[3] In D.C., he worked for a bookseller, as an usher in a theatre, and as a route agent for The Baltimore Sun before becoming a writer for a local weekly, the Washington News.

He also added newspapers in Philadelphia as a client for his letter dispatches, and became part of the press gallery that covered the United States Congress.

Circulation increased in the decade before the American Civil War and Noyes developed contacts with the Lincoln administration's cabinet such that the Star became an outlet for official announcements.

Appointing himself editor-in-chief, Noyes used his newspaper to crusade to improve Washington's buildings and infrastructure, encouraging the efforts of Alexander Robey Shepherd.

Two residential streets — Noyes Drive and Crosby Road — carry his name in the Woodside Park neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland.