Pierre L'Enfant plans the Federal City In 1791, President <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/152">George Washington</a> hired <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/82">Pierre Charles L'Enfant</a> to create a plan for the <a>layout of the federal city</a>. L'Enfant focused on the area between <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/40">Tiber Creek</a>, today Constitution Avenue and the Eastern Branch, also called the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/424">Anacostia River</a>. L'Enfant <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/393">surveyed the area</a> in the spring of 1791 and created a plan for the city by the end of the year. This plan established the placement of the Capitol and President's House, now called the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/66">White House</a>, and recommended the creation of the public promenade from the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/59">Capitol</a> to the Potomac, the area we now call the National Mall. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division. <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g3850+ct000509))">View original</a>. 1791 <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Pre-1800s">Pre-1800s</a>