History

Mentions of Foggy Bottom in the Evening Star, October 31 – November 6, 1926. Searched for "Washington Circle", "George Washington University", "Twenty-first street", "Twenty-third street".

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.

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  Foggy Bottom, Watergate · 1965 November 26Apartments and houses in the Foggy Bottom Area. Wash.. D.C. [Watergate]
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  George Washington University · 1939Washington, D.C. An evening class at George Washington University, as seen from the street
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  Washington Circle · [between 1921 and 1922]Washington Statue Washington Circle, [Washington, D.C.]
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  Washington Circle · 1916DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PARKS. WASHINGTON CIRCLE AND MILLS STATUE OF WASHINGTON
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  U.S. Naval Observatory · [photographed between 1861 and 1865, printed between 1880 and 1889]U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C.
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  South lawn, U.S. Naval Observatory · 1874South lawn, U.S. Naval Observatory, spring 1874. Transit of Venus teams

Photographs from the Library of Congress (U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection; Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection; National Photo Company Collection; Harris & Ewing photograph collection; Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints; Prints & Photographs Division), 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.

Bataan Street NW

Honors: The World War II Battle of Bataan in the Philippines

DCist reported in 2023 that a local historian's book on Filipino heritage shows this street was named for the Battle of Bataan. The report does not say when the name was given.

Source: DC Amateur Historian Preserving Filipino History (DCist, 2023)

Foggy Bottomby the 1870s

The origin is uncertain. The name emerged in the 19th century and was in local papers by the 1870s. It may refer to the swampy low ground, or to river fog mixed with smoke from the gas works and other industry. In 1928 the Washington Post declared the name extinct.

Earlier: Hamburgh, FunkstownSources: Foggy Bottom - Wikipedia · Behind the Name: Foggy Bottom (DCist, 2011) · Foggy Bottom Historic District brochure (DC Historic Preservation Office)

Hamburgh (Funkstown)1763 or 1765

In 1763 or 1765 Jacob Funk bought about 130 acres from the Potomac north to G or H Street, between 19th and 24th Streets, and laid out a town he called Hamburgh. People called it Funkstown. It was absorbed into the federal City of Washington in 1791. The historic district brochure calls him Joseph.

Earlier: FunkstownSources: Why Funkstown? The German Days of Foggy Bottom (Foggy Bottom Association) · Foggy Bottom Historic District brochure (DC Historic Preservation Office) · Behind the Name: Foggy Bottom (DCist, 2011)

New Hampshire Avenue NW

Honors: State of New Hampshire

Its southern end is at the Watergate complex. From there it runs up to Washington Circle and on to Dupont Circle, Grant Circle and the Maryland line.

Sources: New Hampshire Avenue - Wikipedia · List of state-named roadways in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia

Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Honors: State of Pennsylvania

The state-named avenue that links the Capitol and the White House. West of the White House it marks the northern edge of the Foggy Bottom Historic District and passes through Washington Circle.

Sources: List of state-named roadways in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia · Foggy Bottom Historic District brochure (DC Historic Preservation Office) · List of circles in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia

Snow's Court1850s

Honors: C.A. Snow, publisher of the National Intelligencer

The city's historic district brochure says the alley was named for Snow, who built four frame houses here in the 1850s, among the first of their kind in a Washington alley. They served as army barracks during the Civil War. Wikipedia says it was formerly known as Snow's Alley.

Earlier: Snow's AlleySources: Foggy Bottom Historic District brochure (DC Historic Preservation Office) · Snows Court - Wikipedia

Virginia Avenue NW

Honors: State of Virginia

One of two avenues that cross three quadrants, in several separate segments. The Foggy Bottom piece runs from the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway to Constitution Avenue.

Source: List of state-named roadways in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia

Washington Circle NW

First drawn, unlabeled, on L'Enfant's 1791 map, where New Hampshire and Pennsylvania Avenues meet K and 23rd Streets. Clark Mills's bronze equestrian statue of George Washington stands at the center. Wikipedia places it on the border of Foggy Bottom and the West End.

Sources: Washington Circle - Wikipedia · List of circles in Washington, D.C. - Wikipedia

West End

So called because it was the westernmost part of the L'Enfant Plan before Georgetown was annexed. Wikipedia bounds it by K Street, Rock Creek, New Hampshire Avenue and 23rd Street. This health planning area, labeled GWU, takes it in along with Foggy Bottom.

