Capitol Hill Voices & Memories

The Overbeck Project’s volunteers have recorded more than 200 interviews with participants in the life of the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, DC of past gernerations and the present. The interviews are fully indexed and searchable. Many are briefly described below and all are listed in the sidebar that can be found by clicking on any of the interviews below.
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Mary Ellen Abrecht

Mary Ellen Abrecht, a retired D.C. Superior Court judge, moved to Washington in the turbulent 1960s and joined the Metropolitan Police Department.

Gary Abrecht

Gary Abrecht’s interview spans the years 1967 to 2000 and is a warm and poignant recollection of over 30 years working in law enforcement in Washington, DC.

Mildred "Sis" Allen

Mildred Allen, who lived in the same block as Christ Church starting in 1931, was known to all church members and neighbors as "Sis".

Sonda Allen

In this 2009 interview, Colleen Cruikshank talks with Sonda Allen, a gold and silversmith who has sold her own jewelry at Eastern Market since the early 1990s under the trade name Turtle's Webb.

Maureen Shea and Kenn Allen

Maureen Shea and Kenn Allen are active volunteers, involved parishioners of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, and Capitol Hill residents for nearly 50 years. In 2023 they received a Capitol Hill Community Foundation Achievement Award for their dedication to the community.

Sharon Ambrose

Former DC Council member Sharon Ambrose, a Chicago native, was born to political life, accompanying her grandfather in door- to-door campaigning during the 1950s.

Tony Ambrosi

Tony Ambrosi was born in 1911 and grew up in Schott’s Place, an Italian enclave in the interior of the block where the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office buildings are now located.

Donnald Anderson

Donnald Anderson's years on Capitol Hill predate his professional career—he began as a Capitol page during high school and graduated from the Capitol Page School.

Ernest Antignani

Ernest Antignani came to Washington in the mid-1950s to attend Georgetown University's Foreign Service school.

Melissa Ashabranner

When Melissa met Hill Rag founder Jean-Keith Fagon, the paper was well established. She joined him and used her MBA skills to manage the business and keep it profitable. 

Helen Atkins

Helen Atkins, who celebrated her 100th birthday on Valentine's Day 2008, arrived in Washington with her widowed father during World War I. She moved to Capitol Hill after her 1935 marriage and remained until recent years.

Helene Au

Helene Au was born on Capitol Hill and spent almost all of her 105 years living here. She died on May 18, 2019. Miss Au's paternal grandfather settled on Capitol Hill in 1873 when he immigrated from Germany and took a position with the Marine Band.

Pearl and Joel Bailes

Joel Bailes plays the piano and the fiddle and Pearl the harmonica with the Capitol Hillbillies, the performing group they founded in 1983. Even if you don’t recognize their names, you probably have enjoyed their music on the Hill.

Frances Barnes

Frances Barnes's family stretches back generations in Washington, DC; so far that she isn't exactly sure when they first arrived.

Georgiana Barnes

Georgiana Barnes married and moved to Capitol Hill, or Southeast Washington as it was called then, on Christmas Day 1933.

Linda Barnes

Linda Barnes moved to Washington as a young bride in 1963, and had lived on East Capitol Street for 35 years when she was interviewed in 2002.

Pauline Bates

Pauline Bates was born in Alexandria, VA, in 1913, and spent 63 years of her adult life on Capitol Hill, at 506 Seventh Street SE.

Grover Batts

Grover Batts came to Washington in 1951, after serving in World War II, and went to work at the manuscript division of the Library of Congress, a position he kept until retirement.

Lola Beaver

Lola Beaver's life on Capitol Hill revolved around her Costume Shop at Eighth and A Streets NE, which she opened in 1968, not long after the riots.

Michael Berman

Michael Berman, an artist and Capitol Hill resident, started selling his work at Eastern Market in 1992, when newcomers had to get in line early to get a spot among the Saturday outdoor vendors.

Robert J. Beverly, Sr., and family

Almost every Beverly family story involves their house -- the Big House at 308 Independence Avenue SE, on a lot purchased by their grandmother, daughter of former slaves, in 1886.

Lora Stirling Birch

Lora Stirling Birch moved to Capitol Hill as a child during the Depression, when her father found work at the Washington Navy Yard. Until her late teens, her family lived at 410 Fourth Street NE. Molly Collins Offner, who conducted the interview, has lived in this house since 1996,

Roberta Blanchard

Roberta Blanchard opened Fairy Godmother book and toy store on Seventh Street SE in 1984. it's still in operation at the same location over three decades later. Prior to that, she'd had children and became involved in the neighborhood.

William Boswell

Bill Boswell’s family lived at 11 D Street SE for 160 years—almost as long as Capitol Hill has been a residential community. As the last Boswell to live there, Bill's interviews cover generations of house, family, and neighborhood history.

Ellen Breen

A fifth generation Washingtonian on one side of her family and daughter of an Irish immigrant on the other, Ellen Cannon Breen lived from age 2 to 17 on Capitol Hill, from 1920 to the mid-1930s.

Bruce Brennan

When asked how he got ‘sucked into’ one of the volunteer tasks he performed during his years on Capitol Hill, Bruce Brennan answered, “I like to be a helper.” Stories about his activities, as told during the interview, support that statement.

Patricia Briel

Patricia Briel, youngest child in a large family, grew up in a house at 315 First Street SE, later torn down and currently the location of the Capitol South Metro station.

Anne Brockett

Anne Brockett, an architectural historian with the DC Historic Preservation Office, discusses the rehabilitation of Eastern Market in this June 2009, interview with Beth Hannold.

Rosetta Brooks

Capitol Hill native Rosetta Brooks has taught ballet to two generations of dancers at St. Mark's Church.

Patty Brosmer

Now President of the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District, Patty Brosmer has been a part of the BID movement since helping to develop the necessary legislation from 1995-1999.

Dudley Brown

A widely respected expert in historic restoration, Dudley Brown had long family connections to Capitol Hill, including his grandmother who ran a boarding house.

Sah Brown

Sah Brown served as the dynamic principal of Capitol Hill’s Eastern High School for six years. In this interview, he describes his nontraditional route to a career in education and talks about Eastern’s distinguished history, vibrant present, and supportive community.

Chuck Burger

In 2009, Chuck Burger discussed his history as an owner of a store across from Eastern Market in the 1980s.

Chuck Burger

In 2010, Chuck Burger received a Community Achievement Award and was interviewed by Stephanie Deutsch in preparation for that.

Chris Calomiris

A grocer at Eastern Market since 1963, Chris Calomiris was for years one of the most familiar faces on Capitol Hill. What's less well known is that Chris was a Capitol Hill native.

Maria Calomiris

Maria Calomiris worked alongside her husband Chris and later their sons at the Calomiris Fruits & Vegetables produce business in Eastern Market's South Hall, starting in the early 1960s. 

Leon Calomiris

Leon Calomiris was interviewed by Peter Barker, an American University graduate student researching multi-generational Eastern Market South Hall vendor families.

Francis Campbell

The family of Francis Campbell, a Capitol Hill native, has been here since the 1920s. He was interviewed when he received the 2013 Community Achievement Award.

Emilio Canales

Emilio Canales didn’t know much about meat in 1992, when he bought the Eastern Market South Hall business that became Canales Quality Meats.

Jose Canales

Jose Canales was seeking the American Dream when he left El Salvador. In 1983, he became a South Hall vendor at Eastern Market. His 2009 interview is part of the Project's special focus on the Market.

Mike and Judy Canning

Judy and Mike Canning, winners of the 2009 Community Achievement Award, were interviewed by Stephanie Deutsch in preparation for that event. 

Helen Carey

Helen Carey "backed into" the real esate business when she assisted a friend with the renovation of Georgetown alley dwellings and later managed their rental.

Bryan Cassidy

Bryan Cassidy arrived in Washington from Ireland in the mid-1960s, newly wed and seeking employment as an architect. 

Sig Cohen

After Sig Cohen moved to Capitol Hill in 1986, his contributions to the neighborhood have included founding the Hill Havurah Jewish Community and participating in the Capitol Hill Group Ministry.

Carl Cole

Carl Cole was born in Southwest Washington but his ties to Capitol Hill are extensive.

Mary Colston

Mary Colston lived in the same two-story rowhouse in the 500 block of Second Street NE from 1947 until 2002. 

Patrick Coyne

Patrick Coyne jokingly says he's still teaching five year olds to play soccer 25 years after starting that volunteer coaching task because he "need[s] kids to yell at" and his own don't listen any more. 

Paul Cromwell

Paul Cromwell was awarded a CommunityAchievement Award in 2015, based primarily on his contributions to youth and women's soccer teams and the Capitol Hill Restoration Society.

Sally Carlson Crowell

Sally Carlson Crowell, founder of Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, turned her passion for the arts into her livelihood and created a now venerable neighborhood institution.

Patrick Crowley

Patrick Crowley saw the deplorable condition of Congressional Cemetery while walking his Saint Bernard in the 1990s. He joined other dog-walkers to create a volunteer effort to improve the grounds.

Tony Cuozzo

Tony Cuozzo's father was an Italian immigrant who sold fruits and vegetables from a horse-drawn cart in the Southeast part of Capitol Hill.

Steve and Nicky Cymrot

In this 2010 interview, Steve Cymrot says "The Hebrew word for charity is the same as the word for justice," which helps explain Steve's and his wife Nicky's amazing history of service to Capitol Hill for over 40 years.

Nicky Cymrot, RE Hill Center

In 2000, neighbors organized to seek a suitable use for Capitol Hill's delapidated Old Naval Hospital. This interview is an oral record of the 11 year effort that resulted in its conversion to Hill Center.

Leah Daniels

Leah Daniels, founder and owner of gourmet kitchenware store Hills Kitchen, which she opened in 2008, was honored with a joint 2014 Community Achievement Award along with her parents, Maygene and Steve Daniels.

Steve and Maygene Daniels

Steve and Maygene Daniels moved to Capitol Hill as newlyweds in 1972. They raised their children, Eddie and Leah, in the community, quickly becoming involved in schools and community organizations.

Lawrence and Claire Davis

Claire and Larry Davis, Capitol Hill residents since 1969, bought their house for its garden and made extensive use of it through the years. 

Don Denton

This interview with longtime Hill realtor Don Denton conducted by former ANC 6B chair Ken Jarboe focuses on the 2002 creation of the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District (BID). Both Denton and Jarboe were instrumental in the effort that led to the successful establishment of the BID.

Vincent DiFrancesco

Vincent DiFrancesco was born at home in 1916 at 137 B Street SE, also his father's shoe repair shop. His 2013 interview is full of stories of the immediate neighborhood.

George Didden, Jr.

George Didden, Jr., had been a member of the Board of National Capital Bank for 50 years when Ruth Ann Overbeck interviewed him in 1990.

Dan Donahue

Dan Donahue's first experience as a vendor outside Eastern Market was selling bulbs for the Capitol Hill Garden Club. Next he sold plants that he raised on a rooftop in Southwest. 

Raymond Donohoe

Ray Donohoe was born at old Providence Hospital and spent his early years at 159 Kentucky Avenue where the exploits of the six Donohoe boys often brought visits from the police whenever mischief occurred.

Kathleen Donohue

Kathleen Donahue’s vision for a retail business on Capitol Hill took shape one summer afternoon as she sat in a traffic jam on the 14th Street Bridge. Why should anyone have to cross the Potomac in search of a game? In November 2010, she opened Labyrinth Games & Puzzles at 645 Pennsylvania Ave SE.

