By: Frank Leone
Nestled between the Whitehurst Freeway and the Rock Creek Parkway are unusual stone and brick structures – these are the remains of lime kilns, used in the 19th century to burn limestone into lime for use in construction of Washington’s buildings. These kilns were located at 27th and L Streets, perched on the edge of the C&O Canal. They were primarily operated by the Godey family from 1855 through 1907. At least five other kiln operations were located nearby in the industrial Foggy Bottom area.
The kilns may have started as early as 1830 and may have first been operated by William Easby (a prominent Washingtonian who owned a nearby shipyard). They were owned by William H. Godey from 1855-1873, and then by his wife Mary and then his son Edward Godey. In 1899, after a major flood damaged the C&O Canal, Godey sold the business to John McL. Dodson, who operated the kilns until their closing in 1907.
At the peak of production, the kilns consisted of five rubble stone and mortar ovens built into the side of the hill. Each wood-burning oven was 10 ft.x10 ft. at the base and originally about 24 feet high. Limestone was brought from quarries between Seneca, Md. and Harpers Ferry, W.Va. via the C&O Canal. The stone was then fed into the top of each kiln’s chimney at night to be cooked and after several days. The resulting product, called quicklime, was raked out. Quicklime is used in mortar; when water is added it is used in plaster and whitewash, fertilizer (to reduce the pH balance in acidic soils) and in many other uses. By the 1880s, the plant employed 25 men.
Lime production was a noxious process that produced smoke, which was increasingly regulated. In 1899, the D.C. Commissioners proposed and Congress enacted law imposing fines for industrial release of smoke. In 1905, the kilns’ owner, Dodson, was prosecuted for violation of what he termed “a cruel and unjust law” limiting smoke emissions and fined $20. Moreover, by the early 20th century, railroads and industrialization replaced local kilns with large factories. Portland cement and gypsum plaster also were replacing lime as a building product. In 1907, the kilns ceased operation.
In 1907-08, site owners demolished the wooden structures and built the Sterling Laundry facility. In 1920, the federal government incorporated the western part of the site into Rock Creek Park. The government preserved the ruins of two of the five original kilns during highway construction in the 1960s, but destroyed two others. The ground was also raised during this construction, covering up the bottoms of the two remaining kilns, which now stand 16 to 18 feet high. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The National Park Service website notes that: “This is an exceptionally difficult place to visit on foot, and it is not recommended to attempt to cross the roadway.” You can reach the site by carefully crossing the green space west of the intersection of 26th and L Streets.
Sources: DC Historic Sites, Godey Lime Kilns; National Register Nomination Godey Lime Kilns, Nov. 2, 1973; National Park Service, Godey Lime Kilns; Godey Lime Kilns (Ruins), HABS No. DC-441, Aug. 30, 1965; Henry Alfred Essex, History and Construction of the Lime Kilns at 27th St. and Rock Creek Parkway, Thesis, April 13, 1938; Matthew B. Gilmore, What Once Was: Washington’s Lime Kilns: Creating the stuff of building, Aug. 19, 2015; Foggy Bottom History Project.
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