"Georgetown
Snowfall - Wisconsin Avenue in 1920" by Paul McGehee. The view looking
north from one of the Nation's Capital region's most iconic
intersections, at Wisconsin Avenue and M Street N.W. The town was officially incorporated in 1789 and was originally a part of the State of Maryland.
A crossroads of commerce since the early days of our country,
Georgetown was positioned at the upstream limit of the Potomac River
that was still deep enough to accept large oceangoing sailing ships.
That waterfront activity, plus the transacting of goods such as coal
transported on the barges on the C & O Canal, made Georgetown an
important gathering place for merchants and townspeople alike, visiting
its many markets, eateries and public houses. George Washington is said
to have frequented Suter's Tavern in Georgetown to meet with others
formulating the plans for the layout of the future Nation's Capital of
Washington, D.C. When the Capital was officially established,
Georgetown became a part of the District of Columbia with a land
transfer deal in place to grow the Capital's boundaries, but Georgetown
was still to have its own independent municipal government. In 1871 it
was finally absorbed by the D.C. government by an act of Congress. It
was at this point the old street names of Georgetown were changed to
follow the pattern set by the alternating alphabetical and numerical
streets and avenues of Washington. By the time of this scene, depicting
Christmastime in 1920, Georgetown was a bustling, growing city,
crisscrossed with traction streetcar tracks and automobiles vying for
space on the streets alongside the old horsedrawn vehicles. The popular
old O'Donnell's Drug Store building in the middle was soon to be
replaced by the gold-domed Farmers and Merchants Bank Building, which
for many years was the home to Riggs Bank. Georgetown was growing and
building as more and more people moved there to live since many had
jobs on nearby Capitol Hill. As several of the older buildings depicted
in this scene were eventually razed over the ensuing decades, in 1967
the entire Georgetown Historic District was placed upon the protective
list of National Historic Landmarks, an honor bestowed upon just a
handful of sites around the Nation's Capital. Thankfully, because of
this action, the quaint charm of Georgetown's old buildings are
preserved for us to enjoy today. "Georgetown Snowfall - Wisconsin Avenue in 1920" is
faithfully reproduced from Paul's original color pencil and acrylic
artwork in a
limited edition of 2,000 hand-signed prints. (When hung alongside its companion piece "Georgetown Snowfall - M Street in 1920",
this print becomes the left-hand side of a decorative diptych pair
forming a complete panorama of the intersection of Wisconsin and M a
century ago.)
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