Foggy Bottom

Foggy Bottom originated in a landholding planned as a town in the 1760s by Jacob Funk. Following the establishment of the District of Columbia in 1791, the neighborhood first emerged as a lightly settled area with both wealthy and middle class residents. The opening of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O) in the 1830s, which provided access to coal, limestone, and other commodities, expanded Foggy Bottom's industrial capacity. By the mid-19th century, Foggy Bottom's western half became primarily a working class community composed of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe; many found work in its factories, which consisted of businesses including breweries, lime kilns, and a gasworks. Its black population, which had resided in Foggy Bottom since its inception, also expanded as freedmen migrated to Washington in the aftermath of the American Civil War and emancipation. Like elsewhere in Washington during its post-Civil War population boom, alley dwellings and shanties emerged in Foggy Bottom to house its poorest residents, many of whom were black laborers and families.