Washington, D.C.

• 1. Founding And Federal Design

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  On the 16th of July 1790, President George Washington signed the Residence Act into law. This bill approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The act formed from land donated by Maryland and Virginia. The initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring ten miles on each side. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory. Georgetown was founded in 1751 as a port city. Alexandria, Virginia, was established in 1749 as another port city. In 1791 and 1792, a team led by Andrew Ellicott surveyed the borders of the federal district. Benjamin Banneker, an African American astronomer whose parents had been enslaved, worked with Ellicott to place boundary stones at every mile point. Many of these stones still stand today. On the 9th of September 1791, three commissioners named the city after President Washington. At the same time, they named the federal district Columbia, a feminine form of Columbus. Congress held its first session there on the 17th of November 1800. Pierre Charles L'Enfant designed the city plan in 1791. He enlisted Isaac Roberdeau, Étienne Sulpice Hallet, and Alexander Ralston to help lay out the design. L'Enfant's design featured broad streets radiating from rectangles. It provided room for open space and landscaping. Thomas Jefferson provided L'Enfant with maps of European cities like Paris and Amsterdam. In March 1792, President Washington dismissed L'Enfant due to conflicts with the commissioners. Andrew Ellicott completed the design after L'Enfant left.

• 2. Wars And Civil Rights History

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  On the 24th of August 1814, British forces occupied Washington during the War of 1812. They defeated an American army at the Battle of Bladensburg just days before. The British 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. Most federal buildings were repaired quickly. The Capitol was not completed in its current form until 1868. In 1830, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal extended to Georgetown. Alexandria declined economically in the 1830s due to neglect by Congress. Pro-slavery residents feared abolitionists would end slavery in the district. Virginia General Assembly voted in February 1846 to accept the return of Alexandria. On the 9th of July 1846, Congress agreed to return all territory that Virginia had ceded. This left the district consisting only of land originally donated by Maryland. The Compromise of 1850 outlawed the slave trade in the district but not slavery itself. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act in 1862. It ended slavery in the district and freed about 3,100 slaves nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1868, Congress granted African American male residents the right to vote in municipal elections. After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on the 4th of April 1968, riots broke out in the city. They raged for three days primarily in U Street, 14th Street, 7th Street, and H Street corridors. More than 13,600 federal troops stopped the violence. Many stores burned during the unrest. Rebuilding from the riots was not completed until the late 1990s.

• 3. Geography And Urban Planning

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  Washington, D.C., is located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. East Coast. The city has a total area of sixty-eight square miles. Sixty-one square miles are land while seven square miles are water. The district borders Montgomery County, Maryland, to the northwest. Prince George's County, Maryland, lies to the east. Arlington County, Virginia, is to the west. Alexandria, Virginia, forms the southern border. Tiber Creek once passed through the National Mall but was fully enclosed underground during the 1870s. The highest natural elevation in the district is four hundred forty-four feet above sea level at Fort Reno Park. The lowest point is sea level at the Potomac River. The geographic center of Washington sits near the intersection of 4th and L streets NW. The city has six hundred eighty-three parks and greenspaces. These comprise about twenty percent of its land area. Ninety-nine percent of residents live within a ten-minute walk of a park. Rock Creek Park stretches across Northwest D.C. It covers three thousand acres of urban forest extending through a stream valley. Established in 1890, it is the country's fourth-oldest national park. The District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation maintains athletic fields and playgrounds. They operate forty swimming pools and sixty-eight recreation centers. By law, the city skyline remains low and sprawling. The federal Height of Buildings Act of 1910 limits building height based on street width. Maxima are one hundred thirty feet on residential streets and one hundred sixty feet on commercial ones. No law has ever limited buildings to the height of the United States Capitol or the Washington Monument.

• 4. Demographics And Economic Shifts

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  According to the 2020 census, the population was six hundred eighty-nine thousand five hundred forty-five. Commuters from Maryland and Virginia suburbs increase the daytime population to more than one million. When measured decade-over-decade, growth resumed after 2000 following half a century of decline. The black population reached a peak of seventy percent by 1970. Since then, African Americans have moved to surrounding suburbs. Between 2000 and 2010, there was a thirty-one point four percent increase in non-Hispanic white residents. An eleven point five percent decrease occurred in the black population during that same period. About seventeen percent of residents were age eighteen or younger as of 2010. The median age stood at thirty-four years old. Eighty-one thousand seven hundred thirty-four immigrants lived in Washington, D.C., according to 2010 data. Major sources included El Salvador, Ethiopia, Mexico, Guatemala, and China. Half of residents had at least a four-year college degree in 2006. In 2017, the median household income was ninety-two thousand two hundred sixty-six dollars. This ranked highest among all U.S. states. Nineteen percent of residents were below the poverty level in 2005. More than ninety percent of residents had health insurance coverage as of 2019. At least three percent of residents had HIV or AIDS according to a 2009 report. Twenty-five percent of people employed in Washington worked for the federal government as of July 2022.

• 5. Government Structure And Politics

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  Article One, Section Eight of the United States Constitution grants Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the city. The district did not have an elected local government until passage of the 1973 Home Rule Act. This act devolved certain Congressional powers to an elected mayor and a thirteen-member Council of the District of Columbia. Congress retains the right to review and overturn laws created by the council. Each of the city's eight wards elects a single member of the council. Residents elect four at-large members to represent the district as a whole. There are thirty-seven Advisory Neighborhood Commissions elected by small neighborhood districts. ANCs can issue recommendations on all issues affecting residents. The attorney general serves a four-year term. Washington, D.C., has been a member state of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization since 2015. The phrase Inside the Beltway describes discussions of national political issues inside the Capital Beltway highway loop constructed in 1964. The mayor and council set local taxes and a budget that Congress must approve. Analysts estimate the structural deficit ranges between four hundred seventy million dollars and one billion dollars per year. During Marion Barry's mayoralty, Washington Monthly magazine labeled the city the worst city government in America in 1989. In 1995, Congress created the District of Columbia Financial Control Board to oversee municipal spending. Mayor Anthony Williams won election in 1998 and oversaw urban renewal and budget surpluses. The district regained control over its finances in 2001.

• 6. Cultural Institutions And Arts Scene

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  The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts houses the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington Ballet. The Marine Barracks near Capitol Hill hosts the United States Marine Band founded in 1798. American march composer John Philip Sousa led the Marine Band from 1880 until 1892. Arena Stage achieved national attention when it opened in 1950. It spurred growth in the independent theater movement including the Shakespeare Theatre Company and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. U Street Corridor in Northwest is home to Howard Theatre and Lincoln Theatre. These venues hosted music legends like Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis. The Black Renaissance in D.C. occurred during the 1920s through the 1960s along Fourteenth Street and Shaw. Chuck Brown popularized go-go music in the late 1970s as a post-funk rhythm and blues genre. Dischord Records formed by Ian MacKaye became crucial to 1980s punk and indie rock. Modern alternative venues include The Black Cat and the 9:30 Club on U Street. The hardcore punk scene flourished in Adams Morgan starting in the 1970s. Ben's Chili Bowl has been located on U Street since its founding in 1958. It rose to prominence as a peaceful escape during the violent 1968 race riots. The Smithsonian Institution was chartered by Congress in 1846. Its collections are open to the public free of charge. In 2013, Smithsonian locations had thirty million combined visits. The National Museum of Natural History remains the most visited museum globally.