On February 28th 1934, the first liquor license was issued in Washington, D.C. after the Sheppard Bone-Dry Act of 1917 put a major damper on libations. Learn more about the repeal of Prohibition in D.C. and the National Press Club's first liquor license!
Get a glimpse of the wild side of DC in 1921 with this story of a police battle with a rum car! Read about the daring chase and thrilling battle between the detectives and bootleggers.
I came across an article in the Washington Times about three giants of the Washington police force … and I mean real “giants,” as in super tall cops. Well, super tall by standards back in 1903, not Gheorghe Muresan. Three giants of the Metropolitan Police Force – 1903 (Washington Times) Though these men do not eclipse GoDC favorite, Officer Sprinkle, our next “Three Things…” post will highlight these 20th century “giants.” Charles F. Osterman,...
Discover this 1918 Metropolitan Police Department recruiting advertisement, which was seeking young men and women between 22 and 35 years of age. Read more to learn about this interesting World War I era ad!
Follow the story of Julius Daranyi, a midget traffic cop in Washington DC in 1924. Relive this unique moment in history, complete with original Washington Post article, photographs, and related articles.
To satisfy your hunger for more Officer Sprinkle, I took a look into where he lived in 1900. At the time, he was 34 years old, had been married to his wife Teresa for 10 years and had been working for the Washington police force for the same amount of time. The Sprinkle family lived at 1320 Florida Ave. NE, in the Trinidad neighborhood, just outside of the boundary of old Washington city. Zillow states that the home was built in 1900, although the accuracy of that is debatable because I came across...
Take a look at the history of DC's police call boxes and hear a brief talk from Sgt. Nicholas Breul of DCPD. Learn more about the city's past with Ghosts of DC!
This is an odd story from the Washington Times. The paper reported on August 11th, 1908 the arrest of a young five-year-old. Yes, a little kid was arrested and it's a bizarre story. Learn more about the unusual arrest of five-year-old Gus Oputz in Washington D.C. in 1908.
Officer Sprinkle is a DCPD badass. Read all about his daring rescue of a wild love triangle in the Washington Post on January 31st, 1892. Get a daily dose of DCPD badass Officer Sprinkle and his heroic deeds.
Learn the story of Herbert Copeland, the last person to be executed by hanging in the District. Copeland was a cop killer who had murdered three policemen in cold blood in 1918. He was captured and eventually hanged in 1925, leaving behind a confession with details of his escape and other unsolved murders.