Portal:Washington, D.C.
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The Washington, D.C. portal
Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia and commonly known as simply Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River across from Virginia and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. It was named after George Washington, a Founding Father and the first president of the United States. The district is named for Columbia, the female personification of the nation, through which human form and attributes are applied to the United States.
The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of any state, and is not one itself. The Residence Act, adopted on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the capital district along the Potomac River, and is considered the city's founding date. In 1800, when the capital was moved from Philadelphia, the 6th Congress started meeting in the then-unfinished Capitol Building, and the second president, John Adams, moved into the newly finished White House. In 1801, the District of Columbia, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia and including the existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria, was officially made the federal district; initially, the city was a separate settlement within the larger district. In 1846, Congress reduced the size of the district when it returned the land that Virginia had ceded, including the city of Alexandria. In 1871, it made the entire district into a single municipality. There have been several failed efforts to reduce the district further and admit the rest as a state since the 1880s, including a statehood bill that passed the House of Representatives in 2021 but was not adopted by the U.S. Senate.
Washington, D.C., anchors the southern end of the Northeast megalopolis. As the seat of the U.S. federal government, the city is an important world political capital. The city hosts buildings that house federal government headquarters, including the White House, U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court Building, and multiple federal departments and agencies. The city is home to many national monuments and museums, located most prominently on or around the National Mall, including the Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument. It hosts 177 foreign embassies and the global headquarters of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, and other international organizations. Home to many of the nation's largest industry associations, non-profit organizations, and think tanks, the city is known as a lobbying hub, which is centered on and around K Street. It is also among the country's top tourist destinations; in 2022, it had an estimated 20.7 million domestic and 1.2 million international visitors, the seventh-most among U.S. cities. (Full article...)
Featured article
This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia.
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Image 1
Doonan in 1890
James Aloysius Doonan SJ (November 8, 1841 – April 12, 1911) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit, who was the president of Georgetown University from 1882 to 1888. During that time he oversaw the naming of Gaston Hall and the construction of a new building for the School of Medicine. Doonan also acquired two historic cannons that were placed in front of Healy Hall. His presidency was financially successful, with a reduction in the university's burdensome debt that had accrued during the construction of Healy Hall. (Full article...) -
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Formal portrait, c. 1835
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. He rose to fame as a U.S. Army general and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. His political philosophy, which dominated his presidency, became the basis for the rise of Jacksonian democracy. His legacy is controversial: he has been praised as an advocate for white working Americans and preserving the union of states, and criticized for his racist policies, particularly towards Native Americans. (Full article...) -
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The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The 56th inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in the city, marked the commencement of the first term of Barack Obama as president and Joe Biden as vice president. Based on combined attendance numbers, television viewership, and Internet traffic, it was the most viewed inauguration since that of Ronald Reagan in 1981. (Full article...) -
Image 4Look Mickey (also known as Look Mickey!) is a 1961 oil on canvas painting by Roy Lichtenstein. Widely regarded as the bridge between his abstract expressionism and pop art works, it is notable for its ironic humor and aesthetic value as well as being the first example of the artist's employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery as a source for a painting. The painting was bequeathed to the Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art upon Lichtenstein's death. (Full article...)
