Ghosts of DC

Try an address, a neighborhood, a name or a year, like “14th and U” or “1968.”

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The Best OfThe stories readers come back toIf Walls Could TalkWho lived in that house?Why Is It Named…?How DC places got their namesThe PodcastOur stories, told aloud
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Why Is It Named...?

The origin stories behind Washington, DC street names, neighborhood names, and landmark names. Who were these places named for?

48 stories
St. Aloysius Church today at 19 I Street NW, the brick Renaissance Revival church still standing in NoMaSwampoodle: The Lost Irish Neighborhood Union Station ErasedMay 27Best OfHow Centreville, Virginia, Got Its NameNov 5, 2023Reston: The Town Named for Robert E. SimonJan 10, 2023

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Major General Peter C. Haines, RetiredHains Point: Its Namesake and the Making of East Potomac ParkApr 8, 2022EpisodeMeridian Hill Park: The History Behind the TerracesApr 7, 2022Adams Morgan: Two Schools Behind the Neighborhood’s NameMar 16, 2022EpisodeRowhouses in the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast DC, March 2007How Washington’s Trinidad Neighborhood Got Its NameMar 14, 2022Best OfEaton School children in the 1910sJanney, Gibbs, Eaton and Watkins: The People Behind the SchoolsNov 20, 2017Aerial view of Pennsylvania Avenue and the surrounding Washington street gridWhy Washington’s Streets Are Letters, Numbers, and StatesDec 21, 2015Best Of
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