Civil War to Civil Rights

"Alvin, Washington, D.C. is the place for us."

So wrote Samuel Walter Woodward to his business partner, Alvin Lothrop, in 1879. The young entrepreneurs were looking for a new location for their innovative dry goods store near Boston, Massachusetts. Unhappy with the bargaining common in stores of the day, they were the first to charge a fixed price and to allow returns.

Woodward recognized the new vitality and promise of the nation's capital. Since the end of the Civil War just 14 years earlier, Washington had new importance as the center of a strong federal government. It had been thoroughly modernized, with broad paved streets and avenues, sewers, gaslights, and thousands of new trees. Americans were flocking to the newly important capital to take government jobs and start businesses.

Woodward and Lothrop joined them in 1880 and opened their store near Seventh and Pennsylvania Avenue. In 1887, they moved their establishment, now enlarged to a modern "department store," to this location, spearheading the development of F Street as the city's premier downtown shopping boulevard. Affectionately known as "Woodies," the store was a Washington tradition until its closing in 1996.

[Photo captions:]

above

Samuel W. Woodward, left, and Alvin M. Lothrop, right, about 1880.

(The Historical Society of Washington, DC).

above

Woodward and Lothrop's first store at 705 Market Space.

(The Historical Society of Washington, DC).

[Three pictures] left to right

The soda fountain and main aisle of "Woodies" await customers, while an advertisement, right, places the store among the city's major attractions.

(The Historical Society of Washington, DC).

Marker is at the intersection of F Street, NW and 10th Street, NW, on the right when traveling west on F Street, NW.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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