Existing comment:
Newspaper Row:
The area around Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street became known as "Newspaper Row" because of the many out-of-town newspapers having offices along 14th Street, including the New York Herald, New York Times, New York Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Cincinnati Gazette. "Rum Row," another journalistic institution, was nearby. Today, the National Press Club on 14th Street houses out-of-town news bureaus and international news media. The J.W. Marriott Hotel occupies the northeast corner of Pennsylvania and 14th.
Ben: Perley Poore:
The Boston Journal's Ben: Perley Poore (his adopted byline) became one of the first well-known Washington correspondents. After covering Congress, Poore roamed Pennsylvania Avenue hotels collecting news from politicians and military officers. Most nights, he wrote stories from his Newspaper Row officer, as members of Congress came by for gossip or conversation. Poore, one of several newspaper correspondents who doubled as clerks for congressional committees, was a longtime clerk of the Senate Printing Committee and edited the annual Congressional Directory (right). He also was the first president of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization. He died at the Ebbitt Hotel on Newspaper Row, on the site now occupied by the National Press Building.
The Palace of Fortune was a fancy gambling house on Pennsylvania Avenue. Poore wrote that its patrons included "candidates for the Presidency, Senators and Representatives, members of the Cabinet, editors and journalists, and the master workmen of the third house, the lobby."
The National Hotel:
The site of the Newseum was occupied until 1942 by the National Hotel, one of the most famous hotels of its era, which opened in 1826. The office of the federal censor reportedly was located in the hotel during the Civil War because the telegraph offices were nearby. "Every line of wire copy had to go through his hands," reported the Washington Post. |