Robert Pohl worked for many years as a computer programmer but recovered from that and became a full time stay-at-home dad. With his son now in school, he has expanded his horizons and become a self-taught historian. He has written books about his house as well as Emancipation in the District of Columbia. You can reach Robert at Robert[at]thehillishome.com
I was recently (well, not that recently, as I had to get that Pipetown fixation out of my system first) asked by The Hill is Home’s own Maria Helena Carey about the history of Pickford Place NE, and especially where the name came from. It turns out that this opened a large can of worms– […]
Last week, we looked at John Philip Sousa’s novel Pipetown Sandy and how it may well have been based on Sousa’s actual experiences. Today, we’ll look a little more at the geography of the book, and the central importance of the Anacostia River in its pages. Sandy Coggles’s Pipetown is pretty clearly not the actual Pipetown. […]
We have spent the last few weeks looking at the Pipetown neighborhood, its birth and demise. Pipetown had one final moment in the sun in 1905, when the name of the neighborhood was used in a book written by none other than local hero John Philip Sousa (pic). While Sousa is best-known for writing marches, […]
Over the past few weeks we have looked at Pipetown and the decline and fall of Pipetown resident William Steele. His life mirrored the changes that were sweeping through the neighborhood. The first major change was the laying of the Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road lines through the area, effectively cutting off Pipetown from the […]
Last week, we looked at the origins of Pipetown and the rather bizarre noise complaint that brought a number of its citizens into conflict with the law and into the court of Judge Ivory Kimball (pic). Unfortunately, this was not the end of court appearances for one of those fined on that occasion. William Steele went […]