Funkstown Blog

by Frank Leone

Subscribe to the latest posts via RSS or sign up to be a FBA member to get them delivered to your inbox!

Funkstown – Lafayette in Foggy Bottom

By Frank Leone 200 years ago, America welcomed the Marquis de Lafayette, “the Lancelot of the revolutionary set,” for a triumphant return...

Washington Circle

General Lafayette has his Square in front of the White House, and his mentor, General Washington, has his Circle in Foggy Bottom/West End...

FBA History Project Does DC Preservation League Webinar

On December 11, 2024, Foggy Bottom Association History Project Co-Chairs presented a webinar for the DC Preservation League’s...

Foggy Bottom News - Twenty-Five Years Ago

By Denise Vogt Thanks to the GWU Library Special Collections, you can now easily browse the back issues of the Foggy Bottom News on-line...

Funkstown – Visit Foggy Bottom’s Grand DACOR Bacon House!

By Frank Leone The DACOR Bacon House (1801 F St., two blocks from the White House) is one of Foggy Bottom’s oldest and most stately...

Funkstown – Foggy Bottom’s Rev. Leonard Grimes in the Abolition Hall of Fame

By Frank Leone Foggy Bottom Underground Railroad conductor Rev. Leonard Andrew Grimes – who helped 400 enslaved people seeking freedom –...

FBA History Project/GWU Museum Walking Tour a Success

By Frank Leone and Denise Vogt On October 19, 2024, we led a walking tour which began in the Foggy Bottom Historic District and ended at...

Washington D.C. Votes for President

By Frank Leone If you haven’t yet, be sure to vote on or before Election Day, November 5th! Washington D.C. has a complicated...

Recent Presentation of Kennedy Center/Foggy Bottom Improvement and Connection Plans

By Frank Leone We have reported on the ongoing efforts to connect the Kennedy Center to the city and improve the highway wasteland in...

Funkstown – Foggy Bottom Ghosts and Graveyards

By Frank Leone In Foggy Bottom’s marshes, the “incessant croaking of frogs at night furnished material for ghost stories.” One such...

Another Foggy Bottom, Across the Pond

By Denise Vogt Denise Vogt and Frank Leone recently welcomed Adrian Bloom , British author, speaker, horticultural specialist and owner...

Foggy Bottom's Unearthed Treasures

FBA History Project associate, Bellini the Beagle, recently unearthed a delicate 3-inch tall glass (patent medicine?) bottle in the...

Funkstown – Foggy Bottom’s Old Glass House

By Frank Leone One of Foggy Bottom’s earliest industries (1807-1846) was a glass-making factory located at 22nd Street and Water Street...

Foggy Bottom Walkingtown Tour a Success

Saturday September 14 was a beautiful day for our 4th annual Foggy Bottom Historic District in-person walking tour. Registration for the...

Funkstown – Foggy Bottom’s Curious Ruins – Godey Lime Kilns

By: Frank Leone Nestled between the Whitehurst Freeway and the Rock Creek Parkway are unusual stone and brick structures – these are the...

Nearly 50 Years of the Foggy Bottom News – Read all About It – Online!

By Frank Leone and Denise Vogt Shortly after its founding in 1955, the Foggy Bottom Restoration Association (now the Foggy Bottom...

Funkstown – FBA History Project Live!

By Frank Leone This Fall, the Foggy Bottom Association History Project will offer an unprecedented number of live events. We’ll have...

Funkstown – Historic Gem St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Celebrates 157 Years

By Frank Leone On June 9, 2024, Foggy Bottom’s St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (728 23rd St.) celebrated its 157th anniversary with D.C....

Kennedy Center Honors Foggy Bottom’s Displaced Residents with “We Remain Here” Banners

The Kennedy Center recently displayed banners with a land acknowledgement by Mahogany L. Browne, a Kennedy Center’s Next 50 fellow,...

Funkstown – West End’s Historic Alfred Mullet Rowhouses Renovated

By Frank Leone One of the West End’s most notable historic rowhouses recently underwent a renovation, which has resulted in 15 modern...

GWU President Hosts Neighborhood Reception at 175-year old F Street House

George Washington University President Ellen M. Granberg and Ms. Sonya Rankin invited FBA members and other neighbors to a reception at...

Funkstown – Foggy Bottom’s “Other” Breweries

By Frank Leone The best-known lost brewery in D.C. was Foggy Bottom’s Christian Heurich Brewing Company, located at what is now the...

Funkstown – Don’t Miss GWU's NEXT Exhibition at the Corcoran!

By Frank Leone The George Washington University Corcoran School of the Arts & Design students are displaying 80 thesis projects – photos,...

West End Library House History Workshop - May 2nd

The West End Library will be presenting a House History Workshop this Thursday, May 2, 2024, at 6 pm - Foggy Bottom Association History...

Funkstown: Happy ‘West End’ Birthday -- Duke Ellington

By Frank Leone April 29, 2024 marks the 125 anniversary of the birth – in the West End – of legendary jazz pianist, composer, and...

