89 Fun Facts About Washington DC

All the land in present-day Washington, D.C. was originally given by which state?

Maryland: Virginia gave land too, but its share across the river was handed back in 1846, so today's district sits entirely on former Maryland soil.

Which National Mall landmark stayed closed for nearly three years after a 2011 earthquake?

The Washington Monument took more than 150 cracks in the magnitude 5.8 quake of August 2011, and climbers roped down its faces to inspect the damage before it reopened in May 2014.

Whom did George Washington commission in 1791 to lay out the new federal city?

Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French-born military engineer, drew the 1791 plan of grand avenues and ceremonial spaces; Andrew Ellicott finished the survey after L'Enfant was dismissed in 1792.

In the Compromise of 1790, who backed a Potomac capital in return for federal takeover of state debts?

Alexander Hamilton won Southern votes for his debt plan by backing the Potomac site, a deal Jefferson said was struck over dinner at his house; the Residence Act followed in July 1790.

Which highway ringing Washington gives its name to a phrase for the capital's political insiders?

The Beltway lends its name to 'inside the Beltway', yet the road runs almost wholly outside the city: only a short stretch of one bridge crosses a tip of the District.

What do the letters NW, NE, SW or SE at the end of a Washington street address show?

The quadrant of the city: all four meet at a marble star in the floor beneath the Capitol dome, so the same street address can exist four times over.

What type of animal is Screech, the official mascot of the Washington Nationals baseball team?

Screech is a bald eagle, 'hatched' at RFK Stadium on Kids Opening Day in April 2005, the Nationals' first season in Washington.

Washington's highest natural point was picked in the Civil War as the site of what?

A fort: Fort Reno went up in 1861 on the District's highest ground, and in July 1864 its lookouts were the first to spot Jubal Early's Confederates marching on the capital.

Which 1973 horror film made a steep outdoor staircase in Georgetown a tourist stop?

The Exorcist crew padded the steps with half-inch rubber for the fatal fall and built a false front beside them, because the real house stood too far back.

The Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. is ringed by what flowering trees?

Cherry blossom trees came as a 1912 gift from Japan, and in 1938 a group of women chained themselves together beside them to stop workmen clearing some for the Jefferson Memorial.

Which Washington building got its present official name from Theodore Roosevelt in 1901?

The White House was only a popular nickname until then: earlier official papers called it the President's Palace, the President's House or the Executive Mansion.

Which institution, founded in 1800 as the oldest federal cultural body, fills three buildings next to the Capitol?

The Library of Congress lost its first collection when the British burned the Capitol in 1814, so Congress restocked it by buying Thomas Jefferson's 6,487 books.

The J. Edgar Hoover Building opened in 1975 as the headquarters of which agency?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) got a home its namesake never used: Hoover died in May 1972, and the building bearing his name was not finished until 1975.

At which Washington theatre did John Wilkes Booth shoot President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865?

Ford's Theatre on 10th Street NW was the scene; Booth shot Lincoln during a performance of Our American Cousin, and the president died the next morning at the Petersen House across the street.

What is the professional NBA team based in Washington D.C.?

The Washington Wizards were the Bullets until 1997: owner Abe Pollin dropped the old name because of its violent overtones in a city with a high murder rate.

Which movie villain is carved as a grotesque high on a tower of Washington National Cathedral?

Darth Vader got there through a 1980s children's design contest run by National Geographic World: a boy's drawing of the Star Wars villain placed third and was carved for the northwest tower.

Which document joins the Declaration and the Constitution as the third Charter of Freedom in the National Archives Rotunda?

The Bill of Rights was joined there in December 1952 by the other two charters, which crossed the city in an armored Marine carrier with a tank escort so all three could be shown together for the first time.

What name did the commissioners give the federal district in 1791, before it was Washington, D.C.?

The Territory of Columbia was the name the three commissioners chose in September 1791, when Columbia was a poetic name for the United States; the city inside it became the City of Washington.

Which river flows through eastern Washington into the Potomac and is named for an Indigenous people?

The Anacostia takes its name from the Nacotchtank, whose trading town stood on its banks when John Smith explored the area in 1608; within decades, disease and war had driven most of them away.

Washington's Metro lines are named for what?

Colors: Red came first, opening in 1976 with free rides on day one, and Silver, the sixth line, followed in 2014.

Wheaton station on Washington's Metro holds the Western Hemisphere record for the longest single-span what?

Escalator: Wheaton's run 230 feet in a single flight, yet the station is not Metro's deepest, because the next stop down the line lies deeper still.

Washington Metro's vaulted stations are a showpiece of which architectural style?

Brutalism, the style of exposed concrete, came to Metro through Chicago architect Harry Weese, whose common kit of parts went on to guide the design of stations built long after his own.

