In May 1887, militia groups from nineteen states and the District of Columbia participated in a drill competition on the National Mall. They set up their tents on the grounds of the Washington Monument and participated in marching, drilling, and…

For a week in April 1971, Vietnam veterans camped on the Mall near the Capitol to protest the Vietnam War. The veterans set up camp in defiance of recent court rulings declaring it illegal to sleep on the Mall. The protest was organized by Vietnam…

Roughly 250,000 people joined The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in US history. Marching for social and economic equality, the crowd stretched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln…

On August 23, 2011, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake affected the Washington, DC area and much of the east coast. From its epicenter in Louisa County, Virginia, the unusual quake caused minimal damage. However, the exterior of the Washington Monument had…

In 2010 the DC government announced that public wireless internet was available on the National Mall. Visitors and residents can get online by logging into “DC Wifi” using wifi-enabled devices. The Smithsonian Castle Information Center, National…

At sunset on July 14, 1935, Dr. Hans Kindler conducted the National Symphony Orchestra in the first performance at the Watergate steps near the Lincoln Memorial. The orchestra played from a specially contracted barge anchored in the Potomac near the…

In February 1925, the Senate voted to defund and demolish the white and black bathing beaches at the Tidal Basin. Black residents were critical of the unequal funding and facilities at their beach when compared with the white one. In addition,…

This plate from an American series shows men on horseback on what would become the National Mall with the Capitol building in the background. The plate shows the original design for the Capitol by Dr. William Thornton, which would be redesigned after…

Washington's first race riot spilled to the edges of the National Mall in 1835. On August 12, angered at rumors of a slave attack on a white woman, a mob of angry white men descended on the Epicurean Eating House owned by Mr. Beverly Snow at Sixth…

The first display of the Project NAMES Aids Memorial Quilt was on the National Mall on October 11, 1987, during the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Composed of nearly 2,000 panels, the Quilt was larger than a football field.…