Metropolitan Police Department

Fire and Police Station location s in 1880

Cool 1880 Map of Fire and Police Stations in D.C.

Where were the police and fire stations located in Washington back in 1880? Check out this great old map. Source: Library of Congress This was done by the same people that did the great 1880 property...
Ulysses S. Grant, full-length portrait, facing left, standing alongside his war horse, "Cincinnati"

Which President Got a Speeding Ticket on a Horse?

Ulysses Grant was arrested for directing by William West, an African-American metropolitan policeman. This is a great historical story.

Finally Found Another Photo of Officer Sprinkle!

On the chance that something related to our favorite police officer had been added to the Library of Congress archives, we ran a quick search this weekend, and sure enough … something came up. Below is...

Officer Sprinkle and His Brother

Thanks to the tweet below, we came across an amazing photo of Officer Sprinkle and his brother. Dunno if word ever got to @GhostsofDC or @timkrepp – TWO Sprinkle brothers were MPD officers, J.L. and J.F....
Washington Post obituaries - January 4th, 1933

Obituary for Officer Sprinkle’s Son, Raymond

Here is the obituary for Raymond B. Sprinkle, the son of our favorite policeman, Officer Sprinkle. Thanks to long-time GoDCer John for sending this one in.
this is a gun

Crazy: D.C. Police Officer Charged in SE Holdup

Really? This is a crazy headline from the Washington Post, published on March 1st, 1972. The city was a little rough around the edges then, but a policeman performing a holdup? A metropolitan policeman was arrested...
1938 policeman from New Mexico

Officer Commandeers Car to Pursue Fugitive

This is a wild story we dug up in the Washington Post. It was published on June 5th, 1938. Private Ernest Cullenber, of Park Police, yesterday made a story-book arrest. Clinging in the running-board of a...
Policeman using mirror to direct traffic at 14th St. and Pennsylvania Avenue

Excellent Photo of Traffic Cop at 14th and Penn.

Here is a terrific photograph from the Library of Congress, showing a traffic policeman at 14th and Pennsylvania, making use of a rearview mirror. The photo was taken some time in the 1920s.

Complete Biography of Officer Sprinkle

You all have been waiting a long, long time for this. So have we. Thanks to one of our GoDC fans, we have in our possession, the biography of Officer Sprinkle from the 1908 Metropolitan Police...
Composite of large group of policemen with U.S. Capitol in background. Head-and-shoulders portraits of policemen and police stations around border.

Can You Spot Officer Sprinkle? Metropolitan Police Department in 1904

I can’t find him in this photograph. Can you?
Photograph shows a group of motorcycle policemen, from left to right: "Sergt. J.E. Boyle, L.F. Reilly, W.D. Vaughn, F.S. Tyser, L.D. Redman, D.E. Gailmore, G.P. Waite, R.H. Mansfield, G.M. Little, A. Shockey, W.C. Lewis, [and] Capt. J.A. Abbott" with view of the U.S. Capitol in the background.

Washington’s Metropolitan Policemen on Motorcycle

This is an awesome photograph of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department in 1922, on their motorcycles. (I’d hate to be the guy riding in the sidecar.) The photo was taken on April 26th, 1922.
At the White House gates. "M.A. Rainey, October 5, 1922." National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

Three Wild Police Chases on the Streets of D.C.

If you lived in D.C. in the 1980s, seeing a police chase screaming down K St., or any other major thoroughfare, was not a rare occurrence. So, out of the thousands of chases mentioned in the...
Circa 1902. "The Waldorf-Astoria, New York." The original, and somewhat forbidding, Waldorf at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. (Shorpy)

Officer Sprinkle Parties at the Waldorf-Astoria

Our favorite officer and the patron saint of Ghosts of DC, Officer Sprinkle, took a trip up to New York City with a group of 21 contest winners from The Washington Post. Twenty-one winners in the...
Officers Wallace, Trundle and Johnson (Washington Post)

Police Save Soldier From Suicide Leap at the Willard

Here’s a crazy story for you from the 1940s. This was published in the Washington Post on June 4th, 1949. A young Air Force private was grabbed from a ninth-floor ledge of the Willard Hotel yesterday...
D.C. slums in 1935

Three Tales From Hell’s Bottom

Our neighborhoods don’t have quite the colorful names of yesteryear. Much like Murder Bay, Hell’s Bottom was a seriously dangerous place to live, or even walk through. It was not the beat you wanted as a...
Clayton Morgan, Jr.

Stolen Streetcar Taken on Joy Ride

What an awesome headline … we have to share this one with GoDCers. On October 28th, 1957, the Washington Post reported on a bizarre incident, where a man took a streetcar for an illegal joyride on...
Capitol Hill Haunts - Tim Krepp

Officer Sprinkle and the Haunted Police Station

This is the first guest post by GoDCer Tim. Given that we have “ghosts” in our name and with today being Halloween, it’s appropriate to have a post about the paranormal. Also, don’t forget to check...

Congressman Arrested After Striking Cab Driver

This is another example of how you don’t want to see your name in the papers. This is an article from the Baltimore Sun, published on Mar 9th, 1934. Washington, March 8 (AP)–Representative Shoemaker (F.-L., Minn.)...
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