This lecture is part of two series:
When Washington was built, the streets in the Northeast quadrant were laid out in the grid system designed by Pierre L’Enfant, with Florida Avenue (then known as Boundary Street) forming the northern border of the city. However, nearly all of the land remained undeveloped in the early 19th century, used as farmland to cultivate fruits and vegetables for the more developed sections of the city.
In the 1830s, the B&O Railroad constructed its Washington Branch, which entered the city at roughly 9th and Boundary Streets and proceeded through the neighborhood to the downtown area. Its presence gradually led Northeast to evolve into a working-class neighborhood: wood and coal yards appeared to serve the railroad and its terminals, with houses subsequently built for the employees of the railroad industries. Sites covered in the series include those with historic connections to the railroad and public markets, as well as education and social change, a president, and a neighborhood once known as Swampoodle.
Featured Topic: Union Station
Built in 1907 as part of the City Beautiful movement, Union Station is a monumental building. Designed by Daniel Burnham in the Beaux Arts style, it set the mode for Washington's classic monumental architecture for the next 40 years, reflected in the construction of the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, Federal Triangle, the Supreme Court building, and the National Gallery of Art. But as anyone who used it in the early 1980s remembers, even a beautiful building can have an awkward phase. Washingtonians were awed and surprised by the hidden treasures revealed by the spectacular restoration of 1988. Redevelopment projects are ongoing, with restoration of the station’s historic ceiling and 2011 earthquake damage repair underway, and a planned expansion that prepares Union Station for the next hundred years.
Speaker Beverly Swaim-Staley is the president and CEO of the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, the building’s steward, and has an abundance of knowledge of its history, recent redevelopment, and future plans to share.
