1400 block of Wisconsin Ave.
Monthly Archives: August 2010
ANC Round Up: Lots Of New Gin Joints Edition
Last night the ANC met for its September session. It was long and grueling. In fact, for the first time in over a year GM left before the end, and that was after three hours.
Notwithstanding his early exit, GM was witness to a lot of interesting news, and most of it had to do with new bars and restaurants.
But first off, let’s talk bikes:
Capital Bikeshare Stations
Chris Holbin of DDOT came before the ANC to present his agency’s plans on new Capital Bikeshare stations in Georgetown. As previously reported here, there will be four such stations in Georgetown. One of those stations was previously announced to be at the gates of the university. Unfortunately, as Holbin discussed last night, there isn’t enough space on the sidewalk for a station and DDOT hasn’t reached an agreement with the school to place it inside the gates.
So they went looking for a replacement site and settled on the north front of the Car Barn on Prospect St. The commissioners, who to their credit were in favor of the program, nonetheless were opposed to this new location. They argued that the immediate neighbors objected to the noise and activity it would create. Ironically, the one commissioner who actually lives across the street from the proposed location, Aaron Golds, didn’t object. But his lone vote against the resolution objecting to the location wasn’t enough. Said resolution called for DDOT to look for another space closer to the university or on the university’s grounds.
Frankly GM would love a station across the street, but never underestimate Georgetowners’ ability to look a gift horse in the mouth. Continue reading
Filed under ANC
The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by M.V. Jantzen.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- If you can’t wait for his ANC round up later, you can read GM’s live-tweeting of last night’s meeting. Sidenote: it’s a lot harder to live-tweet than GM thought it would be.
- Connections to the Georgetown Sexual Assaulter are being drawn to the recent Burleith sexual assault.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
On The Waterfront: Bomford’s Mill
As part of his series On the Waterfront, GM has been exploring the buildings that once made up Georgetown’s industrial heart. Today he turns to Georgetown’s last operating mill: Bomford’d Mill at the corner of Grace St. and Potomac.
Name: Bomford’s Mill
Built By: George Bomford
Constructed: 1845
Current Use: Office Space
George Bomford was born in New York City in 1782. By 1804, Bomford enlisted in the Army where he had a successful career and was regarded as an expert in munitions. In fact, he invented the influential Columbiad, a seacoast defense cannon. The name Columbiad derived from a poem by Joel Barlow. In fact, Bomford married Barlow’s sister-in-law and purchased the Kalorama estate from his widow’s estate.
Bomford constructed the first mill on this site probably in 1832. It was a flour mill. However, it burned down in September 1844. The following year, rather than rebuild a flour mill, Bomford built a cotton factory. There are slightly conflicting accounts for the switch, but the most likely explanation is that there was less competition in the cotton market than in the grist mill market.
According to the records of the Columbia Historical Society, Bomford constructed a four story building with an immense water wheel. The interior contained 3,000 spindles and 100 looms. Over 100 men and women worked in the cotton factory. Continue reading
Filed under On the Waterfront
The Morning Metropolitan
Georgetown Market window by Alykat.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Two Georgetown patios make it into Metrocurean’s Five Great Hidden Patios.
- The new Circulator route is up and running, have you tried it yet? GM didn’t realize that they changed up the old route too. Now when it comes into Georgetown, it will come along K St. and up Wisconsin. Eastbound it stays on M St. This is a confusing and frustrating change. Moreover, there wasn’t any prior announcement made about this change (and it wasn’t like the Blue Bus change was that well communicated either). GM wasn’t even positive about the route so he checked the Circulator website last night. It wasn’t working. Unfortunately, poor communication appears to go hand-in-hand with the Circulator.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by Valkyrieh116
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- PoP judges Mie N Yu.
- Anyone who ever went through college orientation will appreciate this.
- Vote now for the Glover Park-Burleith (really Georgetown) farmers market as the best small farmers market!
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Dumbarton Really is a Street Not an Avenue
Many moons ago, GM wondered, “is it Dumbarton St. or Dumbarton Ave.”? After searching through maps from two centuries, GM reluctantly concluded that it was probably Dumbarton St.
Well, final evidence has come his way. The blog of the DC Master Address Repository recently featured the above map. It was the official map documenting the switch in street names after Georgetown merged with the city of Washington in 1871. Continue reading
Filed under Around Town
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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