Photos give us the ability to remember the past, for better or worse. Some photos surprise us, some delight us, but they are all capable of bringing us back to a certain place and time and telling a story that we may have forgotten. The story of DC is a long and interesting one and sometimes it’s nice to look back and remember who we used to be and how far we have come. Take a look at these 11 rare vintage photos of Washington DC.
Marches and protests are not a new fad. Here’s a photo of the Women’s Strike for Equality which took place on August 26, 1970, on the 50th anniversary of the passing of the 19th amendment. At the time, the strike was the largest gathering on behalf of women in the United States.
While there are many famous political history figures, you may not know this one. Eugene Debs was a socialist leader who ran for for president five times. Debs founded American Railway Union, one of the first industrial unions and organized a strike in 1894. He arrested and convicted for defying a court injunction. This is Debs and his supporters in DC to visit President Harding, who commuted his sentence.
In the 1940s, Asa Phillip Randolph, pictured here, was planning a "March on Washington Movement" to desegregate the federal government and armed forces. Here he and NAACP leader Walter White meet in Washington and talk with a reporter.
Even Presidents get birthday parties! President Franklin Delano Roosevelt celebrates his birthday here at the Wardman Park Hotel (now the Marriott Wardman Park) in 1940.
DC is famous for being a bike town and it looks like its been that way for quite some time! These two women who were actresses in a vaudeville show take a bike ride in what is now West Potomac Park in 1925.
The Empress Movie Theater once lived on 419 Ninth Street. The theater first opened in 1910 and lasted until 1945. You can see that in 1911, they were playing "The Fall of Troy."
Does Thomas Circle in 1970 look different to you? The pool you see is part of the Washington Plaza hotel but the dome over it has since been destroyed.
The Communist Party had many supporters in DC in the 1930s. Here, they are getting ready to picket the White House as part of a nationwide protest against unemployment.
