Browse Items (64 total)

NoMoreMonuments.jpg
This political cartoon was printed in New York in 1885. Complaining about all of the monuments being erected to honor our nation's history in the wake of the turmoil of the Civil War, the captions proclaims "No more of those hideous monuments!"…

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David Burnes, one of the original nineteen proprietors of land that created the District of Columbia, lived in this humble cottage overlooking today's Constitution Avenue. Burnes owned 700 acres encompassing the heart of downtown, including the…

IMG0081.jpg
In 1876 after sitting uncompleted for almost twenty years Congress passed a joint resolution taking charge of the completion of the monument. Taking control of the land and monument back from the Washington National Monument Society who had run out…

WP18450222.jpg
This Washington Post article from February 22, 1885 discusses the features of the newly completed Washington Monument. Including facts about height, weight, and marble used, the article shows the enthusiasm Americans felt that the monument was…

ellicottcentralmarket.jpg
In 1791, Andrew Ellicott surveyed the future city of Washington, taking the place of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the city's original designer. While Ellicott reshaped many intricacies of L'Enfant's plans for grand views, fountains, and public buildings,…

floodedgrounds.jpg
This 1860s photograph shows the Capitol dome under construction, with the Botanical Gardens and canal in foreground. In the 1860s, the Capitol dome was not yet complete. The city's canal system connected the Anacostia River to the Potomac by flowing…

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This map shows a plan for the National Mall which featured gardens, parks, winding paths, and the existing canal. Before the McMillan Commission's proposed redesign of the Mall in 1902, the space was much more pastoral in look and feel.

viewofdc1841.jpg
This bird's-eye view of Washington, DC faces west with the US Capitol in the foreground. Canals and other waterways intersecting the National Mall are visible to the left of tree-lined Pennsylvania Avenue, then the capital's ceremonial thoroughfare,…

lotterticket.jpg
This ticket is one from a collection of 20 lottery tickets of the Washington City Canal lottery "for cutting the canal, through the City of Washington to the Eastern Branch harbour." Eight tickets are signed by Notley Young, four by Daniel Carroll,…

notleyyoung.jpg
Notley Young's plantation bordering the Potomac was among the lands appropriated for the city of Washington and its public buildings. These site plans show the plantation's original grounds, buildings, slave quarters, overseer's house, gardens, water…
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