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 […]
This week marks the third and last installment of the Gessford Court saga. Previous episodes have described the building of the houses on the alley and the transformation of Tiger Alley into Gessford Court. Today, I will be looking at the story of Gessford Court’s most famous resident, and the wide range of visitors who […]
Last week, I wrote about the building of the homes on Gessford Court and its rambunctious beginnings. Today, I will look at some of the people who lived on the Court and their stories. Shortly after Charles Gessford’s death, and in hopes of quieting the alley, its name was changed to Gessford Street, and eventually, […]