Eleanor Drabo

Since 1991, artist and college history professor Eleanor Drabo has sold jewelry under the name Drabo Gallery at Eastern Market's weekend outdoor operation.

Patricia Taffe Driscoll

In 1960, Pat Taffe Driscoll and her husband Bill moved to the Capitol Hill neighborhood, where they and their three sons had close-up views of a challenging period in the country's history.

Bill Driscoll

Bill Driscoll grew up in New York City but has spent almost all of his adult life on Capitol Hill. 

Ralph Dwan

Ralph Dwan was a Catholic priest working for the Washington archdiocese when he first came to the Hill in the mid-1960s.

Deborah Edge, M.D.

Deborah Edge, well-known to her patients as a compassionate and devoted primary care physician, is perhaps equally well-known to the wider Capitol Hill community as a string bass player.

Karin Edgett

Karin Edgett developed a 2006 branding campaign for Eastern Market and created indoor and outdoor graphic signage that enlivened the temporary market structure after the 2007 fire.

Randy Edwards

Randy Edwards was born and raised on Capitol Hill, but his ties to the neighborhood through subsequent years revolve around his long-time membership in the (Masonic) Naval Lodge on Pennsylvania Avenue SE. 

Monte Edwards

When the 1999 Eastern Market legislation mandated creation of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee, the Stanton Park Neighborhood Association chose Monte Edwards as its representative. 

Harold Engle

As a World War II veteran attending graduate school, Harold Engle enjoyed walking the shady streets of Capitol Hill while doing research at the Library of Congress.

Peter Eveleth

Capitol Hill resident Peter Eveleth decided in 1974 that DC's brand new system of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions sounded "very interesting," so he ran for commissioner of ANC 6B06 and was elected.

James C. Finley

For forty-one years, as a labor of love, Jim Finley ran a no-frills boxing gym on the second floor of his auto repair shop on Tenth Street NE. 

John Harrison (Harry) Ford

John Ford, born on Capitol Hill in 1924, grew up in a large family at 328 Ninth Street SE and lived and worked most of his life on Capitol Hill. 

Sam Ford

Sam Ford and his wife of 41 years, journalist Gloria Murry Ford, bought their house in the 200 block of 12th Street SE in 1982 and Ford has lived there ever since.

John and Cynde Foster

Cynde Tiches Foster's father bought Jimmy T's Place at Fifth and East Capitol Streets SE in 1969, so she began working there while in high school. She and John, a regular customer, met at the restaurant in the early 80s and married in 1991. 

David Fowler

David Fowler's family has farmed and sold produce at Eastern Market since 1873, and before that at the city's Center Market. They were at the market the Saturday after the 2007 fire, not missing a week. 

Greg Frane

Greg Frane was one of four men awarded the Capitol Hill Community Foundation's Spark Award in 2016.Through more than 30 years, Greg's roles evolved as did that of SOTH, now known as Sports on the Hill.

Adiante Franszoon

In this April 2009, interview, Adiante Franszoon told Vera Oye’ Yaa-Anna about his 18 years as a vendor at Eastern Market. 

John Franzén

John Franzén lived on Capitol Hill for "more than two decades before getting involved in the neighborhood." He more than made up for that over the next two decades as he became a vital contributor to Hill organizations.

Isaac Fulwood, Jr.

Isaac Fulwood, Jr. served Washington, DC, as Police Chief from 1989 to 1992, but long before that, his character was formed by the neighborhood near Kentucky Avenue SE that fostered a sense of community during his childhood. 

Brian Furness

Brian Furness was interviewed by Mary Weirich in May 2005, just before he and his wife moved from Capitol Hill to New Orleans. By that time, he had been a Capitol Hill resident for over 35 years, in between State Department foreign postings. 

Larry Gallo

After moving to Capitol Hill in 1974 as a government worker, Larry Gallo interned with a silversmith and began exhibiting his own hand-crafted jewelry among the Arts and Crafts vendors at Eastern Market in 1992.

Dorothy Garris

Dorothy Garris’s life on Capitol Hill involves her family, her teaching career, and the New United Baptist Church, founded by her late husband, the Reverend Grant Garris.

Pauline Getek

Pauline Getek grew up on a farm near Fredericksburg, VA, and attended a one room school. She worked in the Alexandria Torpedo Factory during World War II, when the product being made was torpedos, not art.

Bill Glasgow

Bill Glasgow, owner of Union Meat Company in Eastern Market's South Hall, is a member of one of the longest active vendor families -- his father and uncle started the company in 1946.

Bill Glasgow

In this interview, Bill Glasgow elaborates on his assessment of the "turning points for Eastern Market" throughout its history.

Bette and Peter Glickert

When Bette and Peter Glickert married in 1959, they bought the end house of Philadelphia Row. At the time, the house, now a familiar beauty, had been condemned.

Ken Golding

At the time of this interview, Ken Golding was president of Market Row Association, representing the interests of merchants and owners of the "bricks and mortar" businesses surrounding Eastern Market. 

Hal Gordon

Working through Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian's Church, Hal Gordon and his wife Janice founded the Community Action Group to "[address] the social ills that were retarding the personal development and struggle of poor people." 

Walter Graham

Walter Graham grew up in the 1200 block of G Street SE from the 1920s to 1940s. In this interview with Ida Prosky, he remembers details of life on Capitol Hill before and during World War II. 

Luis Granados

Luis Granados began volunteering with Sports on the Hill in 1994 when his son was six years old. 

Josephine Green

One of five children, Josephine Green was born near the Navy Yard in 1931. After working at the General Accounting Office and the Geological Survey, she bought her own home near D and 11th Streets NE in the 1970s.

Neal and Janice Gregory

Neal Gregory arrived in DC in 1963, and in 1970 Janice Maxwell came to work for Texas Congressman Jake Pickle. They met when Neal came to Pickle's office to interview him, and they married the next year.

William Griffiths

William (Bill) Griffiths was instrumental in helping his friend John Harrod begin Eastern Market’s Saturday morning craft markets in 1980. In 2004 they teamed to sponsor the weekly tango lessons in the Market’s North Hall that continue to this day.

Emily Guthrie

Emily Guthrie, who became executive director of the Capitol Hill Group Ministry in 2002, has noted that its membership has expanded beyond Christian churches and is now truly interfaith.

Marie Sansalone Guy

Marie Guy remembers many details of growing up during the 1930s and 40s behind the Sansalone family grocery store, now the site of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Clifford Hackett

Cliff Hackett and his wife arrived in Washington in 1964 looking for housing for their family of six children; they'd already decided to live in the city and not commute.

Sidney M. Hais

Sidney Hais was born at home in 1914 above his father’s market at Seventh and C NE and remained active on the Hill until the 1980s when he ended his real estate investment activities in the neighborhood. 

Stephen Hall

From his first visit to Washington as a child in 1944, (Joseph) Stephen Hall found the city a “ great wonderment.” In these two interviews, Dr. Hall recounts his years in the area since 1958.

Rosetta Hall Hamm

When Rosetta Hall Hamm was born, her family was living near South Capitol and D Streets SE. They later moved to E Street SE, so Rosetta has spent almost her entire life on the Hill.

Carol Harris

Carol Mills Harris recalls Capitol Hill as her childhood home from 1933-1944, when all the Mall and the cultural events there were her classroom and playground.

Charles Harris and Mary Freeman

Siblings Charles Harris and Mary Winifred "Winnie" Harris Freeman were born and grew up in a house on Ninth Street SE that had been in their family for nearly 100 years at the time of their August 2005, interview with Mary Ann Wyrsch. 

John Harrod

In the early 1970s, John Harrod founded the Market 5 Gallery in the North Hall of Eastern Market. 

Dorothy Hawkins

Dorothy Owens Hawkins was born in 1915 in her grandparents' home at 513 E Street SE, across Marion Park from the police station, an appropriate location for her grandfather who spent 40 years as a DC police officer. 

Eva Haynes

At the time of this 2001 interview, Eva and Walter Haynes still lived in the house on South Carolina Avenue purchased by her parents in 1949. 

Barbara Held Reich

Barbara Held Reich was a realtor on Capitol Hill starting in the late 1950s. 

Bob Herrema

Only a few people get to be involved with inventing a new genre, but Bob Herrema’s mid-1980s “adaptive reuse” of the former Logan School into condominiums heralded the start of a new approach to renovating older buildings on Capitol Hill. 

Marie Hertzberg

Marie Hertzberg and her husband bought their first home on Carroll Street SE in the 1950s, but it wasn't long before Congress took over the street in order to build the Madison building of the Library of Congress. 

Ann Higgins

Ann Higgins moved to Burke Street SE as a three year old and stayed until she was a high school student, then returned as an adult after many years in the suburbs. 

Sidney Hoffman

Sidney Hoffman spent his earliest years living over his father’s shoe store on H Street NE, and lived in several other locations in Northeast and Southeast during the 1920s. 

June Hoffmann and family

June Hoffmann’s parents were married at St. Peter’s on Capitol Hill in 1911 and subsequently raised their 10 children on the Hill and in Congress Heights. 

John Hogan

John Hogan, the first president of Capitol Hill Day School's Board of Trustees, and Ida Prosky talk at length about the school's founding during this interview.

Margaret Hollister

Margaret Hollister moved with her sons from mostly white Montgomery County to Ninth Street SE around 1970 to find a "more authentic place to live". 

Martha Huizenga

Martha Huizenga was awarded a Community Achievement Award in 2012, acknowledging her years of service as an officer and Board member of CHAMPS, the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, and the Capitol Hill Group Ministry. 

George Hutchinson

George Hutchinson spent his childhood in the Stanton Park area where he lived until just after World War II. 

Margaret Hutchison

Margaret Hutchison spent most of her early life in Georgetown, but she lived in the Stanton Park neighborhood as a young woman in the mid 1920s and again as a mother in the late 30s and early 40s. 

Mel Inman, Jr.

Mel Inman, Sr. was interviewed by the Overbeck Project in 2009, so Peter Barker interviewed his son, Mel Inman, Jr., in October 2010, for a study of multi-generational Eastern Market vendor families. 

Mel Inman, Sr.

When he was interviewed in 2009, Mel Inman, Sr. was the owner of Market Poultry, renowned for the lines of customers buying its popular fresh turkeys at Thanksgiving.

Susan Jacobs

Susan Jacobs has been a potter and manager with Eastern Market Pottery for many years. In this 2009 interview, she describes the original studio over the central hall of the Market and tells how it began in the late 1960s. 

Ken Jarboe

Ken Jarboe served 12 years as an elected Commissioner for ANC 6B and was Chair during 2001 and 2002.

Parker Jayne

Parker Jayne made many neighborhood connections while organizing musical productions at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and in the process of founding the Capitol Hill Choral.

Mary Jerrell

Born in Virginia, Mary Jerrell moved to Capitol Hill at age five in 1920. In this interview, Mary describes the comings and goings of her neighbors in the 800 block of East Capitol Street where she lived for almost 80 years. 

Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson’s pictures are likely to be found in the family albums of countless Capitol Hill families, possibly balancing two or three children on his shoulders at once during his more than 40 years teaching Chinese gymnastics at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW).

Inez Jones

Inez and John Jones moved to Capitol Hill in 1959, when John worked for Senator Neuberger. Soon Mrs. Jones founded Congressional Realty and ran it from her Massachusetts Avenue NE home until the mid-1970s. 

Pat Joseph

Patricia Joseph has been a resident of Washington and of Capitol Hill since 1980.

Joanne Jung

Joanne Jung and her husband owned Paik Produce at Eastern Market beginning in 2006. 

