This article from the Washington Post describes the first season of concerts at the Watergate steps near the Lincoln Memorial. Performances were generally classical music, both orchestral and featuring singers. Performers were on a specially…

The 1949 Inauguration of President Harry S. Truman was the first to be broadcast live on television. This footage from the US Air Force was shot from behind where Truman stood to take the oath of office. As the camera pans, one of the press platforms…

On Easter Sunday, 1939, celebrated African American opera singer Marian Anderson gave a free concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. She had been denied the opportunity to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution concert hall because of…

The pages for the Senate and House of Representatives in the 1920s were junior-high and high-school aged boys who ran messages for Congressmen. Both the Senate and the House pages had baseball teams which played each other, as well as local schools.…

This photograph was taken from the top of the Washington Monument in 1942. The Smithsonian Castle and National Museum of Natural History are visible in the middle of the picture. In the 1930s, the trees on the Mall were removed and rows of American…

This team made up of workers from various garages in the city had just won a baseball game against the Employee's recreation association team when their photo was taken. They were one of many teams who played baseball on the National Mall during…

This elm tree, called the Jefferson elm, is one of the original 300 elm trees planted on the National Mall in the 1930s. At the same time these trees were planted, Dutch Elm disease appeared in the United States and infected native American elms.…

In the 1930s, the National Park Service moved forward with a plan to remove trees on the Mall and replace them with rows of American Elms. Katherine Rowland worked in an office near the Mall and wrote to the editors of the Washington Post to protest…

Ten public tennis courts stood on the Mall between 3rd and 4th street by 1940 and remained until 1972, when they were removed to make way for the National Gallery of Art's east wing. Although these courts were free to use, they were very popular and…

This newspaper article describes the recreational activities which were free or low-cost in the area today known as East and West Potomac Park. In the 1920s, the part of Independence Avenue which stretches into West Potomac Park was called the…