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William McSherry SJ (July 19, 1799 – December 18, 1839) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became the president of Georgetown College and a Jesuit provincial superior. The son of Irish immigrants, McSherry was educated at Georgetown College, where he entered the Society of Jesus. As one of the first Americans to complete the traditional Jesuit course of training, he was sent to Rome to be educated for the priesthood. There, he made several discoveries of significant, forgotten holdings in the Jesuit archives, which improved historians' knowledge of the early European settling of Maryland and of the language of Indian tribes there. (Full article...) -
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William Feiner SJ (born Wilhelm Feiner; December 27, 1792 – June 9, 1829) was a German Catholic priest and Jesuit who became a missionary to the United States and eventually the president of Georgetown College, now known as Georgetown University. (Full article...) -
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Charles Henry Stonestreet SJ (November 21, 1813 – July 3, 1885) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who served in prominent religious and academic positions, including as provincial superior of the Jesuit Maryland Province and president of Georgetown University. He was born in Maryland and attended Georgetown University, where he co-founded the Philodemic Society. After entering the Society of Jesus and becoming a professor at Georgetown, he led St. John's Literary Institution and St. John the Evangelist Church in Frederick, Maryland. He was appointed president of Georgetown University in 1851, holding the office for two years, during which time he oversaw expansion of the university's library. The First Plenary Council of Baltimore was held at Georgetown during his tenure. (Full article...) -
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The Nativity is a devotional mid-1450s oil-on-wood panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus. It shows a nativity scene with grisaille archways and trompe-l'œil sculptured reliefs. Christus was influenced by the first generation of Netherlandish artists, especially Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, and the panel is characteristic of the simplicity and naturalism of art of that period. Placing archways as a framing device is a typical van der Weyden device, and here likely borrowed from that artist's Saint John Altarpiece and Miraflores Altarpiece. Yet Christus adapts these painterly motifs to a uniquely mid-15th century sensibility, and the unusually large panel – perhaps painted as a central altarpiece panel for a triptych – is nuanced and visually complex. It shows his usual harmonious composition and employment of one-point-perspective, especially evident in the geometric forms of the shed's roof, and his bold use of color. It is one of Christus's most important works. Max Friedländer definitely attributed the panel to Christus in 1930, concluding that "in scope and importance, [it] is superior to all other known creations of this master." (Full article...) -
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On April 29, 2006, American comedian Stephen Colbert appeared as the featured entertainer at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, which was held in Washington, D.C., at the Hilton Washington hotel. Colbert's performance, consisting of a 16-minute podium speech and a 7-minute video presentation, was broadcast live across the United States on the cable television networks C-SPAN and MSNBC. Standing a few feet from U.S. President George W. Bush, in front of an audience of celebrities, politicians, and members of the White House Press Corps, Colbert delivered a controversial satirical routine targeting the president and the media. He spoke in the persona of the character he played on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a parody of conservative pundits such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. (Full article...) -
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Thomas F. Mulledy SJ (/mʌˈleɪdi/ muh-LAY-dee; August 12, 1794 – July 20, 1860) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became the president of Georgetown College, a founder of the College of the Holy Cross, and a Jesuit provincial superior. His brother, Samuel Mulledy, also became a Jesuit and president of Georgetown. (Full article...) -
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M Street elevation in December 2018
The Georgetown Car Barn, historically known as the Capital Traction Company Union Station, is a building in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Designed by the architect Waddy Butler Wood, it was built between 1895 and 1897 by the Capital Traction Company as a union terminal for several Washington and Virginia streetcar lines. The adjacent Exorcist steps, later named after their appearance in William Friedkin's 1973 horror film The Exorcist, were built during the initial construction to connect M Street with Prospect Street. (Full article...) -
Image 12William Matthews (December 16, 1770 – April 30, 1854), occasionally spelled Mathews, was an American Catholic priest who was the fifth ordained in the United States and the first born in British America. (Full article...)
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John William Beschter SJ (born Johann Wilhelm Beschter; German: [ˈjoːhan ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈbɛʃtɐ]; May 20, 1763 – January 6, 1842) was a Catholic priest and Jesuit from the Duchy of Luxembourg in the Austrian Netherlands. He emigrated to the United States as a missionary in 1807, where he ministered in rural Pennsylvania and Maryland. Beschter was the last Jesuit pastor of St. Mary's Church in Lancaster, as well as the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. He was also a priest at several other German-speaking churches in Pennsylvania. (Full article...) -
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Whitney in 1906
John Dunning Whitney SJ (July 19, 1850 – November 27, 1917) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became the president of Georgetown University in 1898. Born in Massachusetts, he joined the United States Navy at the age of 16, where he was introduced to Catholicism by way of a book that accidentally came into his possession and prompted him to become a Catholic. He entered the Society of Jesus and spent the next twenty-five years studying and teaching mathematics at Jesuit institutions around the world, including in Canada, England, Ireland, and around the United States in New York, Maryland, Boston, and Louisiana. He became the vice president of Spring Hill College in Alabama before being appointed the president of Georgetown University. (Full article...) -
