By Frank Leone   Washington D.C. appropriately named its first purpose built Junior High School for African American students after John R. Francis (now Francis Education Center ). He was a notable African American doctor, civic leader, educator who was familiar with the Foggy Bottom neighborhood, having operated a private sanitorium at 2112 Pennsylvania Avenue. Known as “Washington’s leading colored physician,” Francis practiced medicine in D.C. for 35 years and his sanitori

By Frank Leone   Francis School (2426 N St. NW) was built in 1927 with additions in 1929,1953 and 2024, but its historic core retains sufficient integrity to convey its architectural and historical significance. The D.C. Historic Preservation Office granted it historic landmark  status on December 18, 2025 with a period of significance of 1927-1953. Formerly Francis Junior High School, the building is important as the first Junior High purpose-built for African American stude

By Denise Vogt and Frank Leone   If the walls could talk, imagine the history we could share. Let’s start with what we have discovered. For example, in 1922, 2400 I Street resident Alan Phillips, age 20, was one of three enterprising FBWE boys who attempted to hike to New York City to see Babe Ruth in the World Series. They were arrested in Baltimore as runaways, but were released and told to return to Washington, so they did (see articles below). This is just one of the stor

By Denise Vogt & Frank Leone, Co-Chairs It’s hard to believe, but the Foggy Bottom Association History Project  has completed five years of researching and sharing Foggy Bottom neighborhood history. In 2025, we retained and supervised two student interns  from George Washington University to provide content for the House History pages , updated the Historic District Study Area House Map Project , continued our regular posts on the Funkstown  history blog (which now has 150 en