The polo field on the National Mall has been a popular site for polo matches since the early 1900s. During World War II members of the military, including General George S. Patton, used the field for intramural games. Today, the polo field and…

Even before President Abraham Lincoln officially created a Department of Agriculture in 1862, the Bureau of Agriculture, part of the Patent Office, was growing crops on the National Mall, conducting research, and distributing seeds across the…

The street now known as Independence Avenue was originally called South B Street, following the district's street-naming conventions. In 1934, Congress voted to rename the street Independence Avenue, three years after it had renamed North B Street as…

The street which is now known as Constitution Avenue was originally called North B Street, following the District's street naming system. For much of the 1800s, there was no road, but instead was the site of the City Canal. When the canal was covered…

In the years preceding the Civil War, the area bordered by Pennsylvania Ave., 15th, and the "open sewer" of the Washington Canal was a slum characterized by rampant prostitution, muggings, and robberies. The population of this area increased during…

For thousands of federal employees, the National Mall is a workplace as well as a public space. The Department of Agriculture, where these women and men worked in 1942, is the only building bordering the Mall exclusively designated as an office, but…

On October 6, 1943, a group of 400 rabbis walked from Union Station to the US Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, and White House in an effort to raise awareness that millions of European Jews were being killed or imprisoned by the Nazi regime. Led by Hillel…

In March 1935 a dust storm hit Washington, DC, caused by soil erosion in the midwest in what came to be called the Dust Bowl. Washington had already experienced at least one dust storm, in May the previous year, but this storm had special timing. It…

These young Pages participate in a snowball fight on the Capitol grounds. The Congressional Page program began during the 20th Congress (1827-1829). In the early 1900s, Pages, also called messengers, were generally local Washington children, many of…

The creation of a memorial to Civil War Union General George Meade was first proposed by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1911. Congress approved the memorial in 1915, but conflicts between the Pennsylvania Meade Memorial Commission and the Washington…