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John Early SJ (July 1, 1814 – May 23, 1873) was an Irish-American Catholic priest and Jesuit educator who was the president of the College of the Holy Cross and Georgetown University, as well as the founder and first president of Loyola College in Maryland. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the United States at the age of nineteen. Upon his arrival, he enrolled at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland and entered the Society of Jesus, completing his education at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. (Full article...) -
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Howard as head coach of Michigan in 2020
Juwan Antonio Howard (/dʒuːˈwɑːn/ joo-WAWN; born February 7, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Howard was a collegiate All-American, had a 19-year NBA career with eight different teams (including All-Star and All-NBA nods and two NBA championships), and served as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team. (Full article...) -
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Graham in 1959
Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. Graham is regarded by critics as one of the most dominant players of his era and one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, having taken the Browns to league championship games every year between 1946 and 1955, making ten championship appearances, and winning seven of them. With Graham at quarterback, the Browns posted a record of 105 wins, 17 losses, and 4 ties, including a 9–3 win–loss record in the AAFC and NFL playoffs. Long-time New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a friend of Graham's, once called him "as great of a quarterback as there ever was." (Full article...) -
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Portrait, c. 1890s
Joseph Havens Richards SJ (born Havens Cowles Richards; November 8, 1851 – June 9, 1923) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became a prominent president of Georgetown University, where he instituted major reforms and significantly enhanced the quality and stature of the university. Richards was born to a prominent Ohio family; his father was an Episcopal priest who controversially converted to Catholicism and had the infant Richards secretly baptized as a Catholic. (Full article...) -
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Portrait, 1816
James Madison (March 16, 1751 [O.S. March 5, 1750] – June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. (Full article...) -
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Healy in 1882
Patrick Francis Healy SJ (February 27, 1834 – January 10, 1910) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was an influential president of Georgetown University, becoming known as its "second founder". The university's flagship building, Healy Hall, bears his name. Though he considered himself and was widely accepted as White, Healy was posthumously recognized as the first Black American to earn a PhD, as well as the first to enter the Jesuit order and to become the president of a predominantly White university. (Full article...) -
Image 21Enoch Fenwick SJ (May 15, 1780 – November 25, 1827) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who ministered throughout Maryland and became the twelfth president of Georgetown College. Descending from one of the original Catholic settlers of the Province of Maryland, he studied at Georgetown College in what is now Washington, D.C. Like his brother and future bishop, Benedict Joseph Fenwick, he entered the priesthood, studying at St. Mary's Seminary before entering the Society of Jesus, which was suppressed at the time. He was made rector of St. Peter's Pro-Cathedral in Baltimore by Archbishop John Carroll, and remained in the position for ten years. Near the end of his pastorate, he was also made vicar general of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which involved traveling to say Mass in remote parishes throughout rural Maryland. (Full article...)
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Jordan in 2014
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and retired professional basketball player who is a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 15 seasons in the NBA between 1984 and 2003, winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. Widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, he was integral in popularizing basketball and the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. He is one of the world's richest celebrities, with a $3.8 billion net worth as of 2025. (Full article...) -
Image 23On June 19, 1838, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus agreed to sell 272 slaves to two Louisiana planters, Henry Johnson and Jesse Batey, for $115,000 (equivalent to approximately $3.34 million in 2024). This sale was the culmination of a contentious and long-running debate among the Maryland Jesuits over whether to keep, sell, or free their slaves, and whether to focus on their rural estates or on their growing urban missions, including their schools. (Full article...)
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James A. Ryder SJ (October 8, 1800 – January 12, 1860) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became the president of several Jesuit universities in the United States. Born in Ireland, he immigrated with his widowed mother to the United States as a child, to settle in Georgetown, in the District of Columbia. He enrolled at Georgetown College and then entered the Society of Jesus. Studying in Maryland and Rome, Ryder proved to be a talented student of theology and was made a professor. He returned to Georgetown College in 1829, where he was appointed to senior positions and founded the Philodemic Society, becoming its first president. (Full article...) -
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Garfield c. 1881
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until his death in September that year after being shot in July. A preacher, lawyer, and Civil War general, Garfield served nine terms in the United States House of Representatives and is the only sitting member of the House to be elected president. Before he ran for president, the Ohio General Assembly had elected him to the U.S. Senate, a position he declined upon becoming president-elect. (Full article...)
