A Picnic on the White House Lawn
During the 1800s the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/66">White House</a> was much more accessible than it is today and informal social events were often held at the executive mansion. In this photo, a group is picnicking on the White House grounds with the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/337">Treasury Department building</a> visible in the background. <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/255">Unlike today, this area has the look of a forest with many large trees</a>. Before the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/206">McMillan Commission's redesign of the Mall</a> in 1902 the area was a series of meandering paths, gardens, and dense trees.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Uriah+Hunt+Painter+%28photographer%29">Uriah Hunt Painter (photographer)</a>
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002723172/">View Original</a>.
1889
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1860-1889">1860-1889</a>
Turning the Ground Near the Lincoln Memorial
<p>In the 1920s, the land on the western end of the Mall was transformed from a field into the planned landscape surrounding the newly-built <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/33">Lincoln Memorial</a>, designed by architect James Greenleaf. In this photo, a two-person team tills the land near the Memorial with a horse-drawn tractor to prepare the grounds for planting.</p>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Theodor+Horydczak+%28photographer%29">Theodor Horydczak (photographer)</a>
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/thc1995009388/pp/">View original</a>.
1920
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1920-1949">1920-1949</a>
Mall Turf
<p><span><span>Foot traffic from 25 million annual visitors is hard on the Mall’s natural resources. In 2017, the National Park Service completed a restoration project that re-engineered a total of 18 acres of turf between 3rd and 14th Streets to ensure preservation and access. The project included the installation of accessible granite curbs and compaction resistant soil. A new irrigation system was developed by installing drains and large underground cisterns to collect storm water which will be used to water the grass. A Turf Manager was hired to maintain the project, the first position of its kind in the National Park Service.</span></span></p>
National Park Service, National Mall and Memorial Parks. <a href="http://www.nps.gov/nama/naturescience/mall-turf.htm">View Original</a>.
2012
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2000-present">2000-present</a>
Arborists on the Mall
The National Park Service employs a team of professional arborists to ensure the continued health of the Mall's 9,000 trees. Sometimes known as "tree doctors," the arborists care for the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/24">cherry trees along the Tidal Basin</a>, which have been a fixture on the Mall since 1912. Without their hard work, the centerpieces of the annual <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/480">Cherry Blossom Festival </a>might not exist. <span>The Mall’s trees are beautiful, but they also serve another important function: removing air and water pollutants from the city and Chesapeake Bay watershed.</span>
National Park Service Internal Archives
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2000-present">2000-present</a>
Early Cherry Blossom Festival
As soon as the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/24">Japanese cherry trees</a> were planted, Washingtonians and tourists enjoyed the blossoms every spring. Although there were cherry blossom fetes in the 1920s, they were mostly held in Hains Point. The first Cherry Blossom Festival, which was intended to be the start of an annual tradition, took place in the spring of 1934. <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/330">First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt</a> and a delegation from the Japanese embassy led the sunrise ceremony that opened the event. The Festival included a parade, a ball, fireworks, and a performance of the Mikado, an English operetta set in Japan, at the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/3">Sylvan Theatre</a>.
"Full Program is Announced," <em>The Washington Post</em>, April 4, 1934.
4/19/1934
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1920-1949">1920-1949</a>
Flood of 1889
On June 2, 1889, heavy rains caused massive flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and overwhelmed the South Fork Dam. The storm also hit the Washington, DC, area. As a result, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/259">the Potomac River flooded and areas around Pennsylvania Avenue were under several feet of water</a>. The flooding was made worse by sewers that became clogged with dirt from unpaved roads and began overflowing, causing the water to rise. The only access between the east and west of the city was by boat.
Johnson, Willis Fletcher. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=60wOAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=History+of+the+Johnstown+Flood&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LMt3UpiqDpSusASy8oGwBA&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=History%20of%20the%20Johnstown%20Flood&f=true"><em>History of the Johnstown Flood: With Full Accounts Also of the Destruction of the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers, and the Bald Eagle Creek.</em></a> J. W. Keeler & co., 1889, 379.
06/02/1889
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1860-1889">1860-1889</a>
Tidal Basin
The Tidal Basin serves several purposes on the National Mall. Primarily, it is a reservoir for the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/424">Potomac River</a> and Washington Channel. In the past, it has also served as a recreational area for <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/164">swimming</a>, ice skating, or <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/494">boating</a>. Built by <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/137">Alexander and Repass</a>, the Tidal Basin is lined with <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/24">Japanese Cherry Trees</a>, making it the center of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/480">Cherry Blossom Festival</a>, and it borders several monuments, including the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/31">Jefferson</a>, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/156">Martin Luther King Jr.</a>, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/27">FDR</a>, and <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/16">George Mason</a> memorials. All of these factors make the Basin one of the central natural and recreational features of the National Mall.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Alexander+and+Repass">Alexander and Repass</a>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2008005337/">View original.</a>
1949
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1920-1949">1920-1949</a>
Potomac and Anacostia Rivers
The southern boundary of Washington, DC, is bordered by two rivers: the Potomac and the Anacostia. The rivers have long had problems with pollution from human and industrial waste. In the 1860s, President Lincoln used to complain of the smell of the rivers, retreating to Soldier's Home to escape. In the 1970s, President Lyndon B. Johnson attempted to reverse decades of pollution, making the rivers a focus of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Today the rivers are improving, but still suffer from pollution.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95515129/">View original</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Pre-1800s">Pre-1800s</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2000-present">2000-present</a>
Diary, John Quincy Adams, 1827
President Adams' diary entries from June 1827 detail his regular visits to the White House garden. In this entry he describes the variety of plants in the garden, from fruit trees to common weeds. The President relied on his gardener, John Ousley, to identify many of the plants. Apparently, Adams encountered the living form of tarragon, an herb, for the first time on June 5.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=John+Quincy+Adams">John Quincy Adams</a>
The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection. Massachusetts Historical Society, 2005. <a href="http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/php/doc?id=jqad37_214">View original</a>.
6/5/1827
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1800-1829">1800-1829</a>
Levees on the National Mall
Levees for flood control were first constructed on the National Mall after the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/343">Great Potomac Flood of 1936</a>. They were north of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/23">Reflecting Pool</a>, extending from the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/33">Lincoln Memorial</a> to the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/36">Washington Monument</a>. This early levee system did not eliminate flood damage. In 1942, flood waters again breached the sea wall of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/430">Tidal Basin</a> and covered the land beyond the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/31">Jefferson Memorial</a>. However, repairs to the Mall's levee system did not happen until 2006, when the basement of the National Archives flooded, threatening the survival of important national documents. New levees include a the construction of a removable barrier on 17th Street crossing the National Mall.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=D.B.+King">D.B. King</a>
Flickr. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/280113847/in/set-72157594259513614">View original.</a>
2006
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1920-1949">1920-1949</a>