1915 DCWashington a century ago
High view of a busy street corner with streetcars and crowds beside a colonnaded building 1917 · The Treasury

Washington, D.C. · 1900–1930

The capital, a century ago

1160 photographs from the Library of Congress, place by place: the avenues and markets, the monuments going up, the parades, the streetcars and the people of a city about to become the one we know.

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People skating in a line on a frozen pool with the Washington Monument far behind

Photograph of the day

Saturday, October 31

The Lincoln Memorial

c. 1909–32 Skaters link hands in a long line on a frozen sheet of water, with the Washington Monument rising in the distance. place uncertainNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 43771 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

More from The Lincoln Memorial →

Places

All 29 places →

Each place has its own history, what stands there now, a note on how it has changed, and every photograph we have of it.

A woman in a long white cape and crown sitting on a white horse among spectators

Pennsylvania Avenue

134 photographs

The avenue between the Capitol and the Treasury, where every inaugural parade, victory march and protest of the era passed.
Men beside a giant bronze helmeted head high above the city

The Capitol

140 photographs

The Capitol and its grounds, with the inaugurations of Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover on the east front.
A farm tractor pulling a trailer with a big lettered sign, the Library of Congress dome behind

The Library of Congress

9 photographs

The Library's ornate first building of 1897, across from the Capitol.
A row of photographers with large cameras on tripods before the White House

The White House and Lafayette Square

113 photographs

The President's house, its gates, the Ellipse and Lafayette Square, where the suffrage pickets stood in 1917.
A woman in a flowing costume with a shield stands on the steps of a colonnaded building

The Treasury

42 photographs

The colonnaded Treasury Building on 15th Street, stage of the 1913 suffrage pageant.
A cow on a lawn before a huge ornate building

State, War and Navy Building

23 photographs

Alfred Mullett's enormous French Second Empire office building beside the White House, home of three departments.
A half-built marble building topped with wooden scaffolding towers and a crane

Seventeenth Street

17 photographs

The marble institutions south of the White House, where the Washington Naval Conference met in 1921.
A packed crowd before a stand at the foot of the Washington Monument

The Washington Monument

43 photographs

The obelisk and its grounds, the city's open-air meeting place for rallies, festivals and kites.

This week, a century or so ago

Browse all photographs →

Photographs dated within two weeks of October 31 in any year from 1900 to 1932. The selection changes with every weekly rebuild.

Buses and cars crowded together on a street
November 11, 1921 A traffic jam of buses and motor cars on Armistice Day, November 11, 1921, the day the Unknown Soldier was buried. Around the cityNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 16838 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A crowd beside streetcars under an awning
November 11, 1921 Crowds and stalled streetcars on Armistice Day, November 11, 1921. Around the cityNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 16839 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A crowd and flags at an outdoor ceremony on a building site
November 14, 1921 The cornerstone laying for Washington Memorial Hall, November 14, 1921. Around the cityNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F81- 16897 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
Men at heavy presses with a finished mail box on a workbench
November 3, 1922 Workmen press out sheet-metal mail boxes, one marked "U.S. Mail Letters", in a Navy Yard shop, November 1922. The Navy YardNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F81- 21260 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
A row of women holding placards along an iron fence under tall trees
November 11, 1922 Amnesty pickets line the iron fence along the sidewalk with placards addressed to the President, November 11, 1922. The White House and Lafayette Square place probableNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F81- 21288 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
Firemen with hoses in front of a burning store
November 9, 1923 Firemen fight the blaze at a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, November 9, 1923. Around the cityNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 27123 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
Uniformed sailors and soldiers lined up around a white tomb
November 11, 1923 Sailors and soldiers form an honour guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Armistice Day, November 11, 1923. Arlington and Fort MyerNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F81- 27549 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
People queuing on the steps of a brick building
October 28, 1925 Crowds outside the court-martial of Colonel Billy Mitchell, October 28, 1925. Around the cityNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 37857 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication
Soldiers at a white tomb on a terrace overlooking a distant city
November 11, 1925 Armistice Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, November 11, 1925, with Washington beyond the river. Arlington and Fort MyerNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 38218 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Collections

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An early biplane in the air above the White House grounds

Streetcars, motor cars and wagons

244 photographs

How Washington moved between the horse and the automobile, from conduit streetcars to traffic policemen and the first airmail.
A woman in a flowing costume with a shield stands on the steps of a colonnaded building

Votes for women

63 photographs

The 1913 procession, the Silent Sentinels at the White House gates, and the campaign that won the Nineteenth Amendment.
Men in overalls marching with flags past a long colonnaded building, the Monument at left

The war years, 1917–1919

131 photographs

Troops on the avenues, Liberty Loan rallies, temporary office buildings on the Mall, and the victory parades.
Carriages and marchers on a wide avenue in front of a large decorated Victorian building

Parades, inaugurations and ceremonies

287 photographs

Inaugurations from Taft to Hoover, funerals and victory marches: the city as a stage.
A columned temple under construction with derricks and stone blocks

Building the monumental city

71 photographs

The Lincoln Memorial rising on the reclaimed flats, new bridges and government buildings, and old blocks coming down.
A path under flowering cherry trees beside water, an obelisk far off

The cherry trees and the parks

87 photographs

Tokyo's gift of 1912 around the Tidal Basin, and the parks, gardens and riverbanks where the city went to play.
The Capitol dome seen far off through a dark stone archway, a man walking in silhouette

Union Station and the railways

42 photographs

Daniel Burnham's great station of 1907, its plaza and fountain, and the crowds that came and went.
A cow on a lawn before a huge ornate building

Daily life

357 photographs

Markets, shops, street vendors, schools, sport and snow days: the ordinary city behind the monuments.

About these photographs

Most of these pictures were taken by two Washington studios. The National Photo Company (1909–1932), run by Herbert E. French, sold news and publicity photographs and documented the city's businesses and events; Harris & Ewing (1905–1945) was one of the busiest news and portrait studios in the capital. Their glass negatives came to the Library of Congress, which has scanned them at high resolution.

We picked these photographs one by one from contact sheets, matched each to a place, and kept only those whose catalogue record says there are no known restrictions on publication. Every caption links to the Library's record. How we chose, dated and checked them.