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How Bloomingdale was built, from DC's historic building permits, and what the newspaper said about it a hundred years ago this week.
| Decade | Buildings |
|---|---|
| 1870s | 44 |
| 1880s | 111 |
| 1890s | 734 |
| 1900s | 1,822 |
| 1910s | 662 |
| 1920s | 602 |
| 1930s | 81 |
| 1940s | 14 |
| 1950s | 3 |
Each record is one building listed on a historic DC building permit; a single permit can cover many buildings. The busiest decade is highlighted in the chart.
In 1911, Harry Wardman built 42 buildings on the 100 block of Uhland Terrace NE under 2 permits, designed by A. H. Beers. The largest permit covered 21 buildings at an estimated $50,000 in total.
Mentions of Bloomingdale in the Evening Star, October 31 – November 6, 1926. Searched for "Eckington", "North Capitol street", Bloomingdale, "McMillan".
“Despite his vigorous denials thaj he was speeding when he struck an automobile on North Capitol street, near Randolph place, on Friday, fa tally injuring Francis B. Shertdan. 20 years, 1805 North Capitol street.”See page 2 at loc.gov ↗
“… tee on market site, will present the mid-city site, while a representative of the industrial department of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad will pre sent the Eckington site.”See page 30 at loc.gov ↗
“R. Payne, 1312 North Capitol street, was the first to make him smile last night and won a bridge lamp for doing so.”See page 2 at loc.gov ↗
“It is hoped by the i hildren who frequent Bloomingdale playground that they will return next J lailoween, for they play a good game r s basket ball despite their weird apranee.”See page 42 at loc.gov ↗
“The Eckington site was Indorsed for the farmers’ market.”See page 17 at loc.gov ↗
“On the RosedaJe court, Kingsman romped on Pierce, 21 to 2. while Lang don swamped John Burroughs, 46 to 2, at Bloomingdale.”See page 31 at loc.gov ↗
Clips are machine-read text (OCR) from scanned Evening Star pages on the Library of Congress's Chronicling America, lightly cleaned (line-break hyphens rejoined, stray symbols removed); misspellings are the scanner's. Newspapers this old are public domain. Each clip links to its page at loc.gov. Clips that mention race, covenants, deed restrictions or slurs are skipped automatically (keyword list: race, races, racial, colored, coloured, negro, negroes, white only, whites only, for whites, white people, white persons, white residents, caucasian, segregation, segregated, covenant, covenants, restricted, restriction, restrictions, plus a list of slurs), because they need an editor's context; legal notices and lists of private individuals are skipped too.
![Eckington Yards, 6/4/23, [19]23 June 4.](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/npcc/24200/24262r.jpg)
Photographs from the Library of Congress (National Photo Company Collection; Historic American Buildings Survey), each with no known restrictions on publication or in the public domain, per the Library. Titles are the Library's, written when the photos were catalogued; some use the language of their time. Each links to its record.
Named for an estate naval purser George Beale bought for $600 in 1823; it grew from 10 acres to 50. Sources differ on the seller, William Randolph or William Bradley. After Emily Beale died in 1885 her children subdivided it, and the oldest rowhouses, on First Street, date from 1891.
Sources: How Bloomingdale Got Its Name (Ghosts of DC, 2012) · Bloomingdale (Washington, D.C.) - Wikipedia · Bloomingdale Tour: 1700 First Street (DC Historic Sites, Prologue DC)The name of the alley system behind the 100 block of U and V Streets and the 2000 block of First Street. The city dedicated it on May 22, 2010. Wikipedia credits the name to a local resident and novelist, Frederick Louis Richardson.
Source: Bloomingdale (Washington, D.C.) - WikipediaBloomingdale's community-owned green space is named for Crispus Attucks, an African American killed in the Boston Massacre and often regarded as the first person killed in the American Revolution. The neighbors' group behind it became the Crispus Attucks Development Corporation, a nonprofit.
Source: Bloomingdale (Washington, D.C.) - WikipediaJoseph Gales Jr., newspaper publisher and Washington mayor, bought 112 acres here in 1815 and named his country estate Eckington after his birthplace. George Truesdell later subdivided the land and kept the name. It lies inside this health planning area, east of North Capitol Street.
Sources: Eckington brochure (DC Historic Preservation Office) · Eckington (Washington, D.C.) - WikipediaBloomingdale's southern edge. It was Boundary Street, the northern limit of the Federal City under the 1791 L'Enfant Plan, and was renamed Florida Avenue in 1890 as the city grew past it. Bloomingdale began just outside that line, in the old County of Washington.
