I often rode these streetcars in 1960-61, during their brief period of private ownership by O. Roy Chalk (1956-62}. They were clean, convenient, and comfortable, but in the absence of any semblance of home rule, the District was subject to the dictates of Congress, and by Public Law they were replaced by buses in January of 1962.

Some of the track can still be seen (or could be, at least, a few years ago) on M Street NW, in front of the old car barns near Key Bridge in Georgetown.

This photo makes me think of my late mother who moved from her home in Ohio to work in Washington during the war. I have to believe she must have traveled in the same streetcars. This is where she met my father, who was also from Ohio, but in Walter Reed hospital at the time being treated for injuries he suffered in North Africa as a tank commander.

With a coat and wig.

At a time when the War was far from decided, the outcome still could've gone either way. Their distant stares make me wonder if they are thinking and worrying about
the many loved ones in their lives who are fighting somewhere 'over there'. What a wonderfully poignant picture that captures the very essence of a world struggling for the very survival of freedom.

I can almost imagine that her destination was the fountain in Dupont Circle.