Instructor

Constitution Gardens was established to commemorate the bicentennial of American independence. The memorial to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence was dedicated in July 1984 and can be accessed by crossing a wooden bridge to the island. It consists of semi-circular plaza with large stones bearing the inscriptions of the signers' names and signatures as they appeared on the Declaration of Independence. The gardens is also home to a naturalization ceremony hosted by the National Parks Service for new U.S. citizens. Millions of visitors visit the site each year. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 13, 1982.

The memorial honoring the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence is on the small island in the pond.

NPS Guide to the Memorial Honoring the 56 Signers 

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Constitution Gardens is a fifty-acre park situated near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. The gardens was established in 1976 after President Nixon ordered that a park be established on the land. The site became a separate unit of the National Park Service in 1982 and is maintained by the National Capitol Parks-Central (NACC) division. The park also includes a memorial to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, which is located on a small island in the pond. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was erected in 1982.

Constitutional Gardens Pond and Memorial to the Signers of the Declaration

History tours usually tell stories through buildings and human-made structures, but landscapes also tell important stories about the past. These gardens, conservatories, and horticultural sites represent the impact of human beings in shaping cultural landscapes. This tour explores the greater capital region; to stay within Washington, DC city limits, visit #2 and #5-9.

Human and Natural Landscapes of the Capital Region

This extended walking tour was designed to connect people to some of the most well-known monuments, government buildings, and museums within the boundaries of the National Mall. Users are welcome to explore and even customize this tour to include any combination of the hundreds of additional sites in Clio. Visitors to Washington DC might also enjoy the tour of President's Park along with over fifty additional walking tours in the DC metro that are in Clio. 

Highlights of the National Mall With Tidal Basin

Talk of building a monument for this national hero began while President Abraham Lincoln was still on his deathbed in 1865. The country knew he was going to be remembered as one of the most influential men of all time. The Lincoln Memorial Association drafted plans for a memorial in 1867, deciding on a colossal design with 38 statues, bronze equestrian figures, and numerous columnns, though it proved too expensive. The idea resurfaced in the early twentieth century as the National Mall began to fill with monuments, memorials, and museums, as it is known today.  President Taft created the Lincoln Memorial Commission and set aside $2 million to fund the project. In 1914, construction began on a memorial designed by Henry Bacon. While some felt it was still to ostentatious for a man who embodied humility, it instead can be seen as a temple to Lincoln's values.The Lincoln Memorial was modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. It contains three chambers; the central chamber which contains an imposing statue of Lincoln that towers over visitors at 19 feet tall. Designed by Daniel Chester French and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers, this representation of the 16th president overlooks the 2,029 foot long Reflecting Pool and faces the Washington Monument. The memorial's left and right chambers contain engraved copies of the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. Each address is accompanied by a mural painted by Jules Guerin. The Gettysburg Address mural, entitled "Emancipation," represents the values of freedom, liberty, justice, law, and immortality. In the central panel, the Angel of Truth releases slaves from bondage. The Second Inaugural Address mural, "Unity," depicts the Angel of Truth bringing together the North and South and protecting the values of science, the arts, the future, and fraternity. Other architectural details of the Lincoln Memorial were designed by Ernest C. Barstow and Evelyn Beatrice Longman. Visitors to the Lincoln Memorial are greeted by an inscription by Royal Cortissoz that captures the essence of President Lincoln:<blockquote>“In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.” </blockquote>On the outside of the Lincoln Memorial building, there are 36 columnns which represent the states that Lincoln was fighting to unite. Engraved around outside of the monument are the names of the 48 states in the Union at the time of the monument’s completion (excluding Hawaii and Alaska which were added in a plaque at the foot of the monument in 1959).This historic monument was dedicated by former President Taft on May 30, 1922. This dedication was meant to serve as a reminder of Lincoln’s work towards equality, freedom, and national unity, yet, although the ideals of a united nation prevailed, the truth of racial equality was not fully realized. Much of the crowd at the ceremony was segregated, a fact that disturbed many who were there. A rededication ceremony occurred in 2009 on the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth; it was partially meant to right the wrong of the first dedication and to remind the people again of the importance of fighting for equality.Since its 1922 opening, the site has been the backdrop for many demonstrations on behalf of civil rights. Most famous among these is the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of 1963. This march saw 200,000 people come together to demand equality for all races; it was the day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s world renowned “I Have a Dream” speech. Another rally, often known as the Prayer Pilgrimage of 1957, saw 25,000 people come together to protest the slow progression of desegregation and the economic plight of African Americans. This protest was a prototype for the march to be led by King years later. The steps of the monument also saw singer Marian Anderson perform a concert on Easter Sunday in 1939. It was a nationally funded event sponsored by the Roosevelt administration and was heard across the country via radio.Today, the Lincoln Memorial is a symbol of equality and of the struggles we have overcome in fighting for civil rights. It honors the president who strove to unite a torn nation and who desired to see equality reign. Visitors from all over the world flood the steps of this monument every day to see the memorial to one of our nation’s greatest presidents.

An iconic symbol of freedom stands in the center of our nation’s capital: the Lincoln Memorial. This grand monument to one of our most influential presidents has been the site of countless concerts, speeches, and protests -- including Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Dedicated to the Savior of the Union, the memorial and its history call to mind the human rights struggles our nation has faced, from the Civil War to the March on Washington. Today, it is overseen by the National Park Service and is part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks.

The Lincoln Memorial

Established in 1984, the sculptor for the Three Soldiers
Memorial, Frederick Hart shows three young American soldiers during
Vietnam. The soldiers are facing the
Vietnam Memorial Wall and are said to be watching over the fallen, whose names
are inscribed on the famous Wall.&nbsp; The three
men in the statue represent a Latino-American, African-American and a
European-American.&nbsp; Each soldier is
equipped with certain characteristics that describe a soldier that fought in
the Vietnam War.

&nbsp;The Three Soldiers Memorial shows what the typical American
soldier was equipped with during the Vietnam War.&nbsp; One soldier represents a U.S. Marine and is
shown carrying a U.S. standard issued 1911 .45cal handgun with an extra
magazine, a kevlar protective vest and two canteens that are all attached to
his gun belt.&nbsp; The other two figures represent
two U.S. Army infantrymen and are both wearing the popular “jungle boots” many
troops wore during the war and both soldiers have the sleeves on their Battle
Dress Uniform (BDU) shirts rolled up.&nbsp;
One of the Army soldiers is armed is an M60 Crew-Served Machine Gun
while the other is armed with the first generation M16 rifle.

&nbsp;The statue also represents the diversity that existed among
the United States Military during the Vietnam War.&nbsp; The middle soldier is identified as a European-American,
the soldier on the right is identified as an African-American while the final
soldier on the left is a Latino-American.&nbsp;
There were six actual U.S. soldiers that were used as a base for the
sculpture.

&nbsp;The architect, Frederick Hart issued a statement on the wall
shortly after it was commissioned stating, “I see the wall as a kind of ocean,
a sea of sacrifice that is overwhelming and nearly incomprehensible in the
sweep of names.&nbsp; I place these figures
upon the shore of that sea, gazing upon it, standing vigil before it,
reflecting the human face of it, the human heart.”&nbsp; A replica of this state was also unveiled and
dedicated in Apalachicola, Florida, on July 12, 2008.

The Three Soldiers Memorial in Washington, D.C. is a statue of three soldiers facing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Dedicated in 1984, the bronze statue depicting human figures was commissioned in response to controversy over the Vietnam Memorial's design, which some felt was too unconventional. The statue depicts a Latino-American and African-American, both U.S. Army soldiers, and European-American Marine while serving in Vietnam.

The Three Soldiers Memorial

<div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

This memorial sits at the corner of the National
Academy of Sciences.&nbsp; It was unveiled on
April 22, 1979 during one of the Academy’s annual meetings, on centennial of
the scientists birth.&nbsp; This twelve foot
tall figure of Einstein is seated on a three step bench of white granite.&nbsp; He holds a paper in his hand with
mathematical equations that led to three of his most important scientific
contributions; the photoelectric effect, theory of general relativity, and the
equivalence of energy and matter.&nbsp; 

The sculptor was Robert Berks, who was already known
for his portrait busts of John F. Kennedy at the Kennedy Center.&nbsp; He based this sculpture on a bust of Einstein
that he sculpted in 1953.&nbsp; The landscape
architect, James A. Van Sweden, used emerald pearl imported from Norway, and
over 2700 metal studs inserted to portray the stars, moon, and the sun.&nbsp; They were positioned by astronomers from the
U.S. Naval Observatory, being in the correct spot as they were on the
dedication date.

The unveiling of the
statue came with a little bit of controversy.&nbsp;
Einstein is wearing a sweat suit and sandals while just sitting on a
bench.&nbsp; People believed he should have
been portrayed in a more professional, scholarly manner.&nbsp; "He was retired. He didn't have to dress
up formally anymore. Einstein had let his hair grow much longer, and he said
that his hairstyle was the result of negligence. Wearing the loose sweat shirt
and pants and sandals, I felt it was a device to get an abstract rhythm of his
body," sculptor Berks said.&nbsp; The
laid back tone of this statue helped make it popular with current residents and
visitors alike.&nbsp; People love to come to
him and just “hang out” with the genius by climbing on him for a picture. </div>

Einstein was born at Ulm, in Wurttemburg, Germany on March 14, 1879.  In 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a physics and mathematics teacher.  He earned his diploma in 1901 and gained Swiss citizenship, but was unable to find work as a teacher.  He worked as a Technical Assistant in the Swiss Patent Office and also worked to receive his doctor’s degree in 1905.  In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, and became Professor of Theoretical Physics in Prague.  He became a German citizen in 1914, but emigrated to America in 1933 due to political reasons.  He was visiting the United States when Hitler came to power.  Being Jewish, he did not return to Germany.  There, he became Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton.  He eventually became U.S. citizen in 1940, and retired from his post in 1945.