Betty Ann Kane

Betty Ann Kane and her husband Noel moved to Capitol Hill in 1966 so that he could attend law school. Capitol Hill and the city of Washington could not have been more fortunate in their choice of residence.

Larry Kaufer

Larry Kaufer was one of four men awarded the Capitol Hill Community Foundation's Spark Award in 2016. He got involved just as Soccer on the Hill was evolving into Sports on the Hill.

Kitty Kaupp

Kitty Kaupp arrived on Capitol Hill in 1975 and was awarded a Community Achievement award in 1998, the year of this interview.

Joan Keenan

Joan and Frank Keenan were among the first wave of young people who came to Capitol Hill in the 1950s to renovate an old house and raise a family. 

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly grew up near Stanton Park in the 1920s and 30s and later, with his wife Marguerite, raised four children in the same block where he lived as a child.

Hugh Kelly

Hugh Kelly was a Capitol Hill realtor beginning in the early 1970s. In this interview, he describes his efforts to interest people in the neighborhood at a time when it was considered a place to live for those who couldn’t afford more desirable locations. 

Margot Kelly

Margot Kelly moved to Capitol Hill in the 1960s because she couldn't find the house she wanted in Northwest. She became involved in rehabilitation of neglected buildings, but unlike most she quickly focused on Eighth Street SE commercial buildings. 

Marguerite Kelly

Marguerite Kelly and her husband Tom moved to Capitol Hill in 1953 to help care for his aging parents, and she remains here to this day. Her interview's vividly told stories focus on the early years of child rearing and community activism.

Michael and Joan Kim

Michael and Joan Kim, owners of Grubb’s Pharmacy, received a Capitol Hill Community Foundation Achievement Award in 2022 for community contributions that became vividly evident during the Covid pandemic.

Leonard Kirsten

Len Kirsten owned and operated the Emporium, a gift shop in the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE, from 1965 to 1975. He carried an eclectic array of traditional items plus up-to-the-minute hip things, aimed at the new folks who were moving to the Hill at the time. 

Gladys Kraft

Gladys Salpeter Kraft supervised many of the programs at Friendship House from 1946 to 1950 and later served on the Board until 1968. 

Scott Kratz

Scott Kratz is a civic leader, Director, 11th Street Bridge Park, and Vice President, Building Bridges Across the River.

Hazel Kreinheder

Hazel Kreinheder and her husband Bob purchased a house on Kentucky Avenue just off Lincoln Park in early 1963. They are still living in that same house in 2020.

Malien Lane

Soon after she moved to Capitol Hill in 1978, Malien Lane became one of the first six vendors selling outside Eastern Market's North Hall in the Saturday market begun by John Harrod.

Raye LeValley

E. Raye LeValley was one of the original teachers at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and later became the Director of Education there.

John and Elsie Leukhardt

When John and Elsie Leukhardt were interviewed in 1974, Elsie reminisced about having had the same phone number -- updated as the system changed -- for 70 years.

Geoffrey Lewis

Geoff Lewis's life on Capitol Hill followed familiar patterns: moving to Washington after college (in 1965), finding work, marrying his wife Terry, buying a house, and raising two daughters. 

Andrew Lightman

Andrew Lightman moved to Capitol Hill in 1993 as a graduate student and is now the editor of the HILL RAG newspaper, located across the street from Eastern Market.

Stuart Long

Stuart Long is best known as the co-founder of the Hawk and Dove restaurant and bar in the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE, started in 1967 and named for that period's prevailing political factions.

Rose Lovelace

Like her sister Josephine Shore, Rose Lovelace grew up on H Street SE, near Congressional Cemetery, "just after the war" --World War I, that is. 

Janice MacKinnon

Janice MacKinnon left her Hollywood, CA, hometown for DC in the 1960s to work for a California congressman. In 1967 she moved to Capitol Hill with her husband David.

David MacKinnon

This interview is a refreshing walk down memory lane with David MacKinnon who, with his wife Jan, has lived on Capitol Hill since 1967.

Goldie Mamakos

Goldie Mamakos was born on the Hill in 1930 at a house where her family and other Greek relatives lived. 

Joe Mangialardo

Mangialardo and Sons delicatessen in the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE has been a Hill favorite for many years. 

John L. Mann

Jack Mann's great-great-grandfather opened a brewery and beer garden on Capitol Hill in the late 1850s. It was located at 14th and D Street SE, later the site of the Safeway. 

Barry Margeson

Barry Margeson began managing Eastern Market for the DC Department of Real Estate Services on January 1, 2009, and oversaw the June 2009 move from the temporary building to the restored 1893 building. 

Jerry Mark

Jerry Mark grew plants that he sold on the Eastern Market farmer's line starting in 1978.

Geraldine Matthews

Geraldine Matthews was born on Capitol Hill in 1923 and has spent her entire life here. 

John (Peterbug) Matthews

John "Peterbug" Matthews says his goal is to "save souls and heel people," a play on words that connects his Shoe Repair Academy to activities that benefit those in need, especially children. 

Bernadette Mayo

Bernadette Mayo began selling bars of handmade soap in Eastern Market in 1996 and now sells over 17 different kinds, along with other "salts, lotions, and potions." 

Madonna McCullers

Madonna McCullers moved to the Hill in 1950, where she balanced keeping house for her family with opening and operating her own beauty shop on Massachusetts Avenue.

Florence McGee

Florence McGee, a nurse with advanced training, moved to Washington by Greyhound bus with her new husband in 1935. She lived most of the next 68 years in the 600 block of Maryland Avenue NE.

Ronald McGregor

Ronald McGregor and his family moved to Capitol Hill in 1968 after his retirement from the Navy, settling in the 700 block of Massachusetts Avenue NE and becoming active in the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, the Restoration Society and the Garden Club. 

Hattie McLaurin

Hattie McLaurin, the granddaughter of a midwife, moved from a North Carolina farm to Washington in 1956, and has lived and worked on Capitol Hill for most of the time since.

Bill McLeod

Bill McLeod, was Executive Director of Barracks Row Main Street from August 2002 to December 2006, during the period in which the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District was being formed.

Keith Melder

During the 1960s, Keith Melder was active in the Capitol Hill Community Council, a racially integrated civic organization attempting to supplant the predecessor segregated organizations that previously dominated civic life in D.C.

Jeffrey Menick

Shortly after Jeff Menick was born in July 1947, his family moved to the corner store at 601 E Street SE, which his father operated. The family lived in quarters behind and above the store.

Nancy Metzger

Nancy Metzger’s interest in Capitol Hill historic preservation began in childhood, when she questioned her mother about their church’s decision to remove houses in order to build an annex. 

John and Elsie Miller

John Miller was born on Capitol Hill before World War I and lived most of his life in Southeast. The Navy Yard expansion took over the house where he was born.

Margaret Missiaen

Margaret Missiaen, widely known as the "Tree Lady of Capitol Hill", was awarded a 2010 Community Achievement Award largely for her devotion to pruning and nurturing neighborhood trees.

Connie Mitchell

Cornelia "Connie" Mitchell, a lifelong Washington resident, remembers seeing presidential inaugural parades as far back as Woodrow Wilson’s. 

Naomi Mitchell

After raising her children in Northwest Washington, California native Naomi Mitchell moved to Capitol Hill in 1986, purposely choosing a block with “the haves on one side, the have-nots on the other.”

Larry Monaco

Larry Monaco's early childhood was spent on Capitol Hill, as both his mother's and father's had been, so this interview is filled with reminiscences of family life in both the northeast and southeast parts of the neighborhood. 

Helene Monberg

Helene Monberg was a journalist in Washington for over 60 years.

Oley Morgan

Oley Morgan was born in 1917 and grew up on Capitol Hill. From the age of 12, his primary interest was boxing, at the Knights of Columbus, then the Merrick Boys Club, the Police Boys Club, and eventually for the Marine Corps.

Caleb Morell

In this interview, Caleb Morell, Senior Pastoral Assistant for Research at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, shared his knowledge of the church's history.

Nellie May Morton

Nellie May Sweet Morton, born in 1897, was interviewed by Ruth Ann Perez and Hazel Kreinheder in 1974. 

Ellen Moy Tang and daughters

Ellen Moy immigrated from China to Washington, DC, in 1941 and married a man who had been born on Second Street SE. 

Freda Murray

Freda Herrmann Murray, about 81 years old at the time of her interview, was born to German parents who operated a grocery, funeral home, and made bottled root beer and ginger ale.

Mary Murray

When Beth Eck interviewed Mary Donohoe Murray in 2003, she learned about a close extended family. 

Virginia Myers

Virginia Myers was born in 1924 in Manassas, VA, but moved to Capitol Hill at age five. 

Annie Bell Nelson

Annie Bell Nelson and her husband Joseph purchased their house in the 600 block of South Carolina Avenue SE in 1948.

Elizabeth Nelson and Nick Alberti

Spouses Elizabeth Nelson and Nick Alberti have made Capitol Hill their home since 1985, and throughout that time have made major contributions to the life of the neighborhood. 

Jerre Ness

When Jerre Ness spent his childhood and school years on Capitol Hill, he attended local schools and delivered newspapers to homes since replaced by the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office buildings. 

Jean Noel

Jean Noel’s parents met in DC in 1914 and married in 1915. Jean was born at 511 F Street NE and lived in several other houses in that neighborhood until her marriage after World War II.

Maureen Nolan

Soon after Maureen Nolan came to the United States from County Clare, Ireland, in the early 1960s, she moved to Washington and settled on Capitol Hill.

Peggy O'Brien

Peggy O’Brien has lived on Capitol Hill, within a three-block radius of where she lives today, since coming to Washington to attend Trinity College in 1965.

Rev. Michael O'Sullivan

Father Michael J. O'Sullivan was pastor of St. Peter's church on Capitol Hill for 35 years, starting in 1970. 

Kirsten Oldenburg

Kirsten Oldenburg came to DC in 1983 for an advanced degree and chose as her first home a basement apartment on Capitol Hill near Mr. Henry’s.

John Overbeck

John Overbeck arrived in Washington in 1957 for a job at the Library of Congress

Ruth Ann Overbeck

In a series of interviews conducted during the final weeks of her life, Ruth Ann Overbeck downloaded much of her voluminous knowledge of our neighborhood’s history.

Steven and Mary Park

Mary and Steve Park were interviewed by Stephanie Deutsch in January, 2017, after being chosen to receive a Community Achievement Award that year. 

John Parker

John Parker was awarded a Community Achievement Award in 2005 for his work with youth baseball programs on Capitol Hill. 

Lane Parsons

When Lane Parsons watched the houses at 1623 - 31 G Street SE being built during his childhood in the 1920s, the basements were dug out using horse-drawn plows, and laborers removed the dirt using baskets. 

Charlene Patton

Charlene Patton lived at 1230 North Carolina Avenue NE for over 40 years, starting in 1980—but she'd first lived on the Hill more than 20 years prior.

Kathleen Penney

It's not often that a government functionary describes a meeting regarding a major project as "one of the most fun afternoons we had," but Kathleen Penney's June 2009 interview includes that quote. 

James Perry

James Perry is the band director of the Eastern High School Marching Band, AKA the “Blue and White Marching Machine” and “The Pride of Capitol Hill.”

Susan Perry

Susan Perry is a long-time Hill resident who joined the early efforts to establish the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District, using her extensive background in public transportation issues to the benefit of her neighborhood.

Catherine M. Peterson

Catherine (Cemmy) Peterson, became Head of the Capitol Hill Day School in 1985. She was awarded the Capitol Hill Community Achievement Award in 1996. 

