During the 1840s, tired of the smell and dangers of candles and oil lamps, residents of Washington, DC regularly petitioned Congress to establish a gas company to light the city. In 1848, Congress agreed, first experimenting with lighting the Capitol…

In 1930, the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission selected Leo Friedlander to design a pair of statues representing war. Lack of funding because of the Depression delayed the project until 1935, when it was decided to use bronze instead of the more…

In 1930, the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission selected James Earle Fraser to design a pair of statues representing peace. Lack of funding during the Great Depression delayed the project until 1935. To curb costs, Fraser worked in bronze rather…

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan created a Presidential Commission to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the arrival of 13 German Mennonite families in Pennsylvania. The Commission decided to create a German-American Friendship Garden on the…

White residents of Washington enjoyed swimming in the Tidal Basin as early as the 1880s. In 1918, the district office of buildings and grounds added buildings to make the beach more enjoyable, like a cabana and diving platform. Like other…

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was dedicated on the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. King's college fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha originally proposed a memorial to…

The First Division Monument, funded by the Society of the First Division, was first created to remember First Division soldiers who died while serving in World War I. The Monument, designed by Cass Gilbert and Daniel Chester French, was dedicated in…

Located next to the White House, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building currently houses offices for executive staffs of the President, Vice President, First Lady, and Second Lady. Designed in the French Second Empire architectural style, this…

The White House is the official residence and office of the President of the United States. In 1792, the cornerstone was laid, and construction began with free and enslaved laborers doing much of the work. The building was designed in a Neo-Classical…

The Vietnam Women's Memorial opened in 1993 as the first monument on the National Mall dedicated to women's military service. The memorial project began in 1984 to honor more than 7,500 American women Vietnam veterans. The memorial features 3…