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- Baldwin 62303
- Baldwin VO-1000
- Cold
- No expense spared
- Tough Guys
- Lost in Toyland
- And without gloves
- If I were a blindfolded time traveler
- Smoke Consumer Also Cooks
- Oh that stove!
- Possibly still there?
- What?!?
- $100 Reward
- Freeze Frame
- Texas Flyer wanted
- Just a Year Too Soon
- WWII -- Replacing men with women at the railroad crossing.
- Yes, Icing
- You kids drive me nuts!
- NOT An Easy Job
- I wonder
- Just add window boxes
- Icing Platform?
- Indiana Harbor Belt abides
- Freezing haze
- Corrections (for those who care)
- C&NW at Nelson
- Fallen Flags
- A dangerous job made worse
- Water Stop
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Weather Bureau: 1920
Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "U.S. Weather Bureau, exterior." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Open windows
So often in Shorpy photos I see buildings with wide open windows and no sign of screens. Makes me wonder how they kept flies, mosquitoes, birds and other flying critters out. Or were there not such things back then?
Bureau Building
Completed in 1886, this pile of red bricks sat on M street between 24th and 25th streets NW. When organized in 1870, the Bureau was part of the Signal Service Corps under the War Department. It was transferred to the Department of Agriculture in 1891.
The Army Corps of Engineer insignia, while similar, dates back to the 1840s and is thought to be modeled on Pershing Barracks at West Point, NY.
Gone With the Wind
James Goode's book "Capital Losses" places this building on the southwest corner of M and 24th streets NW. It was razed in 1965.
Parapet Peeve
The walls, to be pedantic, aren't crenelated, the parapets are. I actually have the distinct pleasure to use the word "crenelated" somewhat regularly in my architectural research. It's fun at cocktail parties. I particularly love any chance to whip out "oriel."
Actually neither Agriculture nor Defense
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administation (NOAA), the current successor agency of the old Weather Bureau, is now part of the Department of Commerce.
I've seen this before
When I first saw this photo it looked familiar, then it dawned on me, it's the model for the the Army Corps of Engineers logo. I went to Engineer School ar Fort Belvoir for my Army training, and back then I think the logo wasn't as stylized as it is now.
Agriculture or Defence
I am intrigued to see that the US Weather Bureau is part of the Department of Agriculture whereas in the UK, the Meteorological Office is part of the Ministry of Defence. I wonder what that tells us about the two countries' attitude towards the weather?
You sure it's for weather?
With all the "mad scientist" on the roof, it looks like Frankenstein should live there!
Mark I Eyeball
I sometimes wonder if weather prediction would improve if meteorologists occasionally climbed up on the roof and actually looked around. Probably not many observation platforms like those in the picture any more.
Weather Observers
Boys and maps by the entrance.
Notched
Crenelated walls. Say it with me: "crenelated." Come on, how often do you get to use the word "crenelated"?
Katrina was staged!
So this is where the Government started to learn how to control the weather.
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