We came across a great photo via Shorpy’s Twitter handle this weekend. It shows the old Eckington rail yard back in the 1920s. “Eckington Yards, June 4, 1923.” A rare and unusually detailed look at the Baltimore & Ohio rail yard in Washington, D.C., during that year’s big gathering of Masonic lodges. National Photo Company glass negative. “Past and present in...

We came across this photo of White House police officer Roland Ford in the Library of Congress archives. Source: Library of Congress We did a little digging to see what we could find on Roland. According to the U.S. Census record of 1940, he lived with his wife Maude and son little Roland at 1710 1st St. NE, in Eckington (Zillow). Roland Ford in the U.S. Census We went digging a little...

Like most of D.C., probably the country, we’re obsessed with House of Cards. It’s a little over the top, but sometimes that’s the beauty of it. Unfortunately, we don’t often expect movies about Washington to be largely filmed in the District or even have accurate portrayals of our fair city. But, House of Cards is one of the better shows when it comes to this. The Metro scenes...

Every time I see an old photo like this on Shorpy, I want to know more about the person staring back at me. Where did they live? What was their occupation? Who were their family members? Who were their neighbors? I started this blog eight weeks ago (wow, feels a lot longer than that) with the intention of focusing on stories of regular Washingtonians. We’ve had the chance to meet some interesting...

In August 1919, a streetcar accident in Washington, DC injured 35 passengers and resulted in the arrest of the motorman and conductor. Read about the scene and the aftermath of this shocking accident that shocked the city.