Neighboorhoods
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Langdon within the District of Columbia
Langdon is a neighborhood located in Ward 5 of Northeast Washington, D.C. Historical surveys of D.C. recognize Langdon as a neighborhood dating back to at least 1903. Langdon is bounded by Montana Ave. NE to the west/southwest, New York Ave. NE to the south, Bladensburg Rd. NE to the southeast, South Dakota Ave. NE to the northeast, and Rhode Island Ave. NE to the north/northwest. Langdon is adjacent to the Northeast D.C. neighborhoods of Brentwood (west), Woodridge (east), Fort Lincoln (southeast), Gateway (south), and Brookland (north). (Full article...) -
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Map of Washington, D.C., with Wakefield highlighted in red
Wakefield is a neighborhood in the Upper Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., bounded by Albemarle Street NW to the south, Nebraska Avenue NW to the west, and Connecticut Avenue to the east. It is served by the Van Ness-UDC and Tenleytown-AU station on the Washington Metro's Red Line. (Full article...) -
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Chinatown's Friendship Archway, as seen looking east on H Street NW in November 2023
Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown is a small, historic area of Downtown Washington, D.C. along H and I Streets between 5th and 8th Streets, Northwest. The area was once home to thousands of Chinese immigrants, but fewer than 300 remained in 2017. The current neighborhood, established around 1931, was the second in Washington to be called “Chinatown.” The first Chinatown began on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue in the 1880's, but was moved to the H Street area with the development of the Federal Triangle in the early 1930's. In 1986, a Chinese gate designed by Chinese-American architect Alfred H. Liu was built over H Street at 7th Street. By 1997, prominent landmarks such as the Capital One Arena, a sports and entertainment arena, occupied the area. The neighborhood is served by the Gallery Place station of the Washington Metro. (Full article...) -
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Map of Washington, D.C., with the Good Hope neighborhood highlighted in red
Good Hope is a residential neighborhood in southeast Washington, D.C., near Anacostia. The neighborhood is generally middle class and is dominated by single-family detached and semi-detached homes. The year-round Fort Dupont Ice Arena skating rink and the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum are nearby. Good Hope is bounded by Fort Stanton Park(Fort Circle Hiker-Biker Trail) SE, Alabama Avenue SE, Naylor Road SE, and U Street SE. The proposed Skyland Shopping Center redevelopment project is within the boundaries of the neighborhood. (Full article...) -
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Petworth is a neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. While largely residential, Petworth is home to a notable commercial corridor of shops and restaurants, primarily along Georgia Avenue and Upshur Street, as well as a portion of 14th Street. The neighborhood is accessible via the Georgia Ave–Petworth station on the Green Line of the Washington Metro. (Full article...) -
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Chevy Chase (/ˈtʃɛviː tʃeɪs/) is a neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. It borders Chevy Chase, Maryland. (Full article...) -
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An ammunition magazine similar to those built at Fort Stanton.
