Washington, D.C.

Region: Atlantic coast

Population: 671,803 (2022 estimate)

State motto: Justitia omnibus (Justice to all)

Population density: 11,280.7/sq mi (2020 estimate)

Urban population: 100.0% (2020 estimate)

Rural population: 0.0% (2020 estimate)

Population under 18: 18.5% (2022 estimate)

Population over 65: 13.0% (2022 estimate)

White alone: 46.2% (2022 estimate)

Black or African American alone: 45.0% (2022 estimate)

Hispanic or Latino: 11.7% (2022 estimate)

American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 0.7% (2022 estimate)

Asian alone: 4.7% (2022 estimate)

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.2% (2022 percent)

Two or More Races: 3.2% (2022 estimate)

Per capita income: $63,793 (2022 estimate)

Unemployment: 5.5% (2023 estimate)

Gross domestic product: 162,314.4 (2022 estimate)

GDP percent change: 1.8%

Violent crime rate: 999.8 (per 100,000 residents) (2020 estimate)

Death penalty: No (abolished in 1981)

Land area: 61 sq mi (89.7% of total area)

Water area: 7 sq mi (10.3% of total area)

When Washington, D.C., was established in 1790 on swampy land along the Potomac River, few people might have suspected the city’s future status as capital of a superpower. The President’s Mansion (better known as the White House) was not even completed when the government moved from Philadelphia in 1800. More than two hundred years later, the District of Columbia has become not only a world capital but also a cosmopolitan city of great culture. Despite economic and social problems, including high poverty and crime rates, Washington offers world-class performing arts, museums, and other cultural attractions. Millions of visitors also travel to Washington each year to see the symbols of American democracy, sites such as the Washington Monument, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the US Capitol, and the White House.

Landscape

Washington originally covered 100 square miles, from land donated by Maryland (68.25 square miles) and Virginia (30.75 square miles). Congress later ceded back Virginia’s land in 1846. Mathematician Benjamin Banneker, a free African American from Maryland, played a leading role in surveying the location. The city was located at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, much of which was a flood plain. Other parts, however, were hilly and covered by woods and farmland. The new capital swallowed up two existing communities: the Town of George (later Georgetown), Maryland, and the City of Alexandria, Virginia. There were also a number of American Indian settlements as well as numerous farms.

The city’s highest point is 420 feet above sea level. The lowest point, down by the rivers, is sea level itself.

The city owes its unique layout, with its traffic circles and cross-hatched street plan, to French city planner Pierre L’Enfant. A veteran of the American Revolution, L’Enfant envisaged a national capital in the European style, with grand boulevards and impressive buildings. Though Congress fired L’Enfant because of his difficult personality, they kept many of his designs.

Despite L’Enfant’s grand vision, the D.C. landscape was raw and rustic for the first half of the nineteenth century—a collection of grand government buildings and scattered houses surrounded by fields. Pennsylvania Avenue was the only paved road; the other thoroughfares were often mere trails. During this period, Washington was often called the City of Magnificent Distances. English novelist Charles Dickens, in his 1842 travel journal American Notes for General Circulation, argued that the name should really be the City of Magnificent Intentions.

This situation began to change during the Civil War (1861–5). The face of Washington changed as thousands of soldiers and civil servants, as well as formerly enslaved people, crowded into the city looking for housing. The federal government had to provide all of this; until 1871, when Congress created the Territory of Washington, all city government was run directly by Congress.

The city began to gain real beauty in the early 1870s, under the leadership of Alexander “Boss” Shepherd. First the head of the Board of Works, then territorial governor, Shepherd got rid of the public filth by paving and lighting the streets and building enclosed sewers. He was fired after only two years, however, due to allegations of corruption. The next major renewal came around the turn of the twentieth century, when the Senate’s McMillan Commission came up with a unified plan. This focused on L’Enfant’s original design, memorials, and Beaux Arts architecture.

The landscape of present-day Washington shows a city of sharp contrasts between rich and poor. The northwest quadrant is an upscale section, which features numerous mansions and other large dwellings. Despite urban renewal efforts, however, the city’s southeast quadrant is still one of the poorest and most marginalized parts of the city. Gentrification of working-class neighborhoods in the city emerged as a major issue during the twenty-first century.

The region around the Mall, the large grassy common in the heart of Washington, was once used for grazing animals. It is now a favorite tourist spot, where people play outdoor games, listen to concerts, or simply sit and enjoy the view.

