Boundary Stones

In the 1930s, Jimmy “The Gentleman Gambler” Lafontaine made millions running the largest casino between New York and Florida from the D.C./Maryland line, despite the fact that gambling was completely illegal. But the city loved him, the police were in his pocket and business was booming — until the mob wanted in on the action.

When American fisheries were declining in the 1870s, the U.S. Fish Commission decided to build a giant fish farm on the National Mall and raise imported carp to restock waterways. What could go wrong?

In 1951, a contest to compose an official song for Washington, D.C. attracted thousands of entries and the winning tune was widely celebrated. So why haven't most Washingtonians ever heard it?

Rats in Washington, D.C. have always been bad – in the 1960s, the city had as many rats as people — but one local civil rights activist Julius Hobson decided to do something about it: to protest the lack of rat patrols in Black neighborhoods, he would capture rats in Shaw and near Northeast and release them in swanky, upscale Georgetown. Alive.