Center Market

The city's great market hall off Pennsylvania Avenue, demolished in 1931 for the National Archives.

A long brick market hall with a corner tower and vehicles along the kerb — c. 1920 Center Market on Pennsylvania Avenue about 1920, its long arcaded front lined with delivery wagons and motor cars.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F82- 4424 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

History

Center Market, designed by Adolf Cluss and opened in 1872 between Pennsylvania Avenue and B Street, 7th to 9th Streets, was the largest market hall in the country when it was built, and a wing added in 1888 nearly doubled it. Farmers also sold from wagons and stands along the streets outside.

What's there now

The market was demolished in 1931 and the National Archives Building was built on its site.

Then and now

Nothing of the market survives. The farmers’ wagons along B Street and 7th Street in these photographs stood where the Archives’ columned south front now faces Constitution Avenue.

Photographs 11, oldest first

A glowing electric sign with a food-saving slogan above a dark city street at night — c. 1910–20 An electric sign reading "Your army needs food, don't waste it" blazes over 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue at night for the wartime Food Administration. place probableNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F82- 10010 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A man in a hat among barrels and baskets of produce under a market shed — c. 1909–23 A trader in an overcoat and homburg stands among barrels, crates and cabbages at Center Market.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 44180 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

People among market stalls and barrels with the Washington Monument in the distance — c. 1916–18 Shoppers and traders among produce barrels and stalls at a market, the Washington Monument rising beyond, around 1917. place uncertainHarris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H261- 9793 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A three-story brick corner building with produce sacks piled along its sidewalk — c. 1919–20 Sacks and crates stacked on the sidewalk under the awnings of the Hickman Building at 10th Street and Louisiana Avenue, around 1920. place probableNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F82- 3611 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Firemen on a smoking roof of a brick building — 1920 Firemen work on the roof of the burning Nixon Brewer building at 7th and B Streets, 1920. place probableNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 10116 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Smoke rising over the roofs of burned brick buildings — 1920 Smoke pours from the burned-out Nixon Brewer building at 7th and B Streets in 1920, a block from Center Market. place probableNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 10118 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A large department store blazing with lights at night on a street corner — c. 1921–22 The Parker, Bridget and Co. clothing store at 9th Street and Market Space lit up at night, early 1920s.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F82- 7001 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A long market hall with produce stalls piled with fruit under hanging lamps — 1922 Stalls piled high with fruit and vegetables under the lamps inside Center Market, 1922.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F81- 17818 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Rows of barrels and crates of produce on a paved street, the Washington Monument behind — 1923 Barrels and crates of produce stacked along a market street in 1923, the Washington Monument rising beyond the bare trees. place uncertainNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 22036 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A truck piled high with beef carcasses driven along a street, streetcars beyond — 1923 An African American driver delivers a truck heaped with sides of beef to Center Market in 1923, streetcars passing behind.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LOT 12353-10 <item> [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Nearby: Pennsylvania Avenue · The Mall · Downtown and F Street · The Treasury · The Washington Monument