Short answers, pulled from the story.
President George Washington signed the Residence Act into law on the 16th of July 1790. This bill approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River from land donated by Maryland and Virginia.
Pierre Charles L'Enfant designed the city plan in 1791 with help from Isaac Roberdeau, Étienne Sulpice Hallet, and Alexander Ralston. Andrew Ellicott completed the design after President Washington dismissed L'Enfant in March 1792 due to conflicts with the commissioners.
British forces occupied Washington D.C. on the 24th of August 1814 and set fire to federal buildings including the Capitol Library of Congress Treasury Building and White House. A storm forced the British to evacuate the city after only twenty-four hours.
The city has a total area of sixty-eight square miles consisting of sixty-one square miles of land and seven square miles of water. The district borders Montgomery County Maryland to the northwest Prince George's County Maryland to the east Arlington County Virginia to the west and Alexandria Virginia to the south.
The district did not have an elected local government until passage of the 1973 Home Rule Act which devolved certain Congressional powers to an elected mayor and a thirteen-member Council of the District of Columbia. Residents elect four at-large members to represent the district as a whole while each of the city's eight wards elects a single member of the council.