The History of Site Selection and Design
In 1783 Congress,
meeting in Philadelphia, decided that a permanent capital was needed for the new nation. In 1790,
Congress passed the Residence Act, which determined that a 10-mi square site for a capital would be
selected on the Potomac River along the Virginia-Maryland border(which at the time was the
near geographic center of the fledgling country). President George Washington
chose the specific location of
the federal district at the head of navigation of the Potomac River.
The selected area, which was to be named the District of
Columbia (after Christopher Columbus), contained within its boundaries
Georgetown Md. and Alexandria Va. Andrew
Ellicott, assisted by Benjamin Banneker, surveyed the area, while
Washington appointed Pierre L'Enfant to
design the city. L'Enfant created a grand plan for a city bounded by the Potomac
and Anacostia rivers and on the North by the
present Florida Ave. Originally called Federal City, it was renamed by Congress
for the nation's first president. When the
federal government moved to Washington in 1800, it was a town of fewer than 5000
people. Slow early growth was further
disrupted by the burning of important Washington buildings by the British, who
captured the city in 1814 during the War of
1812. In 1847, that part of the District lying on the West bank of the Potomac was
returned to Virginia; as a result, the District
today covers only about two-thirds of the original 100 sq mi area.
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