Explore the historic use of electric lights during President Woodrow Wilson's 1913 inauguration and what it symbolized for American progress and modernity. Learn how this momentous event marked a new era of hope and optimism, as well as the challenges that lay ahead for the country and the world.

The Old Dutch Market at Dupont Circle is now occupied by CVS. It was a thriving business in DC through the 1920s. See their launch ad and learn more about what happened to them.

Remember when flying was glamorous and an event to really look forward to? Pan Am was an incredible experience and here are some ads for what they offered back then.

Robert E Simon purchased 6,750 acres of land in Fairfax in 1961 after his family sold Carnegie Hall in New York. He built a planned community with his initials RES and town as its name.

What did the new capital look like in 1799? This is an account John Davis, an Englishman who spent four years in the late 18th century traveling up and down the east coast of the new country.

Amazing photos of the Beatles in Washington, DC. Their first live concert in the US was at Uline Arena in 1964.

WMATA spent $69,000 for the sample station in May 1968.  After just a few weeks of construction, it measured 64 feet in width, 30 feet in height, and just 17 feet in length.  It marked a key milestone in the capital subway project - a massive planning and engineering effort that started in the 1950s.

Do you know why we have a neighborhood named after a Caribbean island? Find out how it's related to today's George Washington University too.

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 to get somewhere? Even printing Mapquest directions seems antiquated....

Billionaire Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's mansion at 2501 30th St. NW was raided by the FBI last week. Everyone's Googling around for details on Deripaska, but naturally, we're more interested in the history of the property.

This lovely old photo of Washington shows the Petworth neighorhood from the air in the 1930s. Any idea where this is in Petworth? Also, for those in Petworth who thumb their nose at the suburban dwellers or Washington, living in "cookie-cutter homes, take a look at the origins of Petworth. Everything looks the same.

An 1890s map of Washington, DC and deaths related to diarrhea, heavily concentrated in Swampoodle and Murder Bay.

This most incredible image shows what the Ulysses Grant Memorial Bridge would have liked like today. It would have been where the current Arlington Memorial Bridge is today.

Why doesn't 395 cut through Washington, DC? This is the history of highways in DC.

Wonder what Washington DC diagonal roads are named after? Here's the history of DC's street names including states, letters, and numbers.

Check out this fascinating film footage of a trip down the C&O Canal.

A series of tragic photos showing Columbia Heights after the 1968 Washington, DC riots.

What happened to the Three Sisters Bridge in Washington, DC and why was it never built?

Mary Surratt's boarding house is a Chinese restaurant, still standing just around the corner from Gallery Place Metro. Today, it's Wok and Roll.

What did Courthouse in Arlington, Virginia look like in the early 1990s?

Working under commissioners that President Washington had appointed in 1790 in accordance with the Residence Act, Major Andrew Ellicott led a team that placed these markers in 1791 and 1792.

Tysons Corner or Tysons used to be called Peach Grove. William Tyson owned a farm west of DC which would become the site of a major shopping mall.

Take a look at this incredible photo of Thomas Circle in the 1920s! Click on it for a larger version and explore the image for a while. From the Library of Congress.

What did the Capitol look like in 1865? See unpaved roads on Capitol Hill in this detailed image.

What is on top of the Washington Monument? This close-up photo shows it was repaired in 1934.

Ulysses Grant was arrested for speeding by William West, an African-American metropolitan policeman. This is a great historical story.

Learn about Glebe Road. It dates back to the 1700s and initially was known as the "Road to the Falls" taking travelers from Alexandria to Great Falls.

What are the lions in the House of Cards credits? They're sitting at the Ulysses Grant Memorial by the Capitol Reflecting Pool.

Fascinating 1895 bird's-eye view of Brookland in Washington, DC.

Thanks to the magic of the Internet Archive, we were able to uncover an audio recording of Walter Johnson, the greatest pitcher of all time. Hear his voice from 1939 and learn about the game's box score from The Washington Post.