How Bison on the Mall Became the National Zoo
William Hornaday penned live bison behind the Smithsonian Castle in 1886 to save the species. The Mall menagerie became the National Zoo by 1889.
Lost History
Washington, DC neighborhoods and buildings that aren’t there anymore. Murder Bay, the old Center Market, brownstones erased for federal office blocks.
Boss Shepherd: The Man Who Paved Washington and Cost It Home Rule
Alexander Robey “Boss” Shepherd paved Washington, lit its gas lamps, and planted 64,000 trees, then bankrupted the territorial government in 1874 and cost the city home rule for 99 years.
Washington’s First AI Panic Happened in 1950
AI anxiety isn’t new. In 1949, an MIT professor turned down a corporate contract because he feared machines would replace human judgment. A year later, Washington had its own “electronic brain” on Connecticut Avenue. We’ve been having this argument for 75 years.
140 Years of Fighting Over Memorial Bridge
In 1931, gold-topped columns were killed for being too tall for airplanes. Now a 250-foot arch is proposed at the same spot. The full history since 1886.
The Lost German Embassy at 1435 Massachusetts Avenue
How Count von Bernstorff left the German Embassy at 1435 Massachusetts Avenue in 1917, and what became of the seventy-room mansion before and after.
Fedlandia Emerges from L’Enfant Plaza: From Southwest DC Neighborhood to the Future
Before L’Enfant Plaza’s Brutalist towers, Southwest DC was a thriving neighborhood. We dug into the Evening Star archives to trace the full story, from the 1954 demolition to the Fedlandia proposals reshaping the area today.
The Night Benny’s Died: How 1980s Developers Erased D.C.’s Red-Light District
In the 1950s, the top entertainers in the country performed on 14th Street NW. By the early 1980s, it was known as Washington’s “combat zone,” lined with topless bars and adult bookstores. By 1986, it was rubble. What happened in between reveals how gentrification works when moral crusades and economic interests perfectly align.
When Did They Ban Smoking in DC? A History of Washington’s Indoor Smoking Ban
Washington tables still held ashtrays until a 1997 Clinton order and a decade-long fight at the Wilson Building cleared the air.
The Godey Lime Kilns: Washington D.C.’s Forgotten Industrial Relic
The stone arches near the Kennedy Center are the Godey Lime Kilns, Washington’s last 19th-century industrial ruin.