District of Columbia.
The District of Columbia is the seat of government of the
United States of America.
Its citizens do not vote for
President or
Vice-President of the
United States, nor in the affairs of the
District.
The centre of the dome of the
Capitol is in lat. 38° 53′ 20″ N., and long.
77° 00′ 29″
W. Population, 1890, 230,392; 1900, 278,718.
It is situated on the left, or eastern, bank of the
Potomac River, 108 miles from its entrance into
Chesapeake Bay, and about 185 miles, via said river and bay, from the
Atlantic Ocean.
The centre of the
District, as originally established, was in long.
77° 2′ 27.745″ W. of
Greenwich, and in lat. 38° 53′ 34.915″ N., and in the vicinity of Seventeenth and C streets northwest, in the city of
Washington.
In consequence of the retrocession to
Virginia of the portion of the
District derived from that State, that locality is now nearly on the southwestern border of the
District, but it is still approximately midway between the eastern and western extremes.
The District consists topographically of an urban section named “the city of
Washington” and of a suburban and agricultural section which contains a number of unincorporated villages.
It embraces an area of 69.245 square miles, 60.01 square miles of which are land.
Its surface is generally irregular and undulating, rising from the level of mean low tide in the contiguous
Potomac River to an elevation of 420 feet at the highest point, which is about a half-mile southeastwardly from its northwestern boundary.
The District of Columbia was established as the seat of government of the
United States by proceedings taken under authority and direction of acts of Congress approved July 16, 1790, entitled “An act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the government of the
United States” (1
Statutes, 130), and the act of March 3, 1791, entitled “An act to amend “An act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the government of the
United States”” (1
Statutes, 214), pursuant to the following provision contained in the eighth section of the first article of the
Constitution of the United States, enumerating the powers of Congress—viz.:
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district (not exceeding 10 miles square) as may, by cession of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased, by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be,
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for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings.
Georgetown laid out under act of Assembly in eighty lots, comprising sixty acres......June 8, 1751
Constitution of the United States gives Congress power to “exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district (not exceeding 10 miles square) as may, by cession of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the
United States” ......Sept. 17, 1787
Act of
Maryland to cede to Congress 10 miles square in the
State for the seat of government of the
United States......Dec. 23, 1788
Act of
Virginia ceding 10 miles square or less upon the
Potomac for the seat of government of the
United States......Dec. 3, 1789
Georgetown incorporated......Dec. 25, 1789
Act of Congress locating the district for a seat of government......July 16, 1790, and March 3, 1791
President Washington appoints Thomas Johnson, Daniel Carroll, of
Maryland, and
David Stuart, of
Virginia, commissioners to survey the federal district......Jan. 22, 1791
Nineteen proprietors agree upon terms for sale of lands to the government.
Lots for public buildings to be paid for at $125 per acre, streets free; other lots to be the joint property of the owners and the public trustees......March 30, 1791
President Washington proclaims the lines and boundaries of the
District.
A square comprising 64 square miles in
Maryland and 36 in
Virginia......March 30, 1791
First stone marking boundary of the
District set in Jones's Point,
Hunting Creek, Va.......April 15, 1791
Commissioners agree to call the federal district the “Territory of
Columbia,” and the federal city the “City of
Washington,” and to name the streets of the latter alphabetically one way and numerically the other......Sept. 9, 1791
Corner-stone of President's house in
Washington laid......Oct. 13, 1792
Corner-stone of north wing of the
Capitol laid......Sept. 18, 1793
First newspaper, the
National Intelligencer, published in
Washington......1800
Congress first meets in
Washington......Nov. 21, 1800
Superintendence of
Washington placed in the hands of three commissioners......1800
Congress assumes jurisdiction of the
District, and continues in force the existing laws of
Maryland and
Virginia......Feb. 27, 1801
Washington incorporated by Congress; with a mayor appointed by the
President and a council elected by the people......May 3, 1802
Navy-yard at
Washington established......March 27, 1804
Public buildings in
Washington burned and destroyed by the
British after the
battle of Bladensburg......Aug. 24, 1814
Georgetown College, founded in 1789, chartered as a university......May 1, 1815
American Colonization Society, for colonizing free people of color in
Liberia, founded at
