The Great Depression hit Washington differently than most American cities. FDR’s New Deal brought a massive expansion of the federal government, filling the capital with new agencies, new buildings, and hundreds of thousands of new workers. The decade that devastated much of America actually transformed Washington into a modern metropolis.
Robert LeGendre set a world record at the 1924 Olympics, then built a quiet life as a Washington dentist. When his granddaughter asked about the 1930 divorce that ended his marriage, we traced what the records could honestly tell her.
How a German-immigrant friend of Karl Marx designed the country’s largest market hall on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1872, why it ran for 59 years with 666 stalls and a refrigeration plant, and why the federal government tore it down in 1931 to build the National Archives.
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.
The man whose name is over the door at 1264 Wisconsin Avenue was a Boston Braves shortstop in the 1914 World Series before he opened a Georgetown tavern the year Prohibition ended. Ninety-three years and four generations later, it is still open, still owned by the same family, and still has a brass plaque on the booth where John F. Kennedy proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier.
Langston Golf Course opened June 11, 1939 as DC’s only public links for Black golfers. The fight for equal access took longer than the build.
In 1931, gold-topped columns were killed for being too tall for airplanes. Now a 250-foot arch is proposed at the same spot. The full history since 1886.
In March ’36, comedy “royalty” Jack Benny & wife Mary Livingstone arrived in DC, bringing laughs galore to delight politicos & fans. Dubbed “royal couple” by press, the duo charmed the capital for a week with wisecracks ‘a plenty before departing in style, leaving smiles for miles.
The dramatic 1938 Cherry Tree Rebellion saw D.C. women chaining themselves to cherry trees to stop removal for the Jefferson Memorial. Learn the story behind the controversial protest over commemorating Jefferson’s legacy.
Washington, D.C. was the last major U.S. city charging cab fares by zone, not meter. By the 1950s there were over 20 zones. Drivers fought meters until 2008.
