Union Station Washington

[caravanman]

Hi,

Ryan introduced me to shorpy a few years back... there is a great photo of the brand new Washington DC station in 1910... in splendid isolation !

Ed

Washington station 100 years ago!

 

[stntylr]

Just 70 years later I would be there.

 

[benjibear]

Wow, it looks like it was built in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Ozark Southern]

Wow, it looks like it was built in the middle of nowhere.

Amazing that there was that much space around the Capitol. It's like there weren't a million lobbyists....

 

[George Harris]

Wow, it looks like it was built in the middle of nowhere.

Amazing that there was that much space around the Capitol. It's like there weren't a million lobbyists....

The federal government was not really that big in the early 1900's. The first major bounce in size was in WW1. The major build out of the DC blob did not start until FDR's time with its massive increase in Federal programs. Example: Our first house was well inside Arlington VA. The area was subdivided in the 1920's but the developer folded with few or no houses built. Our house, and most of the others around were built in the 1938 to 1941 timew frame. That is, the edge of the develped area did not get to the counties surrounding DC and Arlington until post WW2.