Murder Bay

Murder Bay was a disreputable slum in Washington D.C. roughly bounded by Constitution Avenue NW, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and 15th Street NW (the area currently known as Federal Triangle). The area was a center of crime with an extensive criminal underclass and prostitution occurring in several brothels in the area.

In the 1860s, much of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site south of Pennsylvania Avenue had become a disreputable slum known as Murder Bay, the home to an extensive criminal underclass and numerous brothels. During the American Civil War, so many prostitutes took up residence in Murder Bay to serve the needs of General Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac that the area became known as "Hooker's Division." The two trapezoidal blocks sandwiched between Pennsylvania and Missouri Avenues (now the site of the National Gallery of Art) became home to such expensive brothels that it gained the nickname "Marble Alley." In the 1870s and 1880s, the avenue was the site of significant competition between horse-drawn streetcar and chariot companies.

A large house known as Bull's Head existed at the rear of the hotel that is now Old Ebbitt Grill. The house marked the northwest corner of "Murder Bay". Bull's Head housed prostitutes and contained a large, lower-class gambling den, and was considered the northwest corner of Murder Bay.

On March 25, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order No. 11210, which established the Temporary Commission on Pennsylvania Avenue. The area was cleaned up and eventually became part of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site, specifically, the area now known as Federal Triangle.

...
Wikipedia