A short, photo-rich history of the Brookland neighborhood in Washington DC.
Category: LOCAL LORE
Brookland once had a bowling alley with 28 lanes. The Brookland Recreation Center may not have survived, but at least the Art Deco building did.
The story of the Washington Aqueduct that brought water into the city, and the ill-fated Lydecker tunnel.
Slavery was legal in Washington DC until 1862, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act. Through it, we can learn a great deal about those people held in bondage in what would become Brookland.
Many streams and brooks once ran through Brookland. They were piped underground as the neighborhood grew. Maps show where they once ran.
A personal account of the tension and anguish in Washington DC in the days after Martin Luther King’s assassination.
In the 1890s, many nomadic groups would camp in and around Washington DC. There was a large colony in Edgewood, next door to Brookland.
Colonel Jehiel Brooks had numerous famous acquaintances, including President John Tyler. He was also an ardent horticulturalist, and was quite attached to one particular tree.
The story of Bill Jones, “The Avenger,” who took a shot at the man who killed President Garfield.
It was once called “Metropolis View,” but was renamed Edgewood by the Chief Justice of the United States and his beautiful daughter. A story of wealth and scandal.
Bygone Brookland 