Gary Peterson

Gary Peterson was awarded the Community Achievement Award in 2008, largely based on his stewardship of the Capitol Hill Community Foundation's efforts to support Eastern Market merchants following the 2007 fire. 

William Phillips

Bill Phillips had many different experiences before he moved to Capitol Hill in 1987 to become legislative director to an Alabama congressman; over time, he became involved with a wide range of activities in the community. 

Maurine Phinisee

Maurine came to Washington as a "government girl" during World War II and later ran a welding business after her husband’s early death. She describes the city with the eyes of a businesswoman, artist, and teacher.

Alex Pope, Jr.

Alexander Pope, Jr. was born in 1925 to parents who ran a funeral business in the Southeast part of Capitol Hill; the business, now operated by his son Alex Pope III, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020.

Peter Powers

Peter Powers, a Capitol Hill resident from the late 1960s until his death in 2006, played a prominent role in the early days of the neighborhood renovation era, including a stint as president of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society. 

Bill Press

A resident of the Hill since 1996, political commentator Bill Press was a 2023 Capitol Hill Community Foundation honoree for his Hill Center “Talk of the Hill” series.

Evelyn Price

Evelyn Price moved from southern Virginia to Washington, DC, in 1942, and met her husband here. 

Mary Procter and Bill Matuszeski

For many years, Mary Procter and her husband Bill Matuszeski have generously contributed their time and talents to neighborhood organizations such as Friendship House and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.

Ida Prosky

Ida Prosky moved to Capitol Hill in 1960 with her husband, actor Bob Prosky, to be near Arena Stage Theater in Southwest, where Bob was a member of the resident company. 

Sharon Raimo

Sharon Raimo began her career in education in the DC public schools on Capitol Hill, working closely with Veola Jackson and the early efforts to establish the Capitol Hill Cluster School.

Tom Rall

Since the late 1960s, Tom Rall has been part of the Capitol Hill community, and those times "shaped the remainder of [his] life," as he states in this May 2009 interview.

Herbert P. Ramsey, M.D.

Dr. Herbert Ramsey, Eastern High School Class of 1912, was interviewed in 1977 by Hazel Kreinheder. 

Frank Reed

Frank Reed talks about his role as a founder of Stanton Development, the company behind the reconstruction of the Kresge's and Penn Theater buildings in the 600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE.

Clarence Rice, M.D.

Dr. Clarence Rice, a 1912 graduate of "old" Eastern High School, later served as an Army doctor in World War I.

Nelson F. Rimensnyder

Nelson Rimensnyder shared information on the data he has gathered on DC history and governance.

Adele Robey

Graphic designer Adele Robey and her husband Bruce Robey were instrumental in early efforts to develop the Atlas Theater on H Street NE. They went on to found the H Street Playhouse (2001-2012) and from 1999 to 2010 published the Voice of the Hill, a local print newspaper.

Curtis C. Robinson

Curtis “Doc” Robinson served as a Tuskegee Airman in World War II and returned after the war to Washington, DC.

Bill Rouchell

Bill Rouchell, owner of Maison Orleans Bed and Breakfast, was president of the Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals (CHAMPS) from 2000-2002 when a Capitol Hill Business Improvement District was first considered.

Anwar Saleem

Anwar Saleem was a teenager when the 1968 riots devastated the thriving and diverse commercial and social hub of H Street NE.

Gina Sangster

Gina Sangster came to Capitol Hill as a child in the early 1960s. In her interview, done via the Zoom app, she describes how her parents, Libby and Gilbert Sangster, started the business that became Antiques on the Hill.

Donna Scheeder

Donna Scheeder was volunteer Chair of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee (EMCAC) and was awarded a Community Achievement Award in 2009 in large part due to this service.

Mr. and Mrs. Norman Schroth

Norman Schroth was born in 1905 and raised at 702 Maryland Avenue NE. He later moved to 404 Seventh Street NE. 

Walter Schwartz, Jr.

Walter (Wally) Schwartz's father was resident manager of the Plaza Hotel, and later the Carroll Arms Hotel, and Walter grew up sharing an apartment in the hotels with his parents, eating most meals in the hotel restaurant. .

Karl Frederic Schwengel

Karl Frederic Schwengel bought his house on 11th Street SE in 1969, selecting Capitol Hill mostly because houses were less expensive than in Georgetown.

Seafarers Yacht Club

The Seafarers Yacht Club is believed to be the oldest active African American yacht club in the United States.

Walter Sheehan

Born in the Bronx in 1929 to Irish immigrant parents, Walter Sheehan attended Catholic schools there and in Colorado before moving to Washington in the 1950s to attend Georgetown University.

Bea Shelton

Bea (Beatrice) Shelton first became involved in the Lutheran Curch of the Reformation on East Capitol Street in 1945.

Josephine Shore

Josephine Shore was born at home, 1612 H Street SE, in 1919 and spent her next 21 years there. 

Deborah Shore

Deborah Shore has nurtured Sasha Bruce Youthwork since she founded the nonprofit agency in 1974.

Michael and Becky Skinner

Becky and Michael Skinner’s impact on Capitol Hill can be felt from many a youth playing field to the founding of the Two Rivers Charter School to the origination of the Pendragwn Youth Film Festival.

W. Milton Sladen

Milton Sladen was born in 1900 near Second and C Streets SE. At the time of this interview, he lived at 120 11th Street SE, in a house occupied by his family for 67 years.

Frances Slaughter

Frances Slaughter joined Wee Care in the mid-1980s and became the beloved “Miss Frances” to two generations of neighborhood pre-schoolers. 

Lawrence Smith

Larry Smith recreates the Capitol Hill neighborhood in which he grew up during and after World War II, when boys played baseball in the alleys and football on teams at the Merrick Boys Club. 

Baird Smith

Baird Smith, FAIA, FAPT, Director of Preservation for QUINN EVANS | ARCHITECTS in Washington, DC, was director of the architect/engineering team for the Eastern Market project. 

Helen Smith

Widowed at the age of 30, Helen Smith bought her house on Independence Avenue SE in 1957 and has been a popular member of that neighborhood ever since.

Mariana and Elias Souri

Brother and sister Elias and Mariana Souri grew up with their parents and paternal grandparents on Lincoln Park, in the house where they still resided at the time of the interview in 2002.

Duncan Spencer

Duncan Spencer moved to his first home on Capitol Hill in 1965 and has lived in the same East Capitol Street house since 1970.

Jeffry B. Stallsmith, DDS

Jeffry Stallsmith, DDS, had a popular dentistry practice at Sixth and A Streets NE from 1976 to 2013. In 2020, he participated in one of the Overbeck Project's first interviews done via Zoom.

Mary Lou Stott

Mary Lou Dempf Stott grew up at 13 Fourth Street NE, a home that had belonged to her family since 1896. 

Kris Swanson and Roy Mustelier

Kris Swanson's work with children from Potomac Gardens eventually produced the Yume Tree on the wall of the 12th Street CVS, and she and her husband, Roy Mustelier, founded the nonprofit Corner Store that provides a venue for local musicians and artists. 

Dan Tangherlini

Dan Tangherlini was the brand new City Administrator for brand new Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2007 when he got the late night call that Eastern Market was on fire. The mayor told him it would be his job to fix it. 

Frank Taylor

Frank Taylor was born at home in the 300 block of First Street NE in 1903 and moved with his family in 1909 to 909 Massachusetts Avenue NE. 

Frank Taylor

Nancy Metzger interviewed Frank Taylor four times in 1999, and John Franzén met with him again in 2003 when he discovered a connection he had with Frank's Uncle Ernest Kübel.

Dorothy Taylor

Dorothy Taylor's family lived at 116 11th Street SE for 66 years, from 1903 when her father had it built until she sold it in 1969.

Tim Temple

Tim Temple moved to Capitol Hill in 1963 and immediately began renovating a dilapidated apartment building. He founded and operated Splash car wash near South Capitol Street between 1996 and 2021.

Lloyd Thompson

Lloyd Thompson grew up in the 1300 block of East Capitol Street after his family was displaced in the mid-1950s by what he calls "urban removal" in Southwest Washington. 

Michael Tubbs

Michael Tubbs moved to Capitol Hill from Texas in 1964, in his words, “for love.”

Norman Tucker

From 1903 until 1935, Norman Tucker's grandfather, Thomas Tucker, owned and operated, with his brother William, Tucker Brothers Fine Groceries, a corner market at 701 D Street SE. Norman's grandfather's family lived behind the store. 

Albert Turner

Albert S. Turner was born in Southeast Washington in 1928 and spent most of his childhood at 1210 G Street SE, attending local schools.

Ron Tutt

Ron Tutt's first home was 624 B Street NE (now Constitution Avenue) and he spent much of his life with his paternal grandmother who ran rooming houses.

Alice Van Brakle

Alice Van Brakle moved to Capitol Hill in 1944 and to her home on Fifth Street SE in 1948.

Margaret Wadsworth

Born Margaret Fleming in 1920, Margaret Wadsworth was raised in her family’s home in the 500 block of Eighth Street SE and at other addresses on Capitol Hill. 

Charles L. Waite, RADM, MC, USN

Retired Rear Admiral Charles Loring Waite spent his early years on Capitol Hill and in Southwest Washington before the Depression. 

Peter Waldron

Long-time Capitol Hill resident Peter Waldron had been writing for the Hill Rag for about two years when Eastern Market burned in 2007.

Julie Walker

Julie Walker lived most of her life in the 600 block of C Street NE moving to the southeast quadrant shortly before this 2003 Interview.

Florine Walker Walther

Florine Walker Walther was born and raised at 420 B Street NE (later Constitution Ave NE). She was the daughter of Samuel Walker, a 19th century builder, investor, and briefly the police chief. 

Daniel Waterman, M.D.

Daniel Waterman practiced medicine on Capitol Hill for more than 35 years before retiring to Vermont in 2014. 

John Weintraub and Ed Copenhaver

John Weintraub and Ed Copenhaver bought Frager's, the long-established family hardware store on Pennsylvania Avenue SE in 1975.

Tommy Wells

Tommy Wells was elected to represent Ward 6 on the DC City Council in 2006 and was sworn in less than four months before the April, 2007, Eastern Market fire.

Suzanne Wells and Mike Godec

Suzanne Wells and Mike Godec got involved with community activites on Capitol Hill the usual way: by seeing a problem and working to find a solution. 

Minnie Lee White

Minnie Lee White spoke with Hazel Kreinheider in 1974 to share memories of her life on the 1300 block of Massachusetts Ave SE near Lincoln Park, where she had lived since 1932.

Ben Williamowsky, DDS

Dr. Ben Williamowsky, now a retired dentist, came to Capitol Hill as a teenager in 1939 when his father Chaim Williamowsky became Rabbi of the Southeast Hebrew Congregation at 417 Ninth Street SE.

Michael Witmore

Dr. Michael Witmore served as the director of the Folger Shakespeare Library from July 2011 through June 2024. Under his leadership the Folger's digital programs grew dramatically and the library undertook a major renovation with expanded exhibition space to welcome new generations of visitors.

Shirley Womack

Shirley Womack grew up on Heckman Street SE, which was renamed Duddington Place when the restoration movement began on Capitol Hill. 

Esther Woodfolk

The houses where Esther Woodfolk and her siblings grew up were torn down when the Southeast-Southwest Freeway was built, but she remembers her Depression-era neighborhood well. 

Henry Wrona

Henry Wrona moved from his native Rhode Island to work in Washington after World War II. By 1959, he worked for the Senate and lived nearby at the John Adams House on Maryland Avenue NE. 

