This amazing find was dug up courtesy of the National Park Service. You're look at a grainy image of Frederick Douglass standing in front of his home on Capitol Hill at 320 A St. NE. The...
Many of you know that the Washington Monument sat unfinished for decades, an eye-sore of a stump on what would become the National Mall. Here is what it looked like in 1877, as seen from the...
Fascinating drawing of the U.S. Capitol from the 1870s showing proposed modifications to the building. This is the west elevation of the building, the opposite side of the National Mall. Architectural drawing for...
Why Is It Named...? / 03.04.2015
Why Is It Named LeDroit Park?
Well, you might not know this, but there really was a Mr. LeDroit ...
GoDCers Love Maps / 25.03.2015
What Did D.C. Look Like in 1872?
Here's a cool bird's-eye view of the Capitol and the rest of Washington from 1872. Source: Library of Congress...
GoDCers Love Maps / 12.02.2015
1874 Map of Suburban Mt. Pleasant
This is a great old map, about a decade earlier than this one of Columbia Heights and Mt. Pleasant. Click on it for a larger version to see more details. In this, Howard is Newton St....
Check out this terrific 1874 map of Georgetown with the old street names. Source: Dig DC...
Here is a map of the Carlin Springs subdivision in Alexandria, now Arlington County. Source: Library...
Notable People & Places, The Best Of / 04.03.2014
Metro Policeman Arrests President Grant for Speeding
This is one of the more interesting personal stories that we've uncovered. For a while now, we've heard stories about President Grant being arrested for riding his horse too fast in the city. This is amusing on...
Lost History / 25.02.2014
Proposed 1873 Design for Library of Congress
This is what the Library of Congress could have looked like if Leon Beaver's design from 1873 was selected. Here's a second rendering...
From the Crazy Vault / 06.02.2014
Irish Thief and Family Arrested in Swampoodle for Assaulting Officers
This is a colorful story for the lost neighborhood of Swampoodle. We came across the article in The Washington Post, printed on October 20th, 1879. Morris Connors, a notorious...
Here's an old print from 1873, showing Ulysses Grant's second inauguration, looking down Pennsylvania Ave. Source: Library of Congress...
What a cool series of old photos from 1879. We've published so many posts that we can't remember if these went up before, but nevertheless, sharing them twice isn't such a bad thing. ...
You think the roads are bad today, with all the potholes? I assure you, they were worse in the 1870s. Here's a really cool old map that we dug up at the Library of Congress, marking...