In a Time Before a Tatte Cafe

By Denise Vogt

The West End. In the early days of spring, imagine a time before K Street was lined with vehicle traffic and trees bursting with spring blooms. In 1887, did anyone consider grabbing a coffee-to-go from a nearby café and then strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue? As small kids turned into teenagers there were still plenty of open lots to play even though the streets were sometimes busy with horse-drawn carriages and street cars.

And one wonders how many people then could even have imagined the growth of the neighborhood. Today’s West End has vibrant murals, restaurants, residences with fabulous views, historic homes, a public library, and grocery stores.  

1887 Hopkins Real Estate Map - In both maps, red blocks are brick buildings, yellow indicates wood frame buildings and buildings with an “X” indicate the location of a shed or stable.

1903 Baist’s Real Estate Atlas.

Without a deep dive into the West End history, much can be learned just by comparing the growth in the snapshots of the 1887 Hopkins Real Estate Map and the 1903 Baist’s Real Estate Atlas. The maps show an increase in brick buildings and the expansion of the Columbia Hospital for Women and the US Weather Bureau.

To learn more about FBWE growth over the years, see our House Histories  page click on the Map Layers icon on the Foggy Bottom Historic House Map.