To truly enjoy our beautiful nation’s capital, one must know a bit of history about Washington , DC and the metropolitan area.
(This following information is from Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001.)

Introduction

Washington , DC , the capital of the United States of America , was a federal territory established in 1790 as the site of the new nation's permanent capital. Named after the first U.S. President, George Washington, the city has served since 1800 as the seat of Federal Government. It is also the heart of a dynamic metropolitan region. During the 20th century, the Washington , DC , metropolitan area grew rapidly as the responsibilities of national government increased, both at home and throughout the world.

The city is located at the junction of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers , and is flanked on the north, east, and southeast by Maryland and on the southwest by Virginia . Although the city has retained some aspects of its Southern origin, it has assumed a much more cosmopolitan character. At the same time, the city struggles with social and economic disparity, and a number of its residential neighborhoods suffer from poverty and crime. Washington 's climate is hot and humid in the summer and cold and damp in the winter.

Washington and its Metropolitan Area

The Outline of the City

The District of Columbia was named for Christopher Columbus. It was created from land surrendered by the states of Virginia and Maryland , and it incorporated the existing seaport towns of Alexandria , Virginia , and Georgetown , Maryland . The district was originally 259 sq km (100 sq mi), or 10 miles square, as established under the Residence Act of 1790. The central town site was laid out by French architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant in 1791. The remaining land was an open area stretching north to the border with Maryland . It was designated as Washington County . In 1846, Congress returned that portion of the federal district that had originally been ceded by Virginia .

In 1871 the cities of Washington and Georgetown were consolidated with Washington County to become Washington , DC , making the city, the county, and the federal district one and the same. Washington , DC , has a total area of 176 sq km (68 sq mi), and the Washington metropolitan region—which in addition to Washington , DC , contains 24 counties in the surrounding states of Maryland , Virginia , and West Virginia —has a total area of 17,920 sq km (6,920 sq mi).

In his plan for the city of Washington , L'Enfant attempted to represent symbolically the new United States and its republican government. He gave prominence to each of what were then the primary elements of government—the executive and the legislative branches. He also featured the states in giving their names to broad diagonal avenues. These he arranged both according to geography and to each state's prominence in the nation‑building process. Massachusetts , Virginia , and especially Pennsylvania , with its associations both with the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Constitution, gained the most prominence. Avenues named after other states with prominent roles in ratifying the Constitution, notably Delaware and New Jersey , intersected at the Capitol. Also, L'Enfant hoped that the intersection of diagonal avenues with the city's straight grid of numbered and lettered streets would provide squares where each state would locate facilities, thereby giving them the same symbolic importance in the capital city that they held in the federal system.

Patterns of Settlement and Development

Initially, Washington was slow to develop the dense pattern of settlement characteristic of cities. By the 20th century, however, Washington had filled its open spaces and dominated the surrounding area, which remained largely rural. This pattern changed after World War II (1939‑1945), as the city lost population to the suburbs of Virginia and Maryland . While the federal presence remained concentrated in Washington , it also expanded considerably to the suburbs. At the same time, new private business—the fastest‑growing source of regional employment—concentrated almost exclusively in the areas outside the city.

While the metropolitan area expanded outward, it did not do so randomly. Growth tended to follow the location of federal facilities outside the city and the development of major transportation routes. During World War II, the construction of

the Pentagon spurred development nearby on the Virginia side of the Potomac River . Growth was also stimulated by other key facilities, notably the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia; and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Science and Technology), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), all in Maryland.

Public Buildings

Washington is home to many famous and interesting public buildings and monuments. Many of these are associated with the Federal Government. The Capitol of the United States is located on a hill rising 27 m (88 ft) above the Potomac and consists of two wings that branch from a central rotunda. The north wing is occupied by the Senate, and the south wing by the House of Representatives. The rotunda is crowned by an immense dome, topped with a statue of a woman representing Freedom. East of the Capitol is the Supreme Court Building , with its portico modeled after a Greek temple. North of the Capitol, at the end of Delaware Avenue , stands massive Union Station, now a retail center as well as a train station that has long been a hub of the city.

From the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue runs slightly northwest and Constitution Avenue runs directly west. Between 6th and 15th streets NW the two avenues form an area known as the Federal Triangle. Within this triangle are concentrated a number of government buildings, including those of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the departments of Justice and Commerce. Also in the triangle is the National Archives Building , which contains the original drafts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States , and the Bill of Rights.

