beauties.
cameramen posing in front of the State, War, and Navy Building

Cameramen at the State, War, and Navy Building (1920)

This photo was taken on March 15th, 1920 at the State, War, and Navy Building. It shows a group of press cameramen, posing in front of the building.
cab stand at McPherson Square

1919 Cab Stand at McPherson Square

This was a time when cabs were pulled by horses. And this photo shows a cab stand at McPherson Square around 1918. We dug this up at a new site that we stumbled across, Documentarist.
Penn Oil Company on Q Street

Penn Oil Company on Q Street in Georgetown

This photo was taken in 1920 or 1921. It shows the old Penn Oil Company, located on Q Street in Georgetown. Ads of the day had a gas station at 27th and Q St.
Washington, D.C. Georgetown ferry-boat carrying wagons, and Aqueduct Bridge beyond, from rocks on Mason's Island (Library of Congress)

Civil War Photo of Georgetown Ferry Boat

Wow. What amazing detail in this photograph. Click on it to view the larger version (and you’ll probably spend about 15 minutes staring at it).
Central High School stadium in the 1910s

Great Old Photos of Central High School

GoDCer Gail wrote in the other day about Cardozo High School (i.e., old Central High School) and wanted to know if we had some more photos of the school. We did dig up a few more,...
Georgetown University from observatory (Library of Congress)

Incredible Early 20th Century Photo of Georgetown University

This is an amazing old photograph with incredible detail. This was dug up in the Library of Congress archives.
View of the suburbs of the city of Washington

1790s Views of Washington

These are some great prints of Washington as it looked in the mid-1790s. They were done by George Isham Parkyns and they show a slightly different and more pastoral landscape. Here is the print of the Potomac...
Washington, DC from the air in 1924

Capital City of the World’s Greatest Nation as It Looks From an Airplane

That’s a really long title, but this is an awesome old photograph of Washington, from the air, taken on August 29th, 1924.
Washington, D.C., July 11, 1939. There comes a time each year when things around Capitol Hill need a bit of fresh paint, flagpoles no exception. Here is the flagpole over the Senate Office Building getting its new paint job, curiously enough, from a steeple-jack named Tarzan--Jack Tarzan

Tarzan Paints the Senate Flagpole

This is an interesting photo of a man precariously perched on a flag pole near the Capitol Building. It was taken on July 11th, 1939 as the man (Jack Tarzan) was painting the flagpole. The safety...
Bird's-eye view of the east Capitol grounds, including the Greenough statue of George Washington, and East Capitol Street taken from the dome of the U.S. Capitol.

Incredible 1860s View of East Capitol Street

This is a terrific old photograph of East Capitol St., before a street was even there. This was from the Library of Congress, and apparently was mislabeled as Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park. This too was taken...
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