People

Indigenous people first settled in the area of modern Washington, D.C., around 2000 BCE. Indigenous settlements in this area included the Nacotchtank community, which was a village near the intersection of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers inhabited by Algonquian peoples. During the seventeenth century the Nacotchtank were forcibly displaced by settlers from the colony of Maryland.

As the modern city of Washington began as a planned city, its first residents originally hailed from other cities. This has, obviously, changed over the centuries since the city’s establishment. Washington now boasts numerous famous residents who have excelled not only in politics but also in literature and the performing arts. D.C.-born political figures include Eleanor Holmes Norton, who became the district’s delegate to Congress in 1991, and J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Famous literary figures include the playwright Edward Albee. Actors William Hurt, Goldie Hawn, and Helen Hayes were all born in Washington, D.C. Jazz musician Duke Ellington and bandleader/composer John Philip Sousa were also natives of the city.

Washington has had a large African American population since its beginning. This was initially due to the fact that Maryland and Virginia, which provided the land for the federal city, were both slave states, and enslaved labor was used to build the first federal buildings. The city also had an active market where enslaved people were trafficked until 1850, when Congress abolished the trade within the District of Columbia. During the Civil War, thousands of formerly enslaved people fled northward, hoping to find jobs and freedom in the federal capital. The city continues to have a large African American population into the twenty-first century.

Economy

The federal government is Washington’s economic reason for being. The president, Congress, and Supreme Court are all based in Washington, D.C., as are many federal agencies. Many associations, both public and private, choose to headquarter themselves in Washington in order to be close to policymakers. Tourism is the other main industry, focusing on the city’s historic sites and monuments.

The city is a major media market, with many local and national radio stations and television stations.

Washington has long faced economic difficulties because many federal workers actually live outside the District in surrounding suburban communities in Maryland and Virginia. Despite having home rule, much of the city’s budget still comes from the federal government. Relations between the District and the federal government have often been strained for this reason. The drive for D.C. statehood is fueled partly by the fact that District residents pay taxes but do not have voting representation in Congress.

• Official Symbols
• Bird: Wood thrush
• Tree: Scarlet oak
• Fruit: Cherry
• Rock: Potomac bluestone

Landmarks

One of D.C.’s main claims to fame is its number of well-known landmarks. The US Capitol is the center point of the city, and there are many other famous government buildings such as the White House and the Library of Congress. In addition to presidential monuments, such as the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, there are historic homes such as Blair House, where the federal government quarters visiting foreign dignitaries.

The city supports many institutions of higher learning. These include Howard University, a historically Black university; Gallaudet University, which focuses on teaching deaf students and students with different hearing abilities; and religious institutions such as the Catholic University of America.

Some of Washington’s most famous landmarks are the Japanese cherry trees along the Potomac River. These were planted in 1912, through the efforts of Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, as a way to express friendship between Japan and the United States.

Numerous cultural institutions have grown up in Washington. These include art museums such as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the National Gallery. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, named for the former US president, is one of the nation’s premier venues. The Smithsonian Institution, headquartered adjacent to the Mall, has been a leading scientific organization for decades. It was established in 1846, through an immense bequest by British scientist James Smithson.

• Population: 671,803 (2022 estimate)
• Population density: 11,535/sq mi (2024 estimate)
• Urban population: 100.0% (2020 estimate)
• Rural population: 0.0% (2020 estimate)
• Population under 18: 18.5% (2022 estimate)
• Population over 65: 13.0% (2022 estimate)
• White alone: 46.2% (2022 estimate)
• Black or African American alone: 45.0% (2022 estimate)
• Hispanic or Latino: 11.7% (2022 estimate)
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 0.7% (2022 estimate)
• Asian alone: 4.7% (2022 estimate)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.2% (2022 percent)
• Two or More Races: 3.2% (2022 estimate)
• Per capita income: $63,793 (2022 estimate)
• Unemployment: 5.5% (2023 estimate)

• Total area: 68 sq mi
• Land area: 61 sq mi (89.7% of total area)
• Water area: 7 sq mi (10.3% of total area)
• Highest point: Tenleytown at Reno Reservoir (410 feet)
• Lowest point: Potomac River (1 foot)
• Highest temperature: 106° F (August 6, 1918; July 20, 1930)
• Lowest temperature: -15° F (1899)

• Mayor: Muriel Bowser (Democrat)
• Violent crime rate: 999.8 (per 100,000 residents) (2020 estimate)
• Death penalty: No (abolished in 1981)

• Gross domestic product (in millions $USD): 162,314.4 (2022 estimate)
• GDP percent change: 1.8%

HISTORY

As laid out by French planner Pierre L’Enfant, a member of George Washington’s wartime staff, the new Washington City was envisaged as a city of broad avenues and stately circles. The reality, however, was that the intended capital was far from any major city and lacked the amenities of Philadelphia and New York. In fact, both those cities had argued just this point in their efforts to keep the capital for themselves.