Esther Yost

Esther Yost was born on Capitol Hill in 1938 and lived here until she married in 1960; her parents remained in their house at 529 11th Street SE until 1990.

Clarence Zens

In this interview, Clarence (Clancy) Zens, a writer and editor by trade, relates how he crashed his Navy fighter plane into an Indiana farm at the end of World War II. 

Tony Ambrosi

Tony Ambrosi was born in 1911 and grew up in Schott’s Place, an Italian enclave in the interior of the block where the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office buildings are now located.

Helene Au

Helene Au was born on Capitol Hill and spent almost all of her 105 years living here. She died on May 18, 2019. Miss Au's paternal grandfather settled on Capitol Hill in 1873 when he immigrated from Germany and took a position with the Marine Band.

Robert J. Beverly, Sr., and family

Almost every Beverly family story involves their house -- the Big House at 308 Independence Avenue SE, on a lot purchased by their grandmother, daughter of former slaves, in 1886.

Vincent DiFrancesco

Vincent DiFrancesco was born at home in 1916 at 137 B Street SE, also his father's shoe repair shop. His 2013 interview is full of stories of the immediate neighborhood.

David Fowler

David Fowler's family has farmed and sold produce at Eastern Market since 1873, and before that at the city's Center Market. They were at the market the Saturday after the 2007 fire, not missing a week. 

Sidney M. Hais

Sidney Hais was born at home in 1914 above his father’s market at Seventh and C NE and remained active on the Hill until the 1980s when he ended his real estate investment activities in the neighborhood. 

Charles Harris and Mary Freeman

Siblings Charles Harris and Mary Winifred "Winnie" Harris Freeman were born and grew up in a house on Ninth Street SE that had been in their family for nearly 100 years at the time of their August 2005, interview with Mary Ann Wyrsch. 

Dorothy Hawkins

Dorothy Owens Hawkins was born in 1915 in her grandparents' home at 513 E Street SE, across Marion Park from the police station, an appropriate location for her grandfather who spent 40 years as a DC police officer. 

Sidney Hoffman

Sidney Hoffman spent his earliest years living over his father’s shoe store on H Street NE, and lived in several other locations in Northeast and Southeast during the 1920s. 

John and Elsie Leukhardt

When John and Elsie Leukhardt were interviewed in 1974, Elsie reminisced about having had the same phone number -- updated as the system changed -- for 70 years.

Rose Lovelace

Like her sister Josephine Shore, Rose Lovelace grew up on H Street SE, near Congressional Cemetery, "just after the war" --World War I, that is. 

John L. Mann

Jack Mann's great-great-grandfather opened a brewery and beer garden on Capitol Hill in the late 1850s. It was located at 14th and D Street SE, later the site of the Safeway. 

John and Elsie Miller

John Miller was born on Capitol Hill before World War I and lived most of his life in Southeast. The Navy Yard expansion took over the house where he was born.

Caleb Morell

In this interview, Caleb Morell, Senior Pastoral Assistant for Research at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, shared his knowledge of the church's history.

Nellie May Morton

Nellie May Sweet Morton, born in 1897, was interviewed by Ruth Ann Perez and Hazel Kreinheder in 1974. 

Freda Murray

Freda Herrmann Murray, about 81 years old at the time of her interview, was born to German parents who operated a grocery, funeral home, and made bottled root beer and ginger ale.

Ruth Ann Overbeck

In a series of interviews conducted during the final weeks of her life, Ruth Ann Overbeck downloaded much of her voluminous knowledge of our neighborhood’s history.

Herbert P. Ramsey, M.D.

Dr. Herbert Ramsey, Eastern High School Class of 1912, was interviewed in 1977 by Hazel Kreinheder. 

Clarence Rice, M.D.

Dr. Clarence Rice, a 1912 graduate of "old" Eastern High School, later served as an Army doctor in World War I.

Mr. and Mrs. Norman Schroth

Norman Schroth was born in 1905 and raised at 702 Maryland Avenue NE. He later moved to 404 Seventh Street NE. 

Josephine Shore

Josephine Shore was born at home, 1612 H Street SE, in 1919 and spent her next 21 years there. 

W. Milton Sladen

Milton Sladen was born in 1900 near Second and C Streets SE. At the time of this interview, he lived at 120 11th Street SE, in a house occupied by his family for 67 years.

Frank Taylor

Frank Taylor was born at home in the 300 block of First Street NE in 1903 and moved with his family in 1909 to 909 Massachusetts Avenue NE. 

Frank Taylor

Nancy Metzger interviewed Frank Taylor four times in 1999, and John Franzén met with him again in 2003 when he discovered a connection he had with Frank's Uncle Ernest Kübel.

Dorothy Taylor

Dorothy Taylor's family lived at 116 11th Street SE for 66 years, from 1903 when her father had it built until she sold it in 1969.

Norman Tucker

From 1903 until 1935, Norman Tucker's grandfather, Thomas Tucker, owned and operated, with his brother William, Tucker Brothers Fine Groceries, a corner market at 701 D Street SE. Norman's grandfather's family lived behind the store. 

Florine Walker Walther

Florine Walker Walther was born and raised at 420 B Street NE (later Constitution Ave NE). She was the daughter of Samuel Walker, a 19th century builder, investor, and briefly the police chief. 

Mildred "Sis" Allen

Mildred Allen, who lived in the same block as Christ Church starting in 1931, was known to all church members and neighbors as "Sis".

Helen Atkins

Helen Atkins, who celebrated her 100th birthday on Valentine's Day 2008, arrived in Washington with her widowed father during World War I. She moved to Capitol Hill after her 1935 marriage and remained until recent years.

Georgiana Barnes

Georgiana Barnes married and moved to Capitol Hill, or Southeast Washington as it was called then, on Christmas Day 1933.

Lora Stirling Birch

Lora Stirling Birch moved to Capitol Hill as a child during the Depression, when her father found work at the Washington Navy Yard. Until her late teens, her family lived at 410 Fourth Street NE. Molly Collins Offner, who conducted the interview, has lived in this house since 1996,

William Boswell

Bill Boswell’s family lived at 11 D Street SE for 160 years—almost as long as Capitol Hill has been a residential community. As the last Boswell to live there, Bill's interviews cover generations of house, family, and neighborhood history.

Ellen Breen

A fifth generation Washingtonian on one side of her family and daughter of an Irish immigrant on the other, Ellen Cannon Breen lived from age 2 to 17 on Capitol Hill, from 1920 to the mid-1930s.

Patricia Briel

Patricia Briel, youngest child in a large family, grew up in a house at 315 First Street SE, later torn down and currently the location of the Capitol South Metro station.

Chris Calomiris

A grocer at Eastern Market since 1963, Chris Calomiris was for years one of the most familiar faces on Capitol Hill. What's less well known is that Chris was a Capitol Hill native.

Tony Cuozzo

Tony Cuozzo's father was an Italian immigrant who sold fruits and vegetables from a horse-drawn cart in the Southeast part of Capitol Hill.

George Didden, Jr.

George Didden, Jr., had been a member of the Board of National Capital Bank for 50 years when Ruth Ann Overbeck interviewed him in 1990.

Raymond Donohoe

Ray Donohoe was born at old Providence Hospital and spent his early years at 159 Kentucky Avenue where the exploits of the six Donohoe boys often brought visits from the police whenever mischief occurred.

Randy Edwards

Randy Edwards was born and raised on Capitol Hill, but his ties to the neighborhood through subsequent years revolve around his long-time membership in the (Masonic) Naval Lodge on Pennsylvania Avenue SE. 

John Harrison (Harry) Ford

John Ford, born on Capitol Hill in 1924, grew up in a large family at 328 Ninth Street SE and lived and worked most of his life on Capitol Hill. 

Walter Graham

Walter Graham grew up in the 1200 block of G Street SE from the 1920s to 1940s. In this interview with Ida Prosky, he remembers details of life on Capitol Hill before and during World War II. 

Josephine Green

One of five children, Josephine Green was born near the Navy Yard in 1931. After working at the General Accounting Office and the Geological Survey, she bought her own home near D and 11th Streets NE in the 1970s.

Marie Sansalone Guy

Marie Guy remembers many details of growing up during the 1930s and 40s behind the Sansalone family grocery store, now the site of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Rosetta Hall Hamm

When Rosetta Hall Hamm was born, her family was living near South Capitol and D Streets SE. They later moved to E Street SE, so Rosetta has spent almost her entire life on the Hill.

Carol Harris

Carol Mills Harris recalls Capitol Hill as her childhood home from 1933-1944, when all the Mall and the cultural events there were her classroom and playground.

Ann Higgins

Ann Higgins moved to Burke Street SE as a three year old and stayed until she was a high school student, then returned as an adult after many years in the suburbs. 

June Hoffmann and family

June Hoffmann’s parents were married at St. Peter’s on Capitol Hill in 1911 and subsequently raised their 10 children on the Hill and in Congress Heights. 

George Hutchinson

George Hutchinson spent his childhood in the Stanton Park area where he lived until just after World War II. 

Margaret Hutchison

Margaret Hutchison spent most of her early life in Georgetown, but she lived in the Stanton Park neighborhood as a young woman in the mid 1920s and again as a mother in the late 30s and early 40s. 

Mary Jerrell

Born in Virginia, Mary Jerrell moved to Capitol Hill at age five in 1920. In this interview, Mary describes the comings and goings of her neighbors in the 800 block of East Capitol Street where she lived for almost 80 years. 

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly grew up near Stanton Park in the 1920s and 30s and later, with his wife Marguerite, raised four children in the same block where he lived as a child.

Goldie Mamakos

Goldie Mamakos was born on the Hill in 1930 at a house where her family and other Greek relatives lived. 

Joe Mangialardo

Mangialardo and Sons delicatessen in the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE has been a Hill favorite for many years. 

Geraldine Matthews

Geraldine Matthews was born on Capitol Hill in 1923 and has spent her entire life here. 

Florence McGee

Florence McGee, a nurse with advanced training, moved to Washington by Greyhound bus with her new husband in 1935. She lived most of the next 68 years in the 600 block of Maryland Avenue NE.

Connie Mitchell

Cornelia "Connie" Mitchell, a lifelong Washington resident, remembers seeing presidential inaugural parades as far back as Woodrow Wilson’s. 

Oley Morgan

Oley Morgan was born in 1917 and grew up on Capitol Hill. From the age of 12, his primary interest was boxing, at the Knights of Columbus, then the Merrick Boys Club, the Police Boys Club, and eventually for the Marine Corps.

Ellen Moy Tang and daughters

Ellen Moy immigrated from China to Washington, DC, in 1941 and married a man who had been born on Second Street SE. 

Mary Murray

When Beth Eck interviewed Mary Donohoe Murray in 2003, she learned about a close extended family. 

Virginia Myers

Virginia Myers was born in 1924 in Manassas, VA, but moved to Capitol Hill at age five. 

Jerre Ness

When Jerre Ness spent his childhood and school years on Capitol Hill, he attended local schools and delivered newspapers to homes since replaced by the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office buildings. 

Jean Noel

Jean Noel’s parents met in DC in 1914 and married in 1915. Jean was born at 511 F Street NE and lived in several other houses in that neighborhood until her marriage after World War II.

Lane Parsons

When Lane Parsons watched the houses at 1623 - 31 G Street SE being built during his childhood in the 1920s, the basements were dug out using horse-drawn plows, and laborers removed the dirt using baskets. 