Earlier: Boundary StreetSources: Florida Avenue - Wikipedia · Bloomingdale (Washington, D.C.) - WikipediaFirst called the Howard University or Washington City Reservoir, finished in 1902. The filtration plant followed in 1905, and in 1907 both were named for McMillan, who chaired the Senate's District committee. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. designed the sand bins. The plant site was reported renamed the Reservoir District in 2023.
Earlier: Howard University Reservoir, Washington City ReservoirSources: McMillan Reservoir - Wikipedia · McMillan Sand Filtration Site - WikipediaA state-named avenue that begins at Warder Street near the McMillan Reservoir and winds through Brookland past hospitals and colleges to Eastern Avenue in Michigan Park.
Source: List of state-named roadways in Washington, D.C. - WikipediaThe line between the Northwest and Northeast quadrants, running north from the Capitol grounds. Bloomingdale's founding estate stood at its corner with Randolph Place, according to Ghosts of DC, which shows the corner on a 1907 real estate atlas.
Sources: North Capitol Street - Wikipedia · How Bloomingdale Got Its Name (Ghosts of DC, 2012)Ghosts of DC guesses that this street recalls William Randolph, whom it names as the seller of the Bloomingdale estate, and sets the estate at the southwest corner of North Capitol and Randolph. That is a guess, so no namesake is listed. The Barnett-Aden Gallery opened on this street in 1943.
Sources: How Bloomingdale Got Its Name (Ghosts of DC, 2012) · Bloomingdale (Washington, D.C.) - WikipediaA state-named artery that starts at M Street and Connecticut Avenue, passes Logan Circle and leaves the District in Woodridge. East of Logan Circle it runs through residential neighborhoods including Bloomingdale, and it carries U.S. 1 for much of its length.
Sources: List of state-named roadways in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia · Rhode Island Avenue - WikipediaStill looking for a reliable source on Adams Street NW, Bates Street NW, Bryant Street NW, Channing Street NW, Eckington Place NE, Flagler Place NW, Seaton Place NW, Thomas Street NW, Todd Place NE. We don't publish a name's story until we can cite one. Know it? Tell us.
Writer and former journalist Nicholson moved in with his grandparents in Bloomingdale in 1960, when his mother returned to D.C. from Jamaica. In three parts he talks about growing up there, DC public schools, being among the small group of Black students who integrated Sidwell Friends, and his family's church.
At Dig DC, DC Public Library · growing up in Bloomingdale, DC public schools, Sidwell Friends, St. George's Episcopal ChurchNorman came to D.C. in 1984 for law school at Howard and stayed on as a civic activist and attorney. He covers lawsuits against the city and federal governments over development, including an unbuilt prison near McMillan Reservoir, and work to preserve the historic sites at McMillan.
At Dig DC, DC Public Library · McMillan, civic associations, land use lawsuits, Howard UniversitySearch the archives yourself: The People's Archive, DC Public Library · Historic Chevy Chase DC Oral History Archive · Humanities Truck Community Archive, American University · Tenleytown Historical Society · Boundary Stones (WETA) · Glover Park History: Oral History and Reminiscences · Cleveland Park Historical Society Oral Histories · Rainbow History Project Digital Collections · hometown DC (DC History Center) · Hola Cultura: Adams Morgan History · Citizens Association of Georgetown · Peabody Room, Georgetown Neighborhood Library (DC Public Library) · Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum Archives: A Right to the City Exhibition Records · Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project · Mosaic Theater H Street Oral History Project · Library of Congress, Manuscript Division · Anacostia Community Museum Archives (Smithsonian) · Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Department Library · The Catholic University of America Archives · Bygone Brookland · Dig DC, DC Public Library · hometown DC (HumanitiesDC / Historical Society of Washington, D.C.) · Dig DC, DC Public Library's digital repository · A Right to the City exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives (Smithsonian) · Rainbow History Project Digital Collections · Palisades Community Association · Forest Hills Connection (neighborhood history series) · Foggy Bottom Association History Project: Oral Histories · George Washington University Special Collections Research Center · Woodley Park Community: A Sketch of Our Past · Empower DC: Ivy City · Power of Preserving the Black Deaf Experience (Dig DC) · Gallaudet University Archives. Summaries are ours; the recordings and their rights stay with each archive.