Horatio King was a founding member of the Union Literary Society in DC in the 1840s. He hosted a popular salon in his house on H Street in the 1860s and 70s, called “King’s Reunions.” His salon evenings included readings of poetry, original essays, and memoirs, which led to the founding of the Washington Literary Society in 1874.
At the age of 18, he joined the staff of the Jeffersonian, a newspaper in Maine; he later became co-owner with Hannibal Hamlin, in 1831. He discontinued the paper in 1838, and moved to DC in 1839 for an appointment as clerk in the post office department. He served in progressively more responsible jobs for the next two decades, until retiring as Postmaster General during the Civil War. Although a Democrat, King supported abolitionist causes. He remained in DC for the rest of his life, working as an attorney and journalist.
King published An Oration before the Union Literary Society of Washington (1841), Sketches of Travel, or Twelve Months in Europe (1878), and Turning on the Light: A Dispassionate Survey of President Buchanan’s Administration (1895). He is buried in Congressional Cemetery.
The Homes
707 H St NW, Washington, DC
Horatio King
707 H St NW, Washington DC
Located in Chinatown neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek