Category Archives: History

As the debate over the future of the West Heating Plant continued over here, the discussion turned instead to the past. Reader Walter directed our attention to a photo at the Library of Congress from 1910 (or thereabouts) taken from the top of the Washington Monument. It’s part of a 360 degree panoramic, but given the high quality of the large format photography used at the time, we can zoom in and get a wonderful snapshot of Georgetown’s skyline.

Here’s the overall shot:

The immediate point being addressed by Walter in linking to the photo was that at the time a gigantic tank of gas was stored at the corner of M and 30th. Here’s a shot of it:

What immediately jumps out at you when looking at this shot is the ramshackle state of the waterfront. It was still a very active and industrial area. There are five significant smokestacks, of which two remain today. But your eyes are also drawn to GU:

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The other night, during part II of Ken Burns fantastic documentary on Prohibition, the camera turns to M St. and the story of Paul Ward, a bootlegger.

The clip shows a photo of the Thomas Sims Lee corner at 30th and M. But that’s not necessarily where the activity took place, since the basement of those buildings doesn’t go out to the alley. There are, however, a bunch of buildings down on the west end of M St., including Cady’s Alley, where that is the case. Either way, what a great story.

The series itself was absolutely fantastic, with photography and film from the period as captivating as we’ve come to expect from Burns’ work. If you missed it, watch the whole thing right here.

Here’s another clip of Donald Ward telling an even better story from his dad, which kicked off the episode:

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GM really, really wishes he knew Donald Ward, he seems like he’s got a lot of great stories.

GM doesn’t normally do this, but he was especially touched by a comment he received the other day in response to posting the image of the old Roy Rogers on Wisconsin Ave. It’s from reader “George” and it’s a love letter to Georgetown’s past:

I remember the balloon man, I heard he was busted for selling heroin, he used to be outside of the Little Tavern, at Wisconsin and N St. And those were not “Hells Angels”, they were “Pagans”. They were scary! Used to be a lot of them in the middle sixties, down on M Street, when the auto parts stores were there, and the saddlery store, near Desperado’s, and the laundromat on M St. And the other Little Tavern. Near Stohlman’s Chevrolet, and Menehan’s and Hardware, around the corner was Weaver’s. And the Cellar Door. And the head shops selling trippy posters and black lights. Before “Up Against the Wall”. Remember when Britches first opened on Wisconsin, just below N? 1967. And Doc Dalinsky’s, Mrs. Crocker’s lamp shop, Dorcas Hardin’s dress shop. Bill Fitzgerald’s Wine and Cheese Shop, next to Peoples Drug Store. Or Coffee, Tea and Spice? Rive Gauche! The French Market, Magruders, the Sealtest dairy at 25th and M St? They delivered! Rich’s shoe store. John Learmont’s Records and Books. Arpad’s Antiques. Long before, my mom kept her horse in the stable at 23rd and P Street. We used to take the street car to the amusement park at Glen Echo! My sister and I once got stuck there because our nanny didn’t have the 5 cents for the return trip. Buying our goldfish at Woolworth’s. Exotics pets up at Friendly Beasties. And the man with his haunting bell, who would walk the streets in the summer, sharpening knives. Lad Mills selling Esso on Que Street. Georgetown was a great place to grow up, and still is. Continue reading →

If there is one thing that people love the most about Georgetown, it’s the small blocks filled with 18th and 19th century homes. But how exactly did it come to be that way? GM has written about Georgetown’s past a lot, but never much about its actual birth. Today he’ll fix that.

Much of the land that would eventually become Georgetown was originally granted to a Scotsman named Ninian Beall in 1703. Beall named this 705 acre plot of land the Rock of Dumbarton in a reference to his native country.

The location of the land that would become Georgetown became an important aspect to the town’s early development. Located as it is just south of Little Falls, this land is the furthest north that ocean-bound ships could reach on the Potomac. As such, it was a natural location for a tobacco port. Landowner George Gordon constructed a tobacco inspection station along the Potomac shore and soon a thriving commercial port developed.

In 1751, merchants of this new tobacco port successfully lobbied the Maryland colonial legislature to authorize the creation of a new town. The men chosen as commissioners of this new town approached George Gordon and George Beall (son of Ninian) to purchase their land. The Georges were not interested in selling their land and sued the commissioners for condemning their land. A jury full of Bealls and Magruders (ancestors of the Magruders grocery store) awarded the Georges £280.

Whether the decision to name it Georgetown was in honor of these two gentlemen, or the reigning monarch, King George II, is a fact lost to time. Continue reading →