Discover the residents of the Mayflower Hotel in 1940 with this collection of U.S. Census records from the same year. Click on each image to see a larger version and read through the names. Source: Ancestry.com.

If you’re not a genealogy buff, you may not know this, but much of the 1890 U.S. Census was destroyed in a massive fire in January 1921. It was a tragic loss for genealogists and historians alike. 1300 block of Corcoran St. NW I was walking down 14th St. and turned onto Corcoran St. NW with Mrs. Ghost and Ghost Dog this past weekend, admiring the late 19th-century architecture and thought...

To satisfy your hunger for more Officer Sprinkle, I took a look into where he lived in 1900. At the time, he was 34 years old, had been married to his wife Teresa for 10 years and had been working for the Washington police force for the same amount of time. The Sprinkle family lived at 1320 Florida Ave. NE, in the Trinidad neighborhood, just outside of the boundary of old Washington city. Zillow...

Every time I see an old photo like this on Shorpy, I want to know more about the person staring back at me. Where did they live? What was their occupation? Who were their family members? Who were their neighbors? I started this blog eight weeks ago (wow, feels a lot longer than that) with the intention of focusing on stories of regular Washingtonians. We’ve had the chance to meet some interesting...