The obelisk on the Mall was the world's tallest structure until what overtook it in 1889?

The Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Paris World's Fair, rose to nearly twice the height of the 555-foot obelisk, which had held the record for only five years.

A small pyramid of which metal caps the apex of the obelisk on the Mall?

The apex is a 100-ounce pyramid of aluminum, set in December 1884 when the metal was still a costly rarity; the capstone carries inscriptions on all four sides.

Which nativist party destroyed the Pope's Stone donated to the obelisk in 1854?

Members of the anti-Catholic Know-Nothings stole and smashed the Pope's Stone in March 1854; a replacement was finally installed in 1982, inscribed 'A Roma Americae'.

Why does the obelisk on the Mall change shade partway up?

A building halt is to blame: money ran out in 1854, and when work resumed more than 20 years later the marble came from a different quarry, which has weathered to another shade.

Who designed the seated marble statue of Lincoln inside his memorial?

Daniel Chester French designed the seated Lincoln; the Piccirilli brothers carved it from Georgia marble, and the figure was enlarged from a planned 10 feet to 19 feet to suit the chamber.

Which contralto sang from the Lincoln Memorial steps on Easter 1939 after the DAR barred her?

Marian Anderson sang to 75,000 people on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused her Constitution Hall; Interior Secretary Harold Ickes arranged the open-air concert.

The Jefferson Memorial is modeled on which ancient Roman building?

The Pantheon was a model Jefferson himself loved: he had already borrowed it for his Rotunda at the University of Virginia, which architect John Russell Pope echoed here.

Which institution, funded by a British scientist who never visited America, runs the National Air and Space Museum?

The Smithsonian Institution exists by a twist of fate: James Smithson left his fortune to a nephew, and it passed to the United States only because the nephew died childless in 1835.

The 1912 gift of 3,020 Japanese trees to Washington came from the mayor of which city?

Tokyo mayor Yukio Ozaki sent the 3,020 trees as a second try: a first shipment had arrived diseased in 1910 and had to be burned.

George Washington laid the Capitol's cornerstone in 1793 in a ceremony run by which fraternal order?

Freemasons in full regalia joined Washington for the rite on September 18, 1793; the building they launched was designed by William Thornton, a physician whose plan arrived after the contest had closed.

In the Capitol, the Senate chamber sits in which wing?

The Senate sits in the north wing, the only part ready when Congress arrived in 1800, so for a time the House and the Supreme Court had to squeeze into it as well.

James Hoban modeled the executive mansion on which Dublin landmark, now the seat of Ireland's parliament?

Leinster House, built in the 1740s as a nobleman's town mansion, inspired the Irish-born Hoban's design; its owner later became Duke of Leinster, which gave the house its present name.

Which president created the first Oval Office in 1909?

William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing that Theodore Roosevelt had built in 1902 and added the first Oval Office in 1909; Franklin Roosevelt moved it to its present corner in 1934.

Where did the Trumans live from 1948 to 1952 while the Executive Mansion was gutted and rebuilt?

Blair House, across Pennsylvania Avenue, housed the Trumans during the 1948-1952 reconstruction; Truman survived a November 1950 assassination attempt there, and it serves as the President's Guest House.

After the British burned the executive mansion in 1814, which house became the presidential home for six months?

The Octagon House was lent by planter John Tayloe III, and the president signed the treaty that ended the war in its upstairs study.

British troops marched on Washington in August 1814 after winning which battle?

The rout of the American militia became known as the 'Bladensburg Races'; Major-General Robert Ross then led his army into the capital.

What extinguished the fires the British set when they burned Washington in 1814?

A heavy thunderstorm swept over the burning city and put out the fires; at the Capitol, only the sudden downpour prevented the building's complete destruction.

The Nationals franchise began play in 1969 in which city?

The Montreal Expos debuted in 1969 as MLB's first Canadian franchise; league-owned and struggling, they moved to Washington for 2005, the first relocation since the Senators left for Texas after 1971.

The Nationals won their first World Series in 2019 by beating which team in seven games?

The Houston Astros lost Game 7 at home on October 30, 2019; Stephen Strasburg was series MVP, and the road team won all seven games for the first time in World Series history.

The Capitals won their first Stanley Cup in 2018 by beating which team in the final?

The Vegas Golden Knights, an expansion team in their first season, lost the 2018 final in five games; Alexander Ovechkin was named playoff MVP.

Washington's downtown basketball and hockey arena, opened in December 1997, was first named for which company?

MCI Center was the name on opening night, December 2, 1997; it became Verizon Center in 2006 because Verizon had bought MCI.

Washington's NFL franchise was founded in 1932 in which city?

George Preston Marshall's team began as the Boston Braves, became the Redskins a year later, and moved to Washington in 1937.

Which head coach led Washington to three Super Bowl wins between 1982 and 1991?