Fort Stanton was a Civil War-era fortification constructed in the hills above Anacostia in the District of Columbia, USA, and was intended to prevent Confederate artillery from threatening the Washington Navy Yard. It also guarded the approach to the bridge that connected Anacostia (then known as Uniontown) with Washington. Built in 1861, the fort was expanded throughout the war and was joined by two subsidiary forts: Fort Ricketts and Fort Snyder. Following the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, it was dismantled and the land returned to its original owner. It never saw combat. Abandoned after the war, the site of the fort was planned to be part of a grand "Fort Circle" park system encircling the city of Washington. Though this system of interconnected parks never was fully implemented, the site of the fort is today a park maintained by the National Park Service, and a historical marker stands near the fort's original location. (Full article...) -
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Map of Washington, D.C. with Swampoodle highlighted in red
Swampoodle was a neighborhood in Washington, D.C. on the border of Northwest and Northeast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This neighborhood is no longer known as Swampoodle and has been replaced in large part by NoMa. (Full article...) -
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Skyland within the District of Columbia
Skyland is a neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is bounded by Good Hope Road to the northeast, Alabama Avenue to the southeast, and Fort Stanton Park to the south and west. It is part of Ward 8. (Full article...) -
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Mount Pleasant is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The neighborhood is primarily residential, with restaurants and stores centered along a commercial corridor on Mt. Pleasant Street. Mount Pleasant is known for its unique identity and multicultural landscape, home to diverse groups such as the punk rock, the Peace Corps and Hispanic Washingtonian communities. (Full article...) -
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Stronghold is a neighborhood in Ward 5 of Northeast Washington D.C. Stronghold is contained between Michigan Avenue N.E. to the north, North Capitol Street N.W. to the west, and Glenwood Cemetery to both the south and east. Stronghold borders the adjacent neighborhoods of Edgewood, University Heights, and Brookland in Ward 5 of Northeast Washington D.C. (Full article...) -
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Brookland in 2022 with the Brookland–CUA station Metro station in the foreground
Brookland, also known as Little Rome or Little Vatican, is a neighborhood located in the Northeast (NE) quadrant of Washington, D.C. Bounded by Fort Totten Metro Train tracks NE, and Brookland CUA Metro train tracks, Taylor Street NE, Rhode Island Avenue NE, South Dakota Avenue NE. It is best known for its numerous Catholic institutions, including schools, religious communities, shrines, institutes, and other organizations built and based around the Catholic University of America. (Full article...) -
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NoMa (short for "north of Massachusetts Avenue") is a neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Ward 6 of the city. The neighborhood encompasses the region north of Massachusetts Avenue located north and east of Union Station. It includes the Sursum Corda, Eckington, and Near Northeast areas, as well as a section known as Swampoodle. (Full article...)
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Image 1The southern portion of the National Mall in 1863 during the American Civil War (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 3The United States Capitol in 1846, prior to the addition of the current rotunda (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 4Federal Triangle, a historic hub of executive departments of the U.S. federal government (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 5Duke Ellington School of the Arts, a public magnet school in the city (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 6Metrobus, operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 7The National Mall proper and adjacent areas, April 2002. The Mall had a grassy lawn flanked on each side by unpaved paths and rows of American elm trees as its central feature. Numbers in the image correspond to numbers in the list of landmarks, museums and other features below. (from National Mall)
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Image 8Washington, D.C. is located on the north side of the Potomac River. It is bordered on three sides by Maryland and by Northern Virginia to its southwest. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 9Territorial progression of Washington, D.C. (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 11The West side of the U.S. Capitol building, March 2019 (from National Mall)
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Image 13The World War II Memorial, one of many popular tourist sites located on the National Mall (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 14Map of the District of Columbia in 1835, prior to the retrocession (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 15The Northeast Boundary No. 4 marker stone of the original border between the District of Columbia and Prince George's County, Maryland (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 16The Mall following a snow storm (from National Mall)
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Image 17The French ambassador's residence in the Sheridan-Kalorama Historic District (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 18Axis after restoration (September 2016) (from National Mall)
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Image 19The Aqueduct Bridge crossing the Potomac River, with Northern Virginia in the background and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the foreground (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 20Rows of young American elm trees on the National Mall, looking east from the top of the Washington Monument, circa 1942 (from National Mall)
