Today’s location, the corner of 9th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, has a long and storied history, extending well before the Federal Government’s arrival in D.C. It was first the Eastern Branch Hotel, run first by Lewis DeBlois, then William Tunnicliff.
For a while, it was a residence, popular among Marine Commandants but became a public establishment during the Civil War, first as a bordello, then as a beer garden. After a break of 10 years, it restarted as a beer garden in 1884 and continued as such under the Hofmans all the way until prohibition ended that particular form of entertainment.
Shortly after this, the site was turned into a gas station, something it has remained ever since.
And a legendary service station at that!