The first national memorial to specifically honor members of the American armed forces who were permanently disabled during their service opened in 2014. The memorial was proposed to Congress in 1998 by a group led by philanthropist Lois Pope; Jesse…

The John Stevens Shop is a stone carving workshop based in Rhode Island and currently co-owned by the father and son team of John E. and Nicholas Benson. They have been involved in the design and execution of lettering for inscriptions for four…

The artist in this photograph is carving one of the many inscriptions found in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Calligrapher and stone carver John Benson, designed the layout and typeface of the inscriptions. Each letter was carved and…

In June 1939, carpenters and laborers working on construction projects throughout Washington went on strike, including many building the Jefferson Memorial. Work on the Memorial and other public projects stopped for nearly 3 weeks due to the strikes.…

The Washington Post published an article highlighting the contributions of laborers who built the Washington Monument. The article included an illustration of the individuals profiled and revealed their occupational backgrounds. Some worked on ships…

French was a sculptor whose best-known work in Washington, DC, is the statue of President Abraham Lincoln inside the Lincoln Memorial. He also sculpted the statue of Victory which tops the First Division Monument in President’s Park. From 1910-1915,…

This newspaper article was published in New York City in the mid 1790s, describing official plans for the developing federal city. Although an Act of Congress in 1790 had declared that Washington would be the national capital as of 1800, it was at…

This illustration accompanied an article discussing efforts to restart construction on the Washington Monument, with hopes to complete the monument by the national centennial in 1876. The point of view of the illustration is from the Mall's baseball…

John McShain was a building contractor in charge of the construction of many federal buildings in Washington during the 1900s. On the Mall, he was responsible for building the Jefferson Memorial and was trusted with remodeling the White House during…

In 1791, Daniel Carroll of Duddington, a District resident, was in the middle of an argument with Pierre Charles L'Enfant, city planner for the new capital. Carroll had built a house where L'Enfant wanted a road, but Carroll was reluctant to have it…