Over 35,000 people attended the dedication ceremony for the Lincoln Memorial in 1922, ten years after construction began. At the ceremony, President Warren G. Harding, former president and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Howard Taft, and Robert…

On July 9, 1931, Senator Hiram Bingham boarded an autogiro at Capitol Plaza for a quick ride to the golf course. Bingham, a former pilot in World War I and supporter of the unique aircraft, used the opportunity to promote the safety and efficiency of…

Jan Scruggs, President and Founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, proposed in 2000 to build an education center focusing on veterans' service in the wars following Vietnam. The planned center would have been located across the street from the…

In December 1928, Harold F. Pitcairn piloted an autogiro from Philadelphia to Washington, DC to introduce this new aircraft to Americans. It was reportedly the first extended autogiro flight in the US. Pitcairn was an airplane manufacturer. Paramount…

In May 1921, two local American Legion posts held a funeral at the Sylvan Theater to honor men from the District of Columbia who died overseas during World War I. The remains of Hiram F. Cash and Vincent B. Costello were present at the funeral.…

This design of the Statue of Freedom was rejected for its reference to slavery. It was one of three designs developed by sculptor Thomas Crawford for the top of the Capitol dome. In 1856, he proposed a statue with a “Liberty Cap.” This style of cap…

In 1855, Congress commissioned Thomas Crawford to build a statue to top the cast-iron Capitol dome. Two years later, Crawford created the plaster model in Rome and sent it to the US for casting. The bronze was cast at a foundry in Washington DC under…

On October 10, 1987, 2,000 same-sex couples pledged their vows in a mass wedding behind the National Museum of Natural History and in front of the Internal Revenue Service building. The location allowed the group to protest the lack of recognition of…

Since the wedding in 1812 of First Lady Dolley Madison's sister, close friends and family members of presidents married at the White House. A total of 17 couples tied the knot in the White House, including President Grover Cleveland. Many of these…

Since 1976, the National Park Service has allowed weddings and other special events to be held in 3 areas: the DC War Memorial, the George Mason Memorial, and the west lawn of the Jefferson Memorial. Anyone reserving one of these spaces must pay an…