Just north of the triangle, on Tenth Street NW , is the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). On the block north of the Hoover building, also on Tenth Street , is Ford's Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was shot in 1865, and across the street is the Petersen House, where he died. Together they make up Ford's Theatre National Historic Site.

Northwest of the triangle, at 16th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue , is the oldest federal building in Washington , the White House, official residence of the U.S. President. The mansion's foundations were laid in 1792, and every president except George Washington has occupied it. Tours are conducted daily through the most famous ground floor and first floor rooms, such as the East Room, the Blue Room, and the State Dining Room.

Flanking the White House are the Treasury Department Building to the east and the Executive Office Building to the west. Across the street is Blair House, the official guest house for visiting heads of state and other dignitaries. Blair House, built in 1824, served as a temporary executive mansion for President Harry S. Truman and his family from 1948 to 1952, while the interior of the White House was being extensively reconstructed.

North of the White House is Lafayette Square , with a statue of General Andrew Jackson made from a melted down cannon captured by Jackson during the War of 1812. West of the White House, at New York Avenue and 18th Street NW , is one of Washington 's oldest landmarks, the Octagon. Completed in 1801, the Octagon houses a museum dedicated to architecture and the early history of Washington , and is also home to the American Architectural Foundation. It was one of the first residential structures built according to L'Enfant's plan. During the War of 1812, British troops set fire to the White House, destroying its interior. President James Madison and his family lived in the Octagon while the White House was being rebuilt.

South of the Federal Triangle is the Mall, a narrow park stretching roughly 1.6 km (1 mi) from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. Although the Mall officially ends at 14th Street , landscaped greenery extends to the Potomac . The Washington Monument , whose marble shaft dominates the skyline, stands 169 m (555 ft) high near the center of this parkland. The interior of the monument is hollow, and visitors may either climb its 898 steps or ride its elevator 150 m (500 ft) for a magnificent view. A height restriction law enacted by Congress in 1899 ensures that no private structure in Washington , DC , will extend higher than the monument or the Capitol.

Beyond the monument in West Potomac Park , still in a straight line from the Capitol, is the massive Lincoln Memorial. This monument's 36 columns represent the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln 's death in 1865. Its interior contains a great stone seated figure of Lincoln carved by sculptor Daniel Chester French. Nearby, the Arlington Memorial Bridge spans the Potomac and connects the Lincoln Memorial with Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington , Virginia . Located at the cemetery are the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers; the Arlington House, home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee; and, on the slope directly below that, the grave of President John F. Kennedy.

Close to the Lincoln Memorial is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This memorial commemorates the American men and women who died during the Vietnam War (1959-1975). Southeast of the Lincoln Memorial is the Tidal Basin , framed by Washington 's famous Japanese cherry trees. The government of Japan gave the cherry trees to the United States in 1912. Reflected in the water of the Tidal Basin is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. This circular, colonnaded marble memorial contains a bronze standing figure of Thomas Jefferson by sculptor Rudolph Evans. Roughly halfway between the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, which opened in 1997.

Neighborhoods

The once‑premier neighborhoods near early federal activity, notably Georgetown , Foggy Bottom, and Capitol Hill, all declined over time. Although they were rediscovered and restored in the second half of the 20th century, in the interim newer communities became popular. In the mid 19th century streetcars began to offer easy commutes to areas outside the city core. At this time, Anacostia's Uniontown section, where abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass settled after the American Civil War (1861-1865), and LeDroit Park , near Howard University , developed as Washington 's first suburbs.

In the early 20th century, Mount Pleasant , a few miles north of the White House, became popular. With the availability of automobiles, first Cleveland Park and subsequently Wesley Heights and American University Park emerged as preferred residential destinations. Just above the old downtown, the area known as Shaw emerged as the most prominent black section of the city. The concentration of theaters and other social activities there gave U Street the nickname of Black Broadway. Somewhat further above the old city, the Adams Morgan section emerged in the 1960s as one of Washington's most diverse neighborhoods, with large populations of Latin American and Caribbean immigrants.

Over the years, the suburbs outside the city have grown rapidly. In addition to older areas such as Arlington , Virginia , and Chevy Chase , Maryland , new suburban office and retail complexes have emerged at Tyson's Corner and Pentagon City in Virginia and Freedom Plaza in Maryland .

Population

Washington , DC , grew slowly from the time of its origins until the Civil War. Its founders expected it to emerge as a great city because of its favored trading site along the Potomac River . However, the city proved incapable of fully exploiting its opportunities—due to, among other things, a lack of federal funding for development—and it lagged behind other major port cities along the eastern seaboard. Washington 's population boomed during the Civil War, rising from a modest population of 61,122 in 1860 to 109,199 only a decade later. During the first half of the 20th century, the federal presence in the city expanded, and population grew with it, reaching a peak of more than 800,000 in 1950.

