Since 1892 the Haines building has stood at the corner of 8th and Pennsylvania Ave. SE bearing testimony to the business success of Elizabeth Haines. Widowed in Ohio, she came to DC with her three young children and opened a shop in Anacostia. Successful there, she moved to Capitol Hill to a house in the 1200 block of 11th Street and then expanded to the house next door. By 1891, she was ready for an even bigger store and built the large store seen today, with two floors and a third that could be rented out. Fifty different departments were included under one roof. Advertised at the time as “the largest store in the world built, owned, and operated by a woman,” it survived the severe depression of 1893 and a serious fire in 1905. In 1910 she sold the store, although the new owners continued the business for many years under the name of the Haines Department Store. Another devastating fire occurred in the 1940s during which part of the north wall fell on a fire truck.

Unfortunately it was impossible to get any other view of this building due to a protest across the street from it, complete with Metropolitan Police keeping it under control.

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We went on the Capitol Hill Restoration Society's Historic Sites Walking Tour 2020, but by car due to the 100 degree heat. To celebrate Capitol Hill’s rich and diverse history, they've highlighted 45 sites, "a small sampling of the hundreds of other cultural treasures available to enjoy. Some are noteworthy due to their architecture, or for their connection to individuals and events that shaped our community and our country. Others illuminate the manufacturing sector, once a key component of Hill life and now largely a thing of the past." For more information on these historic sites, go to the restoration society’s web page for the walking tour at http://chrs.org/historic-sites-tour-2020/

Best to view in "Original" because other versions resized by Pbase are decidedly unsharp.

Marine Commandant’s House, posted earlier