Boundary Stones | WETA's Washington DC Local History Website

The Fire of Norman Morrison

Dusk was approaching when Norman Morrison pulled into the Pentagon parking lot on November 2, 1965. Parking his two-tone Cadillac in the lot, he walked toward the north entrance, carrying his 11-month old daughter, Emily, and a wicker picnic basket with a jug of kerosene inside. Reaching a retaining wall at the building’s perimeter, the 31-year-old Quaker from Baltimore climbed up and began pacing back and forth. Around 5:20 pm, he yelled to Defense Department workers who were leaving the building.

Then, the unthinkable.

D.C.'s Most Unusual Bootlegging Scandal

In 1939, DC launched a major criminal investigation into a bootlegging ring, allegedly trafficking thousands of gallons of contraband into the federal district. There was bribery, wiretapping, alleged...
The Cinema Follies Fire and What It Revealed About Washington

In the fall of 1977, a fire broke out at the Cinema Follies film club in Southeast Washington. The men upstairs found their only escape padlocked shut. The disaster forced Washington to confront the...
The Remarkable, Haunted History of Georgetown’s Halcyon House

Explore the remarkable, haunted history of one of Georgetown’s most mysterious mansions, Halcyon House. Albert Clemons believed he could cheat death by never finishing his house. For nearly four...

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