As part of the World Wonder Car tour, Greyhound Lines, sponsor of the Car in the 1930s provided souvenirs for students and visitors from time to time. One such collection of souvenirs was created from one of the most famous boarding houses in Washington, DC in the early part of our nation's history, Conrad and McMunn’s boarding house.
Built-in 1796 Conrad’s boarding house was on the south side of Capitol Hill and commanded an extensive and beautiful view. When in Washington Conrad’s was home to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Gallatin, dozens of Congressmen, Senators, Ambassadors, and for almost 20 years, Chief Justice John Marshall and the Justices of the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Marshall not only stayed at Conrad’s every winter session of the Court but arranged for all of the Justices to stay and work out of Conrad’s before the construction of the first stand-alone court building.
In disrepair after more than 100 years of use, Conrad’s was razed in 1930-31 to make way for the construction of the House of Representatives Cannon Office Building and the Longworth and the Rayburn buildings.
At the time quantities of architectural rubble were snatched for various historic associations and Greyhound with the help of the Smithsonian secured some of the “Witness Wood®” for the souvenirs, promoting them as from the “Home of John Marshall”