While we all know know that we live in a historically rich neighborhood, our busy lives may cause us to speed past those places and rooms where history happened. While glitzy and modern buildings are springing up around us, we are still a community with rich stories to be told. As we have learned through […]
When we think of what the government does today, we think in terms of abstract things: Laws, regulations, standards. In the 19th century, however, government was on occasion more concrete. For instance, a pound today is determined in terms of the kilogram (which, in turn, is determined by the weight of water and the length of a […]
In the early days of Washington D.C., many came to the new capital to make their fortune. Well-known among them were James Greenleaf, Thomas Law, and William Mayne Duncanson, all of whom managed to go broke –or close to it– over the next few years. Only with the arrival of the federal government in 1800 did people […]
Everyone on Capitol Hill knows the Mary McLeod Bethune statue by Robert Berks in Lincoln Park – if only because of its use as a sledding hill during large snowstorms. Those who have taken the time to read the words of her “Last Will and Testament” around the base also can learn much about how […]
Last week, we looked at the design and building of a tunnel to move books from the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress over to the Capitol. Today, we’ll look at its completion and use – as well as repairs that were necessary not long after it opened. Unsurprisingly, the tunnel was of great […]