During the 1840s, tired of the smell and dangers of candles and oil lamps, residents of Washington, DC regularly petitioned Congress to establish a gas company to light the city. In 1848, Congress agreed, first experimenting with lighting the Capitol…

White residents of Washington enjoyed swimming in the Tidal Basin as early as the 1880s. In 1918, the district office of buildings and grounds added buildings to make the beach more enjoyable, like a cabana and diving platform. Like other…

These buildings were erected by the federal government during World War II to create offices for the many workers who came for new, war-related jobs. The buildings were never meant to be permanent, and were referred to by locals as "tempos."…

The Main Navy and Munitions temporary war buildings were built quickly in 1918 during World War I under the direction of Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to provide emergency offices for wartime workers. Nearly 14,000 U.S. Navy personnel…

Robey's slave pen, like its neighbor at the Yellow House, was a holding pen for slaves intended for auction. Brought in from surrounding areas, the slaves were subjected to brutal conditions before their sale and were marched through the streets of…

A private home owned by William H. Williams, the Yellow House was one of two notorious slave holding pens in Washington, DC. The two-story home housed slaves temporarily in the basement; traders removed them to the yard on auction day for the…

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 Washington City Canal ran for approximately two miles of canal through Washington from the present day Navy Yard, across the Capitol grounds, and down present day Constitution Avenue. Completed in 1815, the Canal incorporated Tiber Creek near…

Tiber Creek had been known as Goose Creek before 1790 when the city of Washington, DC was laid out and designated the nation's capital. The creek extended from the base of Capitol Hill to its mouth near the present day Washington Monument. In 1815,…

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…