The first performance at the Sylvan Theatre on the Washington Monument grounds took place on the evening of June 2, 1917. Artist and philanthropist Alice Pike Barney Hemmick founded the theater, believing that Washington needed a nationally supported…

This Smithsonian Institution brochure documents the architectural styles, architects, and unique histories of the museums on the National Mall from 1855 to 2004. It also includes information on Smithsonian buildings which lay outside of the scope of…

This 1901 Washington Post article discusses the newly formed McMillan Commission. Architect Burnham, who arranged World's Fair Grounds, and landscape expert F.L. Olmsted are among the newly appointed members of the committee. The article is hopeful…

This plan of the Smithsonian grounds between 7th and 12th Streets identifies where the new US National Museum Building, now the National Museum of Natural History, was to be built. It also shows the Smithsonian Institution Building (and behind it the…

This five-part panorama shows the National Mall and surrounding buildings, from the Smithsonian "Castle" Institution Building. The left section shows Washington Monument under construction in background, with Agriculture Department at left. The left…

On May 24, 1844 after receiving $30,000 in appropriations from Congress, inventor Samuel Morse sent the first official telegraph message from Washington, DC to Baltimore, Maryland. In a series of dots and dashes, later known as Morse code, Morse…

In 1925 the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. The organized event brought 25,000 members in full regalia to the city. Demonstrating at the height of their power, the KKK was a national fraternal organization…

One of the line items in the proposed 1924 appropriations for the District of Columbia was $50,000 for a bathing beach at the Tidal Basin for the African American residents of the District. While white residents had enjoyed a formal beach since 1918,…

These swimming pools were built between 1907 and 1910 on the site of the US Fish Commission hatching ponds. In addition to the pools there was a building with showers and changing rooms. The pools were removed in 1936.

The Reflecting Pool was never intended to be a swimming pool. In the late 1920s, however, people cooled off in its waters because there were not many other options. The beaches at the Tidal Basin closed in 1925 due to concerns about water quality and…