Washington D.C. Ghetto / Slum Scenes 1930's

Photographs taken back in the mid 1930's of the Washington D.C. neighborhood slums near the Capitol Building. Most had no running water or plumbing.

[@mandycarter7094]

I was born in old S.W. At one point, my entire family either lived in or was located nearby. I have family who still live there to this day. There was daily violence and rampant pestilence. It was a slum in most places and just plain filthy in others. Some worked; most didn't. People did the best they could with what they had; which the majority of the time was little next to nothing. Drugs and alcohol played a big part in keeping the rent paid and food on the table. Though things were pretty cheap back then it was still hard for some to even have more than a dollar to live off of in a day. Everybody knew each other and we stuck together. Regardless of our personal problems, we took care of each other. If you needed something but couldn't afford regular shopping at the outside stores, there was the ice man, junk man, coal man, and milk man. Good Lord! There were all kinds of services. You just had to be able to afford it when they came around. S.W. at that time may not have been the pretty and neat place it is today, but it was home. It was a place with more love and "understanding of community" than I see across this city today. I loved it then and still love it now.

[@Rayallwayz]

Now I know that DC really stands for dirty city. I was born in DC in 1980. My parents moved us out of there in 1994 because of the crimes. Drugs and murders etc. Not so much where i grew up. Back then neighbors loved each other. And old lady who lived in our floor. Now it's not allowed because the law changed. I remember my neighbor Ms. Chase. I was around 8 years old. She would give me money and send me to the convenient store to buy her Salem light cigarettes. Lol. She most likely dead now. She was like in her late 60s in the 1980s. I grew up in in North West DC.

[@alomaalber6514]

I think my dad knew Ms. Chase. He said the neighbors were so nice.

[@khalidalyasamuhammad]

This is around the time my great grandparents and other family moved here to DC from North Carolina like most of the people in this picture probably did..it is amazing to see this

[@kevinwilmore3604]

The Great Southern Migrations.

[@oldcop18]

I was a DC cop in 1968 assigned to the Second Precinct, Fifth & NY NE, and not much had changed.

[@AIdrisPalmer]

Much of this is from Southwest DC and Capitol Hill. Some of the homes in the photos where the Capitol looms in the background, still stand to this day (albeit renovated) and while some of that area remains poor, it is nothing like in this footage. My father came to DC around the time these photos were taken so this gives me a true glimpse into the time period he arrived. Reviting.

[@alomaalber6514]

There is one brick building with the hand painted Coca-Cola sign that is visible from the Amtrak to represent what WAS there. My dad came to DC from the Dust Bowl called by the government because of his printing skills, he lived in a rooming house on the Hill. Then mom arrived by train and they moved to Alexandria getting their first contract on a house and moving in the Sunday that was Pearl Harbor. He said that family was the nicest family. He did not know where they moved to and the neighborhood disappeared, I think the same thing happened with the advent of Federal Triangle book for more Lost Washington.

[@tracer740]

Thank you for sharing these priceless, though startling, reminders of how far our living conditions have improved this past 3/4 century.

[@ReelNostalgia]

Liche Christ Thanks Liche!

[@roadrunner2439]

I love my city

[@hipbyroads5329]

Fascinating on a personal level. My grandparents' first place when they were married in 1909 was at Half & N SW, a pretty squalid area even back then, according to her.

[@TheAbdulhaqq]

wow i was born on 3rd and Mst 4 blocks away

[@factsdc3719]

Hey!!! My GrandMa, Dad, and Aunt grew up on half street, 6 1/2&N. The original Ridge street Crew NW

[@alomaalber6514]

I remember Half Street!

[@ABeautfulMess]

The Easter family has been in DC forever..lol I was born there in 67..my father in 38 and my grandfather in 13..before that I don't know. My mother worked at the Capital Hill starting at age 19 until she retired..I was so spoiled..I'm so greatfull

[@alomaalber6514]

Some beautiful clean laundry! The Washington Post did a story in my life time about lack of modern plumbing until 1969 in some spots on Capitol Hill. There is one Coca=Cola sign on a brick building still visible from the train, the remains of that old neighborhood, My dad lived in a rooming house coming from the Dust Bowl just before WW 2 before my mom joined him and they moved to Alexandria. They bought their first house there and moved in the Sunday that was Pearl Harbor, Dad was already working federal. He said the DC family were the nicest people, he did not know where they went, where they moved to. Another book is Lost Washington.

[@ANDREAGRAVES1984]

This makes me think about my family. Wow ❕

[@matrox]

Some parts of DC was still like this in the 50s and early 60s.

[@fredmatthews2214]

And 80s and 90s

[@marvinhagler4721]

@@fredmatthews2214 EXACTLY

[@matrox]

@@fredmatthews2214 The only parts of DC like that in the 80s and 90s were from when the nice citizenry smoked it and burned it to the ground in 68'.

[@coporal4]

Not all these pictures are from SW DC. I grew up in S.E. and one picture shows the Supreme Court bldg in the background. This is just insane for folk to live in those conditions in the Capitol. I don't care if it was depression time period.

