One thing that’s fun about research is the amount of random information that comes your way as you search through archives. It used to be that you might find something by chance in a library, or in a book that was referenced by another book. Today, of course, the prime method for such random connections […]
The US Capitol today has every modern convenience. I have several times had to explain to visitors that the they will not need to leave the Capitol to make a phone call, that it has excellent reception throughout. This interest in having the most modern of technologies has been true for its entire life, and […]
After my post last week about the Blue Castle and its history as a cable car barn, it seems only appropriate to look at the other large structure built to take care of DC mass transit: The East Capitol Car Barn. As mentioned last week, cable cars – which had themselves supplanted horsedrawn public transport […]
With the current discussions about street cars in DC, it seemed only appropriate to look at some past forms of public transportation on Capitol Hill, and I’ve always been intrigued by the Blue Castle, which sits at the end of 8th Street SE near the Navy Yard. As it was once the terminus of a […]
April 16, 1862 was the day that Abraham Lincoln signed a bill “An Act For the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia” which freed all the slaves in the District of Columbia. This marked the first time the Federal Government freed any slaves, and the only time […]