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Image 21City of Washington from Beyond the Navy Yard, an 1833 portrait by George Cooke in the Oval Office in the White House (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 22The National Mall, including a central pathway through it, the centerpiece of the 1901 McMillan Plan (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 23The Pentagon following the September 11 attacks with the Washington Monument visible in the background (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 24President Abraham Lincoln insisted that construction of the United States Capitol continue during the Civil War. (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 25One Franklin Square in Downtown houses the headquarters of The Washington Post, the nation's third-largest newspaper by circulation as of 2023 (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 28In 1800, the United States Congress began assembling in the new United States Capitol after the nation's capital was moved from Philadelphia, which served as the capital during the American Revolution and again from 1790 to 1800. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 29The Washington Monument viewed from the Tidal Basin during the National Cherry Blossom Festival in April 2018 (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 30Memorial Bridge, connecting the city across the Potomac River with Arlington County (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 31A portrait of the Mall and vicinity looking northwest from southeast of the U.S. Capitol, circa 1846–1855. Stables are in the foreground, the Washington City Canal behind them, the Capitol on the right and the Smithsonian "Castle", the Washington Monument and the Potomac River in the distant left. (from National Mall)
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Image 32The National Mall viewed from the Lincoln Memorial, July 2023 (from National Mall)
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Image 33On September 18, 1793, an engraving of George Washington, known as the First Cornerstone, was placed as the corner stone of the United States Capitol. (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 34Pennsylvania Avenue, one of the city's most prominent streets, connects the U.S. Capitol and White House. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 35The Concert for Valor on the National Mall on November 11, 2014, looking west from the U.S. Capitol grounds (from National Mall)
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Image 36The March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on August 28, 1963 (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 37Reserve area designated by the Commemorative Works Clarification and Revision Act (from National Mall)
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Image 39The National Gallery of Art, the fourth-most visited art museum in the United States in 2023 with nearly four million visitors (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 40Facing east on the National Mall, as viewed near the 1300 block of Jefferson Drive, S.W. in April 2010. Rows of American elm trees line the sides of a path traversing the length of the Mall. (from National Mall)
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Image 42Library of Congress(from National Mall)
The "Grand Avenue" or Mall as proposed by Pierre L'Enfant, 1791 -
Image 43Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia is the closest airport to the city among the three major Washington metropolitan area airports. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 44Eastward view of the National Mall from the top of the Washington Monument in 1918. The three structures and two chimneys crossing the Mall are temporary World War I buildings A, B and C and parts of their central power plant. (from National Mall)
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Image 47National Mall, a landscaped park extending from the Lincoln Memorial to the United States Capitol (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 48Washington, D.C., police on Harley-Davidson motorcycles escorting the March for Life protest on Constitution Avenue in January 2018 (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 49The Washington Monument stood in this unfinished form for 25 years before being completed in 1884. Upon its completion, it was the tallest man-made structure in the world. (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 50Construction of the Washington Metro on Connecticut Avenue in 1973 (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 52Georgetown University, founded in 1789, the city's oldest university (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 53The Washington Monument (forefront) and White House (center) in September 2003. Since 1961, the city's residents can vote for the U.S. president and vice president, who also serves as President of the Senate. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 54The U.S. Capitol dome was under construction during Lincoln's first inauguration on March 4, 1861, five weeks before the start of the American Civil War. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 55The Abraham Lincoln Statue at the Lincoln Memorial in September 2016 (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 561963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on the National Mall facing east from the Lincoln Memorial (from National Mall)
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Image 58John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (from National Mall)
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Image 59A major bus strike in May 1974 caused huge traffic jams throughout the city (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 61Reading Room at the Library of Congress (from National Mall)
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Image 64The Eccles Building on Constitution Avenue, home of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 65With over 30,000 participants as of 2024, the annual Marine Corps Marathon, held annually in October in Washington, D.C. and Arlington County, is the largest non-prize money marathon in the country. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 67The National Mall was the centerpiece of the 1902 McMillan Plan. A central open vista traversed the length of the Mall. (from National Mall)
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Image 68A 2009 view from the United States Capitol facing west, over the Grant Memorial and Capitol Reflecting Pool in the foreground, and across the National Mall towards the Washington Monument (from National Mall)
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Image 69The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a two-acre (8,100 m2) site featuring two black granite walls engraved with the names of those service members who died or remain missing in the Vietnam War designed by Maya Lin, was initially controversial for its lack of heroic iconography, a departure from earlier memorial designs. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 74Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street, known for its half-smoke, a historic staple of the city's cuisine (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 75Due to limited dining options on the Mall, food trucks are often parked next to tourist-dense locations. (from National Mall)
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Image 76Map of racial distribution in the Washington metropolitan area, according to the 2010 U.S. census; each dot represents 25 people: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic or Other (yellow) (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 77The L'Enfant Plan for the city, developed in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 78The April 9, 1939, concert by Marian Anderson, facing east from the Lincoln Memorial (from National Mall)