The city's population dropped thereafter, as it lost residents to the suburbs. Nearly 69 percent of the metropolitan population lived in Washington in 1940; by 1960 that number had fallen to 37 percent, and to less than 16 percent in 1996. In 1998 the population of the city was 523,124. In contrast, the population of the metropolitan area in 1996 was estimated at 4,563,000.

Partly because the District of Columbia was originally formed from slaveholding states, the national capital has always had a significant black presence, approximately 25 percent of the population from its origins until World War II. After the war, many white families relocated to the suburbs, and the city's demography changed. In 1957 Washington became the first major city in America with a black majority. Between 1950 and 1960 Washington 's black presence grew by nearly 50 percent, from 280,803 to 411,737, while the white population declined by one third.

Until recently the great majority of the black population was located inside the city. But like an earlier generation of whites, the black middle class began to leave the city and move to the suburbs. In 1990, when the city's population was 606,900, blacks constituted about 66 percent, compared with about 30 percent white. Hispanics and Latinos of various races, constituted about 5 percent of the population. The city had about 400,000 black residents; however, just the two surrounding counties of Prince George's, Maryland, and Fairfax, Virginia, contained a combined population of about 430,000 black residents.

During the early 19th century, Washington lacked the industrial base that drew immigrants to other cities, and so the population retained its largely native‑born character. In the late 19th century, small Italian and Eastern European Jewish communities formed, creating their own churches and synagogues and associated ethnic institutions. Many descendants of these immigrants left the city for the suburbs in the 1950s, along with much of the rest of the white population. While the Italian Roman Catholic Church, Holy Rosary, still functions near Union Station, few of its parishioners still live in the city. Most of the early synagogues near downtown have left, replaced by black Protestant congregations.

A small Chinese community formed in Washington in the late 19th century. Originally concentrated downtown along Pennsylvania Avenue , Chinatown moved several blocks north to make way for completion of the Federal Triangle office complex in the 1930s. Chinatown still exists along H Street NW , but only about a third of Washington 's 3,000 Chinese listed in the 1990 census live in that area. An additional 37,000 Chinese live in surrounding suburbs. In the suburbs, they are joined by more recent immigrant groups from Asia , most notably Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Lao. Both suburban Maryland and northern Virginia support Asian populations of about 100,000 each.

Hispanics form the other major immigrant group in the area. Although the District of Columbia 's population is about 5 percent Hispanic, the largest number of these immigrants are located in the suburbs: an estimated 90,000 in Maryland and 100,000 in Virginia . In 1991 the Washington metropolitan area ranked tenth in the nation as a destination for new immigrants.

Education and Culture

Institutions of Higher Learning

It was George Washington's dream that the capital city host a national university. Congress, however, was reluctant to fund such an entity. As a result, while a number of institutions have aspired to national roles, none has been favored with a national mandate. Founded in 1789, Georgetown University is the oldest Roman Catholic university in the United States . The George Washington University was founded in 1821 by Baptists as Columbian College. Gallaudet University is the only liberal arts university in the world specifically for deaf and hearing impaired students. Former Union General Oliver Otis Howard founded Howard University as a predominately black university in 1867. The two other private universities in the city are the Catholic University of America and American University . Also, the city opened the University of the District of Columbia with congressional approval by consolidating a teacher's college, a city college, and a technical institute.

In the Virginia suburbs are George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College ; in the Maryland suburbs are the University of Maryland at College Park , Montgomery College , and Prince George 's Community College. The Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area links most of the area's public and private institutions of higher learning. Through the consortium, a student enrolled in one institution may take courses provided at another institution.

Museums

The most famous museum in Washington is the Smithsonian Institution. With help from a gift from Englishman James Smithson, Congress chartered the Smithsonian in 1846. The Smithsonian is a collection of many different institutions that are world‑famous for their art, historical, and scientific collections. The National Museum of African Art was the first museum in the United States devoted exclusively to African art. The National Museum of Natural History houses many of the world's most famous gems, and the National Museum of American History traces the development of the United States through scientific, technological, and cultural exhibitions. The National Air and Space Museum has aeronautical exhibits that include the original craft used by the Wright Brothers and the Mercury capsule in which astronaut John Glenn orbited the Earth.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden contains notable paintings and sculptures by 19th and 20th century European and American artists. The Arts and Industries Building and the Freer Gallery of Art house fine collections of American and Asian art. Another major art collection, the National Portrait Gallery, is in a building with the National Museum of American Art, which houses American paintings, sculptures, graphics, folk art, and photographs from the 18th century to the present. Over time, the Smithsonian has evolved from being the so called nation's attic into a far ranging and diverse set of research and educational facilities.

