L_'Enfant
Washington DC was a long time in the making. There were political wrangling to choose a suitable site, contentious debates between surveyor and city commissioners, bureaucratic conflicts and inevitable lawsuits.
The founders of America placed the national capital close to the geographical centre of the country but still in the South as a concession to Southern states in exchange for the federal assumption of state debt, most of which the Northern states held.
President Washington chose an area of land measuring 100 square miles where the Eastern Branch (today's Anacostia River) met the Potomac just north of Mount Vernon, his Virginia home. The site already contained the lively port towns of Alexandria and Georgetown, but the new nation needed a federal centre with space dedicated to government buildings. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, had come to America from France to fight in the Revolutionary War and was given the task of planning the new capital by George Washington. L'Enfant designed the city from scratch, envisioning a grand capital of wide avenues, public squares and inspiring buildings in what was then a district of hills, forests, marshes and plantations.
Pennsylvania Avenue stretched a mile west from the Capitol to the White House, and its use by officials ensured rapid development for the points in between. For the rural area to become a real city, L'Enfant knew it was crucial to incorporate planning strategies encouraging construction. But his refusal to compromise led to frequent clashes that eventually cost him his position. A century after L'Enfant conceived an elegant capital, Washington was still far from complete.
In the 1800s, cows grazed on the Mall, which was then an irregularly shaped, tree-covered park with winding paths. Trains passing through a railroad station on the Mall interrupted debate in Congress. Visitors ridiculed the city for its idealistic pretensions in a bumpkin setting and there was even talk after the Civil War of moving the capital to Philadelphia or the Midwest.
In 1901, the Senate formed the McMillan Commission, a team of architects and planners who updated the capital based largely on L'Enfant's original framework. They planned an extensive park system, and the Mall was cleared and straightened. Reclaimed land dredged from the river expanded the park to the west and south, making room for the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. The Commission's work finally created the famous green centre and plentiful monuments of today's Washington.
L’Enfant died June 14, 1825, and was interred on the Digges Farm. Presumably in recognition of his contribution to the design of the nation’s capital, on April 22, 1909, the remains of Pierre Charles L'Enfant were disinterred from Digges Farm , his remains being placed in a metal-lined casket, covered with the American flag and moved to Mount Olivet Cemetery before being conveyed to Arlington National Cemetery. There they were reinterred on the slope in front of the Mansion.
L_'Enfant
Washington DC was a long time in the making. There were political wrangling to choose a suitable site, contentious debates between surveyor and city commissioners, bureaucratic conflicts and inevitable lawsuits.
The founders of America placed the national capital close to the geographical centre of the country but still in the South as a concession to Southern states in exchange for the federal assumption of state debt, most of which the Northern states held.
President Washington chose an area of land measuring 100 square miles where the Eastern Branch (today's Anacostia River) met the Potomac just north of Mount Vernon, his Virginia home. The site already contained the lively port towns of Alexandria and Georgetown, but the new nation needed a federal centre with space dedicated to government buildings. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, had come to America from France to fight in the Revolutionary War and was given the task of planning the new capital by George Washington. L'Enfant designed the city from scratch, envisioning a grand capital of wide avenues, public squares and inspiring buildings in what was then a district of hills, forests, marshes and plantations.
Pennsylvania Avenue stretched a mile west from the Capitol to the White House, and its use by officials ensured rapid development for the points in between. For the rural area to become a real city, L'Enfant knew it was crucial to incorporate planning strategies encouraging construction. But his refusal to compromise led to frequent clashes that eventually cost him his position. A century after L'Enfant conceived an elegant capital, Washington was still far from complete.
In the 1800s, cows grazed on the Mall, which was then an irregularly shaped, tree-covered park with winding paths. Trains passing through a railroad station on the Mall interrupted debate in Congress. Visitors ridiculed the city for its idealistic pretensions in a bumpkin setting and there was even talk after the Civil War of moving the capital to Philadelphia or the Midwest.
In 1901, the Senate formed the McMillan Commission, a team of architects and planners who updated the capital based largely on L'Enfant's original framework. They planned an extensive park system, and the Mall was cleared and straightened. Reclaimed land dredged from the river expanded the park to the west and south, making room for the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. The Commission's work finally created the famous green centre and plentiful monuments of today's Washington.
L’Enfant died June 14, 1825, and was interred on the Digges Farm. Presumably in recognition of his contribution to the design of the nation’s capital, on April 22, 1909, the remains of Pierre Charles L'Enfant were disinterred from Digges Farm , his remains being placed in a metal-lined casket, covered with the American flag and moved to Mount Olivet Cemetery before being conveyed to Arlington National Cemetery. There they were reinterred on the slope in front of the Mansion.