What was real estate like in Columbia Heights back in 1904? Take a look at this lovely old advertisement.

This is a great old map of the Washington area from 1961 showing all the real estate developments as featured by The Washington Post. We transcribed all 57 neighborhoods and their brief descriptions below. It’s quaint to read all the listings and the directions provided to get to the subdivisions. Remember reading directions or maps […]

The most practical remedy is to establish government dispensaries for limited sales to good citizens who are not drunkards. This will eventually be done.

It’s really hard to believe, but the year 2020 is nearly upon us. I suspect the denizens of Washington, D.C. on December 31st, 1919 felt the same way about 1920 approaching. It’s entirely likely that they were desperately dreading the new year because January 17th, 1920 was the day that national prohibition would be enforced. […]

What would air travel look like in the future from people living in the 1950s? Read some fascinating thoughts from scientists of the day.

Let’s try something new. We browsed the papers from Saturday February 22nd, 1919 to come up with some fun and interesting things to share with you. This is what we came across in The Evening Star on that date. Origin of Keeping Up With the Joneses Payne was active in the temperance movement his entire life and […]

Whitehurst Freeway was envisioned I'm the 1940s to bypass Georgetown traffic. Ultimately opened in 1949, it was named for Captain Herbert C. Whitehurst.

Did you know that selling balloons on the streets of D.C. was made illegal back in 1934? There was quite a booming industry of balloon vendors trolling the streets, getting parents to buy balloon for eager young children. Below is an interesting old article we came across in The Washington Post from March 9th, 1936. Washington’s […]

This is a great old article that we dug up in The Washington Post from May 14th, 1900. We see this same ignorance or protectionist tendencies to this day. Look at taxis versus Uber and Lyft, or hotels versus AirBnB. We either see complete dismissal of the insurgent or fear and an attempt to protect market […]

No more foreign cars! They’re an abomination and a detriment to our economy … and society at large. Or so said many nearly 110 years ago. No, this wasn’t Trump’s America, it was the land of Roosevelt and Taft. Below is a great quote from an article we dug up in The Baltimore Sun, published on […]

This great newspaper clipping is from The Washington Times on January 29th, 1922. Source : Library of Congress

Pre-dating Uber drivers by about 160 years, the hackmen of Washington used to provide transportation to locals and visitors alike. Hackmen used to rule the streets of the city, taking people wherever they wanted to go. (A hackman was one who drove a hackney around the city — We came across a fascinating old article […]

What do you think? Is Washington the most beautiful city in the world? I have to believe that I’m biased, but I do think it is certainly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Okay, there’s Paris, Vienna, Rome, Prague, London, Florence, and no less than several dozen more. But, Washington’s top sites and […]

This print is still appropriate today … sadly. We found this in the awesome collection provided by the DC Public Library. If you haven’t checked it out, it’s amazing, and curated by an old GoDC fan, Jerry. The print was originally found in The Evening Star. Source: Dig DC

This is such a cool cutaway drawing of the Evening Star Building at 11th and Pennsylvania Ave. NW. We posted a great photo of it some time ago, but this was something we had to share after GoDCer Ellen sent this in last month. Thanks Ellen! The image was printed in the Evening Star on […]

Here’s an interesting article that we dug up from April 17th, 1930, printed in The Washington Post. Emphatic condemnation of any form of corporal punishment of a child by a teacher in the District schools was voiced yesterday afternoon by the Board of Education following a report on an instance in the Henry D. Cooke School for […]

Here is the front page of the Alexandria Gazette, exactly 110 years ago today, January 2nd, 1904. Source: Library of Congress

One hundred years ago today, these two images were the front pages of The Washington Times and The Washington Herald, respectively. Merry Christmas GoDCers! Have a great, relaxing time around the tree with your families. Source: Library of Congress Source: Library of Congress

Everyone else is going to be covering the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination and there will be no shortage of stories about it. Here at Ghosts of DC, we want to shed some light on the other things that happened that day … the regular, average stuff. Throughout the day, we’re going to highlight some […]

Interesting, and yet things never change. I don’t know if that makes you feel better or worse … but, here’s an article written in The Washington Post, exactly 100 years ago today. This article speaks to the same frustrations many express today. If the State Department would issue each day, while the present widespread and very […]