Bookshops, Drive-ins and Jive: State by State Trivia- Washington, District of Columbia

A chance to learn a little bit about each of the states in the nation.

The Great Seal of the District of Columbia depicts Lady Justice hanging a wreath on a statue of George Washington; the motto of the District of Columbia, "JUSTITIA OMNIBUS" (Latin for Justice for All); and "1871", the year in which the District was organized in its present form. In the background is the United States Capitol on the right; on the left, a train steams across a viaduct under a rising sun.

Washington, District of Columbia-The American Experience

The District of Columbia is not a state, it is a federal district. The land was was given to the Federal Government by the state of Maryland

President George Washington chose the site as the future capital of the USA in 1791

The French architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant designed the city
Washington, D.C. became the nation's capital on June 11, 1800
The first President to live in Washington D.C. was John Adams; his family moved there in 1800.

Official Motto- "Justice for All"

Official Flower- The American Beauty Rose

Official Bird- Wood Thrush

Official Tree-Scarlet Oak
Official Song- The Star Spangled Banner

Major Industry - government

Origin of the name Washington, District of Columbia

In September 1791, the three commissioners agreed to name the federal district as "The Territory of Columbia," and the federal city as the "City of Washington." The name Washington was to honor the first president of the USA, George Washington. The name Columbia is in reference to Christopher Columbus.

DC's official flag was adopted in 1897 and consists of three red stars above two red bars on a white background. It is an armorial banner based on the design of the coat of arms of George Washington, first used to identify the family in the twelfth century, when one of George Washington's ancestors took possession of Washington Old Hall, then in County Durham, north-east England. As elements in heraldry, the stars are properly called mullets.

All statistics compiled from the enchanted learning site

How did DC get its shape?

"In 1790 (with an amendment in 1791), Congress authorized President George Washington to locate a district comprised of a square with 10-mile sides anywhere along the Potomac River between Alexandria, Virginia and Conigogee Creek (known now as Conocheague Creek) near present-day Hagerstown, Maryland. The reason for these parameters was that just beyond Conigogee Creek were the Appalachian Mountains, presenting a formidable barrier to diplomatic travel. Below Alexandria, prosperous plantations (including George Washington's) lined lined the Potomac. Neither Maryland nor Virginia was likely to donate riverfront property owned by such wealthy people."

"Given these limits, George Washington found a spot with excellent potential, located between the Maryland community of Georgetown and Alexandria. From Georgetown on up, the river was not navigable. Unfortunately, below Georgetown, the river encountered the ocean's tidal flux. The daily high tides traveled up the Chesapeake and, in turn, up the Potomac , meeting the river's current and resulting in a backwater of swamps just below the rapids of the Potomac. This bug-ridden backwater became the nation's capital."

"Even amid the swamps, President Washington envisioned a city where boundaries could jumpstart its economy by incorporating two existing ports: Alexandria, on the Virginia side, and Georgetown, on the Maryland side. Given these population centers. Washington then oriented the 10-square mile boundary in a way that maximized the potential to generate commerce."

The District's Northeast Border

"Upriver from the point where it empties into the Potomac, The Anacostia River is navigable for about 5.5 miles. Washington located the northeast borderline as near as possible to the point where the Anacostia ceases to be navigable. In this respect, the boundaries are an artifact of a time (short-lived to be sure) when Americans did not think of the federal government as a possible source of income for those gathered about it."

The District's Northwest Border

"The reason President Washington did not similarly locate the city's northwestern border at Georgetown, the farthest navigable point on the Potomac, had to do with the fact that he was working with a square. Had he fixed the northeast border at Georgetown, instead of 3 miles farther upstream, the southeast border would have been 3 miles below the Anacostia, which would have exceeded the available segment of the Potomac. In addition, fixing the northwest border of the District at Georgetown would have resulted in the city being almost entirely on the Maryland side of the Potomac."

"Even with the configuration he chose, the bulk of the District lay north of the Potomac. Why didn't Washington even things out by adjusting the square accordingly? He didn't because any adjustment to add land from Virginia would have sacrificed either some of the navigable Anacostia or the port at Alexandria."

"The job of conducting the actual survey of the boundary went to Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker. Banneker was a free African American. In contrast to the borderlines of Virginia/North Carolina, Connecticut/Massachusetts, Kentucky/Tennessee, and elsewhere, which later proved faulty. Ellicott and Banneker's boundary lines have stood the test of time. As such, the Washington, D.C., border is a very valuable artifact of the achievements of 18th-century African Americans in the face of overwhelming adversity."

The District's Southwest Border

"Men like Benjamin Banneker were one of the reasons District residents south of the Potomac later sought to have their side of the city returned to Virginia. Free African Americans could live and work in the District of Columbia, but Virginia limited their stay to six months. Free African Americans thus participated in the commerce of the District. But during the first fifty-six years of the District's economic development, virtually none of the development had taken place on the Virginia side of the city. White workers in economically depressed Alexandria resented the additional burden of having to compete with free black workers. To make matters worse, from their point of view, Congress was considering a prohibition in the District of Columbia of one of Alexandria's traditional industries, the slave trade. In 1846, the residents of the District south of the Potomac petitioned Congress for retrocession to Virginia. Congress, with bigger fish to fry (it was frying Mexico, at the moment), casually granted their request."

"How the States Got Their Shapes" by Mark Stein ©2008, pages 59-64

The District of Columbia and World War II

"The Nation's Capitol was obviously central in the county's planning and preparations for World War II, with the creation of new government agencies such as the War Food Administration or the dramatic expansion of existing ones, most of which doubled their number of workers and ordered the construction of hundreds of temporary facilities across the city, and on its treasured Mall. Washington residents witnessed the local population nearly double in a few short years, as a mostly female work force descended on the city, while its male population went off to combat in Europe and the Pacific. The city was protected by military personnel armed with antiaircraft guns, while its occupants started Victory gardens and scrap drives and suffered the effects of severe rationing, as did the rest of the Nation. Washington also witnessed the largest office building in the world being completed in just 16 months, the famous Pentagon. Washington, DC: The World War II Years captures nearly 200 fascinating images from this era, from the beginning stages of preparation, little known civic defense organizations, to the VE and VJ celebratory parades at a time when America honors what is coined the greatest generation on with the unveiling of the first WWII Memorial on the Mall."