Albert Einstein Memorial 

<div>The history of the memorial originates from a non-profit organization called the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund (VVMF). The mission of creating this memorial was so veterans would have a physical representation of their service recognized by the American people. The hope was that this would bring some closure and reconciliation among the veterans and civilians.</div><div> </div><div>	There was backing for funding for the memorial at the national level, early on. Senator Charles McC. Mathais Jr. formed legislation to establish a site on national park land for this project on November 8, 1979. Sen John Warner was also an early supporter with his financial contributions that launched a fundraising campaign on the national level. A staggering eight million dollars&nbsp;was raised for the memorial, all of which came from private funding. Although many organizations and groups contributed to the funding, more than a quarter of a million individual Americans gave money for the project. In fact, this&nbsp;is where the majority of the funding&nbsp;came from. This is extremely significant, considering that the American&nbsp;public so strongly opposed the war.&nbsp;Ultimately, three acres of land were allocated to the memorial in Constitution Gardens beside the Lincoln Memorial on July 1, 1980.</div><div> </div><div>In October, the VVMF held a national competition for the design of the memorial and had 2,537 registrants. 1,421 entries were submitted by the deadline in March and subsequently judged by eight award-winning artists and designers selected by the VVMF. &nbsp;The panel of judges selected the winner on May 1, 1981: 21-year-old Maya Ying Ling, a senior at Yale University. The design was approved and accepted eagerly by the VVMF. The foundation&nbsp;hired an architect to bring Ying Ling's design to fruition and she served as a design consultant. Ground was broken for construction on March 26, 1982.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>The design of the memorial consisted of two granite walls, which are about 10 feet high. The vertical edges of the walls taper to around eight inches. The stone used for the walls was imported from India, where it was chosen for its reflectiveness, and then shipped to Tennessee--where the etching of the names was completed using a sunblasting process. One wall points towards the Washington monument while the other points in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial. The reflective quality of the wall is a metaphor for unity of the past with the present. There is a pathway to walk alongside the memorial. The names start at the 1E panel, beginning with those who were killed in&nbsp;1959.&nbsp; </div>About 1,200 of the names on the wall are military personnel who went M.I.A.&nbsp;There are twelve women listed on the wall, even though there were far more female casualties in the Vietnam War.&nbsp;Many visitors to the wall etch the names of loved ones on paper.&nbsp;

This memorial to the 58,272 American military personnel who perished or were declared missing in action (MIA) during the Vietnam War was completed in 1982. The wall, in addition to the Three Servicemen Statue and the Vietnam Women's Memorial, is part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The memorial demonstrates the way that public perception of monuments can change over time. The initial design for the monument at the National Mall received criticism from leading conservative politicians who hoped to create a memorial that was similar to other war monuments that depicted soldiers and military leaders. Some politicians and commentators even attacked the designer, 21-year old student May Lin, because she was the daughter of Chinese immigrants. By the time of the monument's dedication, however, most Americans approved of the monument's design. Those who saw the monument in person were moved to see the reflections of the living in the Black granite wall as they reflected upon the names of the dead.  

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

<blockquote>“Women, too, needed a healing place and a healing
process.” Diane Carlson Evans, in Moving a Vision: The
Vietnam Women’s Memorial</blockquote>

The Vietnam War lasted from approximately 1955 to 1975,
with American military involvement officially beginning in March of 1965 and
escalating with the military draft in 1969. 8.7 million members of the Armed
Forces served in the Vietnam War, with 3.4 million deployed to Southeast Asia.
After the Vietnamese victory in 1975, the war became more difficult to
memorialize than previous wars in which the United States was victorious. While
today, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall is among the most emotional memorials
on the National Mall, its contemporary, non-traditional design was met with
controversy when it was dedicated in 1982. As a compromise, a sculpture
depicting three soldiers was dedicated in 1984 to balance the wall of names,
which some felt was impersonal. Of the two Army soldiers and one Marine in the
Three Soldiers memorial, all were male. The sculpture described his design as “consistent
with history,” a phrase that struck Diane Carlson Evans, an
Army nurse veteran who served in Vietnam.1

Between 10,000 and 11,000 women served in the Vietnam War
as volunteers. Ninety percent of the women served as nurses, and the remaining
10% comprised thousands of women serving as physicians,
physical therapists, air traffic control, military intelligence, and administration.
Worldwide, 265,000 women served in the Armed Forces. An unknown number of women
also contributed to the greater war effort as civilians working as news correspondents
and relief workers.

In 1984, Diane Carlson
Evans founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project (now the Vietnam Women’s
Memorial Foundation) to create a memorial specifically honoring the service of
women and their unique experiences in war. Evans imagined a memorial that would
paint “a whole and true portrait of the women who served in the Vietnam War,
depicting their
professionalism, dedication, service, and sacrifice, had yet to be seen—their
stories yet to be heard.”2 Visually and symbolically, this memorial would balance the Three Soldiers memorial depicting male soldiers and
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, where the eight women’s names are etched
among the nearly 58,000 men who made the ultimate sacrifice. 

Establishing a memorial
on the National Mall required approval from a number of commissions, which initially
rejected Evans’s proposals. The Commission of Fine Arts, which reviews and
oversees public projects, saw the Vietnam project as complete and symbolic of
all servicepeople. Evans pressed on, going through a number of designs and
plans. In 1990, the Commission of Fine Arts permitted a women’s memorial to be
located within walking distance of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Shortly
after, Evans and her team accepted a memorial design by sculptor Glenna
Goodacre of New Mexico. The bronze sculpture depicted three Vietnam-era women
nurses caring for an injured male soldier. According to Goodacre: “My first
concern in designing this sculpture was to arrange the four figures in a
composition that is interesting from all angles: a true sculpture in the round.
The photos from Vietnam often included stacks of sandbags. It seemed natural
for a nurse – in a moment of crisis – to be supported by sandbags as she serves
as the life support for a wounded soldier lying across her lap. The standing
woman looks up, in search of a med-i-vac helicopter or, perhaps, in search of
help from God.”3 Goodacre’s design was approved by a number of federal commissions
in 1993.

On November 11, 1993,
the Vietnam Women’s Memorial was dedicated, with speakers lauding the achievements
of servicewomen and value of the
memorial’s presence on the National Mall. One woman veteran expressed what it
personally meant to her: “I'm so grateful for your perseverance, commitment,
and passion to make the women's statue become a reality...My heart is still
over-flowing...You have given each of us women a priceless gift—the gift of
hope and healing. For us to be recognized, honored, appreciated, and united was
unbelievable.”

The
Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation remains an active in preserving and
remembering the history of women’s service in Vietnam. They host events such as
reunions and speakers, compile bibliographies and resources, and are building
an archive of oral histories.&nbsp;

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial honors the 265,000 women who served in the American military in the Vietnam era, 10,000 to 11,000 of whom actively served in the Vietnam War. Dedicated in 1993, this is the first memorial in the nation’s capital specifically dedicated to women’s service in the Armed Forced. The sculpture, created by artist Glenna Goodacre, depicts three women caring for a male soldier. The memorial is located within walking distance of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and the Lincoln Memorial.

Vietnam Women's Memorial

The Washington City Canal was opened in 1815 as a way to bring commerce directly into the city center of Washington, and during this time, the canal system crossing Washington, D.C., and running alongside the mall served to allow small cargo ships to travel between the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. Prior to the rise of railroads, it was a thoroughfare for goods and people. The cargo included such materials as firewood and coal for fuel, food supplies, as well as marble and stone for public buildings. However, the canal faced many issues. Even in the best conditions, many boats could not pass through the canal because it had been only dug 3 feet deep. In addition, in construction, the tides had not been accounted for, and during hide tide, the water threatened to flood the city whilst during low tide many stretches of the canal were unusable. In 1831, the City of Washington bought the canal from the company which operated it because the city believed the canal would lead to more economic development. The city also invested in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company which was building the canal from Georgetown to Cumberland. With a controlling interest, the city forced the C&amp;O Canal Company to create an extension to the Washington City Canal. Two locks were made for the elevation change from Georgetown to Washington. Lock A was located at H and I streets, and Lock B was located at 17th street, the current location of the Lockkeepers house. The extension was constructed in 1832, which is when some believe the lockkeeper's house was constructed. However, the Historic American Buildings Survey taken in 1934-1935 believes that the house was constructed in 1837. The Survey states that this lock house is a surviving example of standard plans for lock houses built along the C&amp;O canal, and was built according to those plans. The Lockkeepers house itself is a rectangular one and a half story building that measures 30 feet wide by 18 feet deep and has a total square footage of 350 square feet. Originally, the Lockkeepers house was 2 and a half stories, however, when the Washington City Canal was filled, the area around the structure was filled in by one story, reducing the height of the building. It is constructed of fieldstone with a shingled roof and two stone chimneys at each side of the building. It is symmetrically designed in the federal style. The building was the residence of a lockkeeper and his family of thirteen children from 1835 to 1855. The lockkeeper was responsible for collecting tolls and operating the lock on the Washington City Canal. Additionally, he managed the canal connections and kept records. Nearby residents were often plagued with flooding caused by the canal overflows into the streets and the National Mall. By 1850s, the Washington City canal fell into disuse and became polluted. Unsanitary, costly, and prone to causing accidents, the canal was eventually closed to barge traffic. Twenty years following its closure, the city filled in the Canal and created Constitution Avenue, thus removing the need for a lockkeeper.The lock keeper's house was abandoned in 1855, except for occasional habitation by squatters. It was partially renovated in 1903 and given to the U.S. government in the early 1900s. It has been used as Park Police headquarters (who used it to keep prisoners), public restrooms, and now storage. A historical marker on the house includes the following inscription:<blockquote>Formerly the eastern terminal of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Erected about 1835. The canal passed along the present line of B Street in front of this house emptying into Tiber Creek and the Potomac River.</blockquote>

The Lockkeeper’s House was built sometime between 1832 and 1837 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This structure, the oldest on the National Mall, was built as a home for the lockkeeper of the extension that was built onto the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal. Between 1833 and the Civil War, the canal allowed for the passage of freight along present-day Constitution Avenue. The canal was seldom used by 1870, and in the following decade, the city's engineers filled the canal with rock and soil, creating Constitution Avenue. To this day, the canal runs under Constitution Avenue serving as a closed sewer. After the abandonment of the canal, In 1902, the C&O Canal Company transferred the lockhouse to the Army Corps of Engineers who evicted an African American family who had taken up residence in the long-abandoned house. The house was converted into use for the Park Police headquarters in 1903. In around 1915 or 1916, with the widening of 17th street, the Lockkeepers house was moved around In 1940, the first floor was converted into a bathroom and the attic used for storage. It was renovated in 2017 to serve as a historical exhibit and today serves as a reminder of the historical importance of canals. 

