Monumental City George Washington the first United States president picked the location for Washington D C in 1790 His friend Pierre L’Enfant designed the city Pierre wanted the new city to have wide avenues He lined its streets with trees He liked open spaces Great views were his dream With his design you can see several monuments from one place D C Notes New York was the first U S capital Philadelphia was the second Washington D C was chosen as the capital in 1791 as a compromise with southern states They thought Philadelphia was too far north The National Mall and Memorial Parks manages park properties throughout downtown Washington D C including the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool 4
The National Mall is a large area of greenspace that stretches from the U S Capitol to the Potomac River The Mall has some of the most famous monuments in the world It’s like your history book opened and everything jumped out Do you like fireworks It’s a party on July 4th Fireworks light the night sky around the Washington Monument Monuments in the National Mall Monument Washington Monument Opened 1888 Lincoln Memorial Vietnam Veterans Memorial World War ll Memorial Washington Monument Lincoln Memorial D C War Memorial Jefferson Memorial Vietnam Veterans Memorial Korean War Veterans Memorial Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial World War II Memorial Martin Luther King Jr Memorial 1922 1931 1943 1982 1995 1997 2004 2011 Korean War Veterans Memorial Potomac River D C War Memorial Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Jefferson Memorial 5
Abraham Lincoln 1809 1865 George Washington 1732 1799 An earthquake in 2011 shut down the Washington Monument for nearly three years The earthquake created 150 cracks in the monument At 555 feet 169 meters the Washington Monument is the tallest building in the city It is made of marble An elevator trip to the top takes 70 seconds The cornerstone was laid in 1848 Abraham Lincoln attended the ceremony The monument has more than 36,000 stones It weighs more than 80,000 tons 72,575 metric tons 6
The Lincoln Memorial is at the western end of the National Mall Inside is a 19 foot 5 8 meter statue of Abraham Lincoln the 16th president His Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address are written on the walls of the memorial The Reflecting Pool starts near the foot of the steps Abraham Lincoln became the 16th U S president in 1861 D C Notes President Lincoln was shot in 1865 while watching a play at Ford's Theater near the White House The building still hosts plays and has several exhibits and a tour related to Lincoln's death 7
