Kim Williams, author of the recently released book Hidden Alleyways of Washington, DC: A History, told the story of Capitol Hill’s inhabited alleys from their development in the 19th century through government attempts in the early 1900s to eliminate thousands of alley dwellings where the poorest of the city’s residents lived. She discussed how residents, by restoring many dwellings in the 1940s and 1950s, changed the course of the earlier demolition programs and contributed to the racial and economic transformation of those alleys.
Kim Williams, architectural historian and author of several books about historic resources and communities, serves as the National Register Coordinator at the D.C. Historic Preservation Office where her primary focus is to research, evaluate, and document properties for listing in the National Register. Her book will be available for purchase at the lecture.
