Dupont Circle, 1887

History

Dupont Circle, 1887

by Kent Boese • July 20, 2009 10:15 am

The 1887 Report of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army includes this plan of the Dupont Circle park:

It matches up well with this view of Dupont Circle from a period postcard:

Finally, here is a list of the types of trees and shrubs that were in the park in 1887.

5 comments

Tags: DC, Dupont Circle, history, parks

Mount Vernon Square, 1887 (Aug 14, 2009)
This weekend: kill with kindness and see Dupont houses (Oct 17, 2008)
UMich team visualizes Dupont land use (Jun 17, 2010)
Then and Now: Dupont's drug store (Mar 25, 2009)
Shake Shack should consider a park location (Aug 23, 2010)

Kent Boese posts items of historic interest primarily within the District. He's worked in libraries since 1994, both federal and law, and currently works on K Street. He lives in the Park View neighborhood, and is the force behind the blog Washington Kaleidoscope.

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That drawing is beautiful.

by Bianchi on Jul 20, 2009 11:31 am • link • report

More cool photos at http://www.dupontcircle.biz/galhist.htm and http://www.dupontcircle.biz/galmaps.htm (JavaScript seems to work only in IE, sorry)

And here's an old summary od Dupont history: http://web.archive.org/web/20010624161226/www.announce.com/khein/dupont/history.htm

by michael on Jul 20, 2009 12:50 pm • link • report

That is an awesome design. Interesting, yet does not try to stop people from taking a direct crossing route

by beatbox on Jul 20, 2009 1:07 pm • link • report

This photo really demonstrates why the rim of the Dupont fountain is so crucial to making that park work. It makes the center location much more approachable.

by цarьchitect on Jul 20, 2009 2:48 pm • link • report

Two things.

1. The curvilinear petal layout of walkways was very popular in city parks 100 years ago. We have now largely moved away from that, which I think is largely good in Washington since straight paths are more in tune with L'Enfant's visual axes. There is one main feature to curving paths: they make a space feel more private since you must face more shrubbery as you traverse the space. The design is inspired by a romantic and idyllic notion of country settings. You can still see remnants of this style in Franklin Square, where the paths all curve gently, yet symmetrically, through the park.

2.Ñ†arÑŒchitect is right, the fountain is the key feature of Dupont Circle that separates it from most of the other L'Enfant reservations. Can you imagine Dupont the same without the fountain? I can't.

by Monumentality on Jul 20, 2009 6:31 pm • link • report