The DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) unveiled the restoration and refurbishment of eight emergency call boxes on street corners in DowntownDC on October 16. The art installations in the call boxes profile the contributions of eight prominent women in local and national history. The project was funded by a grant from the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities (CAH) and it features original art by local artist and architect Charles Bergen.
The call box art profiles the following women at these locations:
- Katharine Graham, longtime publisher of The Washington Post (15th & L)
- Josephine Butler, community leader and co-founder of the D.C. Statehood Party (14th & K)
- Julia Ward Howe, abolitionist, suffragist and writer of the lyrics of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (14th & F)
- Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, a seamstress and activist who bought her own freedom from slavery and served clients such as Mary Todd Lincoln (Vermont & K)
- Flora Rollins Molton, D.C. musician (13th & G)
- Alice Stokes Paul, suffragist and leader of the National Woman’s Party (14th & E)
- Mary Church Terrell, civil rights activist and suffragist (14th & G)
- Alma Woodsey Thomas, artist and educator (13th & G)
You can read more about the call boxes and special unveiling from the following:
- DC NEWS YOU CAN (MAYBE) USE – BYT.com
- Downtown call boxes transformed into sculptures of historic Washington women – Curbed DC
- These Downtown D.C. Call Boxes Now Herald Famous Women – DCist
- Historic Downtown Call Boxes Are Now Mini-Museums To Famous Women – WAMU 88.5
- Here Are Eight Women You’ll See on Cast-Iron Boxes Around DC – Washingtonian
- Celebrating eight accomplished women in downtown D.C. call boxes – Washington Post