Source: West End (Washington, D.C.) - Wikipedia

Whitehurst Freeway NW1948

Honors: Herbert C. Whitehurst, director of the DC highway department

Whitehurst died on September 1, 1948, while the freeway was under construction. His successor proposed naming it for him within a week, and the District Commissioners agreed. It opened on October 8, 1949, with his granddaughter cutting the ribbon.

Source: Whitehurst Freeway - Wikipedia

Still looking for a reliable source on De Sales Street NW, Jefferson Place NW, Queen Annes Lane NW, Sunderland Place NW, Ward Place NW. We don't publish a name's story until we can cite one. Know it? Tell us.

• Oral History Interview with Mary BrownMary Brown · 1997 · transcript · remembers the 1920s, 1930s

  Brown was born in Foggy Bottom in 1920, and the association lists her as a resident since the 1920s. Laetitia Combrinck interviewed her at GWU's Gelman Library for the university's oral history program.

  At Foggy Bottom Association History Project (GWU Oral History Program) · growing up in Foggy Bottom, family, neighborhood change
• Oral History Interview with Eric MarlowEric Marlow · 1997 · transcript · remembers the 1950s

  Marlow calls his memories of a Foggy Bottom childhood in the 1950s bittersweet: the neighborhood was physically segregated, he says, but its people came together across that line. Part of GWU's oral history program.

  At Foggy Bottom Association History Project (GWU Oral History Program) · childhood, segregation, neighbors
• James Briscoe and W. David Riley interviewJames Briscoe, W. David Riley · 2011 · transcript · remembers the 1950s, 1960s

  Katie Mead and Bernard Demczuk talk with two former residents about Foggy Bottom in the 1950s and 1960s, starting with the Old Georgetown-Foggy Bottom Reunion that former residents hold at Francis Field each summer.

  At Foggy Bottom Association History Project · reunions, Francis Field, Foggy Bottom families
• Colbert King interviewColbert King · 2022 · video · remembers the 1940s, 1950s

  Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist King talks with Frank Leone for the association's history project and Foggy Bottom West End Village, mainly about the 1940s and 1950s, when Foggy Bottom was majority African American.

  At Foggy Bottom Association History Project · Black Foggy Bottom, childhood
• GWU's Neighborhood panelColbert King, Mary Brown, W. David Riley, James Briscoe · 2012 · video

  A February 2012 panel at which King, Brown, Riley and Briscoe traded memories of growing up in Foggy Bottom. Linked from the association's oral history page.

  At Foggy Bottom Association History Project · growing up in Foggy Bottom, GWU
• Wallace Lee interview, 2019Wallace Lee · 2019 · audio · remembers the 1950s, 1960s

  Lee emigrated from Hong Kong as an infant and grew up above his father's laundry on Pennsylvania Avenue, attending Stevens Elementary. The interview also covers the Lee Family Association and Chinatown's decline. Tagged to the West End and Chinatown.

  At Dig DC, DC Public Library · West End, family laundry, Stevens Elementary, Chinatown
• Phylicia Fauntleroy Bowman interview, 2017Phylicia Fauntleroy Bowman · 2017 · audio · remembers the 1950s

  Bowman, born in 1947, spent her first years near Washington Circle before her family moved to Brightwood when she was about six. She covers her family history, D.C. public schools during desegregation and the changes on her later block.

  At Dig DC, DC Public Library · Washington Circle, desegregation, family history
• Bill Jones interview, 2020Bill Jones · 2020 · audio · remembers the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s

  Jones talks about his father Parker's career at the Chr. Heurich Brewing Co. from the 1930s to the 1950s: the ice house, the delivery trucks, Christian Heurich's firecrackers, and Parker's work as comptroller. The Foggy Bottom Association lists these Home/Brewed recordings among its oral histories.

  At Dig DC, DC Public Library · Heurich brewery, work, ice house

Search 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.

• DC Historic Preservation Office, Historic Data on DC Buildings (HistoryQuest), CC BY 4.0
• Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Chronicling America, Library of Congress; public domain

History data refreshed Nov 2.