Joe Gibbs is the only coach to win three Super Bowls with three different starting quarterbacks; he then founded a NASCAR team and is in both sports' halls of fame.

D.C. United left RFK Stadium in 2018 for which soccer-specific stadium?

Audi Field opened at Buzzard Point on July 14, 2018, with a 3-1 win over Vancouver in which Wayne Rooney came off the bench for his D.C. United debut.

Which two-time WNBA MVP starred for the Mystics?

Elena Delle Donne won her second MVP award in 2019 and led the Mystics to their first title that year while playing with three herniated discs in her back.

Howard University is named for a Civil War general who led which agency?

General Oliver Otis Howard ran the Freedmen's Bureau, which aided formerly enslaved people after the Civil War, and helped found the university named for him in 1867.

Georgetown University, founded in 1789, is the oldest US university of which Catholic religious order?

Jesuits were officially banned when Georgetown began: founder John Carroll was a former Jesuit, because the pope had suppressed the order at the time.

Which U Street restaurant served past curfew during the 1968 riots?

Ben's Chili Bowl stayed open at the urging of activist Stokely Carmichael, who wanted a place where police, officials and protesters could meet; its staff got passes to travel during the curfew.

Which percussion-driven music genre native to DC was popularized by Chuck Brown?

Go-go fell silent in 2019 when a noise complaint stopped a Shaw phone shop playing it from its street speaker; protests brought the music back, and in 2020 the city made it the official music of the District.

Which jazz giant was born and raised in Washington and began his career there?

Duke Ellington got his nickname as a Washington boy: friends thought his dapper dress and easy manners gave him the air of a young nobleman.

What is DC's signature sausage, served in a bun under chili and onions?

The half-smoke made world news in January 2009, when President-elect Barack Obama ordered one for lunch ten days before his inauguration.

Which sweet, barbecue-like sauce is a staple of Washington carry-outs?

Mumbo sauce, a sweet, tangy sauce poured over wings and fries at Washington carry-outs, has origins hotly disputed with Chicago, where the Argia B's brand trademarked the name.

Who took office in 1975 as DC's first elected mayor under home rule?

Walter Washington, appointed Mayor-Commissioner in 1967, won the November 1974 election and took office in January 1975, the capital's first popularly elected mayor in more than a century.

The Washington City Paper gave Marion Barry what nickname?

The City Paper's 'Mayor for Life' tag stuck to Marion Barry, who served four terms, the last beginning in 1995 after a six-month federal prison sentence for cocaine possession.

DC license plates carry which slogan?

Taxation without representation: residents pay federal taxes but have no voting member of Congress, and newly issued plates go further and read 'End Taxation Without Representation'.

Which self-taught astronomer and almanac author helped Andrew Ellicott survey DC's borders?

Benjamin Banneker, a free Black farmer, later sent Thomas Jefferson a copy of his almanac with a letter challenging him on slavery.

Cedar Hill, a 14-room Victorian home east of the river, was whose residence from 1877 to 1895?

Frederick Douglass bought the house with a loan from fellow abolitionist Robert Purvis and enlarged it from 14 rooms to 21; it is now a National Historic Site.

Reagan National Airport sits in which Virginia county?

Arlington County is home to Reagan National, which opened in 1941 on mudflats beside the river that were built up with dredged fill; it took Reagan's name in 1998.

Which Chicago architect designed Union Station, opened in 1907?

Daniel Burnham, a member of the commission that replanned the Mall in 1902, designed Union Station so that the railroads could pull their depot and tracks off the Mall itself.

How was the hole a runaway train left in Union Station's floor in 1953 handled for Eisenhower's inauguration?

Planked over and hidden: the overnight express lost its brakes and its locomotive dropped into the basement five days before the ceremony, so crews built a wooden floor over engine and hole in time for the crowds.

Which phrase tops the Supreme Court's main entrance?

Equal Justice Under Law sits beneath a marble pediment where the sculptor slipped in portraits of the building's architect, Cass Gilbert, and of himself.

Who designed the black granite wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial?

Maya Lin was a 21-year-old Yale undergraduate when her design beat more than 1,400 others in a contest judged blind; she later said she would never have won had her name been known.

The King Memorial's Stone of Hope is named from which speech?

I Have a Dream speaks of hewing 'out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope'; visitors walk through a split Mountain of Despair to reach King's figure, carved by Lei Yixin.

The King Memorial's address, 1964 Independence Avenue SW, commemorates what?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gives the memorial its street number; the dedication, planned for the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, had to wait until October 2011 because of Hurricane Irene.

Each of the 4,048 gold stars on the WWII Memorial's Freedom Wall stands for how many American dead?

Each star stands for 100 American military dead, more than 400,000 in all out of 16 million who served; in front of the wall is the inscription 'Here we mark the price of freedom'.

