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Dupont Circle
Diverse Visions | One Neighborhood
Fire Fact | Sunday, February 7, 1904
Great Baltimore Fire, several DC fire companies answered Baltimore's Chief's urgent telegram, "Desperate fire here. Must have help at once." DC, responding by railway flatcar, was accompanied by New York City, Philadelphia and other cities.
Fire Alarm Boxes such as this one (originally painted red) were installed in the District after the Civil War. Telegraphs transmitted the box number (top) to a fire alarm center. This system was used until the 1970s when the boxes were converted to a telephone system. By the 1990s, the callbox system had been replaced by the 911 system and was abandoned.
The Dupont Circle area has always been racially and economically mixed. The Dupont Circle Citizens Association, predominantly white established in 1922, and the Midway Civic Association, predominantly black established in 1939, served their communities with overlapping boundaries. Among the area's eminent African Americans was Dr. Laura Killingsworth, a gynecologist, who lived in the 1500 block of S St. Barred from practicing medicine in all but the Freedman's Hospital and some small clinics, Dr. Killingsworth operated a clinic for black women at 13th and T Sts.
Nearby, at 1530 15th St. (left), stands the modest home of noted African American artist and teacher, Alma Woodsey Thomas, who lived there from 1907 to 1978. In 1987 the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Artist | Eric B. Ricks.
Originally from Liberia, West Africa and currently living in Dupont Circle, Ricks is a self-taught artist experienced in many art forms such as photography, painting, bookbinding, clothing and handbag design. His work is "a form of self expression that allows communication without words." |