Photo courtesy DDOT.

DDOT told the world this morning that it would be opening up its vault of historical D.C. images and sharing them on Flickr. We know that you’re just as nerdy as us when it comes to these kind of historical Washingtonian documents; not surprisingly, DDOT has unearthed some really neat stuff from its archives. For instance, the photograph to the right of Connecticut Avenue NW, taken in 1958. (Check out the separate tunnel for the streetcars!) We could pore through this stuff all day: photos of John Marshall Place Park in 1965 (when Moultrie Courthouse was nothing but a parking lot), Rosslyn before it got all those big shiny buildings, Barney Circle in 1948 and the intersection of H Street and Benning Road NE in 1945 all struck our fancy.

“We had archives — documents, photos — spread all over the place,” said DDOT spokesperson John Lisle, when we asked about of the agency’s efforts to consolidate its historical inventory.

Lisle told DCist that DDOT plans to increase its Flickr usage in general. He said that DDOT is looking forward to using Flickr to help illustrate its website, which got a makeover a few months ago, and its relatively new blog, d.ish.

“We have more,” Lisle said. “[Not just] more historical photos, but newer photos. We plan to use Flickr, internally and externally, for people to see the photos and use them.”