Lockkeeper's House

Following his leadership as the commander of the nation's military forces in the Revolutionary War, and his leadership of the Constitutional Convention, Washington received the unanimous support of the first Electoral College and became the first American President. In this role, Washington shaped the Presidency and established many of the expectations for future presidents. The Washington National Monument Society (WNMS) proposed the idea of a monument that would be unlike any other in the world. After considering several designs, the organization selected a plan submitted by Robert Mills that called for a 600-foot Egyptian obelisk flanked by thirty 100-foot columns. The committee selected a site on what would become the National Mall directly south from the White House and west of the Capitol. At the time, much of the land south and west of the monument were wetlands. The location and size of this monument would later dictate the shape of the National Mall, especially after the Core of EngineersThe cornerstone for the project was laid on July 4th, 1848. The event was one of the most spectacular events, with notable guests in attendance, including President Polk and the wives of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. Workers toiled to create the foundation of the monument, an 80 foot square-step pyramid structure. Once this task was completed, the builders turned their attention to building the above-ground marble structure. They used a system of pulleys, a block and tackle system, and a mounted derrick to push stones to workers who completed each section. The WNMS also invited states, cities, and organizations to design memorial stones to help build the monument. They received 193, some of which are now visible through the elevator windows. By 1854, the monument was 156 feet above the ground.A new group within the Know-Nothing Party took control of the WNMS, a change that proved a detriment to the monument’s progress. This new alignment alienated potential donors, and the already struggling Society was forced to file for bankruptcy. These events put the construction of the monument on hold. Congress tried to offer financial aid, but the nation was soon embroiled in the Civil War. During a period known as Reconstruction, government leaders focussed on the status of formerly enslaved persons and the readmission of former Confederate states. This monument became a literal symbol of the period, with the construction of a national monument to a leader who was revered by both Northern and Southern leaders serving as a symbol of hope. Congress took control of building the monument through a joint resolution on July 5, 1876.The US Army Corps of Engineers, headed by Lt. Col. Thomas Lincoln Casey, was tasked with completing the massive project. The new leadership decided the base could not support the weight that would need to be added to reach the monument's planned height. As a result, the Corps of Engineers began reconstruction by adding more stone to the base, a process that lasted four years. Attaining the quantity of stone to complete the monument was another challenge. The quarry in Baltimore that was used for the base could not provide the needed quantity, so engineers looked elsewhere and selected a quarry in Massachusetts. A series of irregular deliveries and some inconsistent stone color caused concern, but builders continued until a third quarry was selected. The monument was completed with stone from Baltimore, and while the stone colors are close, they do not match perfectly. The three types of stone used are marble, granite, and blue gneiss. The color changes at about two-thirds up the monument.During construction, some of the original plans for the monument were abandoned. For example, the ornamentation intended to adorn the base of the obelisk was canceled for simplicity. The monument stands at 555 feet instead of 600 feet, a decision that reflected a change from nine-inch walls instead of the original thirteen inches.The memorial was completed and dedicated on February 21, 1885. An iron staircase was added later, and the monument opened to the public in 1886. An electric elevator was added in 1901 to shorten the trip to the top of the obelisk. On the aluminum cap which covers the capstone, there are names and dates of the monument’s construction inscribed as well as the Latin phrase “Laus Deo” meaning “Praise be to God." Beginning in the 1920s, American flags appeared around the monument for celebrations and special occasions. In 1958, flagpoles were permanently installed. Fifty flags representing each state have flown continuously since 1971.The Washington Monument has since become a major tourist attraction and an iconic symbol for the country. Visitors to Washington, D.C., flock to the monument, which offers astounding views of the Lincoln Memorial, Reflection Pool, Jefferson Memorial, and the Capitol Building. It has also been the site of many protests and events since its opening. For example, protesters during the Vietnam War and Korean War came to the monument to demonstrate against US involvement in those conflicts. The Washington Monument has undergone numerous restorations to clean, repair, and stabilize this important historic icon. On August 23, 2011, A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck 90 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., causing damage to the Washington Monument walls and stability. The National Park Service gathered teams of engineers and architects to repair the structure using a blend of high-tech science and centuries-old masonry techniques. The monument's interior was closed for a period to renovate the interior and reopened in 2019.

Perhaps the most iconic monument in the nation's capital, the Washington Monument honors America's first president, George Washington. The monument dates back to 1833 when the National Monument Society began raising funds for the completion of this and other monuments. The Society ran out of funds in 1856, leaving the base of the monument unfinished until 1876, when construction resumed. The monument was completed in 1885. In the early 20th century, the monument became the centerpiece of the National Park Service's National Mall and Memorial Parks. Discerning visitors will notice that the base and the top of the monument feature slightly different colors of stone, something that reflects the two different phases of construction. The two decades when construction was paused created a situation where the original quarry was not available for the second phase.

The Washington Monument

In 1915, Black veterans of World War I launched a movement to create a national museum dedicated to African American veterans.&nbsp;In 1916, African American attorney&nbsp;Ferdinand Desoto Lee challenged Black leaders to create a “permanent memorial to colored soldiers and sailors.”&nbsp;Missouri Republican Congressman Leonidas Dyer, the same Congressman who advocated on behalf of an anti-lynching bill,&nbsp;introduced legislation the same year that Lee chartered the National Memorial Association. Echoing the call of Lee's organization, Dyer's legislation called for the creation of a commission to create "a monument or memorial" for Black soldiers and sailors. In 1919, Dyer called for the creation of a national monument for Black veterans to be built on the National Mall. In 1920, Lee's National Memorial Association expanded their plans to include both a monument and a building with exhibits dedicated to African American achievements. Ten years later, Congress passed legislation allowing for the creation of a monument to Black soldiers. However, Congress failed to allocate funds for the project.Franklin Deleano Roosevelt places the creation of the monument towards the bottom of the administration's goals in 1933, the same year that Ferdinand Lee passed away. Similar measures failed throughout the next six decades, including a 1965 bill calling for the creation of a "Negro History Museum. Similar to previous efforts, Congress failed to act on this bill and efforts throughout the 1960s and 1970s receive little more than verbal support. Even in the immediate wake of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, a bill to explore the creation of a national repository of Black history failed to receive support. Congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, likewise tried and failed to secure passage of a bill to create a National African American History Museum in the 1990s. Although a bipartisan commission working between 2002 and 2003 secured the passage of a law authorizing the creation of a public commission to create a Black history museum with the Smithsonian, it&nbsp;appeared that the National Museum of African American History and Culture Act would meet a similar fate. As funding efforts stalled, a group of&nbsp;private foundations and African American athletes and&nbsp;celebrities took action, raising $240 million to support the museum. The federal government matched private fundraising efforts, allowing for the construction and operation of the museum. On September 24, 2016, the first African American president dedicated the new museum.&nbsp; The museum's galleries are arranged chronologically, beginning with the gallery entitled "From Slavery to Emancipation." Visitors travel seventy feet below ground to start their historical journey in this gallery, which begins with life in Africa and the slave trade. After visitors pass through exhibits that relate slavery throughout the Americas and the British colonies, they see how slavery was woven into the the political and economic fabric of the nation, including the Constitution itself. Later exhibits show how people of African descent confronted slavery, culminating with exhibits about the African American experience in the Civil War.&nbsp; The second series of galleries are dedicated to the topic "From Segregation to Today." These exhibits reveal the complexities of Reconstruction and the emergence of Jim Crow. Emotional highlights of these galleries include the original coffin that held the body of 14-year old Emmett Till, "white only" signs,&nbsp;and portions of ropes and other tools of racial violence that were used to maim and kill African Americans during first half and mid-20th century. The upper galleries include special rotating exhibits that demonstrate the resiliency of African American communities and and highlight Black culture and achievement.&nbsp;

The National Museum of African American History & Culture was authorized by Congress and President George W. Bush in 2003. After 13 years of planning and construction, the museum opened on September 24th, 2016. The museum holds over 40,000 artifacts within its vaults, most of which were donated by institutions and individuals. Several thousand of artifacts are included in the museum's twelve galleries. The museum's three-tiered form is meant to symbolize hands held in prayer and was modeled from the shape of a traditional Yoruban crown. 

As of November, 2016, this museum uses a timed pass system to accommodate large crowds. 

 Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture

The National Museum of American History traces its roots to the Smithsonian Institution's original collections dating back to the 1840s. These collections were first housed in the Smithsonian Institution Building, also known as the Castle, and then the National Museum Building, now called the Arts and Industries Building, which opened in 1881. The National Museum housed treasures of American history natural history, anthropology, and art. Together, they fostered a "national heritage" for the former colony. Objects of American history were often associated with famous figures, such as Abraham Lincoln's hat, George Washington's uniform, and Benjamin Franklin's printing press, or were connected to innovation in science, technology, transportation, textiles, and musical instruments. Over the course of the twentieth century, the Smithsonian constructed new museums to house collections of natural history, anthropology, and art, leaving the Arts and Industries Building to focus solely on American history. It soon amassed collections of modern industry, photography, clothing, and objects of everyday life. The Arts and Industries Building held the first exhibits of the First Ladies' dresses, the Star Spangled Banner, and, until the establishment of the National Air and Space Museum, collections of airplanes and spacecraft.As collections, exhibits, and visions of the museum continued to grow, the Smithsonian Institution planned a larger museum dedicated to American history. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized funding of a new museum building. Its design put a modern twist on classical architecture, indicating that this building would be one that honored the past and looked toward the future. The Museum of History and Technology opened to the public in 1964. The museum also continued collecting artifacts of both distant and recent past, such as Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz and the Woolworth's lunch counter from the Greensboro sit-ins. In 1980, the museum’s name was changed to the National Museum of American History to represent its mission to reflect the historical experience of America and its people. The museum closed between September 2006 and November 2008 to undergo renovations to the architectural core of the museum and the infrastructure.Today, the National Museum of American History uses its collections of more than three million artifacts to understand the United States of yesterday and today. One of the most signficant artifacts is the Star-Spangled Banner, which has its own gallery in the museum. The exhibit showcases the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner," a poem that later became the United States National Anthem. It was raised over Fort McHenry on September 14, 1814, in celebration of a victory over British forces. Also, in the spirit of creating a dynamic museum that caters to presenting present-day America’s story, as well as its past, there is a space for visitors to share what the American flag symbolizes to them.The Museum uses artifacts to convey larger ideas, such as in the exhibit “American Stories,” which showcases more than 100 historical and cultural artifacts, including the rarely displayed walking stick used by Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln’s gold pocket watch, Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves, and a fragment of Plymouth Rock. One of the most beloved exhibits is “America on the Move,” which uses sights, sounds, and sensations to explore the history of transportation in the United States from 1870 to the present. While the trains and cars in this exhibit seem like the largest artifacts in the collection, that title belongs to the two-and-a-half-story house in the exhibit "Within These Walls," which interprets ordinary home life. The Museum has tackled complex topics and underrepresented stories such as the 2012 exhibit "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty," the first national exhibit on slavery, presented by Monticello and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.The Museum is also home to the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, which leverages research and education to inspire modern innovation. Research opportunities in the museum's collections and archives further understanding of the United States and its place in the world. STEM-focused exhibits such as the Spark!Lab promote creative thinking and innovation for families of all ages, while Wegmans Wonderplace is a space dedicated for children ages 0-6.Currently, the museum is undergoing further renovation to its west exhibition wing to add a center for education, new spaces for performance, new galleries, and a more updated infrastructure for the west wing of the museum.

The National Museum of American History is dedicated to the "infinite richness and complexity" of American history. Located on the National Mall, it is one of the most-visited museums in the country. The Smithsonian collections of American history date back to the 17th century and efforts to preserve artifacts date back to the 1840s, while the current museum building opened in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology. Its name was changed to the National Museum of American History in 1980. The museum's renovation from 2006 to 2008 included the construction of the new Star-Spangled Banner gallery, which holds the original flag that inspired the national anthem. The Museum includes exhibits dedicated to a plethora of topics, including politics and government, civil rights, gender and sexuality, military and war, business and innovation, indigenous Americans, ethnicity and immigration, disability history, religion, and food history.

Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Born free in Washington DC in 1829, Solomon was one of six children born&nbsp;to Isaac and Rachel Brown. After his father’s death in 1833, and the seizure of his property in 1834, Solomon and his family were homeless. Brown was fortunate enough to come under the influence of Lambert Tree, the assistance postmaster who secured Brown a position in the post office in 1844. Through this position, Brown was able to meet Joseph Henry, the first Secretary of the Smithsonian. Henry was impressed with Brown and hired him at the Smithsonian where&nbsp;he would serve several different roles. Hired first as a laborer, Brown was later hired as an assistant and graphic designer. In this role, Brown prepared important graphs for many scientific lectures. &nbsp;Outside of the Smithsonian, Brown took on several civic-minded projects, For example, he was a member of a group of citizens who worked with the Freedman’s Bureau to purchase Barry’s Farm. &nbsp;This tract of three hundred and seventy-five acres soon became a pathway to economic independence as it was divided into homesteads for several Black families. Brown personally invested in this land and built a comfortable home on his section of land.Around twenty years into his career at the Smithsonian Institute, Brown decided to run for Washington D.C.’s House of Delegates as a Republican during a time when the Republican party was a coalition of African Americans and liberal whites. Brown served three single year terms from 1871 to 1874. Brown also served on a national Black leadership committee that arranged for the revealing ceremony of the Emancipation Memorial Monument by Thomas Ball.&nbsp;During his 54 years at the Smithsonian, Brown served the institute’s first three secretaries. He retired at the age of 77 in 1906 and died later that year.

This historical marker commemorates the life of Solomon G. Brown (1829-1906) and was erected by the Smithsonian Institute. Brown was the first African American employee of the Smithsonian and is often described as a Renaissance man for his diverse skill set that included graphic design, assisting with scientific lectures, and writing poetry. Brown also served three terms in Washington D.C.'s House of Delegates. Brown also occupied a number of committee positions and worked on behalf of improving the conditions of his fellow African Americans.

Solomon G. Brown Historical Marker

Even before the Smithsonian Institution was
founded in 1848, Americans were collecting specimens and objects that would
later fill the largest natural history museum in the United States. In the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, collecting was a way of categorizing and
making sense of the American landscape. Formal collecting was usually a leisure
activity reserved for wealthy individuals, who then displayed these collections
in “curiosity cabinets” in their homes. The United States government also
supported geological expeditions to map locations for transportation routes and
military posts, and the ambitious United States Exploring Expedition, which
surveyed the Pacific between 1838 and 1842. When British scientist James Smithson
gifted his estate to found “an establishment for the&nbsp;increase and diffusion of knowledge”
in Washington, D.C.,” the young democracy faced a fundamental dilemma. Should the
United States government to create a national institution, and what should this
institution look like? For more than ten years, Congress grappled with questions
of government authority, federal expansion, and Smithson’s broad vision. In the
end, they decided the Smithsonian gave an opportunity for the United States to
stand among established nations in science and culture, and the Smithsonian Institution
was signed into law on August 10, 1846.1

In 1855, the National Museum opened at the
Smithsonian Institution Building, more commonly known as “the Castle.” Originally,
the National Museum held historical, archaeological, and natural history
collections together. While some collections were purchased or donated, most
were collected on expeditions initiated by the first Smithsonian curator,
Spencer F. Baird. Yet these collecting efforts proved so successful that the
Smithsonian ran out of space in the Castle and in the&nbsp;National Museum Building,
now the Arts and Industries Building, opened in 1881. In 1902, Congress approved construction
of a new museum as part of the 1901
McMillan Commission Plan, which helped create the National Mall as it is today.
The McMillan Plan proposed removing the Victorian landscaping and replacing it
with grass and building neoclassical style museums, educational centers, and memorials along the Mall.2&nbsp;

The current natural
history museum building, then the new National Museum, opened on March 17,
1910. The building was inspired by Roman architecture with the granite columnns
and dome. Like in the past, this museum housed natural history collections
among history, art, and archaeology. It was not until the mid-twentieth century
that the National Museum separated natural history specimens from historical
artifacts, reflecting broader shifts in the museum profession and academic
disciplines of science, history, anthropology, and art. In 1969, after the
National Museum was dissolved, the building was renamed the National Museum of
Natural History and fully dedicated itself to pursuits of scientific research,
collection, and education.3

Today, the National
Museum of Natural History holds more than 126 million natural science specimens
and cultural artifacts, both on site and in off-site storage facilities. There
are permanent exhibitions dedicated to human origins and culture, paleontology,
mammals, ocean life, insects, bones, and geology. Research covers a broad
spectrum of science and is conducted at the museum and in laboratories, field
stations, and libraries&nbsp;around the world. An
Office of Repatriation inventories the origins of cultural artifacts and human
remains in the collection and can return them to federally recognized indigenous
groups. Since the founding of the Smithsonian Institution, science has
transitioned from an exclusive pursuit of wealthy, highly educated individuals
to one that can be studied and enjoyed by all walks of life. To bridge the
scientific and public communities, the Museum offers programs, citizen science
projects, and a science education center, Q?rius. The National Museum of
Natural History welcomes millions of visitors each year to explore wonders
of the world.4

The National Museum of Natural History is the most-visited natural history museum in the United States. Dedicated to inspiring curiosity and discovery of the natural world, the National Museum of Natural History preserves and interprets natural science, geology, and anthropology collections. The current building on the National Mall opened in 1910. Among the most popular exhibits are the Hall of Dinosaurs, Egyptian and Roman artifacts, the Hope Diamond, and the sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

NARA, established under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, is essentially the nation’s record keeper. In addition to keeping records, the National Archives is also responsible for preserving and maintaining the materials as well as making them available for research. The records are available to anyone and provide help with family genealogy, veteran’s records, teacher resources and much more. The Archives provide great details, resources, photos and more about our nation’s history.NARA’s mission is to provide public access to Federal Government records in its custody and control to strengthen democracy and hold the government accountable as well as to help citizens understand their history. NARA publishes legally authentic and authoritative copies of acts of Congress, presidential proclamations and executive orders and federal regulations. Also, the organization is responsible for getting votes of the Electoral College to Congress.&nbsp;NARA and the National Archives Museum also offer exhibitions, public programs, videos and documentaries, genealogy workshops, professional development for educators, field trips for students, special free publications and magazines as well a shop both at the main building and online that offers apparel, prints, books and much more. The NAHA also provides digital access to the Presidential Libraries and has regional locations throughout the United States. It also gives millions of dollars in grant funds annually to projects that help preserve history.

