The origin stories behind Washington, DC street names, neighborhood names, and landmark names. Who were these places named for?
Phoebe Apperson Hearst grew up poor in rural Missouri, married a mining magnate, and became one of the wealthiest women in America. She spent her fortune on public education for Washington children. Here is her story, and why a school in Cleveland Park bears her name.
Tenleytown takes its name from John Tennally, an illiterate tavern keeper who ran an inn at the corner of River Road and the Georgetown-Rockville Turnpike around 1790. He signed his name with an X. The resulting spelling free-for-all lasted 200 years.
Annandale, VA was named by early settlers who brought the name of their Scottish homeland with them in the 17th century.
Friendship was the McLean estate where Evalyn Walsh McLean kept the Hope Diamond. In 1942 it became apartments for 3,500 war workers.
Truxton Circle lost its namesake traffic roundabout in 1947, but the story of how it got that name reaches back to the founding of the U.S. Navy and Commodore Thomas Truxtun, one of the most celebrated officers of the early republic.
Three Sisters Islands in the Potomac carry a Native American curse stretching back centuries. They also nearly vanished under a 1970s highway bridge. Here’s both stories.
Everyone calls the CIA Langley. But why? The name traces from a Virginia governor, a Shropshire estate, and exit signs that lied for over a decade.
Stoddert Elementary School in Glover Park is named after Benjamin Stoddert, the first Secretary of the Navy. Here is the history behind the name and the school.
The name ‘District of Columbia’ was chosen on September 9, 1791, to honor both George Washington and Christopher Columbus. Neither was present for the ceremony.
