After the Civil War, the Northeast quadrant of Washington, D.C., was still relatively rural. An Irish Catholic neighborhood known as Swampoodle had developed in the vicinity of the railroad tracks running from the New Jersey Avenue Station, located next to the Capitol and heading North to Baltimore. It was in this new developing area across the tracks that the Little Sisters of the Poor had acquired a tract of land. The land was said to have once been owned by Thomas Law who had married the eldest granddaughter of Martha Washington and step-granddaughter of George Washington.A Pioneer Citizen - The Evening Star - December 5, 1900