Maurine Phinisee

Maurine came to Washington as a "government girl" during World War II and later ran a welding business after her husband’s early death. She describes the city with the eyes of a businesswoman, artist, and teacher.

Alex Pope, Jr.

Alexander Pope, Jr. was born in 1925 to parents who ran a funeral business in the Southeast part of Capitol Hill; the business, now operated by his son Alex Pope III, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020.

Walter Schwartz, Jr.

Walter (Wally) Schwartz's father was resident manager of the Plaza Hotel, and later the Carroll Arms Hotel, and Walter grew up sharing an apartment in the hotels with his parents, eating most meals in the hotel restaurant. .

Lawrence Smith

Larry Smith recreates the Capitol Hill neighborhood in which he grew up during and after World War II, when boys played baseball in the alleys and football on teams at the Merrick Boys Club. 

Mariana and Elias Souri

Brother and sister Elias and Mariana Souri grew up with their parents and paternal grandparents on Lincoln Park, in the house where they still resided at the time of the interview in 2002.

Mary Lou Stott

Mary Lou Dempf Stott grew up at 13 Fourth Street NE, a home that had belonged to her family since 1896. 

Albert Turner

Albert S. Turner was born in Southeast Washington in 1928 and spent most of his childhood at 1210 G Street SE, attending local schools.

Margaret Wadsworth

Born Margaret Fleming in 1920, Margaret Wadsworth was raised in her family’s home in the 500 block of Eighth Street SE and at other addresses on Capitol Hill. 

Charles L. Waite, RADM, MC, USN

Retired Rear Admiral Charles Loring Waite spent his early years on Capitol Hill and in Southwest Washington before the Depression. 

Minnie Lee White

Minnie Lee White spoke with Hazel Kreinheider in 1974 to share memories of her life on the 1300 block of Massachusetts Ave SE near Lincoln Park, where she had lived since 1932.

Ben Williamowsky, DDS

Dr. Ben Williamowsky, now a retired dentist, came to Capitol Hill as a teenager in 1939 when his father Chaim Williamowsky became Rabbi of the Southeast Hebrew Congregation at 417 Ninth Street SE.

Esther Woodfolk

The houses where Esther Woodfolk and her siblings grew up were torn down when the Southeast-Southwest Freeway was built, but she remembers her Depression-era neighborhood well. 

Esther Yost

Esther Yost was born on Capitol Hill in 1938 and lived here until she married in 1960; her parents remained in their house at 529 11th Street SE until 1990.

Mary Ellen Abrecht

Mary Ellen Abrecht, a retired D.C. Superior Court judge, moved to Washington in the turbulent 1960s and joined the Metropolitan Police Department.

Gary Abrecht

Gary Abrecht’s interview spans the years 1967 to 2000 and is a warm and poignant recollection of over 30 years working in law enforcement in Washington, DC.

Donnald Anderson

Donnald Anderson's years on Capitol Hill predate his professional career—he began as a Capitol page during high school and graduated from the Capitol Page School.

Ernest Antignani

Ernest Antignani came to Washington in the mid-1950s to attend Georgetown University's Foreign Service school.

Frances Barnes

Frances Barnes's family stretches back generations in Washington, DC; so far that she isn't exactly sure when they first arrived.

Linda Barnes

Linda Barnes moved to Washington as a young bride in 1963, and had lived on East Capitol Street for 35 years when she was interviewed in 2002.

Pauline Bates

Pauline Bates was born in Alexandria, VA, in 1913, and spent 63 years of her adult life on Capitol Hill, at 506 Seventh Street SE.

Grover Batts

Grover Batts came to Washington in 1951, after serving in World War II, and went to work at the manuscript division of the Library of Congress, a position he kept until retirement.

Rosetta Brooks

Capitol Hill native Rosetta Brooks has taught ballet to two generations of dancers at St. Mark's Church.

Dudley Brown

A widely respected expert in historic restoration, Dudley Brown had long family connections to Capitol Hill, including his grandmother who ran a boarding house.

Maria Calomiris

Maria Calomiris worked alongside her husband Chris and later their sons at the Calomiris Fruits & Vegetables produce business in Eastern Market's South Hall, starting in the early 1960s. 

Francis Campbell

The family of Francis Campbell, a Capitol Hill native, has been here since the 1920s. He was interviewed when he received the 2013 Community Achievement Award.

Mike and Judy Canning

Judy and Mike Canning, winners of the 2009 Community Achievement Award, were interviewed by Stephanie Deutsch in preparation for that event. 

Helen Carey

Helen Carey "backed into" the real esate business when she assisted a friend with the renovation of Georgetown alley dwellings and later managed their rental.

Bryan Cassidy

Bryan Cassidy arrived in Washington from Ireland in the mid-1960s, newly wed and seeking employment as an architect. 

Carl Cole

Carl Cole was born in Southwest Washington but his ties to Capitol Hill are extensive.

Mary Colston

Mary Colston lived in the same two-story rowhouse in the 500 block of Second Street NE from 1947 until 2002. 

Steve and Nicky Cymrot

In this 2010 interview, Steve Cymrot says "The Hebrew word for charity is the same as the word for justice," which helps explain Steve's and his wife Nicky's amazing history of service to Capitol Hill for over 40 years.

Patricia Taffe Driscoll

In 1960, Pat Taffe Driscoll and her husband Bill moved to the Capitol Hill neighborhood, where they and their three sons had close-up views of a challenging period in the country's history.

Bill Driscoll

Bill Driscoll grew up in New York City but has spent almost all of his adult life on Capitol Hill. 

Ralph Dwan

Ralph Dwan was a Catholic priest working for the Washington archdiocese when he first came to the Hill in the mid-1960s.

Harold Engle

As a World War II veteran attending graduate school, Harold Engle enjoyed walking the shady streets of Capitol Hill while doing research at the Library of Congress.

James C. Finley

For forty-one years, as a labor of love, Jim Finley ran a no-frills boxing gym on the second floor of his auto repair shop on Tenth Street NE. 

Isaac Fulwood, Jr.

Isaac Fulwood, Jr. served Washington, DC, as Police Chief from 1989 to 1992, but long before that, his character was formed by the neighborhood near Kentucky Avenue SE that fostered a sense of community during his childhood. 

Dorothy Garris

Dorothy Garris’s life on Capitol Hill involves her family, her teaching career, and the New United Baptist Church, founded by her late husband, the Reverend Grant Garris.

Pauline Getek

Pauline Getek grew up on a farm near Fredericksburg, VA, and attended a one room school. She worked in the Alexandria Torpedo Factory during World War II, when the product being made was torpedos, not art.

Bill Glasgow

Bill Glasgow, owner of Union Meat Company in Eastern Market's South Hall, is a member of one of the longest active vendor families -- his father and uncle started the company in 1946.

Bill Glasgow

In this interview, Bill Glasgow elaborates on his assessment of the "turning points for Eastern Market" throughout its history.

Bette and Peter Glickert

When Bette and Peter Glickert married in 1959, they bought the end house of Philadelphia Row. At the time, the house, now a familiar beauty, had been condemned.

Clifford Hackett

Cliff Hackett and his wife arrived in Washington in 1964 looking for housing for their family of six children; they'd already decided to live in the city and not commute.

Stephen Hall

From his first visit to Washington as a child in 1944, (Joseph) Stephen Hall found the city a “ great wonderment.” In these two interviews, Dr. Hall recounts his years in the area since 1958.

Eva Haynes

At the time of this 2001 interview, Eva and Walter Haynes still lived in the house on South Carolina Avenue purchased by her parents in 1949. 

Barbara Held Reich

Barbara Held Reich was a realtor on Capitol Hill starting in the late 1950s. 

Marie Hertzberg

Marie Hertzberg and her husband bought their first home on Carroll Street SE in the 1950s, but it wasn't long before Congress took over the street in order to build the Madison building of the Library of Congress. 

John Hogan

John Hogan, the first president of Capitol Hill Day School's Board of Trustees, and Ida Prosky talk at length about the school's founding during this interview.

Inez Jones

Inez and John Jones moved to Capitol Hill in 1959, when John worked for Senator Neuberger. Soon Mrs. Jones founded Congressional Realty and ran it from her Massachusetts Avenue NE home until the mid-1970s. 

Joan Keenan

Joan and Frank Keenan were among the first wave of young people who came to Capitol Hill in the 1950s to renovate an old house and raise a family. 

Margot Kelly

Margot Kelly moved to Capitol Hill in the 1960s because she couldn't find the house she wanted in Northwest. She became involved in rehabilitation of neglected buildings, but unlike most she quickly focused on Eighth Street SE commercial buildings. 

Marguerite Kelly

Marguerite Kelly and her husband Tom moved to Capitol Hill in 1953 to help care for his aging parents, and she remains here to this day. Her interview's vividly told stories focus on the early years of child rearing and community activism.

Leonard Kirsten

Len Kirsten owned and operated the Emporium, a gift shop in the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE, from 1965 to 1975. He carried an eclectic array of traditional items plus up-to-the-minute hip things, aimed at the new folks who were moving to the Hill at the time. 

Gladys Kraft

Gladys Salpeter Kraft supervised many of the programs at Friendship House from 1946 to 1950 and later served on the Board until 1968. 

Hazel Kreinheder

Hazel Kreinheder and her husband Bob purchased a house on Kentucky Avenue just off Lincoln Park in early 1963. They are still living in that same house in 2020.

Geoffrey Lewis

Geoff Lewis's life on Capitol Hill followed familiar patterns: moving to Washington after college (in 1965), finding work, marrying his wife Terry, buying a house, and raising two daughters. 

Stuart Long

Stuart Long is best known as the co-founder of the Hawk and Dove restaurant and bar in the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE, started in 1967 and named for that period's prevailing political factions.

Janice MacKinnon

Janice MacKinnon left her Hollywood, CA, hometown for DC in the 1960s to work for a California congressman. In 1967 she moved to Capitol Hill with her husband David.

Madonna McCullers

Madonna McCullers moved to the Hill in 1950, where she balanced keeping house for her family with opening and operating her own beauty shop on Massachusetts Avenue.

Ronald McGregor

Ronald McGregor and his family moved to Capitol Hill in 1968 after his retirement from the Navy, settling in the 700 block of Massachusetts Avenue NE and becoming active in the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, the Restoration Society and the Garden Club. 

Keith Melder

During the 1960s, Keith Melder was active in the Capitol Hill Community Council, a racially integrated civic organization attempting to supplant the predecessor segregated organizations that previously dominated civic life in D.C.

Jeffrey Menick

Shortly after Jeff Menick was born in July 1947, his family moved to the corner store at 601 E Street SE, which his father operated. The family lived in quarters behind and above the store.

Nancy Metzger

Nancy Metzger’s interest in Capitol Hill historic preservation began in childhood, when she questioned her mother about their church’s decision to remove houses in order to build an annex. 

Larry Monaco

Larry Monaco's early childhood was spent on Capitol Hill, as both his mother's and father's had been, so this interview is filled with reminiscences of family life in both the northeast and southeast parts of the neighborhood. 

Helene Monberg

Helene Monberg was a journalist in Washington for over 60 years.

Annie Bell Nelson

Annie Bell Nelson and her husband Joseph purchased their house in the 600 block of South Carolina Avenue SE in 1948.

Maureen Nolan

Soon after Maureen Nolan came to the United States from County Clare, Ireland, in the early 1960s, she moved to Washington and settled on Capitol Hill.

John Overbeck

John Overbeck arrived in Washington in 1957 for a job at the Library of Congress

Charlene Patton

Charlene Patton lived at 1230 North Carolina Avenue NE for over 40 years, starting in 1980—but she'd first lived on the Hill more than 20 years prior.

