July 4, 1926: How Washington Celebrated America’s 150th Birthday
A cast of 1,000 on the Capitol steps, 50,000 at the Monument fireworks, and a plea for DC voting rights. How Washington celebrated America’s 150th birthday in 1926.
1920s
Washington in the 1920s was a city in full swing. The decade brought jazz clubs, speakeasies, and a building boom that filled in the last great gaps in the city’s streetscape. Calvin Coolidge’s Washington was prosperous and busy, even as Prohibition tried to shut down the good times. These posts explore the capital’s roaring decade.
Before Shanklin Hall: 2325 18th Street Was the First Headquarters of D.G.S.
Shanklin Hall and Columbia Station made 2325 18th Street NW famous for music. A century ago the same Adams Morgan storefront was the home, store, and headquarters of D.G.S. founder William Hornstein.
The Castle at Forest Glen and the 1922 Fire That Made It
The Castle at 10 Post Office Road in Silver Spring is not a 19th-century folly. It is what a midnight furnace fire on April 24, 1922 left of the Forest Glen Trading Company, plus the granite a Pittsburgh oilman and the Seminary president bolted on top.
The Flour Mill in Georgetown: From Bomford’s Mill to 135 Homes
A reader asked about Georgetown’s Flour Mill at 1000 Potomac Street. The building was the neighborhood’s last working mill, and it began as a cannon expert’s cotton factory. Now its offices are headed for a 135-home conversion.
The Northumberland Apartments: Harry Wardman’s 1910 Time Capsule on New Hampshire Avenue
The Northumberland at 2039 New Hampshire Ave NW is Harry Wardman’s 1910 luxury apartment house and DC’s oldest self-managed co-op. Inside its storied past.
Who Founded the Maret School? Three Immigrant Sisters and a Rented Apartment
The Maret School began in 1911 in a rented Washington apartment, founded by three immigrant sisters. The story of how it started, and of the school’s first student.
Inside The Big Hunt: How a 1928 Dupont Storefront Became DC’s Weirdest Bar
The Big Hunt opened in 1992 inside a 1928 storefront at 1345 Connecticut Avenue NW and closed for good in 2020. Inside Dupont Circle’s three-story dive bar with the safari kitsch, the hidden patio, and the Hell’s Kitchen basement.
Suburban Gardens: DC’s Black Amusement Park in Deanwood
Suburban Gardens opened at 50th and Hayes NE in June 1921, built by a Black-owned company. It was the only major amusement park ever inside the District, born because the region’s white parks barred Black Washingtonians.
Before she was the Duchess: Wallis Simpson in DC
Before the abdication crisis, the future Duchess of Windsor spent four quiet years in Washington as a young, separated Navy wife. She shared a small house in Georgetown, lunched at the Hotel Hamilton on K Street, and met an Argentine diplomat who would change her mind about her marriage. Her mother ran a boarding house on Woodley Road.