Funkstown – How Foggy Bottom Helped Win the Civil War

By Frank Leone When Confederate General Jubal Early threatened to take Washington in July 1864, “invalid and convalescent” soldiers from...

FBA History Project Presents Poster at DC History Conference

This year was the 50th Anniversary of the DC History Conference, held April 4-6 at Martin Luther King Library. Denise Vogt and Frank...

DC History Center Updates

First, a final reminder to join the FBA History Project at the free DC History Conference, April 4-6 at Martin Luther King Library. ...

Funkstown – Foggy Bottom’s Landmark Heurich Brewery

By Frank Leone The Christian Heurich Brewing Company operated D.C.’s largest brewery near the site of what is now the Kennedy Center from...

Funkstown - Foggy Bottom Notable Women - Architect Rodeck and Interior Designer McCandless

By Frank Leone Foggy Bottom has been home to many notable women, including two important designers who lived in the neighborhood for...

Happy Historic Foggy Bottom St. Patrick’s Day!

Foggy Bottom was home to many Irish American immigrants in the period between the Civil War and the 1920s, as described in an earlier...

JOIN US AT THE DC HISTORY CONFERENCE – April 4-6, 2024

At the Martin Luther King Public Library. The DC History Conference is celebrating its 50th Anniversary! Register now for the FREE...

FBA History Project Co-Chairs Contribute to Smithsonian’s Washington on Foot Guidebook

In time for spring, Smithsonian Books just issued its revised and expanded Washington on Foot, an easy to carry paperback containing 24...

Funkstown: Connecting the City to Foggy Bottom’s Kennedy Center

By Frank Leone Foggy Bottom is fortunate to have the Kennedy Center, but its location here was controversial and access challenges...

History Project Updates – Hatchet Video, DC History Center Hosting, Updated DC Historic Sites Page, and More!

The GW Hatchet video team - Sophia Escobar, Eduardo Gonzalez del Valle, and Ava Thompson - recently interviewed FBA History Project...

Funkstown – Representing Black Foggy Bottom - the Lincoln Civic Association

By Frank Leone From 1937 to 1954, the Lincoln Civic Association (LCA) fought for African Americans in Foggy Bottom. It demanded new...

Up to $50,000 in DC Historic Grants Now Available to Foggy Bottom Homeowners!

By Frank Leone The DC City Council has expanded its Historic Home Grant program to include Foggy Bottom and increase the available amount...

Funkstown – A Democracy Tree Grows in the West End

by Frank Leone Democracy has been in the news a lot lately, so it’s a good time to visit the West End’s own “Democracy Tree.” The tree...

WTOP Airs Story on Foggy Bottom’s Formerly Obscure Braddock’s Rock

FBA History Project Co-Chairs Frank Leone and Denise Vogt were interviewed by WTOP’s “Matt About Town,” Matt Kaufax, about Foggy Bottom’s...

Funkstown – Foggy Bottom’s “Home for Fallen Women”

By Frank Leone The House of Mercy, a “home for fallen women,” which played a (minor) role in one of the greatest scandals of the Gilded...

Foggy Bottom – and History Project – Featured on WETA’s “If You Lived Here”

FBA History Project Co-Chairs Frank Leone and Denise Vogt were delighted that the PBS/WETA real estate show “If You Lived Here” recently...

Funkstown – DC History Center to Host FBA Map Project

By Frank Leone The Foggy Bottom Association History Project House History Map has a new home at the DC History Center (formerly the...

Funkstown – New Washington Row Houses Book Features Foggy Bottom

By Frank Leone An excellent new book, The Row House in Washington DC – A History (U.Va. Press 2023) provides fascinating information on...

Funkstown – Reinventing Washington Circle

By Frank Leone Washington Circle is at the heart of Foggy Bottom/West End and a gateway to our Nation’s Capital. Yet too few people seem...

GWU Student Awarded Prize for Paper on Foggy Bottom

By Denise Vogt Here at the FBA History Project, we’ve long hoped a GWU student would be interested in our neighborhood’s history, use our...

Funkstown: The Body-Snatcher of Foggy Bottom

By Frank Leone Hughes Mews is a picturesque alley today, but at the turn of the 20th century, it housed “the most infamous professional...

Funkstown – Foggy Bottom’s Own C&O Canal Branch

By Frank Leone (The final part of our three part Washington Canal series – see Washington’s Canals and Washington’s Lost City Canal) The...

Funkstown – Oppenheimer and Foggy Bottom’s Einstein

By Frank Leone This summer’s hit film Oppenheimer gives us an excuse to talk about not only Edward Teller, but also about one of our...

Funkstown: Birth of The New West End

By Frank Leone Where and what is the “West End?” The “New West End” is approximately north of Foggy Bottom (K Street), south of Dupont...

Funkstown Plus: Washington’s Lost City Canal

By Frank Leone (part two of our three part Washington Canal series – see Washington’s Canals) Constitution Avenue now covers the path of...

2 3