Peter Powers

Peter Powers, a Capitol Hill resident from the late 1960s until his death in 2006, played a prominent role in the early days of the neighborhood renovation era, including a stint as president of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society. 

Evelyn Price

Evelyn Price moved from southern Virginia to Washington, DC, in 1942, and met her husband here. 

Ida Prosky

Ida Prosky moved to Capitol Hill in 1960 with her husband, actor Bob Prosky, to be near Arena Stage Theater in Southwest, where Bob was a member of the resident company. 

Tom Rall

Since the late 1960s, Tom Rall has been part of the Capitol Hill community, and those times "shaped the remainder of [his] life," as he states in this May 2009 interview.

Curtis C. Robinson

Curtis “Doc” Robinson served as a Tuskegee Airman in World War II and returned after the war to Washington, DC.

Anwar Saleem

Anwar Saleem was a teenager when the 1968 riots devastated the thriving and diverse commercial and social hub of H Street NE.

Gina Sangster

Gina Sangster came to Capitol Hill as a child in the early 1960s. In her interview, done via the Zoom app, she describes how her parents, Libby and Gilbert Sangster, started the business that became Antiques on the Hill.

Karl Frederic Schwengel

Karl Frederic Schwengel bought his house on 11th Street SE in 1969, selecting Capitol Hill mostly because houses were less expensive than in Georgetown.

Seafarers Yacht Club

The Seafarers Yacht Club is believed to be the oldest active African American yacht club in the United States.

Walter Sheehan

Born in the Bronx in 1929 to Irish immigrant parents, Walter Sheehan attended Catholic schools there and in Colorado before moving to Washington in the 1950s to attend Georgetown University.

Bea Shelton

Bea (Beatrice) Shelton first became involved in the Lutheran Curch of the Reformation on East Capitol Street in 1945.

Helen Smith

Widowed at the age of 30, Helen Smith bought her house on Independence Avenue SE in 1957 and has been a popular member of that neighborhood ever since.

Duncan Spencer

Duncan Spencer moved to his first home on Capitol Hill in 1965 and has lived in the same East Capitol Street house since 1970.

Tim Temple

Tim Temple moved to Capitol Hill in 1963 and immediately began renovating a dilapidated apartment building. He founded and operated Splash car wash near South Capitol Street between 1996 and 2021.

Lloyd Thompson

Lloyd Thompson grew up in the 1300 block of East Capitol Street after his family was displaced in the mid-1950s by what he calls "urban removal" in Southwest Washington. 

Michael Tubbs

Michael Tubbs moved to Capitol Hill from Texas in 1964, in his words, “for love.”

Ron Tutt

Ron Tutt's first home was 624 B Street NE (now Constitution Avenue) and he spent much of his life with his paternal grandmother who ran rooming houses.

Alice Van Brakle

Alice Van Brakle moved to Capitol Hill in 1944 and to her home on Fifth Street SE in 1948.

Peter Waldron

Long-time Capitol Hill resident Peter Waldron had been writing for the Hill Rag for about two years when Eastern Market burned in 2007.

Julie Walker

Julie Walker lived most of her life in the 600 block of C Street NE moving to the southeast quadrant shortly before this 2003 Interview.

Shirley Womack

Shirley Womack grew up on Heckman Street SE, which was renamed Duddington Place when the restoration movement began on Capitol Hill. 

Henry Wrona

Henry Wrona moved from his native Rhode Island to work in Washington after World War II. By 1959, he worked for the Senate and lived nearby at the John Adams House on Maryland Avenue NE. 

Clarence Zens

In this interview, Clarence (Clancy) Zens, a writer and editor by trade, relates how he crashed his Navy fighter plane into an Indiana farm at the end of World War II. 

Sonda Allen

In this 2009 interview, Colleen Cruikshank talks with Sonda Allen, a gold and silversmith who has sold her own jewelry at Eastern Market since the early 1990s under the trade name Turtle's Webb.

Maureen Shea and Kenn Allen

Maureen Shea and Kenn Allen are active volunteers, involved parishioners of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, and Capitol Hill residents for nearly 50 years. In 2023 they received a Capitol Hill Community Foundation Achievement Award for their dedication to the community.

Sharon Ambrose

Former DC Council member Sharon Ambrose, a Chicago native, was born to political life, accompanying her grandfather in door- to-door campaigning during the 1950s.

Melissa Ashabranner

When Melissa met Hill Rag founder Jean-Keith Fagon, the paper was well established. She joined him and used her MBA skills to manage the business and keep it profitable. 

Pearl and Joel Bailes

Joel Bailes plays the piano and the fiddle and Pearl the harmonica with the Capitol Hillbillies, the performing group they founded in 1983. Even if you don’t recognize their names, you probably have enjoyed their music on the Hill.

Lola Beaver

Lola Beaver's life on Capitol Hill revolved around her Costume Shop at Eighth and A Streets NE, which she opened in 1968, not long after the riots.

Michael Berman

Michael Berman, an artist and Capitol Hill resident, started selling his work at Eastern Market in 1992, when newcomers had to get in line early to get a spot among the Saturday outdoor vendors.

Roberta Blanchard

Roberta Blanchard opened Fairy Godmother book and toy store on Seventh Street SE in 1984. it's still in operation at the same location over three decades later. Prior to that, she'd had children and became involved in the neighborhood.

Bruce Brennan

When asked how he got ‘sucked into’ one of the volunteer tasks he performed during his years on Capitol Hill, Bruce Brennan answered, “I like to be a helper.” Stories about his activities, as told during the interview, support that statement.

Chuck Burger

In 2009, Chuck Burger discussed his history as an owner of a store across from Eastern Market in the 1980s.

Chuck Burger

In 2010, Chuck Burger received a Community Achievement Award and was interviewed by Stephanie Deutsch in preparation for that.

Leon Calomiris

Leon Calomiris was interviewed by Peter Barker, an American University graduate student researching multi-generational Eastern Market South Hall vendor families.

Emilio Canales

Emilio Canales didn’t know much about meat in 1992, when he bought the Eastern Market South Hall business that became Canales Quality Meats.

Jose Canales

Jose Canales was seeking the American Dream when he left El Salvador. In 1983, he became a South Hall vendor at Eastern Market. His 2009 interview is part of the Project's special focus on the Market.

Sig Cohen

After Sig Cohen moved to Capitol Hill in 1986, his contributions to the neighborhood have included founding the Hill Havurah Jewish Community and participating in the Capitol Hill Group Ministry.

Patrick Coyne

Patrick Coyne jokingly says he's still teaching five year olds to play soccer 25 years after starting that volunteer coaching task because he "need[s] kids to yell at" and his own don't listen any more. 

Paul Cromwell

Paul Cromwell was awarded a CommunityAchievement Award in 2015, based primarily on his contributions to youth and women's soccer teams and the Capitol Hill Restoration Society.

Sally Carlson Crowell

Sally Carlson Crowell, founder of Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, turned her passion for the arts into her livelihood and created a now venerable neighborhood institution.

Patrick Crowley

Patrick Crowley saw the deplorable condition of Congressional Cemetery while walking his Saint Bernard in the 1990s. He joined other dog-walkers to create a volunteer effort to improve the grounds.

Leah Daniels

Leah Daniels, founder and owner of gourmet kitchenware store Hills Kitchen, which she opened in 2008, was honored with a joint 2014 Community Achievement Award along with her parents, Maygene and Steve Daniels.

Steve and Maygene Daniels

Steve and Maygene Daniels moved to Capitol Hill as newlyweds in 1972. They raised their children, Eddie and Leah, in the community, quickly becoming involved in schools and community organizations.

Lawrence and Claire Davis

Claire and Larry Davis, Capitol Hill residents since 1969, bought their house for its garden and made extensive use of it through the years. 

Dan Donahue

Dan Donahue's first experience as a vendor outside Eastern Market was selling bulbs for the Capitol Hill Garden Club. Next he sold plants that he raised on a rooftop in Southwest. 

Eleanor Drabo

Since 1991, artist and college history professor Eleanor Drabo has sold jewelry under the name Drabo Gallery at Eastern Market's weekend outdoor operation.

Deborah Edge, M.D.

Deborah Edge, well-known to her patients as a compassionate and devoted primary care physician, is perhaps equally well-known to the wider Capitol Hill community as a string bass player.

Karin Edgett

Karin Edgett developed a 2006 branding campaign for Eastern Market and created indoor and outdoor graphic signage that enlivened the temporary market structure after the 2007 fire.

Monte Edwards

When the 1999 Eastern Market legislation mandated creation of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee, the Stanton Park Neighborhood Association chose Monte Edwards as its representative. 

Peter Eveleth

Capitol Hill resident Peter Eveleth decided in 1974 that DC's brand new system of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions sounded "very interesting," so he ran for commissioner of ANC 6B06 and was elected.

Sam Ford

Sam Ford and his wife of 41 years, journalist Gloria Murry Ford, bought their house in the 200 block of 12th Street SE in 1982 and Ford has lived there ever since.

John and Cynde Foster

Cynde Tiches Foster's father bought Jimmy T's Place at Fifth and East Capitol Streets SE in 1969, so she began working there while in high school. She and John, a regular customer, met at the restaurant in the early 80s and married in 1991. 

Greg Frane

Greg Frane was one of four men awarded the Capitol Hill Community Foundation's Spark Award in 2016.Through more than 30 years, Greg's roles evolved as did that of SOTH, now known as Sports on the Hill.

Adiante Franszoon

In this April 2009, interview, Adiante Franszoon told Vera Oye’ Yaa-Anna about his 18 years as a vendor at Eastern Market. 

John Franzén

John Franzén lived on Capitol Hill for "more than two decades before getting involved in the neighborhood." He more than made up for that over the next two decades as he became a vital contributor to Hill organizations.

Brian Furness

Brian Furness was interviewed by Mary Weirich in May 2005, just before he and his wife moved from Capitol Hill to New Orleans. By that time, he had been a Capitol Hill resident for over 35 years, in between State Department foreign postings. 

Larry Gallo

After moving to Capitol Hill in 1974 as a government worker, Larry Gallo interned with a silversmith and began exhibiting his own hand-crafted jewelry among the Arts and Crafts vendors at Eastern Market in 1992.

Ken Golding

At the time of this interview, Ken Golding was president of Market Row Association, representing the interests of merchants and owners of the "bricks and mortar" businesses surrounding Eastern Market. 

Hal Gordon

Working through Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian's Church, Hal Gordon and his wife Janice founded the Community Action Group to "[address] the social ills that were retarding the personal development and struggle of poor people." 

Luis Granados

Luis Granados began volunteering with Sports on the Hill in 1994 when his son was six years old. 

Neal and Janice Gregory

Neal Gregory arrived in DC in 1963, and in 1970 Janice Maxwell came to work for Texas Congressman Jake Pickle. They met when Neal came to Pickle's office to interview him, and they married the next year.

William Griffiths

William (Bill) Griffiths was instrumental in helping his friend John Harrod begin Eastern Market’s Saturday morning craft markets in 1980. In 2004 they teamed to sponsor the weekly tango lessons in the Market’s North Hall that continue to this day.

Emily Guthrie

Emily Guthrie, who became executive director of the Capitol Hill Group Ministry in 2002, has noted that its membership has expanded beyond Christian churches and is now truly interfaith.

John Harrod

In the early 1970s, John Harrod founded the Market 5 Gallery in the North Hall of Eastern Market. 

