Eastern Market

In the middle of Capitol Hill's residential blocks stands a brick market pavilion stretching across almost an entire block. Its name preserves an old scheme for supplying the capital, in which Center Market, Western Market, and Eastern Market once existed. The current building was erected to replace an earlier market near the Washington Navy Yard, so that residents of nearby houses could walk there for everyday shopping. The Hill then lacked ordinary urban services, and the market was meant to keep families in the neighborhood.

The brick pavilion occupies almost an entire block. The South Hall sells meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, cheese, and baked goods; outside are farmers' and craft vendors' stalls. It is a city market in the literal sense: the building belongs to the District, while independent vendors occupy the sales spaces.

Its name came from Washington's old supply system. The plan for the new capital provided for Center Market, Western Market, and Eastern Market. The current Eastern Market pavilion was built in eighteen seventy-three to replace an earlier one closer to the Washington Navy Yard. The site was chosen in the middle of several residential blocks, from which shoppers could walk there. The market was meant to keep families on Capitol Hill, where ordinary urban services were then lacking.

Eighty years later, this purpose nearly disappeared. Center Market had already been demolished, Western Market was being prepared for closure, and other municipal markets were losing vendors. After the war, shoppers were moving to chain stores, and trade here was weakening. In the mid nineteen fifties, city officials told the tenants that they intended to close Eastern Market as well.

For the Glasgow family, this meant losing their livelihood. In nineteen forty-six, the brothers Raymond Glasgow and Bill Glasgow opened the Union Meat butcher shop in the South Hall. Bill was seventeen years old; work behind the counter became his first steady job. Later, all five brothers worked here every day.

One of them, the butcher and tenant Charles Glasgow Sr., proposed a different solution: he himself would take over management of the market. After that, Eastern Market Corporation was created, leasing the South and Middle Halls. Along with the sales spaces, Charles received the bills and a neglected building. He converted the heating from coal to gas and installed hot water; the family replaced the pipes hanging beneath the basement ceiling. The vendors continued trading, although the city did almost nothing to repair the building.

For the Glasgows, this decision preserved the shop; for the other tenants, it preserved a place where their customers still came. When Washington's other old markets closed or lost their original purpose, this one remained a working food market.

The Union Meat family butcher shop still operates in the South Hall. Its current sign gives the founding year as nineteen forty-six. Seventeen-year-old Bill Glasgow began behind this counter; his brother Charles later leased the entire market so that the counter would not have to close.