The National Archives and Records Administration operates the National Archives and the National Archives Museum. Everyone is welcome to explore U.S. history and heritage through the National Archives. In the Rotunda of the National Archives Building, visitors will find the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. NARA was created in 1934, an independent agency of the U.S. government, and is the official repository for all federal records judged to be of enduring value. Its contents date back to the 18th century. The National Archives Building holds several museum galleries that offer exhibits that change throughout the year in addition to the public vaults and the rotunda which holds the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence.  

National Archives Building and Museum, Washington DC

Andrew Mellon began collecting art during the First World War, focusing most of his efforts on obtaining paintings and sculptures by old masters. During the 1920s, he decided to begin working to create a national gallery for the United States. The museum’s first acquisition of import came from Mellon’s purchase of significant pieces being sold by the Soviet government. Part of the sale of the collection of the Hermitage Museum, this acquisition is historically important when contextualized with the world order at the time. During the latter part of the 1920s, the Soviet government was in desperate need of money to industrialize Russia. This industrialization was part of the USSR’s first Five Year Plan. The Five Year Plans were a series of economic plans in the Soviet Union. Included in the masterpieces acquired from the purchase are Titian’s Venus with a Mirror and Jan van Eyck’s The Annunciation. In addition to the collection of the Hermitage Museum, the Soviet government sold various collections of jewelry and materials taken from the Russian nobility. 

The gallery's original neo-classical structure was designed by John Russell Pope, the designer of the Jefferson Memorial, and completed in March 1941. The East Building, located on the eastern side of the National Gallery of Art campus, was constructed in the 1970s with funds donated by Andrew Mellon's children, Paul and Ailsa. The East Building houses the gallery's collection of&nbsp;modern paintings, prints, sculptures, and drawings. Moreover, the structure provides space for research centers and offices. The most recent addition to the gallery's campus was completed in May 1999. The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden displays a wide array of pieces from the facility's contemporary sculpture collection in an outdoor setting. Notable works in housed in the museum include the Italian Renaissance collection, which features two panels from Duccio's Maesta, the great tondo of the Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, Botticelli's Adoration of the Magi,&nbsp;Giorgione's Allendale Nativity, Giovanni Bellini's The Feast of the Gods, Ginevra de' Benci (the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas), and pieces by Titian and Raphael. The National Gallery’s print collection is comprised of 75,000 prints and rare illustrated books; it includes works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, William Blake, Mary Cassatt, Edvard Munch, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg. For a listing of current exhibitions, please see&nbsp;<a title="Link: http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/exhibitions.html" href="http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/exhibitions.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/exhibitions.html</a>.

The National Gallery of Art is situated at 4th and Constitution Ave. in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1937 following a joint resolution by the U.S. Congress to establish a public art gallery. Funds for construction of the facility, and much of the initial collection itself, were donated by Andrew Mellon. Exhibitions at the gallery include a diverse array of media that highlight the development of western art in the Middle Ages through the present day. The gallery holds the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the western hemisphere and contains the largest mobile ever created by Alexander Calder. 

National Gallery of Art

George Meade was born in Cadiz, Spain while his family was
stationed there during his father’s time with the United States
Navy. After his father passed away in
1828, the family returned to the United States and settled in
Pennsylvania. Meade received an appointment to the United States Military
Academy at West Point where he graduated
nineteenth out of fifty-six cadets in 1835.&nbsp;&nbsp;Meade
left the army in 1836 and began a civil engineering career working for the U.S.
War Department and&nbsp;also working for railroad companies. Meade re-entered the army in 1842 and served
in the Mexican-American War. After the war, he&nbsp;served in the Army corps of
Topographical Engineers.&nbsp;&nbsp;In 1861,
George Meade was promoted to Brigadier General and placed in command of
Pennsylvania volunteers owing to the recommendation of the Pennsylvania governor.&nbsp;Meade’s volunteers served during
the peninsula campaign, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam,
and the Battle of South Mountain during the Maryland Campaign.&nbsp; He was promoted to Major General after the
Battle of Fredericksburg and was commander of the V Corps of the Army of the
Potomac during the Union defeat at Chancellorsville.&nbsp; After Joseph Hooker resigned as commander of
the Army of the Potomac, President Lincoln unexpectedly promoted Meade to the
position.&nbsp;&nbsp;Meade’s new command clashed
with General Robert E Lee’s forces at the Battle of Gettysburg between July 1st
and July 3rd.&nbsp; Using brilliant
defensive positions, Meade defeated Lee’s Army after taking heavy casualties
over the three days of fighting. However, President Lincoln was alarmed to find&nbsp;that Meade did not give chase to Lee’s
retreating army and destroy it. Meade
offered his resignation but Lincoln refused, acknowledging Meade's value as a commander.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Meade served as the&nbsp;commander of the Army of the Potomac through the rest of
the war, but was overshadowed by the promotion of Lieutenant General Ulysses S
Grant to general-in-chief of the army. Following the Civil War, Meade remained in the army and served as commander of the Division of the Atlantic. He served as governor of the Third Military District during the early years of Reconstruction.&nbsp;From 1866 until his death, Meade was Commissioner of Fairmont Park in Philadelphia.&nbsp;The
memorial to George Meade was commissioned by the State of Pennsylvania in
1913.&nbsp; Charles Grafly, a native
Pennsylvanian, designed the monument which was dedicated at Union Square
in October 1927. President Calvin
Coolidge, Governor John Stuchell Fischer, Secretary of the Treasury Andrew N
Mellon, and Senator Simeon D. Fess were in attendance.&nbsp;&nbsp;The National Park Service removed the piece
in 1969 and was put into storage during the construction of the reflecting
pool.&nbsp; In 1983, it was rededicated in
front of the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse on Pennsylvania Avenue and
3rd Street.&nbsp; Six allegorical
figures circle the memorial to General Meade. These figures are Loyalty, Chivalry, Fame, Progress, Military Courage,
and Energy. The top of the memorial has
the State Seal of Pennsylvania. The back
of the statue depicts a scene of war.

This statue was dedicated in 1927 and honors Major General George Gordon Meade. Meade was a Union commander during the American Civil War who is best known for a major Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. In that battle, Meade's forces repelled a Confederate invasion by General Robert E. Lee. The monument was made possible by the people of Pennsylvania and commemorates Meade's actions to force the Confederates out of their state in 1863. 

Major General George Gordon Meade Memorial

The memorial was dedicated in 1959 by&nbsp;President Dwight Eisenhower, six years after Robert Taft died while in office. A crowd of five thousand attended the ceremony which included&nbsp;a eulogy by Herbert Hoover. The tower is 100 feet tall and includes a 27-bell carillon. The bells&nbsp;can be played mannually in addition to their automatic programming which marks the time on the quarter hour. The largest bell is seven tons and the memorial was funded by a collection authorized by Congress wherein each state solicited donations.&nbsp;

The son of President William Howard Taft, Senator Robert A. Taft represented Ohio in the Senate from 1938 to 1953. By 1952, Taft was known as "Mr. Republican" and would have likely been the GOP candidate for the Presidency that year had it not been for Dwight D. Eisenhower's decision to run on the Republican ticket. Taft represented the conservative wing of the Republican Party and sought a return to isolationism after World War II. Eisenhower was more liberal and felt strongly about the need to maintain a global military and alliances through organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which had been formed in 1949. As a result, Eisenhower made Taft an offer in the months leading up to the election. If Taft would support a globalist position, Eisenhower would not run for President leaving the Republican nomination to the Ohio Senator. Taft also believed fervently in his position and refused, giving up a Presidential nomination in the process. Taft died in 1953 and most Republicans by that time endorsed Eisenhower's globalist vision of the United States as the leader of NATO.   

Robert A. Taft Memorial and Carillon 

The interior of the Summerhouse offers stone benches and can seat twenty people. A fountain in the center of the building held either ladles or cups on a chain. Owing to modern sanitation standards, water is now provided by individual drinking fountains. There is a small&nbsp;grotto and waterfall outside the Summerhouse that can also be seen through a small window within the structure. Architect Olmstead wanted to make the structure close enough to the Capitol without intruding upon its grandeur&nbsp;but he also wanted to make sure there was enough foot traffic in the park to "prevent its use for improper purposes."&nbsp;

 Construction on this hexagonal brick structure that is built into the sloping hillside of the front lawn of the Senate side of the Capitol began in 1879. The building was part of Frederick Law Olmsted's plan to improve the Capitol Grounds, a task that he had been appointed to by Congress five years prior. Dubbed the Summerhouse, the hexagon building was a response to parched and overheated visitors to the capitol and featured shady spaces and water fountains along with wrought-iron gates and decorative landscaping. The Summerhouse utilized an open-air design to maximize breezes while the benches are covered and protected from the sun and rain. 