Bob Herrema

Only a few people get to be involved with inventing a new genre, but Bob Herrema’s mid-1980s “adaptive reuse” of the former Logan School into condominiums heralded the start of a new approach to renovating older buildings on Capitol Hill. 

Margaret Hollister

Margaret Hollister moved with her sons from mostly white Montgomery County to Ninth Street SE around 1970 to find a "more authentic place to live". 

Mel Inman, Jr.

Mel Inman, Sr. was interviewed by the Overbeck Project in 2009, so Peter Barker interviewed his son, Mel Inman, Jr., in October 2010, for a study of multi-generational Eastern Market vendor families. 

Mel Inman, Sr.

When he was interviewed in 2009, Mel Inman, Sr. was the owner of Market Poultry, renowned for the lines of customers buying its popular fresh turkeys at Thanksgiving.

Susan Jacobs

Susan Jacobs has been a potter and manager with Eastern Market Pottery for many years. In this 2009 interview, she describes the original studio over the central hall of the Market and tells how it began in the late 1960s. 

Parker Jayne

Parker Jayne made many neighborhood connections while organizing musical productions at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and in the process of founding the Capitol Hill Choral.

Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson’s pictures are likely to be found in the family albums of countless Capitol Hill families, possibly balancing two or three children on his shoulders at once during his more than 40 years teaching Chinese gymnastics at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW).

Pat Joseph

Patricia Joseph has been a resident of Washington and of Capitol Hill since 1980.

Betty Ann Kane

Betty Ann Kane and her husband Noel moved to Capitol Hill in 1966 so that he could attend law school. Capitol Hill and the city of Washington could not have been more fortunate in their choice of residence.

Larry Kaufer

Larry Kaufer was one of four men awarded the Capitol Hill Community Foundation's Spark Award in 2016. He got involved just as Soccer on the Hill was evolving into Sports on the Hill.

Kitty Kaupp

Kitty Kaupp arrived on Capitol Hill in 1975 and was awarded a Community Achievement award in 1998, the year of this interview.

Hugh Kelly

Hugh Kelly was a Capitol Hill realtor beginning in the early 1970s. In this interview, he describes his efforts to interest people in the neighborhood at a time when it was considered a place to live for those who couldn’t afford more desirable locations. 

Malien Lane

Soon after she moved to Capitol Hill in 1978, Malien Lane became one of the first six vendors selling outside Eastern Market's North Hall in the Saturday market begun by John Harrod.

Raye LeValley

E. Raye LeValley was one of the original teachers at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and later became the Director of Education there.

Andrew Lightman

Andrew Lightman moved to Capitol Hill in 1993 as a graduate student and is now the editor of the HILL RAG newspaper, located across the street from Eastern Market.

David MacKinnon

This interview is a refreshing walk down memory lane with David MacKinnon who, with his wife Jan, has lived on Capitol Hill since 1967.

Jerry Mark

Jerry Mark grew plants that he sold on the Eastern Market farmer's line starting in 1978.

John (Peterbug) Matthews

John "Peterbug" Matthews says his goal is to "save souls and heel people," a play on words that connects his Shoe Repair Academy to activities that benefit those in need, especially children. 

Bernadette Mayo

Bernadette Mayo began selling bars of handmade soap in Eastern Market in 1996 and now sells over 17 different kinds, along with other "salts, lotions, and potions." 

Hattie McLaurin

Hattie McLaurin, the granddaughter of a midwife, moved from a North Carolina farm to Washington in 1956, and has lived and worked on Capitol Hill for most of the time since.

Margaret Missiaen

Margaret Missiaen, widely known as the "Tree Lady of Capitol Hill", was awarded a 2010 Community Achievement Award largely for her devotion to pruning and nurturing neighborhood trees.

Naomi Mitchell

After raising her children in Northwest Washington, California native Naomi Mitchell moved to Capitol Hill in 1986, purposely choosing a block with “the haves on one side, the have-nots on the other.”

Elizabeth Nelson and Nick Alberti

Spouses Elizabeth Nelson and Nick Alberti have made Capitol Hill their home since 1985, and throughout that time have made major contributions to the life of the neighborhood. 

Peggy O'Brien

Peggy O’Brien has lived on Capitol Hill, within a three-block radius of where she lives today, since coming to Washington to attend Trinity College in 1965.

Rev. Michael O'Sullivan

Father Michael J. O'Sullivan was pastor of St. Peter's church on Capitol Hill for 35 years, starting in 1970. 

Kirsten Oldenburg

Kirsten Oldenburg came to DC in 1983 for an advanced degree and chose as her first home a basement apartment on Capitol Hill near Mr. Henry’s.

Steven and Mary Park

Mary and Steve Park were interviewed by Stephanie Deutsch in January, 2017, after being chosen to receive a Community Achievement Award that year. 

John Parker

John Parker was awarded a Community Achievement Award in 2005 for his work with youth baseball programs on Capitol Hill. 

Gary Peterson

Gary Peterson was awarded the Community Achievement Award in 2008, largely based on his stewardship of the Capitol Hill Community Foundation's efforts to support Eastern Market merchants following the 2007 fire. 

William Phillips

Bill Phillips had many different experiences before he moved to Capitol Hill in 1987 to become legislative director to an Alabama congressman; over time, he became involved with a wide range of activities in the community. 

Mary Procter and Bill Matuszeski

For many years, Mary Procter and her husband Bill Matuszeski have generously contributed their time and talents to neighborhood organizations such as Friendship House and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.

Sharon Raimo

Sharon Raimo began her career in education in the DC public schools on Capitol Hill, working closely with Veola Jackson and the early efforts to establish the Capitol Hill Cluster School.

Frank Reed

Frank Reed talks about his role as a founder of Stanton Development, the company behind the reconstruction of the Kresge's and Penn Theater buildings in the 600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE.

Nelson F. Rimensnyder

Nelson Rimensnyder shared information on the data he has gathered on DC history and governance.

Adele Robey

Graphic designer Adele Robey and her husband Bruce Robey were instrumental in early efforts to develop the Atlas Theater on H Street NE. They went on to found the H Street Playhouse (2001-2012) and from 1999 to 2010 published the Voice of the Hill, a local print newspaper.

Donna Scheeder

Donna Scheeder was volunteer Chair of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee (EMCAC) and was awarded a Community Achievement Award in 2009 in large part due to this service.

Deborah Shore

Deborah Shore has nurtured Sasha Bruce Youthwork since she founded the nonprofit agency in 1974.

Frances Slaughter

Frances Slaughter joined Wee Care in the mid-1980s and became the beloved “Miss Frances” to two generations of neighborhood pre-schoolers. 

Baird Smith

Baird Smith, FAIA, FAPT, Director of Preservation for QUINN EVANS | ARCHITECTS in Washington, DC, was director of the architect/engineering team for the Eastern Market project. 

Jeffry B. Stallsmith, DDS

Jeffry Stallsmith, DDS, had a popular dentistry practice at Sixth and A Streets NE from 1976 to 2013. In 2020, he participated in one of the Overbeck Project's first interviews done via Zoom.

Kris Swanson and Roy Mustelier

Kris Swanson's work with children from Potomac Gardens eventually produced the Yume Tree on the wall of the 12th Street CVS, and she and her husband, Roy Mustelier, founded the nonprofit Corner Store that provides a venue for local musicians and artists. 

Dan Tangherlini

Dan Tangherlini was the brand new City Administrator for brand new Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2007 when he got the late night call that Eastern Market was on fire. The mayor told him it would be his job to fix it. 

Daniel Waterman, M.D.

Daniel Waterman practiced medicine on Capitol Hill for more than 35 years before retiring to Vermont in 2014. 

John Weintraub and Ed Copenhaver

John Weintraub and Ed Copenhaver bought Frager's, the long-established family hardware store on Pennsylvania Avenue SE in 1975.

Tommy Wells

Tommy Wells was elected to represent Ward 6 on the DC City Council in 2006 and was sworn in less than four months before the April, 2007, Eastern Market fire.

Suzanne Wells and Mike Godec

Suzanne Wells and Mike Godec got involved with community activites on Capitol Hill the usual way: by seeing a problem and working to find a solution. 

Anne Brockett

Anne Brockett, an architectural historian with the DC Historic Preservation Office, discusses the rehabilitation of Eastern Market in this June 2009, interview with Beth Hannold.

Patty Brosmer

Now President of the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District, Patty Brosmer has been a part of the BID movement since helping to develop the necessary legislation from 1995-1999.

Sah Brown

Sah Brown served as the dynamic principal of Capitol Hill’s Eastern High School for six years. In this interview, he describes his nontraditional route to a career in education and talks about Eastern’s distinguished history, vibrant present, and supportive community.

Nicky Cymrot, RE Hill Center

In 2000, neighbors organized to seek a suitable use for Capitol Hill's delapidated Old Naval Hospital. This interview is an oral record of the 11 year effort that resulted in its conversion to Hill Center.

Don Denton

This interview with longtime Hill realtor Don Denton conducted by former ANC 6B chair Ken Jarboe focuses on the 2002 creation of the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District (BID). Both Denton and Jarboe were instrumental in the effort that led to the successful establishment of the BID.

Martha Huizenga

Martha Huizenga was awarded a Community Achievement Award in 2012, acknowledging her years of service as an officer and Board member of CHAMPS, the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, and the Capitol Hill Group Ministry. 

Ken Jarboe

Ken Jarboe served 12 years as an elected Commissioner for ANC 6B and was Chair during 2001 and 2002.

Joanne Jung

Joanne Jung and her husband owned Paik Produce at Eastern Market beginning in 2006. 

Michael and Joan Kim

Michael and Joan Kim, owners of Grubb’s Pharmacy, received a Capitol Hill Community Foundation Achievement Award in 2022 for community contributions that became vividly evident during the Covid pandemic.

Scott Kratz

Scott Kratz is a civic leader, Director, 11th Street Bridge Park, and Vice President, Building Bridges Across the River.

Barry Margeson

Barry Margeson began managing Eastern Market for the DC Department of Real Estate Services on January 1, 2009, and oversaw the June 2009 move from the temporary building to the restored 1893 building. 

Bill McLeod

Bill McLeod, was Executive Director of Barracks Row Main Street from August 2002 to December 2006, during the period in which the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District was being formed.

Kathleen Penney

It's not often that a government functionary describes a meeting regarding a major project as "one of the most fun afternoons we had," but Kathleen Penney's June 2009 interview includes that quote. 

James Perry

James Perry is the band director of the Eastern High School Marching Band, AKA the “Blue and White Marching Machine” and “The Pride of Capitol Hill.”

Susan Perry

Susan Perry is a long-time Hill resident who joined the early efforts to establish the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District, using her extensive background in public transportation issues to the benefit of her neighborhood.

Bill Press

A resident of the Hill since 1996, political commentator Bill Press was a 2023 Capitol Hill Community Foundation honoree for his Hill Center “Talk of the Hill” series.

Bill Rouchell

Bill Rouchell, owner of Maison Orleans Bed and Breakfast, was president of the Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals (CHAMPS) from 2000-2002 when a Capitol Hill Business Improvement District was first considered.

Michael and Becky Skinner

Becky and Michael Skinner’s impact on Capitol Hill can be felt from many a youth playing field to the founding of the Two Rivers Charter School to the origination of the Pendragwn Youth Film Festival.

Michael Witmore

Dr. Michael Witmore served as the director of the Folger Shakespeare Library from July 2011 through June 2024. Under his leadership the Folger's digital programs grew dramatically and the library undertook a major renovation with expanded exhibition space to welcome new generations of visitors.

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