The Washington City Canal ran for approximately two miles of canal through Washington from the present day Navy Yard, across the Capitol grounds, and down present day Constitution Avenue. Completed in 1815, the Canal incorporated Tiber Creek near…

Tiber Creek had been known as Goose Creek before 1790 when the city of Washington, DC was laid out and designated the nation's capital. The creek extended from the base of Capitol Hill to its mouth near the present day Washington Monument. In 1815,…

The Redwood Tree House stood on the grounds of the US Department of Agriculture for 38 years, between 1894 and 1932. Harvested in California, it had been displayed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago before coming to Washington. The…

The Bureau of Printing and Engraving is one of two sites in the United States where currency is produced (the other is in Fort Worth, Texas). The Bureau has been printing money here since 1880. Prior to that, currency was printed by private companies…

The Army Medical Museum and Library served as the home for the library and museum of the Surgeon General's office. The Museum was founded in 1862, but it did not have a permanent home until the building opened in 1887. For a time, it also housed Army…

The Washington Monument is the only actual monument on the National Mall because Washington was alive when it began to be planned. All others on the Mall are memorials, created after the person being remembered has died. Begun in 1848, construction…

Eighteen steps from the top landing of the Lincoln Memorial, an inscription marks the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood to give his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. The marker was placed in 2003 to mark the 40th anniversary of that speech.…

Dedicated by President Herbert Hoover in 1931, the District of Columbia War Memorial honors the residents who served and died in World War I. Inscribed on the floor of the domed monument are the names of the 499 DC residents who perished in that…

Constructed between 1914 and 1922, the Lincoln Memorial consists of a large, columned, classically inspired structure with a statue of Lincoln in the interior. Inscribed on the interior walls are Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and his Gettysburg…

Once the largest commercial market in Washington, Center Market opened in 1801. The original buildings were replaced in 1872 by a building designed by Adolph Cluss. The market was close to the Washington City Canal, railroads, and streetcar lines. It…