As a member of the DC Board of Public Works and later as Governor of the District of Columbia, Alexander Robey "Boss" Shepherd managed a number of public works programs in the 1870s. He oversaw the project to fill in the part of the Washington City…

The Nacotchtanks are a Native American Algonquian tribe who once lived on land which is now near the National Mall. Captain John Smith noted that the village had 80 fighting men in 1608. The Nacotchtanks likely spoke the Piscataway variation of the…

On June 11, 1861, Thaddeus S.C. Lowe flew a gas balloon, the Enterprise, over the White House. Lowe wanted to demonstrate the potential of using balloons for reconnaissance missions. Lowe placed his gas generators on the Mall near the Smithsonian…

Mary Ann Hall purchased a home in 1840 on land where the National Museum of the American Indian is today. Her three-story home became the site of a high end brothel for the District. Archaeologists excavated fragments of champagne bottles, oyster…

In May 1932, Walter W. Waters, a World War I veteran, led a group of his fellow veterans to Washington, DC, to demand immediate payment of bonuses which were not due to be paid to the soldiers until 1945. This group was dubbed the Bonus Expeditionary…

Hillel Kook was a Jewish activist and member of the Revisionist Zionist movement who was also known by the alias Peter Bergson. He lived in the United States during World War II and led the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe. In…

Margaret Bayard Smith was a writer and a vital figure in the early social life of Washington, DC. Her letters and diaries provide some of the best descriptions of early Washington. In 1837 she recorded what the Mall looked like when she and her…

Horatio Greenough is best known in Washington, DC, for his controversial sculptures titled "George Washington" and "The Rescue," which stood for a time inside the US Capitol building. Both were commissioned from Greenough by Congress, making him one…

In 1901, Charles McKim was appointed by Senator James McMillan to the Senate Park Commission, which was meant to suggest improvements to the National Mall. McKim was a dominant voice in the Commission, recommending a return to the 1791 design…

In 1932, MacArthur was the Chief of Staff of the Army when a group of veterans called the Bonus Army converged on Washington to demand payment of bonuses by Congress. On July 28 the protesters clashed violently with police, resulting in the death of…