Georgetown Time Machine: Upper Wisconsin

This week on Georgetown Time Machine, GM visits the far north corner of Georgetown. Actually, technically the photo is taken in Glover Park looking down Wisconsin Ave. towards Georgetown, but close enough!

There’s not a lot to this picture, but it’s striking both in how much hasn’t changed and how much has.

But first up, what is the date of the photo? DDOT’s records indicate that this photo was either from 1960 or 1967. Given that the cars appear to be from the late 1950s or early 1960s, the earlier of those two years seems likely.

Now onward to what hasn’t changed:

The stone wall along Holy Rood Cemetery is still pretty much the same as it was in the picture. And south of 35th St., the Divine Science Church appears largely the same. Washington Post archives state that the church opened there in 1937, although the building itself appears to date back to 1874. At the turn of the century, it was known at the Mount Tabor Methodist Church.

Further down you can see the buildings along the 1800 block of Wisconsin, which appear largely the same. You can also see the gap where the Safeway parking lot used to be.

Now for the changes.

The most striking change is the fact that a beautiful big Victorian house used to occupy the east side of Wisconsin Ave. above Whitehaven St. You can see from this 1903 map that little had changed over 60 years:

It’s somewhat surprising that so much land remained wooded and unoccupied along Wisconsin Ave. this late into the 20th century.

You can obviously also see the old streetcar tracks. The fact that there is no overhead wires suggests that this photo may be from after the streetcars stopped running in 1962.