Spotlight is an occasional blog series that amplifies humanities projects across the city, created by community organizations and individuals dedicated to bringing DC’s local history to light.
The DC History Center is happy to announce that it now hosts the Foggy Bottom Association’s innovative House History Map. The map is the first of its kind to present a DC neighborhood’s history, combining information from 250 house web pages in the Foggy Bottom Historic District with a map containing layers showing historic maps, lots, census, and city directory data.
Since its founding in 1955, Foggy Bottom Association (FBA) has worked to preserve and publicize the unique history of the neighborhood. Foggy Bottom’s history reaches from its colonial past, its German and Irish immigrant industrial period, and its African American community, through changes wrought by urban renewal, high-rise development, Federal buildings, highway construction, and George Washington University expansion. In 1987, DC designated parts of a four-block area as the Foggy Bottom Historic District to celebrate the former working class section of the larger Foggy Bottom neighborhood. Modest low-scale brick row houses distinctively ornamented with pressed and molded brick details characterize the area. The Historic District includes several hundred row houses, each with a past to discover.
Photo: House History Map showing 1880 census data and the diversity present in Foggy Bottom at that time – green represents Irish households, white identifies non-Irish whites, and Black identifies African Americans.
In 2021, the FBA (which includes the West End neighborhood) launched the Foggy Bottom History Project, to gather and share information about the area’s history. Our site includes on-line walking tours, our bi-weekly “Funkstown” blog, an oral history page, a Junior Historian Certificate, a resources page, and an unprecedented House History Map. The map reveals information about the historic houses and the area west of the Historic District that was once occupied by houses, stores, and churches, but now is covered by freeways and inaccessible spaces. Our unique House History Map documents the community, its houses, their historic facades, and the lives of its residents over the time, including to the current day.
This map project allows anyone to research the neighborhood’s past, share recollections and add information. The Foggy Bottom Historic District House History Map provides census or city directory data from the 1860s through 1910, but it is being updated through 1950. It also provides links to individual House History pages recounting house narratives, vintage and recent photos, and documents for each house. We encourage all who have ties to the neighborhood to share their stories so the histories can be continually updated. The map portion of the project, which was created by Brian Kraft of Visualizing DC History, requires specific ArcGIS software, and we’re thrilled that the DC History Center agreed to host it on their account.
Photo: Every house in the Historic District has its own web page with unique history, photos, and recollections. The pages are constantly evolving by design to incorporate new information.
This partnership brings our organization’s work to a wider audience, and supports the DC History Center’s mission to “reach into all eight wards to preserve, and elevate the stories of Washington’s diverse people, neighborhoods, and institutions.” To access the map project through the DC History Center, visit the Digital Resources page, which prominently features links to the map and the Foggy Bottom History Project. FBA House History Map links are also present in DC History’s resource guides for Researching Building History (under Neighborhood Research) as well as the Teaching DC neighborhoods guide aimed at local K-12 educators.
Anyone can use the DC History Center resources to add the information to our House History Pages using the submission form, or by emailing us (DeniseV@foggybottomassociation.org or FLeoneDC@gmail.com). With DC History Center’s hosting, we hope to reach people all over who have ties to Foggy Bottom and provide a way for all to contribute.
To help you in that research, the DC History Center’s Research Building History page contains links including:
- Photograph collections (can you find pictures of your house?)
- Historic newspapers (reporting on past house uses)
- HistoryQuest (providing information about house construction)
- City Directories, 1860-1909 (showing prior residents)
- Deeds since 1921 (showing prior owners)
For example, one Foggy Bottom couple had questions about when their house was built and they sought out the DC History Center for assistance. Through research with the librarian at the DC History Center, they uncovered when the building permit was issued (1880) along with information about the adjoining row homes. In records of the Center’s DC Historic Building Permits Database, they found their house and five adjoining houses. The building permit, #1538, was dated June 5, 1880, and was for 13 X 28 foot brick dwellings, each costing $500. The owner/developer for all six houses was C.B. Pearson. When they shared their findings with us, we updated the individual history page for that house.
By making an appointment online, you can also visit the DC History Center’s Kiplinger Research Library. At the library, you can review vertical files, real estate maps, numerous books, recent City Directories, and more. The Library is a treasure trove of information. Enjoy!
The authors of this Spotlight guest post, Frank Leone and Denise Vogt are founders and co-chairs of the Foggy Bottom Association History Project. Special thanks to the Foggy Bottom Defense and Improvement Corporation for a grant supporting this map work. Frank and Denise are members of the DC History Center’s Community Council.