page_title: Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site
section_title: Growing development of the Pennsylvania Avenue district
hierarchical_section_title: Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site / History of the site / Growing development of the Pennsylvania Avenue district
caption_attribution_description: English: The "red light district" known as Murder Bay at the corner of C Street NW and 13th Street NW, Washington, D.C., United States, in April 1912. *Griffin Veatch, a "night messenger" or child laborer who directed customers to brothels, is leaning against the tree at left. Photograph by Lewis W. Hine for the U.S. National Child Labor Committee.
context_page_description: Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in the city of Washington, D.C. Established on September 30, 1965, the site is roughly bounded by Constitution Avenue, 15th Street NW, F Street NW, and 3rd Street NW. The historic district includes a number of culturally, aesthetically, and historically significant structures and places, including Pennsylvania Avenue NW from the White House to the United States Capitol, the Treasury Building, Freedom Plaza, Federal Triangle, Ford's Theatre, the Old Patent Office Building, the Old Pension Office Building, Judiciary Square, and the Peace Monument.
  Pennsylvania Avenue, the heart of the historic site, is recognized by many as "America's Main Street", and the avenue plays a significant part in American political culture. A march or event held on the avenue is infused with a great deal of political meaning.
context_section_description: The historic site saw limited growth prior to the 1850s, although a number of "firsts" also occurred in the area. James Greenleaf, an early land speculator in the city, erected the first buildings (six row houses) on Pennsylvania Avenue in the spring and summer of 1794 at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue NW and 22nd Street NW, and another seven similar buildings were erected about the same time by General Walter Stewart. The "Six Buildings" erected by Greenleaf served as the first headquarters of the United States Department of State and the United States Department of the Navy in 1800, while one of the buildings across the street housed the United States Department of War. Two of the city's first three street lamps were established in the area near Capitol Hill in December 1801.
  Center Market, the city's first food market, was built the same year on a lot on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets. It became the hub of the city's early commercial district. Over time, the business district moved north, but its southern boundary continued to be marked by Pennsylvania Avenue. Center Market moved a block west along Pennsylvania Avenue to larger, more modern facilities in 1872. The second inauguration of Thomas Jefferson, which occurred on March 4, 1805, was the first to host an inaugural procession down Pennsylvania Avenue.
  The city's first school, the Western School, opened on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets NW in January 1806. The city's first sewer pipe was laid under Pennsylvania Avenue in 1829. By 1835, Pennsylvania Avenue was largely lined by two- to four-story Federalist row houses. The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad converted a house at the corner of 2nd Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue into the city's first train station. It was abandoned in 1851 when the station moved to a more long-lasting location at New Jersey Avenue and C Street NW. The same year, the National Theatre opened on December 7. It was followed by the 400-seat Odeon in 1846, the 1,000-seat Adelphi in 1847, and Metzerott Hall in the 1860s. President Andrew Jackson approved the construction of the Treasury Building in 1836 (it was completed the following year), but the size and height of the building forced a rerouting of Pennsylvania Avenue and blocked the view of the White House from L'Enfant's "Grand Avenue." The city's first stock brokerage was opened by William W. Corcoran at 15th and Pennsylvania Avenue in 1837. The city blocks where the National Gallery of Art now stands became a fashionable residential area in the 1830s.
  In the 1860s, the area saw significant deterioration despite continuing improvements to Pennsylvania Avenue itself. Pennsylvania Avenue was lit with coal gas streetlights in 1851. The avenue was one of the few fully lit streets in the entire city of Washington. In July 1862, a horse-drawn trolley line was built along the street between the Capitol and White House. But despite these many improvements, much of the Pennsylvania Avenue Historic Site south of Pennsylvania Avenue had become a disreputable slum known as Murder Bay, the home to an extensive criminal underclass and numerous brothels. During the American Civil War, so many prostitutes took up residence in Murder Bay to serve the needs of General Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac that the area became known as "Hooker's Division." The two trapezoidal blocks sandwiched between Pennsylvania and Missouri Avenues (now the site of the National Gallery of Art) became home to such expensive brothels that it gained the nickname "Marble Alley." In the 1870s and 1880s, the avenue was the site of significant competition between horse-drawn streetcar and chariot companies. Pennsylvania Avenue saw its first electric streetlights give light on October 14, 1881. A small number of additional lights north of the avenue along 10th Street NW were lit later that month.
  The southern part of the Pennsylvania Avenue district was flooded many times in the last three decades of the 19th century. Major floods occurred in October 187
caption: C Street NW near 13th Street NW in 1912: Known from the mid-1800s to the 1920s as "Murder Bay," this area was home to numerous brothels.
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