George Truesdell

George Truesdell (1842–1921) was an American businessman and decorated Civil War veteran who developed several suburbs and two of the earliest streetcar companies of Washington, D.C. Truesdell studied civil engineering at the University of Michigan.

When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Truesdell enlisted in the Union Army's 12th New York Volunteers as a private; the following year, he received a commission to lieutenant and a promotion to captain. He was wounded and captured during the 1862 Battle of Gaines' Mill. After the war, he was promoted to major in the Regular Army and assigned as a paymaster. He was brevetted lieutenant colonel for meritorious service, and left the Army in 1869.

Truesdell worked as a civil engineer in New Jersey for two years. Between 1894 and 1897, Truesdell served on the DC Board of Commissioners.

Developer In the 1880s, Truesdell bought 15 acres of land in Kalorama Triangle, where he sold land and built apartment buildings. "Perhaps no one person had as much influence on the development of Kalorama Triangle as did George Truesdell", wrote local historian Stephen Hansen. Truesdell placed restrictive covenants in the deeds of Eckington's residential properties that required that each house cost at least $2,000 and be set back from the building line. There was to be no manufacturing. As late as 1930, there were no African American families living in Eckington.

Streetcar executive In 1888, Truesdell launched the Eckington and Soldiers' Home Railway, the city's first electric railway.

He later helped found the Rock Creek Railway.