Long before Metro, Washington moved by streetcar, railroad, and horse-drawn carriage. These posts trace the history of how people got around the capital, from 19th century rail companies to the debates that shaped the modern transit system.
The proposals were published to convince transit officials that the 19-mile system authorized by Congress within the city – part of a 25-mile network extending into the suburbs -would be inadequate by 1985.
These photographs from the 1870s show Washington’s railroad infrastructure in the years just after the Civil War. Click through for the full detail.
A herdic cab is a type of horse-drawn carriage, used as an omnibus, invented by Peter Herdic of Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in 1881.
In 1967 the National Capital Planning Commission mapped out the freeway grid Washington was supposed to get: a K Street expressway, a Three Sisters Bridge, an I-95 extension up through northeast. Almost none of it got built.
At the end of World War II, Washington came within a study of building a $56 million, 7.1-mile streetcar subway, which would have been the longest in the country. Here is the 1944 plan, the map, the artist renderings, and why it never got built.
A 1935 photograph of the intersection of 13th and F Street NW in Washington, DC. Click through for the full-resolution version.
![Capital Transit demonstration run of a Twin Coach articulated bus (a model they did not end up using), April 3, 1948. This turnaround is still used by buses today [photo by Robert S. Crockett].](https://ghostsofdc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2015/12/10896004463_3f7d28bb16_o.jpg)
The Toddle House diner at 1971 Calvert Street NW served Adams Morgan from 1940 until 1971, survived a 1942 knife suit over a bad cup of coffee, and shared a chain name with a Bethesda restaurant that was still turning Black customers away in 1957. The building still stands.
Take a look back in time with these amazing photos of Metro Center under construction in 1973. Don’t miss these other great old Metro photos showing Dupont Circle!
DC’s diagonal avenues, named for states, all radiate from the Capitol. The prominent ones nearby honor the original thirteen colonies.
