There is no J St.

This NPS map of the DC city center does an excellent at illustrating the grid layout of D.C.  

But, there is something odd about the lettered streets.  There is an A St, a B st a C St etc. Except after I St come K St.

There is no J st.

Here is a map that shows it very clearly. On the southern end of both McPherson Square and Franklin Square is I St. On the northern end is K St.

There is no J St.

What happened to J street?

There is a story that says the architect of D.C., Pierre L’enfant hated first Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Jay. L’enfant, to stick it to Jay, removed J street from the city plan.

It’s a fun story. It ain’t true. The real reason there is no J St. is much more benign, but I also think more interesting.  

In the 18th and 19th century, the period of the cities construction, a handwritten J was often indistinguishable from a handwritten I.

An I:

A J:

Infact, Thomas Jefferson would often initial his belongings not T.J. but T.I. As there was an understood interchangeability in an I and a J.

Ironically, there was no J St. as a way to make things less confusing, yet now with greater variety and standardization of fonts, the opposite is the case.

Its an interesting quirk, of an already quirky city.