Summerhouse, U.S. Capitol 

In 1791,&nbsp;French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant was chosen to plan the city Washington, the new seat of the United States government. Using his keen design skills, he believed&nbsp;that a&nbsp;small hill, then known as Jenkins' Hill, elevating the relatively flat landscape was a "pedestal waiting for a monument." It was there he decided Congress, the representatives of the people, would preside above the city.&nbsp;Dr. William Thornton, a physician in the British West Indies, submitted the winning design in 1793, which President Washington admired for its "grandeur, simplicity and convenience." Thornton is often considered the first "Architect of the Capitol," a&nbsp;title that now refers to both&nbsp;an individual Architect and an agency dedicated to caring for and developing the Capitol. Noted French architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the first professional architect in the United States, oversaw&nbsp;much of the early&nbsp;construction.1&nbsp;Construction began in 1793 and has been ongoing&nbsp;ever since. Tasks have&nbsp;ranged from building wings for the Senate and&nbsp;House of Representatives to installing art, from installing a cast-iron dome in the Rotunda to updating heating and cooling systems. Its purpose has also fluctuated.&nbsp;In 1800, for example,&nbsp;the Capitol housed Congress, the Supreme Court, the&nbsp;Library of Congress, and D.C. courts, all in cramped quarters. Today, the main Capitol building is home to the House and Senate chambers, though the entire Capitol Complex includes over a dozen office buildings&nbsp;and a visitors center. During the Civil War,&nbsp;the Capitol&nbsp;served as a&nbsp;military barracks, hospital and bakery.2&nbsp;Regular Sunday services took place until
after the Civil War. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were notable
regulars at church services in the Capitol building.Whether having visited in person, seen pictures or witnessed
the Capitol building on television, most people are familiar with the sight of
the Rotunda, a circular room in the center of the building, and the dome above it. There is a “Statue of Freedom” on the top of
the dome. The Rotunda has often been on display following the death of a president.
Eleven presidents have lain in state in the Rotunda for public viewing. An area
below the Rotunda is called the Crypt and was designed to be the final resting
place of George Washington. Washington’s will, however, stipulated that he be
buried at Mount Vernon. The Crypt is open to visitors and does feature exhibits
on the history of the Capitol. 

Countless points of interest are found in the Capitol, &nbsp;the Visitors Center website can help guide visitors to what piques their interests. In the Hall of Columns, statues
from the National Statuary Hall Collection stand among&nbsp;28 beautiful fluted columnns. The&nbsp;basement is home
to an area that was a spa-like facility designed for members of Congress prior
to modern plumbing. Another point of interest is a metal staircase with 365
steps, one for each day of the year, that goes from the basement to an outdoor
walkway on top of the dome.History is made every day at the Capitol. It is the setting of important discussions, debates, and votes on legislation in the House and Senate chambers, on topics&nbsp;such as&nbsp;healthcare, budgets, foreign affairs, energy, education,&nbsp;and&nbsp;civil rights. Furthermore, the Capitol is a gathering place for momentous historical events including presidential inaugurations,&nbsp;the annual&nbsp;State of the Union addresses, Independence Day and Memorial Day events, and memorials in which prominent figures lie in state.&nbsp;

The United States Capitol building is the home to the United States Congress. As one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, the Capitol serves as a working office building and monument to American history. Visitors are welcome to attend tours and explore exhibits. The original portion of the building was completed in 1800 and has been expanded through the years.

United States Capitol Building

James Abram Garfield was born in a log cabin on November 19, 1831 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Before his second birthday, his father died, forcing his mother to not only raise him and his siblings, but also manage the small, struggling family farm. A bright child, Garfield escaped his harsh reality by reading voraciously. Initially yearning to become a sailor and travel the world, he settled for a job as a mule team driver on the Ohio and Erie Canal. Somehow, Garfield scraped together enough money to enroll at Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College). After two years there, he attended Williams College in Massachusetts, graduating in 1856. Garfield then returned to Western Reserve Eclectic Institute to become a professor of classical languages. Only a year later, at the age of twenty-five, he became the school’s president. A member of the newly formed Republican Party, Garfield won a seat in the Ohio legislature in 1859. When southern slaveholding states began to secede, he advocated for the use of force to preserve the Union. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Garfield received a commission as a colonel and helped organize the Forty-Second Ohio Infantry. Early in the conflict, he saw combat in eastern Kentucky and at the Siege of Corinth and the Battle of Shiloh. In the fall of 1862, Garfield was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Initially hesitant to resign his commission, he required some convincing. Garfield received it from none other than President Abraham Lincoln, who thought highly of him and was in search of effective Republicans in Congress. Before taking office, however, he became Chief of Staff for Major General William S. Rosecrans, commander of the Army of the Cumberland, and participated in the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. Later that year, he left the U.S. Army at the rank of major general. Unlike his tenure in the military, Garfield’s time in Congress was lengthy. He won reelection eight times, serving for a total of eighteen years on Capitol Hill, eventually becoming the leading Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1880, the Ohio legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate, but Garfield never took his seat. That same year, the Republican Party selected him as their nominee for President of the United States. In the fall, Garfield won a close election, defeating Democratic nominee Winfield Scott Hancock, who also served as a U.S. Army general during the Civil War. Less than four months after his inauguration, on July 2, 1881, he was shot twice by Charles Guiteau, a disgruntled officer seeker, while waiting at a train station in Washington, D.C. The first bullet merely grazed Garfield, but the second penetrated his back and lodged itself deep within his abdomen, settling behind his pancreas. For several weeks, Garfield languished in pain as doctors unsuccessfully searched for the projectile. Riddled with infection from the countless unsterile examinations, he passed away on September 19 at the age of forty-nine. He was buried in Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery. Garfield’s death came as the Society of the Army of the Cumberland was holding its annual reunion in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Before adjourning, members of the Union veterans’ organization voted to create the Garfield Memorial Committee and charged it with erecting a monument to their former officer and fellow member in Washington, D.C. After fundraising proved challenging, the committee held a fair in the Capitol Rotunda in 1882, which raised nearly $15,000. The following year, Congress appropriated $30,000 for the project. At the 1883 reunion of the veterans’ organization, members selected esteemed New York sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward to design the monument. Dedicated near the U.S. Capitol on May 12, 1887, the monument consists of a larger-than-life sized bronze statue of Garfield on a marble pedestal, designed by prominent architect Richard Morris Hunt. Ward depicted Garfield standing, as if delivering a speech. Lounging around the base of the pedestal are three larger-than-life-sized bronze figures, each representing one of the three stages of Garfield’s life: scholar, soldier, and stateman.

Dedicated on May 12, 1887, this monument commemorates the twentieth President of the United States, James A. Garfield (1831-1881). A native of Ohio and U.S. Army general during the Civil War, he served for nine terms in the U.S House of Representatives as a Republican before being elected president in 1881. Less than four months after his inauguration, on July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot twice by Charles Guiteau, a disgruntled officer seeker, while waiting at a train station in Washington, D.C. For several weeks, he languished in pain as doctors unsuccessfully searched for one of the projectiles. Riddled with infection from the countless unsterile examinations, he passed away on September 19. Garfield’s death came as the Society of the Army of the Cumberland was holding its annual reunion in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Before adjourning, members of the Union veterans’ organization voted to create the Garfield Memorial Committee and charged it with erecting a monument to their former officer and fellow member in Washington, D.C. After fundraising proved challenging, the committee held a fair in the Capitol Rotunda in 1882, which raised nearly $15,000. The following year, Congress appropriated $30,000 for the project. At the 1883 reunion of the veterans’ organization, members selected esteemed New York sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward to design the monument. Dedicated near the U.S. Capitol, the monument consists of a larger-than-life sized bronze statue of Garfield on a marble pedestal, designed by prominent architect Richard Morris Hunt. Ward depicted Garfield standing, as if delivering a speech. Lounging around the base of the pedestal are three larger-than-life-sized bronze figures, each representing one of the three stages of Garfield’s life: scholar, soldier, and stateman.

James A. Garfield Monument

George Washington proposed the creation of a garden and plant museum for the capital in 1796.&nbsp;

Established by the U.S. Congress in 1820, this botanic garden is one of the oldest in the nation and reflects President George Washington's vision for the nation's capital which included aesthetically pleasing buildings and gardens. The indoor exhibits and gardens take users through a variety of natural environments and include many endangered species. The outdoor spaces offer a variety of species that are native to the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. 

United States Botanic Garden Conservatory

In the early 1990s, the Smithsonian and&nbsp;Congress began to explore the creation of&nbsp;a museum dedicated to American Indians. The effort was the result of conversations with&nbsp;numerous Native communities and historians. Although these dialogues were originally efforts to discuss the
ground-level requirements for the museum, these ideas branched out to discuss
how the lives and cultures of Native peoples could be incorporated into the
actual building itself. Some of these ideas manifested in a natural landscape
being constructed around the museum, as well as the building being constructed
to seem as though it was weathered and constructed by nature.

The construction of the landscape was inspired by the Native
belief that the earth retains memories of its past. In considering this
concept, the landscape was designed in such a way to resemble the landscape of
the Americas prior to contact from European settlers. Some considerations that
were included are, for example, hardwood forests, wetlands, meadows, traditional
croplands, grandfather rocks, and cardinal direction markers.

The museum itself displays a number of both temporary and
permanent exhibits on American Indian life and culture. Some of its permanent
exhibits focus on Native cosmology, the history of Native peoples and how they
once lived, and also examinations of contemporary Native culture and life.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is a recent addition to the historical museums of the Smithsonian. Unlike almost any other museum in the country, the NMAI displays exhibits that center upon the life, history, and culture of Western Hemisphere Native Americans. The museum opened to the public on September 21st, 2004. Prior to that time, the creation of the museum was a collective venture between the Smithsonian and various Native communities that began in the early 1990s. Through this cooperation, the museum creates and maintains exhibits on Native peoples and their history. The architecture of the building also incorporates many thematic elements central to the lives and culture of Native peoples.

