Existing comment:
The Explosion at the Washington Arsenal:
The higher echelons of the Washington elite would not have considered the arsenal's female workers as "ladies." They were mostly members of the working class but they were also breaking the boundaries of what was considered at the time respectable work for women. They had been hired because of prevailing beliefs about female dexterity (demonstrated by women's sewing ability) and natural inclination for obedience (demonstrated by their submission to husbands and fathers). Most of them lived in the "Island." The center of the neighborhood was 4-1/2 Street (today 4th Street SW) which ran all the way to the Washington Arsenal, located on Greenleaf Point (today occupied by Fort McNair). Packed around 4-1/2 Street living in mostly rundown housing was a mixture of poor whites, both new immigrants and native-born, and newly arrived freed African Americans. Most of the women workers at the arsenal were Irish or Irish American. This section of the exhibit honors the memory of those women who were killed in the explosion on June 17, 1864. |