After just over a decade as the capital, Washington faced one of its most dangerous foes: an advancing British army. The British burned Washington in 1814, during the War of 1812 (1812–5). The President’s Mansion became known as the White House in part because of the white paint used to cover scorch marks. Some critics called for permanent removal of the capital from the District of Columbia. Others, however, argued that the nation had invested too much in the Potomac site, both in terms of money and national pride.

Washington kept its status as the nation’s capital, but it still lacked a city government of its own. Until 1871, all administrative matters were handled by Congressional committees. This cumbersome arrangement worked badly enough when Washington was just a small provincial town; as the city expanded due to the Civil War, however, it became clear that another answer was needed. In 1871, Congress appointed a Board of Public Works to handle the city government. Alexander “Boss” Shepherd, head of the board, imposed urban renewal with a heavy hand, and often with considerable corruption. He paved the largely unpaved streets, put up streetlights, and improved sanitation (until then, there were open sewers even near the Mall). Despite Shepherd’s accomplishments, his excesses brought about his removal in 1874.

The District lost home rule until 1967; during this ninety-three-year period, the city was run by a three-member commission appointed by the president. From 1967 to 1974, Washington was governed by a mayor-commissioner and nine-member council. These officials were all appointed by the president with Senate approval. The city regained home rule in 1974, when District voters approved a new charter. This provided for an elected mayor and thirteen-member council as well as a nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives.

Congress introduced a constitutional amendment for D.C. statehood in 1978, but the measure failed to win support from enough state legislatures. Similar measures continued to be put forth in Congress over the years.

Washington grew tremendously following World War II (1939–45), creating a need for a more complex transportation system. The Beltway, a system of high-speed, limited-access roads, encircles the city while passing through the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. The D.C. Metro, or mass-transit system, began operating subway stations in 1976.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which included an attack on the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, forced both the federal and District governments alike to increase security at high-profile landmarks such as the White House and Capitol Building. The concern was heightened by the anthrax scare that followed the attacks. In October 2002, security concerns also intensified when ten people were killed over a period of three weeks in what became known as the Beltway sniper attacks, coordinated shootings by two men. Security remained a major concern in Washington, D.C., throughout the following decades.

In late 2009, Washington, D.C., legalized same-sex marriage, becoming the seventh US state or district to do so. The District began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in March 2010.

On August 23, 2011, an earthquake occurred about ninety miles from Washington, D.C., in Mineral, Virginia. The earthquake, which became known as the “D.C. earthquake,” was felt by millions of people and caused about $300 million in damage along the Eastern Seaboard. In the District, buildings such as the Washington Monument and National Cathedral were damaged.

Former District mayor Marion Barry died on November 23, 2014, at the age of seventy-eight. Barry, who served as mayor for four terms, was both controversial and influential. In 1990, during his third term, he was arrested for possession of cocaine and subsequently convicted. After serving a six-month sentence, he went on to win reelection to a fourth term in 1994.

In July 2017 the city’s Death with Dignity Act, signed in December 2016, took effect. The measure allows doctors and pharmacies to provide life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients over the age of eighteen.

In 2018 Washington, D.C., became a sister city of San Salvador, El Salvador. Washington, D.C., has several official sister cities, although two are formally recognized as partner cities.

Over the decades the issue of statehood remained an important issue for many Washington, D.C., residents. A historic development came in June 2020, when the US House of Representatives voted in favor of establishing the district as an official state. The legislation was passed almost entirely along party lines, with all but one Democrat approving and every Republican opposing. However, it was a largely symbolic measure as it was considered to have no chance of passing in the Republican-controlled US Senate. The act was reintroduced in 2021 and again passed by the House.

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Trump was defeated by Joe Biden. The violent attack, which resulted in several deaths and many injuries, temporarily disrupted Congress's certification of the election and was widely condemned as an insurrection. Trump was later impeached for his alleged role in inciting the attack, though he was acquitted by sympathetic Republicans in the Senate.

By Eric Badertscher

Bibliography

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