While crime has certainly been part of the Hill’s history from the earliest days, for real mayhem, you had to step off the Hill. Not far – just across South Capitol Street – but still. The area south of M Street and extending to the water was, in the late 19th Century, known as Bloodfield, and it did its name all honors.
We looked at Bloodfield a few years ago, including the tidbit that the tallest police officer in Washington was assigned to that turbulent neighborhood. We also looked at the constables that were in charge of things like repossessions there.
Bloodfield had the ignominy of being featured in a book (well, pamphlet) about the dark side of Washington, published in 1894.
By the First World War, however, the area was tamed. And walking past the neighborhood today, it’s hard to imagine its bloody past.