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Image 80Axis undergoing restoration (October 2015) (from National Mall)
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Image 81This view from the top of the Washington Monument shows rows of elm trees lining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool (November 2014). (from National Mall)
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Image 82Capital One Arena in the city's Chinatown section hosts the Washington Capitals, an NHL team (pictured), and the Washington Wizards, an NBA team (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 84Civil rights marchers during the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 86CNN reporting from the city during the 2016 U.S. presidential election (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 87The U.S. Capitol during the February 5–6, 2010 North American blizzard (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 88Westward view from the top of the Washington Monument in 1943 or 1944 during World War II. In the foreground, temporary buildings on the Washington Monument grounds house the Navy's Bureau of Ships. The Main Navy and Munitions Buildings stand to the right of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Temporary buildings to the left of the Reflecting Pool house the Navy's Bureau of Supplies and Accounts. (from National Mall)
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Image 90The Library of Congress, the world's largest library, has more than 173 million items. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 91The American Enterprise Institute, one of the city's many think tanks (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 93An 1814 watercolor illustration of the United States Capitol after the burning of Washington during the War of 1812 (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 95Washington Metro, the second-busiest rapid rail system in the U.S. based on average weekday ridership, is known for its iconic vaulted ceilings (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 96Demonstrators marching down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 97After their victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814, the British burned the White House and other federal buildings during a one-day occupation of Washington. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 99The Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in D.C. is the largest advanced wastewater treatment facility in the world. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 100The first inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, facing west from the Capitol (from National Mall)
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Image 101General Dwight D. Eisenhower received a hero's welcome in the city in June 1945 following the Allied victory in World War II (from History of Washington, D.C.)
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Image 102The Eisenhower Executive Office Building, built between 1871 and 1888, was the world's largest office building until 1943, when it was surpassed by The Pentagon. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 103Rock Creek Park, the city's largest park, stretches across Northwest. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 105The John A. Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, headquarters for much of the Government of the District of Columbia, including the offices of the mayor and D.C. Council (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 106A performance of Moulin Rouge! at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 107Eisenhower Memorial at night, 2021 (from National Mall)
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Image 108The Jefferson Memorial and many of the city's other major monuments are built in the Neoclassical style. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 109The city's African American population has declined since the 1968 riots. (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 110A map of the Mall in 1893 showing the Monument Grounds (with the Washington Monument), Agricultural Grounds (with the Dept. of Agriculture), Smithsonian Grounds (with the Castle and Arts and Industries museum), Armory Square, Public Grounds and Botanical Garden, and parts of the recently created "Tidal Reservoir" and "Proposed Park". (from National Mall)
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Image 112The National Museum of Natural History, the third-most visited museum in the U.S. in 2023, with 4.4 million visitors (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 113Britney Spears performs during the "NFL Kickoff Live from the National Mall Presented by Pepsi Vanilla" concert, September 4, 2003 (from National Mall)
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Image 115Pool after reconstruction (May 2016) (from National Mall)
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Image 116The city's license plate, which calls for an end to taxation without representation (from Washington, D.C.)
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Image 117Looking east from the top of the Washington Monument towards the Mall and the U.S. Capitol, 2023 (from National Mall)
Did you know...
- ... that new employees of a business headquartered in the Editors Building chose their office decorations from a 7,000-piece collection of historic memorabilia of Washington, D.C.?
- ... that a coconut tree meme drove sales of piña coladas in the Washington, D.C., area?
- ... that in one neighborhood commission district, the voters and officeholders are all inmates at the D.C. Jail?
- ... that, under O'Donoghue v. United States, Washington, D.C.'s courts are the only tribunals in the United States that might be both constitutional and legislative courts at the same time?
- ... that residents reported the first cycling club in Washington, D.C., to the police over concerns that bicycles posed a danger to pedestrians?
- ... that Nobody is the highest-grossing 2D Chinese animated film?
In the news
- 6 March 2026 – Immigration policy of the second Trump administration
- A United States appeals court declines to allow Donald Trump's administration to end temporary protected status for more than 350,000 Haitian nationals, leaving in place a lower court order that blocks the policy while the case proceeds. (Reuters)
- 2 March 2026 – Rwanda–United States relations, Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
- The U.S. Department of State imposes sanctions on the Rwandan military for allegedly supporting the March 23 Movement and violating a peace agreement with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (AFP via Barron's)
- 17 February 2026 –
- An 18-year-old is arrested after running towards the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., with a loaded shotgun, multiple rounds of ammunition and a tactical vest. (Reuters) (WJLA-TV)
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