The Arts and Industries Building opened in 1881 as the “US National Museum.” Spencer Baird, the second Secretary of the Smithsonian, developed exhibits for the museum that included objects from the Centennial Exposition of 1876 and samples of the…

First known as the new National Museum, the National Museum of Natural History's building opened in 1910 after nearly 10 years of construction. The Museum's Beaux Arts design features a domed rotunda, columns, and a portico. The Museum first housed…

Built between 1904 and 1908 to house the US Department of Agriculture, the Whitten Building is the only non-public structure on the National Mall. The Whitten building is joined to the South Building by a pedestrian bridge over Independence Avenue.…

The Baltimore and Potomac Railway Station was built in 1873, over the old Tiber Creek and Washington City Canal waterway on the present-day site of the National Gallery of Art. Building contractors sank 35-foot piles to secure the foundation of the…

The Redwood Tree House stood on the grounds of the US Department of Agriculture for 38 years, between 1894 and 1932. Harvested in California, it had been displayed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago before coming to Washington. The…

Constructed between 1914 and 1922, the Lincoln Memorial consists of a large, columned, classically inspired structure with a statue of Lincoln in the interior. Inscribed on the interior walls are Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and his Gettysburg…

In 1912, the United States received a shipment of 3,020 cherry trees as a gift from the government of Japan. These were a replacement for a gift of trees in 1909 which had to be destroyed because they were infected with root disease. The trees were a…

The Cuban Friendship Urn originally stood in Cuba to honor American deaths on the USS Maine and during the Spanish-American War. After the urn was damaged in a 1926 hurricane, it was sent to the United States and placed outside the Cuban Embassy.…

Honoring Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones (1747-1742), this memorial lies just off the Mall in West Potomac Park. As Captain of the ship Bonhomme Richard during the Battle of Flamborough Head during the Revolutionary War, Jones famously uttered…

The National Sylvan Theater, located on the grounds of the Washington Monument, was the first federally funded theater in the United States. The modest stage hosts 10,000 spectators who come to the Mall to enjoy more than 100 events hosted here each…