Which piece of wartime graffiti is engraved twice, inconspicuously, in the WWII Memorial?

'Kilroy was here', the doodle of a long-nosed man peeking over a wall that followed American troops around the world, is engraved in two hidden spots of the memorial.

Which dog is sculpted beside Roosevelt at the FDR Memorial?

Fala, Roosevelt's Scottish terrier, was so famous that FDR defended him in the September 1944 'Fala speech' to the Teamsters; his bronze sits beside the president at the memorial.

The National Gallery of Art was founded in 1937 on a gift from which financier?

Andrew Mellon gave his art collection and the money for the building, but he and architect John Russell Pope died within a day of each other in August 1937 and never saw it open in 1941.

The Hirshhorn Museum on the National Mall takes which unusual shape?

A hollow cylinder raised on four massive piers, it rings an open courtyard; architect Gordon Bunshaft wanted its sculpture garden to cut right across the Mall, but criticism made him turn and shrink it in 1971.

The Watergate complex sits in which DC neighborhood?

The Watergate stands in Foggy Bottom beside the Kennedy Center; the six-building complex, designed by Italian architect Luigi Moretti, gave its name to the scandal that brought down a president.

The Kennedy Center opened in 1971 with the premiere of whose 'Mass'?

Leonard Bernstein's Mass, commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy, opened the center on September 8, 1971; architect Edward Durell Stone designed the building.

Which wooded Washington park did Congress create in 1890?

Rock Creek Park became law in September 1890, the same week as Sequoia and days ahead of Yosemite, which makes this city park one of the oldest federal parks in the country.

Which Georgetown house was preserved by a mistaken belief that George Washington had used it?

The Old Stone House, built in 1765 and older than the city itself, was spared because locals confused it with a nearby tavern where George Washington really stayed in 1791.

Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac can be reached only by what?

A footbridge from the Virginia shore is the only way on, and no cars or bikes are allowed: in the 1930s landscape architects turned the overgrown farmland into a forest to honor the conservationist president.

DC's Emancipation Day holiday sometimes pushes back which nationwide deadline?

Tax filing waits because the law treats District holidays like federal ones; the day marks Lincoln's April 1862 act freeing enslaved people in the capital, months before his wider proclamation.

Which lettered street was left out when Washington's alphabetical street grid was laid out from A to W?

J Street was skipped because I and J were written almost alike in the 1790s, so the grid jumps from I to K; the tale that it was a snub to John Jay is a myth.

K Street is shorthand in Washington for which industry?

Many lobbying firms have since moved elsewhere, but the name stuck as a political metonym.

An 1889 law bans what within much of the historic City of Washington?

Congress's 1889 ban on overhead wires in the original city is why downtown power lines run underground and why Washington's streetcars drew power from an underground conduit between the rails.

Which president was the first to worship at St. John's Church, which opened on Lafayette Square in 1816?

James Madison began an unbroken line: every president since has worshipped there at least once, which is why St. John's is known as the Church of the Presidents.

The Folger Library on Capitol Hill holds the world's largest collection of material on which English writer?

Shakespeare obsessed oil executive Henry Clay Folger, who gathered 82 copies of the 1623 First Folio but died in June 1930, weeks after the library's cornerstone was laid.

The Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle was the first US museum devoted to what?

Modern art got its first American museum in 1921, when Duncan Phillips opened part of his family home as a memorial to his father and brother, who had died suddenly in 1917 and 1918.

Which Washington-born march composer led the Marine Band from 1880 to 1892?

John Philip Sousa was enlisted in the Marine Band as a 13-year-old apprentice by his father to stop him running off with a circus band; he returned to lead it from 1880 to 1892.

Who first lived in the President's House in Washington?

John Adams arrived on November 1, 1800, and lived there only four months: he lost that year's election and left in March 1801.

The 446-acre National Arboretum in Northeast DC is run by which federal department?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service runs the arboretum, founded in 1927; its best-known landmark is the National Capitol Columns, 22 sandstone columns removed from the Capitol's east portico.

The Ronald Reagan Building in Federal Triangle ranks second in size among federal buildings behind which one?

The Pentagon alone is bigger; the Reagan Building, opened in 1998, filled a downtown lot that had served as a giant car park since plans for a grand plaza there were dropped in the 1930s.

Constitution Gardens includes a memorial to the 56 signers of which document?

The Declaration of Independence is honored on an island in gardens laid out for the 1976 Bicentennial, on ground where 'temporary' Navy offices from World War I had stood for more than fifty years.

Which city's land was returned by retrocession in 1846, shrinking the district?

Alexandria and the rest of the district's Virginia side went back to Virginia in 1846; residents, fearing Congress would end the slave trade in the district and resentful of economic neglect, had petitioned for retrocession.