Other important collections in Washington include the National Gallery of Art, one of the nation's chief art galleries, with major collections of European and American paintings; the National Museum of Women in the Arts; the Dumbarton Oaks Museum, with a collection of pre Columbian and Byzantine art; the National Building Museum, dedicated to American achievements in architecture, construction, engineering, and design; and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which provides information about the persecution and murder of Jews in Europe during World War II. There are also several venerable private institutions, such as the Corcoran Gallery of Art, launched in the 1880s through the bequest of banker William W. Corcoran, and the Phillips Collection, opened in 1921 near DuPont Circle as the city's first modern art museum. The Historical Society of Washington, DC, located in a 19th century mansion built by beer magnate Christian Heurich, is the only institution dedicated solely to the preservation and interpretation of Washington 's rich local history.

Libraries

The Library of Congress is the national library of the United States and includes a record of every book printed in the United States . Among its priceless documents are the first draft of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and an early draft of the Declaration of Independence as composed by Thomas Jefferson and corrected by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. The library's music collection contains original manuscripts, ranging from a Ludwig van Beethoven sonata to the score of the musical Oklahoma !, as well as a large collection of instruments. The affiliated Folger Shakespeare Library contains 79 first folios (early printings) of Shakespeare's plays. Other distinguished libraries in Washington include the Founders Library at Howard University , with 50,000 volumes relating to black history and culture.

The Performing Arts

Washington provides many outlets for the performing arts. The National Theatre, opened in 1835, hosts new theatrical productions. The Arena Stage, founded in 1950, opened a new facility in the early 1970s as part of redevelopment of the city's southwest area and has achieved worldwide recognition for its productions. Also starting in the early 1970s, the Elizabethan Theatre of the Folger Library began offering Shakespearean productions. Twenty years later the Shakespeare Theatre opened to enthusiastic audiences in the restored Lansburgh Department Store on Seventh Street downtown.

One really big boost for the city's arts came in 1971 with the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The center includes the Opera House, the Concert Hall, and the Eisenhower Theater, and also provides a home for the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Ballet, and the American Film Institute's National Film Theater. The opening of the center stimulated the creation of a number of smaller theaters serving diverse interests. In the suburbs, the Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia , the Nissan Pavillion, and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland have become major performance centers.

Cultural Events

Washington hosts many annual events, including the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which celebrates the blossoming of the Japanese cherry trees in the Tidal Basin . The Hispanic Festival has taken place each summer in Washington since 1970. The Mall hosts an annual Fourth of July fireworks display and the National Folk Festival. The city also celebrates the Chinese New Year, Columbus Day, and Saint Patrick's Day with parades.

Recreation

The Washington region has many well known parks and recreational areas. The Mall is Washington 's most prominent park, and it hosts many special demonstrations and events. Nearby East and West Potomac parks, formed from reclaimed land along the Potomac River, provide space for a range of recreational activities, including rugby, softball, volleyball, and polo. The Ellipse, between the White House and the Washington Monument , is a large public park that contains the Zero Milestone, from which distances are measured on all national highways that pass through Washington . Within the city, Rock Creek Park , which stretches from downtown to the Maryland border, is home to the National Zoological Park . The National Arboretum is in northeast Washington . Also, the intersection of Washington 's broad diagonal avenues with other streets laid out on a straight grid provides a number of small parks.

Professional sports are important in Washington . For many years Griffith Stadium in LeDroit Park hosted the national Negro League's Homestead Grays and the American League's Washington Senators. Integration of the major leagues doomed the Grays, and poor fan support resulted in a franchise move for the Senators. Another team that left the city was the Washington Redskins professional football team, which moved to Prince George 's County, Maryland , in 1997. As that team moved from city to suburb, however, the region's professional hockey team, the Washington Capitals, and basketball teams, the Washington Wizards (NBA) and the Washington Mystics (WNBA), returned downtown after spending nearly a generation in the Maryland suburbs. The Capitals and the Wizards play in a new sports and entertainment complex, the MCI Center , which opened in December 1997. The Center has helped to revitalize the downtown area. The DC United soccer team, a recent arrival to Washington , achieved success quickly and became national champions in 1996.

" Washington , DC ," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001