Swampoodle: The Lost Irish Neighborhood Union Station Erased
A rough, all-Irish neighborhood called Swampoodle once stood where Union Station is now. The railroad cleared it, and DC forgot.
Lost History
Washington, DC neighborhoods and buildings that aren’t there anymore. Murder Bay, the old Center Market, brownstones erased for federal office blocks.
The 1963 Report Where DC Begged Washington to Pave Over the City
In April 1963, DC’s three appointed commissioners begged the federal government to build every freeway on the map: the Three Sisters Bridge, the Inner Loop, the East Leg, the North-Central. Almost none of it survived the decade.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Crystal Heights: DC’s Lost Glass City
Frank Lloyd Wright drew Washington a glass city of twenty-one towers on a Connecticut Avenue hill. The height limit refused to let it rise.
Suburban Gardens: DC’s Black Amusement Park in Deanwood
Suburban Gardens opened at 50th and Hayes NE in June 1921, built by a Black-owned company. It was the only major amusement park ever inside the District, born because the region’s white parks barred Black Washingtonians.
When Washington Tried to Ban Horses From Its Streets
In 1925 the District banned horses from Sixteenth Street. A Washington Times reporter beat the rule with a mule named Stupid.
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.
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.