[@matrox]

Most of those houses were in the shadows of the capital on capital hill. 95% are torn down.

[@ReelNostalgia]

matrox Yeah they were in bad shape back in those days and probably not worth saving.

[@KingBranBDM]

The hood has its issues but it doesn't look as bad it was back then. Damn! This shit makes DC today look like Heaven.

[@alomaalber6514]

My dad arrived by train from the Dust Bowl ( a seven year drought that preceded the Great Depression) He had printing skills and the government sent him a note to work in DC. He lived in a rooming house, he said they were the nicest people! Then mom arrived by train also and they purchased their first house in Alexandria moving in on Sunday that happened to be Pearl Harbor!

[@matrox]

@@KingBranBDM The housing was bad and slum but the peeps were a lot better then. Today housing is much better but the peeps are pure scum.

[@matrox]

The sad part is many of the hoods were not even yet 50 years old in the 1930s, yet they were already rundown and filthy.

[@jayhendricks67]

If this is SW I can't imagine what Foggy Bottom & Georgetown looked like because those were the Worst Places in DC

[@turdfurgeson517]

Music?

[@maryannturnbull3044]

At the foot of the Capital. So sad.

[@ReelNostalgia]

Yes that was very sad and quite pathetic that anyone should have to live in such conditions!

[@ostaraeb4293]

Mary Ann Turnbull That's so sad at the foot of The Capitol, in the Capital.

[@videovixen203]

interesting!

[@ReelNostalgia]

Especially if you lived in one of those old houses back then.

[@tracer740]

equally interesting is how clean and presentable the children are, considering the actual poor living conditions at the time.

[@Fairfaxcat]

Not that bad. Nothing compared to Norfolk's slums in the Princess Anne corridor just north of downtown before 1951.

[@ReelNostalgia]

I will see if I can find some pictures and post them on my next project. Cheers!

[@annkey4091]

SE DC was always the poor relation.

[@sammyjaohnson5631]

Pretty much the whole city east of rock creek was poor

[@Draco-yd9pw]

I just seen 58th

[@floydlooney6837]

Look at all that privilege

[@matrox]

I just heard on the news that DC will starting putting heavy fines on Landlords who refuse to rent to Section 8 people who hold vouchers. The last I heard is was up to the Landlord to decide who to rent to as long as it was not racial discrimination. Rememeber Vote Republican in November. Or vote Socialism.

[@marvinhagler4721]

Some of DC still looked like this in the 80s AND 90s....

[@sammyjaohnson5631]

I was born in the early 2000s and my dad said it looked looked like that then to

[@marvinhagler4721]

@@sammyjaohnson5631 He was telling the TRUTH

[@marvinhagler4721]

@Mrs. Lovely You didnt get around..ENOUGH

[@carolynhughes8364]

I worked in the old #6 and 10th precents and so what were once nice ares turn into crap after the 68;riots.

[@carolynhughes8364]

Auto correct is killing me.

[@navonkeith]

Take away the drugs and guns.. This is what you'll get

[@smug8567]

This makes me want to puke

[@ohreally8929]

Heck, I'm puking right now!

[@smug8567]

Pure nasty! just pure nastiness!

[@vusumuzimathumo-githendu6949]

the white people fled Washington dc

[@dcbornmike]

not all ... still here and LOVE Washington

[@Rayallwayz]

Well the plan is to make it a white city again. That's why the prices are going up and a lot of the DC (black and Hispanics) are coming to PG County. We'll be all dead and probably our great grandkids will witness Washington DC become a rich area for white people.

[@dcbornmike]

@@Rayallwayz Kind of a racist thing to say Ray. There is no "plan', so take that out of your thinking. It is people taking a BIG chance to move to a funky area to fix up the homes, clean the streets of trash, and make sure the thugs move on. These people WILL and Do call the cops and work together to make sure their new neighborhood is safe and clean. My family has been in DC since 1815. I LOVE DC, and I see folks moving in, painting, sweeping the streets, and 'snitching' on law breakers as a very good thing Let the newly PG crowd learn from the newly arrived DC people ... it is to THEIR benefit.. If you work hard, put your priorities in the right order, and don't do drugs, you too may live in DC again and I wish you the best!!

[@mikeo9219]

@@dcbornmike amen

[@ron.247]

@@dcbornmike Right! Everybody in PG is pretty much from DC

[@meadpro]

Those are some healthy clean looking slum kids

[@ohreally8929]

Paid actors.

[@alomaalber6514]

My dad was in the Dust Bowl and the 7 year drought in Nebraska that preceded the Great Depression, a drought in the region that grows the world's food. He put in paperwork as he had printing skills and was called to DC with work! He arrived on the train at Union Station and was in a rooming house with the nicest people! Three months later mom arrived and they purchased a house in Alexandria, VA and moved in the Sunday that was Pearl Harbor. Dad said he never knew where the rooming house family went the whole area was torn out.

[@stuartehrlich4499]

still looks like that thanks to all the gibbons