Skip to content
Ghosts of DC

Ghosts of DC

  • The Best Of
  • Neighborhoods
    • Southwest DC
      • Waterfront
    • Maryland
      • Gaithersburg
      • Rockville
      • Bethesda
      • Hyattsville
      • Silver Spring
      • Bladensburg
    • Virginia
      • McLean
      • Falls Church
      • Alexandria
      • Vienna
      • Arlington
    • Southeast DC
      • Congress Heights
      • Navy Yard
      • Capitol Hill
      • Anacostia
    • Northeast DC
      • Trinidad
      • Woodridge
      • Deanwood
      • Brookland
    • Northwest DC
      • Tenleytown
      • Park View
      • Friendship Heights
      • Brightwood
      • Crestwood
      • Sheridan-Kalorama
      • The Palisades
      • Logan Circle
      • Petworth
      • Glover Park
      • Bloomingdale
      • Georgetown
      • Woodley Park
      • Dupont Circle
      • Columbia Heights
      • Cleveland Park
      • Adams Morgan
      • Mt. Pleasant
      • Chevy Chase
      • Cathedral Heights
      • Chinatown
    • Lost Neighborhoods
      • Hell’s Bottom
      • Swampoodle
      • Murder Bay
  • Notable People & Places
    • Places
      • Washington Monument
      • Library of Congress
      • The White House
      • The Capitol Building
      • Dulles Airport
    • People
      • Franklin D. Roosevelt
      • Calvin Coolidge
      • Officer Sprinkle
      • Dwight D. Eisenhower
      • Warren G. Harding
      • William McKinley
      • Abraham Lincoln
      • John F. Kennedy
      • Teddy Roosevelt
      • Woodrow Wilson

1910s

The 1910s brought World War I and a massive wave of federal construction that reshaped downtown Washington. The war brought hundreds of thousands of workers flooding into the city, straining housing, transit, and every civic institution to its limits. Woodrow Wilson’s Washington was also the decade when the federal government was formally segregated.

Exploring the Lives of Young Boys Working at the Alexandria Glass Company in the 1910s

October 22, 2023February 28, 2023 by ghostsofdc

Explore the lives of young boys working at the Alexandria Glass Company in the 1910s through a series of photographs taken by Lewis Hine. Learn more about one of the boys through a fascinating history page.

Categories Faces & Places of Yesterday Tags 1910s, Alexandria 1 Comment

Pennsylvania Avenue, Electrified: Wilson’s Inauguration in 1913

October 22, 2023February 24, 2023 by ghostsofdc
Photo shows night view of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., decorated with electric lights for the first inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2008)

Pennsylvania Avenue was illuminated by electric lights for Woodrow Wilson’s 1913 inauguration, the first time the avenue had been lit this way.

Categories Faces & Places of Yesterday Tags 1910s, Pennsylvania Avenue 2 Comments

What Could Have Been: Howard University’s Proposed Extension of Vermont Ave. in 1919

October 22, 2023January 28, 2023 by ghostsofdc

Take a look at what could have been! Howard University proposed extending Vermont Ave. from Florida Ave. to Georgia Ave. back in 1919. See the maps, read the letter of rejection, and check out the intersection today on Google Maps.

Categories GoDCers Love Maps, Lost History Tags 1910s, Howard University 12 Comments

Old Dutch Market: Dupont Circle’s Grocer That Vanished

January 18, 2023January 17, 2023 by ghostsofdc

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.

Categories Old Ads & Classifieds, Then and Now Tags 1910s, Dupont Circle

Pauline Floyd: Youngest Woman to Practice Before the Supreme Court

December 28, 2022May 2, 2022 by ghostsofdc
Pauline Floyd in 1922 (Shorpy)

Pauline Floyd was a pioneer and an excellent role model for women pursing a career in law. She was the youngest female lawyer admitted to practice before the Supreme Court.

Categories A Personal Story Tags 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, American University 1 Comment

When Did the Howard Theatre Open?

November 9, 2022April 15, 2022 by ghostsofdc

The Apollo in New York, the Pearl in Philadelphia, the Uptown in Baltimore, and the Howard Theatre in Washington were the preeminent African-American venues for stars like Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and the big bands of the 1930s to rock and roll and the Motown sound.

Categories Notable People & Places Tags 1910s, Shaw 1 Comment

Meridian Hill Park: A Complete History of DC’s Italian Renaissance Park

April 29, 2026April 7, 2022 by ghostsofdc

Meridian Hill Park is DC’s Italian Renaissance secret: Mary Foote Henderson’s vision, the 1922 Joan of Arc statue, and a drum circle going since 1965.

Categories If Walls Could Talk, Why Is It Named...? Tags 1790s, 1800s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, Columbia Heights, Meridian Hill, Notable People, Parks, Thomas Jefferson 4 Comments

Stay at the Cairo Hotel For $2 a Night

November 9, 2022March 28, 2022 by ghostsofdc
Cairo Flats circa 1890

This great series of advertisements from the papers shows the Cairo Hotel back in the result 1900s. How about a room for $45 a month?

Categories Old Ads & Classifieds Tags 1910s, 1920s, The Cairo 1 Comment

Claude Grahame-White’s Daring Landing at the White House in 1910

November 9, 2022February 24, 2022 by ghostsofdc

Witness the incredible feat of aviation pioneer Claude Grahame-White as he lands his biplane on West Executive Avenue next to the White House in 1910. Read the amazing story and see the photos here!

Categories From the Crazy Vault, Notable People & Places Tags 1910s, The White House
Older posts
Newer posts
← Previous Page1 Page2 Page3 … Page33 Next →
Explore the Archive
The Best Of Old Ads & Classifieds Then and Now Lost History
GoDCers Love Maps From the Crazy Vault Faces & Places of Yesterday If Walls Could Talk
Historical Events Notable People & Places This Day in History Guest Posts
Three Things… A Personal Story Why Is It Named…? Featured
Ghosts of DC© 2012–2026 Ghosts of DC