Park View, D.C.

Washington: Yesterday and Today, was published in 1943

Here’s a nice link to the past, both of the City and of the neighborhood. Washington: Yesterday and Today was published in 1943 by Ginn and Company. As stated on its title page, the book was prepared by Social Studies Teachers in the Washington, D.C., Public Schools under the direction of George J. Jones.

George J. Jones lived in Park View from at least 1947 until his death in 1955, residing at 3670 Park Place, NW. According to his obituary, he came to Washington in 1908 to sight-see and stayed to teach.

He began by teaching history and introduced discussion of contemporary problems into his curriculum. He also testified on Capitol Hill in the late 1940s in defense of certain textbooks used in the school system which had been criticized as being un-American. In addition to Washington: Yesterday and Today, Jones was also the co-author of The Constitution of the United States with an Introduction to Its Study (1941) and Modern World Setting for American History (1925).

Washington: Yesterday and Today includes the following chapters:

1. Before the Capital came to the Potomac
2. A new Capital is born
3. Washington in earlier years — and now
4. Our Capital in Wartimes
5. A story of old Georgetown
6. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
7. Commercial and Industrial Washington
8. Schools in the National Capital
9. The Capital as a cultural center
10. The Government of the District of Columbia

While dated, even for a history book, so far I’m particularly fond of the commercial and industrial history as well as the explanation of the District government under the three Commissioners.