Washington......1817
New charter granted
Washington, and mayor elected by the people......May 15, 1820
Columbian College,
Washington, incorporated......1821
Corner-stone of first lock in
Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal laid near
Georgetown in presence of
President Jackson......May 29, 1829
Building of the government post-office, designed by Robert Mills, commenced......1839
United States Treasury building, designed by Robert Mills, completed......1841
United States Naval Observatory founded......1842
Congress retrocedes the 36 square miles received from
Virginia......July 9, 1846
Corner-stone of the Smithsonian Institution laid......May 1, 1847
Corner-stone of the
Washington Monument laid......July 4, 1848
National Soldiers' Home, 2 miles north of
Washington, established by act of Congress......March 3, 1851
Corner-stone of south extension of the
Capitol laid......July 4, 1851
Principal room of the library of Congress burned, 35,000 volumes destroyed......Dec. 24, 1851
Louis Kossuth visits
Washington......Dec. 31, 1851
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First national agricultural convention, 151 members from twenty-two States,
Marshall P. Wilder, of
Massachusetts, president, meets at
Washington......June 24, 1852
Congress appropriates $50,000 for an equestrian statue of
Washington on public grounds near the
Capitol......Jan. 25, 1853
Government hospital for the insane of the army and navy established near
Uniontown, 1853; opened......1855
Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, founded by
Amos Kendall, chartered by Congress......1857
Peace conference of five commissioners from each State assembles at
Washington......Feb. 4, 1861
Balloon ascension for military purposes made at
Washington, and first telegraph message from a balloon sent by
Mr. Lowe to
President Lincoln......June 18, 1861
Congress emancipates all slaves, to be valued by commissioners and paid for at a maximum of $300......April 16, 1862
Collegiate department of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, known as the National Deaf-Mute College, the only one in the world, publicly opened......June 28, 1864
Gen. Jubal Early, Confederate, attacks
Fort Stevens, 6 miles north of
Washington, and is repulsed......July 12, 1864
President Lincoln assassinated in
Ford's Theatre,
Washington......April 14, 1865
Suffrage granted to colored citizens in the
District......Jan. 8, 1867
The extensions of the
Capitol finished......November, 1867
Howard University chartered......1867
Corcoran Art Gallery deeded to trustees by
W. W. Corcoran, the founder......May 10, 1869
Congress repeals the charters of
Washington and
Georgetown, and forms a territorial government for the
District, with a governor and council of eleven members appointed by the
President of
United States for four years, and a House of Delegates elected by the people......Feb. 21, 1871
Henry D. Cooke, first governor......March 16, 1871
Alexander R. Shepherd appointed governor......Sept. 13, 1873
Congress abolishes the territorial government, substituting a temporary board of three commissioners appointed by the
President......June 20, 1874
Permanent government of District constituted by Congress, in a board of three commissioners with no local legislative body......June 11, 1878
President Garfield assassinated in the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station at
Washington......July 2, 1881
Remains of
John Howard Payne, who died in
Tunis,
Africa, in 1852, interred in Oak Hill Cemetery,
Washington......June 9, 1883
Capstone of the
Washington Monument placed (monument 555 feet high)......Dec. 6, 1884
American College of the
Roman Catholic Church opened at
Washington......Nov. 13, 1889
The
Ford Opera-house collapsed during business hours; twenty-one clerks killed and many wounded......June 9, 1893
President Cleveland opens the Pan-American medical congress in
Washington......Sept. 5, 1893
Coxey's army invades
Washington......April 29, 1894
The new Corcoran Art Gallery opened......Feb. 22, 1897
General convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church held at
Washington......Oct. 5, 1898
Gas explosion in the
Capitol wrecks the Supreme Court room......Nov. 7, 1898
General Garcia, the Cuban leader, dies at
Washington......Dec. 11, 1898
Congress appropriates $10,000 for the celebration of the establishment of the seat of government at
Washington......Feb. 28, 1899
President of the board of commissioners of the District of Columbia are as follows:
Seth Ledyard Phelps, president......July 1, 1878, to Nov. 29, 1879
Josiah Dent, president......Nov. 29, 1879, to July 17, 1882
Josiah Rodman West, president......July 17, 1882, to March 29, 1883
James Barker Edmonds, president......March 29, 1883, to April 1, 1886
William Benning Webb, president......April 1, 1886, to May 21, 1889
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John Watkinson Douglass, president......May 21, 1889, to March 1, 1893
John Wesley Ross, president......March 1, 1893, to June 1, 1898
John Brewer Wight, president......June 1, 1898, to May 9, 1900
Henry Brown Floyd Macfarland, president......May 9, 1900
Florida 
