Funkstown Blog

By Frank Leone Foggy Bottom boasts the smallest firehouse in Washington, D.C. and it has had to fight to keep its treasured landmark. Engine Company No. 23 sits in the heart of George Washington University (2119 G Street). Built in 1910, the building is a modest, two-story red brick firehouse featuring an Arts and Crafts interpretation of the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It was intended to foster civic pride as well as protect the community. The firehouse is a contribut

From 2004 through at least 2006, the Foggy Bottom Association’s Foggy Bottom News  was published in the now-defunct Georgetown Current . George Washington University’s Gelman Library Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) has generously digitized those two years and you can access them here , as well as the Foggy Bottom News  back to 1958 here . Even better, Dalton Alves of SCRC did some “web archaeology” and uncovered PDF editions of the Foggy Bottom News from 2008 to 20

By Frank Leone During the Civil War, Foggy Bottom was home to Camp Fry and the Veterans Reserve (Invalid) Corps troops that helped save Washington from confederate attack. Foggy Bottom also housed Union army supply depots, soldiers’ barracks, military bands, hospitals, camp grounds, a huge horse stable, a port on the Potomac, a stately home requisitioned for the Army (the F Street House ), D.C.’s first office building which housed some of the War Department (the Winder Buildi

By Denise Vogt The red brick plaza area on 26 th  Street now enjoys a larger garden thanks to D.C.’s Department of Parks and Recreation. This fall, the island bed was extended about 4 feet for the addition of evergreens, a tree, and groundcover. Many of the existing plants were relocated to the corner bed by The Griffin. The last time the garden was modified was in 2003, by now Historic District resident, Denise Vogt, (retired landscape designer) at the request of garden enth

By Frank Leone We are nearing Halloween, so let’s start with the scary stuff. Albert H. Fish (1870-1936) was perhaps the most notorious serial killer in American history, known as the original bogeyman. He was born in Washington, D.C.  In 1875, when he was five years old, his father, a ship captain, died, leaving his mother with too many children to care for.  She entrusted Albert to an orphanage until age nine. He later moved to New York. In 1917, his wife ran off with their

A large crowd gathered in the Watergate Retail Plaza on October 10 th  to view Laurie Munn’s “Watergate Portraits.” The Watergate Museum and sponsors hosted the event. The exhibition will be on view until January 31 st . Check the Museum’s web site  for opening hours. (F.Leone  Oct 2025)   Up next : GW & The Watergate Museum present acclaimed journalist and historian Garrett Graff, author of Watergate: A New History, who will discuss the myths and realities of Watergate. Wedn

The DC Preservation League has posted a “ Digital Tour: Gone, But Not Forgotten (Architectural Ghost Tour) .” This tour includes 19 historic sites in D.C. that had historical and/or architectural significance but were still demolished.  Some of these lost places went down with a fight, but all these losses reflect a constantly changing city. The tour starts in Georgetown with Alexander Ray’s flour warehouse (1855-1974) (Ray also owned the F Street House  in Foggy Bottom). It