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

Dwight D Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, on October 14, 1890. Eisenhower grew up in Abeline, Kansas, having moved there when he was one. He was born into a poor family, as his father worked in a creamery. Dwight was nicknamed "Ike" a name that stuck into his later life. He enjoyed sports but took a moderate interest in his studies. After graduating from Abeline High School in the Class of 1909, Eisenhower attended West Point US Military Academy. He excelled in football but injured his knee, forcing him to stop playing. Graduating in the class of 1915, which produced 59 generals, Eisenhower was 61st and 125th in academics and discipline, respectively, out of 164 graduates.After graduating from West Point, Eisenhower was commissioned second lieutenant and sent to San Antonio, Texas, where he met his future wife, Mamie Geneva Doud. Eisenhower commanded a tank training center as a Captain during WWI and although he was to be shipped overseas, the war ended before his departure. During the interwar period, Eisenhower attended the Army's Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he graduated first in the 1926 class of 275. Eventually, Eisenhower became an aide to legendary World War II Pacific Commander Douglas MacArthur.In 1941, at the start of World War II Eisenhower was promoted to chief of staff of the Third Army. After winning the attention of Army Chief of Staff George C Marshall, in June 1942, Eisenhower had rapidly advanced to command all US troops in Europe. Through 1944, Eisenhower commanded assaults on Northern Africa and Southern Italy. In December of 1943, Eisenhower had again been promoted to command all allied troops, including British and Canadian forces, in Europe. During the joint invasion of Normandy beaches, Eisenhower commanded the amphibious attack, leading to the eventual recapture of Paris. Eisenhower retired in 1948 with high popularity.In 1952, Eisenhower was elected US President, with the campaign slogan "I Like Ike". During his two terms, Eisenhower set US foreign policy for the Cold War against the USSR and helped end the Korean War. In 1957, in his second term, Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce desegregation in public schools. He also finished desegregating the military which Truman had started. In addition, Eisenhower signed a massive infrastructure bill that created the National US Highway System. Eisenhower died on March 28, 1969.The memorial in DC was commissioned by Congress in 1999 and built by the Eisenhower Memorial Commission at a cost of 150 million. The original design of the memorial caused many conflicts between architect Frank Gehry and the family of Eisenhower. Originally, Gehry had proposed a memorial where a sole statue of a barefoot, young Eisenhower was shown, against a tapestry background of the Kansas plains. Secretary of State James A Baker III brokered a compromise in which the tapestry was changed to Normandy, and put the youthful Eisenhower statue to the side. The memorial is built on a 4-acre site along eastbound Independence Avenue. Originally, the opening of the memorial was scheduled for May 8, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, however, due to Covid-19 the opening was postponed to September 2020.

The Dwight D Eisenhower Memorial commemorates the life of the 34th US President who is best known for leading allied forces in World War II. The memorial was designed by Frank Gehry and consists of a series of three statues, inscriptions, and a first-of-its-kind tapestry. The memorial features three statues sculpted by Sergey Eylanbekov, one of Eisenhower as a boy, one as Supreme Allied Commander with troops from the 101st Airborne Division, and one as President featured with civilian and military advisors. The tapestry by Tomas Osiniki depicts the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc on the Normandy coastline. Dedicated on September 18, 2020, this was the newest memorial on or near the National Mall at the time this article was written.

Dwight D Eisenhower Memorial

The founding of Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum finds is directly related to the establishment of the Smithsonian Institue itself. In 1876, the Institute was gifted twenty kites from the Chinese Imperial Commission. These kites were the first artifacts to be added to the collection, and along with other items that were gifted and sought out over the years, they were displayed in a building nicknamed the “Tin Shed” behind the Smithsonian Castle in 1920. The Shed was the Air and Space Museum’s home for some time, and as time went on, President Harry Truman signed a bill to create the Smithsonian National Air Museum in order to collect more artifacts. As the collection quickly outgrew the Tin Shed’s space, much of the collection was stored in an abandoned aircraft factory.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson changed the Museum to the National Air and Space Museum in order to reflect the nation’s developments in both aeronautic and space flight, starting with adding rockets and missiles to the Museum’s collection. As the collection expanded, the Museum received funding for a new building in 1971 to be constructed in the National Mall. As construction began in 1975, the Smithsonian Institute had a team working to bring together research and artifacts for the museum, as well as to actively bring together research on spacecraft data. In a short span of time, the Museum was fully constructed and filled with exhibits in time for its opening on July 1, 1976. The National Air and Space Museum was instantly a national sensation; it received over five million visitors in just six months of being active.

To this day, the National Air and Space Museum is still one of the most popular museums in the nation, and one of the most active, as well. Within the Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies division, team members are active in all current Mars and Moon missions. On the Museum floor, themed tours are held throughout the day and&nbsp;Discovery Stations&nbsp;give visitors hands-on interactions&nbsp;with scientific displays and artifacts. Talks with Museum curators and NASA scientists, engineers, and astronauts&nbsp;are often held in the Moving Beyond Earth gallery.&nbsp;The Albert Einstein&nbsp;Planetarium presents&nbsp;live shows&nbsp;on the night sky and screens films, while the&nbsp;Lockheed Martin&nbsp;IMAX Theater shows 3D films and Hollywood movies.&nbsp;Outdoors along Independence Avenue, the Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory,&nbsp;named for one of the first female astronomers to earn a doctorate,&nbsp;facilitates solar observation through a variety of telescopes and hosts special nighttime observation events.&nbsp;

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum houses the largest collection of artifacts related to space and aviation. With both the location in Washington, D.C. and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, the National Air and Space Museum is the most popular museum in the country, drawing in more than eight million visitors per year. Dating back to its founding in 1876, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum holds true to its mission to educate, inspire, and celebrate the history and progress of both air and space flight.

Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum 

Like many Americans, Thomas was enraptured when astronauts first stepped foot on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969, so much so that it became one of the driving inspirations behind her work, particularly in the early 1970's. Her painting Blast Off, from 1970, features colored stripes of red, yellow, and orange coming to a point with a single dab of gray to represent a rocket ship in liftoff. The colored blocks placed on top of each other, forming a triangle, are reminiscent of the Egyptian pyramids, another of humanity's greatest triumphs. The blue and brown earth tones with dashes of pink on either side of the blast symbolize the natural world the rocket is leaving behind; oceans, mountains, and plains whose majesty will soon be dwarfed by the approaching vastness of space. Thomas repeats a similar color scheme in Launch Pad, a representation of the vast launch complex facility in Cape Canaveral, FL.Thomas's early paintings were often done in a realistic style. Thomas herself admitted that was not her personal preference, as she did not want to depict the inhumanities and injustices of the world around her through realistic art. As such, she quickly pivoted to the abstract style for which she is now known. This allowed Thomas to create beautiful, symbolic works of art that captured the polarized achievement of the Moon landing, where African Americans and women were excluded, despite their contributions, against an imagined world of Thomas's own vision--a world on Earth and in the farthest reaches of outer space that welcomed and recognized everyone's gifts, and where all colors were equal. As art historian Cynthia Hodge-Thorne notes in The Politics of Space: Alma Thomas and Race Relations in the 1960s America, Thomas "depicted new worlds with limitless opportunities" through her abstract creations. Perhaps this is most evident in her painting Astronauts' Glimpse of the Earth from 1974, an imagined view of our planet from space done in various shades of blue, with specks of green, red, pink, and orange throughout to represent light, life, and an ideal multiracial society working together as one.Thomas's work has been interpreted as a call to live and work in peace within a beautiful, harmonious world of color. The Air and Space Museum includes her paintings in their collection not only for their historical value and artistic subject matter, but as a reminder that the work of spaceflight is a human endeavor for the betterment of a world shared by all. Two of her most prominent space-themed pieces, Blast Off and Snoopy Sees a Sunrise (1970) will be loaned to the travelling retrospective on the life and works of Alma Thomas sponsored by the Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia and the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia and hosted by the Phillips Collection.

