Boundary Stones | WETA's Washington DC Local History Website

Rayful Edmond III's extensive cocaine network and ties to Colombian drug cartels marked a shift in D.C.'s drug trade, which had previously been dominated by small-time dealers in constant search of supplies. (Photo courtesy of May 3rd Films)

1989: Bringing Down D.C.'s Drug King

A joint force of DEA, FBI and D.C. Police officials had spent nearly two years building their case against the District's largest drug network. At 5:30pm on April 15, 1989 officers arrested Tony Lewis at his home in Arlington. A few hours later, they nabbed the big prize – alleged ring leader Rayful Edmond III – at his girlfriend's house in the 900 block of Jefferson St., NW. With the two biggest targets in custody, officials launched searches at more than a dozen other addresses in the District and Maryland, including Edmond's grandmother's rowhouse at 407 M Street, NE, which was thought to be the headquarters of the operation... And what an operation it was.

The First Female President Was Never Elected and Didn’t Want the Job: Edith Bolling Galt Wilson’s Work in the White House

Woodrow Wilson's 1919 stroke had a devastating effect on his ability to serve as president. His wife, Edith, stepped up as nurse and politician, making her arguably America's first female president.
U-1105 “Black Panther”: How a Nazi Submarine Ended up in the Potomac River

Just 80 miles south of Washington, D.C., in the brackish waters of the Potomac River, sits one of the most peculiar shipwrecks of World War II. Resting on the river bottom about a mile offshore from...
‘The Business of this Convention’: George Washington, George Mason, and a Feud of Constitutional Proportions

In 1787, with the new nation's government on the brink of collapse, a convention was called in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. What came out of it was a new Constitution — and...

"Un Pueblo Sin Murales Es Un Pueblo Desmuralizado" (Source: Hola Cultura)

Hispanic Heritage Month

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"¡Tirarlo a la calle!": D.C.'s Latino Festival of 1971

When a vastly undercounted Latino population decided to make itself impossible to ignore, thousands marched from Mount Pleasant to Kalorama Park on August 1, 1971, filling the streets with music, food, and colorful kioskos—an act of cultural pride that launched an annual festival and helped reshape Washington’s civic life.
June 21, 2022
- Washington, D.C.
By Fontana Micucci
GALA Hispanic Theatre: Celebrating Latin American Culture in the Arts

The 1970s and 1980s saw increased Latin American immigration to the United States, and to D.C. in particular. At the time, there was limited access to Latin American performing arts, something that Rebecca Read and Hugo Medrano sought to fix when they founded Grupo de Latinoamericanos Artistes (GALA) in 1976. They never expected, though, that GALA would take off and eventually become the National Center for the Latino Performing Arts.
July 12, 2022
- Washington, D.C.
By Jenna Furtado
Two Brothers Fled Dictatorship and Created Adams Morgan’s Most Enduring Work of Art

A bold 1977 mural in Adams Morgan—painted by Chilean brothers who fled dictatorship—has survived fading, earthquake damage, restorations, and gentrification to remain the city’s oldest living Latinx public artwork and a vivid record of a changing neighborhood.
November 4, 2020
- Washington, D.C.
By Charlotte Muth

Watch & Learn

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A Black Arlington Neighborhood was Destroyed to Build the Pentagon

To build the Pentagon, the Black community of East Arlington was razed with 30 day's notice.
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Why the Original Plan for the Washington Monument Was Abandoned

The Washington Monument we see today is not what its architect planned.

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Redskins Stadium Opens in Maryland

The Washington Redskins' new stadium opens in Raljon, Maryland, the name invented by Redskins' owner Jack Kent Cooke to honor his sons, Ralph and John.