J Street in Washington, DC

Just found the column from waybackwhen about the absence of a "J" Street in our fair capital. I believe Cecil got it wrong when he said Pierre L'Enfant didn't include a 'J' in the lettering system because of an article I read in the Washington "Post" about local prostitution and other fun activities during the Civil War. Included was a map of the locations of numerous bawdy houses, and on it was clearly labeled a 'J' Street, which the label noted was eliminated during re-numbering in 1887. I'll see if I can find a copy of the "City Plan" around here (copies of L'Enfant's design have been made into a poster) to back this up but I don't think Pete would have left out a 'J' only to have some later bureaucrat-stickler put it in, only to have a yet later bureaucrat pull it back out again.

Then again, this *is* Washington.