What was Washington, D.C. like in the 1940s? Take a look at our great posts with stories, people, photos, and history about the District from the forties.
World War II Photo of White House South Lawn
Here’s a photo we dug up at the Library of Congress, and it’s labeled as 1944 during the Easter Monday egg roll. Source: Library of Congress
Half-Century Advertisement Celebrating Washington Post (1950)
This is a cool New Year’s advertisement that we found in The Washington Post December 31st, 1949. Click on it for a larger version.
Baltimore Mayor Protests Future Dulles Airport (1949)
This is a great story to cross-post with our sister site, Ghosts of Baltimore. Airline traffic was getting too heavy for National Airport to handle by the end of the 1940s. The region’s second airport was...
Duke vs. George Washington University at Duke Stadium (1948)
Check out this program. It’s for the Duke vs. GWU football game, held on November 13th, 1948 at Duke. Source: Duke University Libraries Duke was pretty average in 1948, going 4-3-2 under coach Wallace Wade. GWU...
Fascinating World War II U.S. Army Documentary About Alexandria
Now this is an interesting old film we found on YouTube. It’s a bit long, but if you’re from Alexandria, you’ll find it entertaining and recognize quite a few of the old buildings. What do you...
Evacuating Materials from the Library of Congress
We are grateful for the picture below, since so many of the amazing images on this site come via the Library of Congress! In December 1941, as a precautionary measure, about 5,000 boxes of materials from...
1940s High-Altitude Photo of D.C. and Arlington
GoDCer Chris graciously offered to share this cool aerial photo of Washington, taken sometime in the 1940s. Compare it to the Google Map below.
Old Giant Food on Wisconsin Avenue in the 1940s
Remember this super ugly Giant on Wisconsin Ave. near the Cathedral? It’s soon going to be the new Cathedral Commons. This old photo was taken in the summer of 1942. Source: Library of Congress
View of 13th Street in 1940s
Here’s a great old photo that we found at the Library of Congress. It shows a large group of people on 13th St. Source: Library of Congress
Photos of 1940s Boarding House Living
With the ridiculous rise in cost of living here in DC, maybe we should go back to the time of boarding houses. We came across some great photos of boarding house living in Washington during World...
V-J Day Jubilation at the White House
What a terrific scene, the likes of which most of us don’t understand. August 14th, 1945 was Victory of Japan day and the final end of World War II. This photo captures the excitement and jubilation...
Concord Avenue Becomes Missouri Avenue
GoDCer Bob sent in this photo of a man putting up new street signs for Missouri Ave. The photo is from 1946.
Alexandria As It Looked in 1940
Here is a series of cool old photos from Alexandria taken on September 23rd, 1940. Source: Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection
Help Identify These Boarding Houses (c. 1940)
GoDCers, we need your help. Where is this? The photo was sent in by Ben this week and we’d love to help him identify the location. I’m guessing that there’s a fifty percent chance they still...
Pre-Truman Balcony White House Photograph
This is a great find. It shows the White House as viewed from the South Lawn before the Truman renovation. Source: Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection
Healy Hall in Brick? … Nevermind
Is this right? We need your help. We’re doing a little pre-posting for the next week and came across this fascinating photo. It appears to be Healy Hall at Georgetown, but it looks like it’s completely...
Photo of Boyish Kennedy and Nixon
Whoa, this is cool. If you haven’t seen this before, it’s a photo from 1947 when both Kennedy and Nixon were member of the House of Representatives. Kennedy looks like he’s 18 and Nixon about 23.
Color Photo of Rowhouse in the 1940s
Wow, this is beautiful. Any idea where this house is? This looks like it could be Dupont, or maybe Columbia Heights? Source: vintage everyday UPDATE: A reader tweeted the following. @GhostsofDC @UrbanTurf_DC looks like Hillyer Pl NW...