Maintaining the world's largest collection of aviation and space artifacts and memorabilia, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is a monument to the achievement of human flight and all related works of art and archival materials. Between the main facility on the National Mall, opened in 1976, and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington-Dulles International Airport, the museum welcomes over eight million visitors a year, making it the most visited museum in the country. As part of their mission to showcase works of art related to the history, culture, and science of spaceflight, the museum currently houses a collection of works by Alma Thomas entitled The Art of Alma W. Thomas: A Colorful Response. Within this collection are several of Thomas's abstract paintings inspired by the Apollo Moon landing, as well as other works produced by Thomas in the late 1960s and early 1970s that reinterpreted the natural world through her unique lens.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Plans for a modern art museum on the National Mall dates back to 1938,
when Congress provided Smithsonian Institution with funds to create a museum
and select a site. It followed the National Gallery of Art, funded a year prior
by Andrew Mellon. However, the modern art museum project received no such
benefactor until 1964, when Joseph H. Hirshhorn agreed to donate his
collection to the Smithsonian. Hirshhorn was an entrepreneur and
financier who made a great deal of money from investing in uranium mining.
Hirshhorn’s amassed a prolific collection of modern and contemporary art,
considered the largest private collection at the time. He obtained a dynamic
and varied collection that included works of the French Impressionism movement,
American Modernism, and various types of sculpture. The Smithsonian’s
acquisition of Hirshhorn’s collection was part of broader expansions and
educational initiatives undertaken by S. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution from 1964 to 1984. With the support of President Lyndon B. Johnson
and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, the gift was officially accepted in May 1966
and the museum established by an act of Congress in November. By the mid-twentieth century, the National Mall contained most
of the museums standing today. Planning involved careful consideration for the
National Mall’s past and future, including architectural styles, the logistics
of traffic, and views of iconic sites like the United States Capitol and
Washington Monument. Because the 1938 act that stipulated the modern art museum
be situated on the National Mall, Secretary Ripley and Hirshhorn considered a
variety of sites, including at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building and
near the National Archives. Hirshhorn, however, sought a larger space where a
more memorable structure could be built to house his legacy. They selected a
site contained the Army Medical Museum, built in the 1880s by the War Department to house the Office of the
Surgeon General’s museum, library, and archive. Debates ensued between the Smithsonian
and other government agencies, including the Department of Defense (which
supported the plan), the National Park Service (which designated the building a
historic landmark), and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (which operated the
museum). They grappled old and competing visions for the National Mall. Because
the collections, rather than the building itself, was deemed more historically
significant, the Smithsonian received congressional approval to build on this
site. The Army Medial Museum was demolished in 1969 and collections moved to
Walter Reed Medical Center. The Smithsonian hired Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill to design what he considered “a piece of sculpture on the Mall.” He created
a massive cylindrical structure raised fourteen feet off the ground on concrete
piers with an interior courtyard and fountain. In contrast to the museum’s
imposing concrete, the sculpture garden provided open air galleries and
artistic greenery. Furthermore, the Hirshhorn Museum design solidified the National
Mall’s shift from Neoclassical structures like the National Museum of Natural
History to modern architectural styles found in the National Museum of American
History and National Air and Space Museum. Some art critics appreciated the
round design, which created flow and softness, while others felt it was
unimpressive, raising questions about how much a museum building should embody
its collections. Construction began in 1969 and the museum opened in 1974.Symbolically, however,&nbsp;the museum represents the success of
immigrants in America. Hirshhorn emigrated from Latvia when he was six years
old. During the inauguration of the museum, Hirshhorn said, “It is an honor to
have given my art collection to the people of the United States as a small
repayment for what this nation has done for me and others like me who arrived
here as immigrants. What I accomplished in the United States I could not have
accomplished anywhere else in the world.”The Hirshhorn Museum welcomed a million visitors in its first
six months. Since then, the Hirshhorn has transformed and adapted over the
years, keeping up with the times and consistently providing its patrons with
fresh exhibits and the latest artists and projects of the modern-art world. The
museum has grown its exhibition spaces to incorporate more immersive
experiences. New acquisitions include Yoko Ono’s “Wish Tree for Washington DC,”
a permanent piece that has been in the Sculpture Garden since 2007. This piece
was installed as part of her&nbsp;Imagine
Peace&nbsp;billboard project.
Since 2007, the Hirshhorn has hosted After Hours parties three times per year.
In 2009, the museum’s After Hours initiative began collaborating with the Pink
Line Project, which promotes creativity in the Washington DC area. One of their
main missions is to get both visitors to and residents of the DC area to see it
as a creative hub as well as a center for institutions and politics. In 2010,
the Hirshhorn created ARTLAB+, a digital arts studio that offers free after-school
programs for teenagers. The Sculpture Garden was renovated in the 1990s and usually
exhibits about fifty pieces at a time, which are moved or replaced four to five
times per year.&nbsp;

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is a modern art museum that opened in 1974 and was established by an Act of Congress in 1966. With an indoor space of 60,000 square feet to house exhibitions and almost four acres making up its two-level sculpture garden, it is one of the nation’s largest modern art museums. The site where it was built was originally the Army Medical Museum and Library. The idea for an art museum on the National Mall began as early as the thirties, but the project was postponed due to the Second World War. It is named for entrepreneur and financier Joseph H. Hirshhorn, who donated his priceless art collections to the Smithsonian.

Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

When the United States accepted the late&nbsp;James Smithson's estate in 1836,&nbsp;it was originally not known what kind of institution would be established.&nbsp;The&nbsp;first Smithsonian Secretary, Joseph Henry, envisioned&nbsp;a museum and library that would be "the two modes of increasing and diffusing knowledge." This museum would house&nbsp;collections of natural history, American history, anthropology, and art and put them on display,&nbsp;"free of expense," for the&nbsp;public.1 In 1850, Henry appointed&nbsp;Spencer F. Baird as the first curator of the Smithsonian's collections, which were originally housed&nbsp;in the&nbsp;Smithsonian Institution Building, also known as&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15326">the Castle</a>.&nbsp;As a naturalist, Baird focused on amassing a large collection of specimens that illustrated North American flora and fauna. In 1876, the Smithsonian also received collections and exhibitions&nbsp;from&nbsp;the Centennial International Exposition in Philadelphia.&nbsp;Baird understood that in order to continue growing, the Smithsonian would&nbsp;need more space and more methodical&nbsp;organization.2 Baird's&nbsp;dream came true with the National Museum Building. Constructed&nbsp;between 1879 and 1881,&nbsp;the National Museum Building&nbsp;was worldly in its collections and its&nbsp;architecture. Collections included&nbsp;natural history, American history, anthropology, and art. The National Museum&nbsp;Building&nbsp;was&nbsp;inspired by world's fairs and exposition architecture and&nbsp;borrowed Greek, Byzantine, and Moorish designs&nbsp;that were in&nbsp;fashion at the time. Its&nbsp;red brick complements the Castle yet&nbsp;contrasts much of&nbsp;the modern National Mall, which is lined with museums and monuments made of light-colored stone and marble. Architects chose red brick because it was&nbsp;"fireproof, economical, and versatile."&nbsp;The Building's&nbsp;design was open and festive&nbsp;with&nbsp;geometric patterns, skylights,&nbsp;colored brick accents and tiling,&nbsp;and a central rotunda.&nbsp;With its brilliant use of windows and ventilation, artificial lighting and heating and cooling systems were seldom needed. The&nbsp;National Museum&nbsp;Building hosted President James&nbsp;Garfield's inaugural ball&nbsp;on March 4, 1881, and opened to the public in October of that year.3 By 1910, the&nbsp;Smithsonian collections had already outgrown the&nbsp;National Museum Building.&nbsp;The natural history collections moved&nbsp;to the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15371">National Museum of Natural History</a>&nbsp;across the Mall. The National Museum Building&nbsp;was then renamed the Arts and Industries Building and focused on&nbsp;displaying treasures of art and history,&nbsp;such as the Star-Spangled Banner, the&nbsp;Spirit of St. Louis, and First Ladies' dresses. Over the course of the&nbsp;twentieth century, the Smithsonian&nbsp;moved&nbsp;collections out of the Arts and Industries Building and into newly-constructed museums. Because so many museums originated from&nbsp;the Arts and Industries Building, it&nbsp;is often nicknamed the "incubator." These museums include the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15064" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15064">National Museum of American History</a>, the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=12245">S</a><a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=12245">mithsonian American Art Museum</a>, the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=14700" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=14700">National Portrait Gallery</a>,&nbsp;the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15332">National Air and Space Museum</a>, and the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=13665">National Postal Museum</a>.&nbsp;As collections departed,&nbsp;the Arts and&nbsp;Industries Building held exhibits, such as 1876: A Centennial Exhibition celebrating the fair that helped build the National Museum. Gardens added beautiful landscaping to the grounds in the 1980s.4 In the new&nbsp;millennium, the Arts and Industries Building thrived culturally, yet&nbsp;deteriorated&nbsp;physically. In 2004,&nbsp;though&nbsp;the Arts and Industries Building was home to&nbsp;exhibits, archives, offices, and 500&nbsp;employees of various&nbsp;Smithsonian organizations, it&nbsp;closed due to&nbsp;cracks in the walls and flooring, leaks in the ceiling, pests, and&nbsp;poor internal&nbsp;systems.&nbsp;Since then, the Building has undergone extensive renovations to restore its former glory&nbsp;and take advantage of its&nbsp;historically&nbsp;sustainable construction. The future of the&nbsp;Arts and Industries Building is still being planned. In the meantime, it provides a space for pop-up exhibits and special events.&nbsp;Today,&nbsp;the words&nbsp;"National Museum" are still visible on the building's&nbsp;facade,&nbsp;a testament to its place in both American history and Smithsonian history.5

Completed in 1881, the Arts and Industries building was the second structure on the National Mall and the first building dedicated solely to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum. It housed early collections of natural history, American history, anthropology, and art. As the Smithsonian Institution grew, these collections were given their own museums on the National Mall. Currently undergoing renovations, the Arts and Industries Building is open for special events and pop-up exhibitions. The grounds are home to the beautifully landscaped Mary Livingston Ripley Garden. The Arts and Industries Building, one of the finest examples of architecture inspired by the world's fairs, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building

This museum was originally housed in a townhouse on Capitol Hill that was once owned by African American abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass. The museum became part of the Smithsonian Institution in August 1979 following the enactment of Public Law 95-414. It was renamed the National Museum of African Art in 1981 and relocated to a new facility on the National Mall in 1987.Located in the quadrangle complex on the grounds of the National Mall behind the Smithsonian Institution Building, the museum is a unique place, with 96 percent of its collections below ground. The building is part of the Smithsonian's Quadrangle Complex, designed by the famous Boston-based architect Jean Paul Carlhian. The Quadrangle Complex also houses the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the S. Dillon Ripley International Center, all linked underground and capped of with the Enid A. Haupt Victorian Garden on the roof. The museum collection consists of more than 10,000 works and treasures, including over 400 modern and contemporary works of art, making it the most extensive publicly held collection of modern and contemporary African art in the United States. Objects range from ceramics, exceptional photographs, textiles, sculptures, paintings, and more. Over fifty years, the museum has continued to advance Warren Robbins’s vision of sharing the beauty and power of the diverse arts and cultures of Africa.

Established in 1963 as a freestanding museum near Capitol Hill in a townhouse, this museum grew to become part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1979. After an act of Congress in 1981, the museum was renamed the National Museum of African Art. The museum was created thanks to the leadership and advocacy of Warren M. Robbins, a prominent art collector, and former U.S. Foreign Service Officer who saw this museum as a way to foster an appreciation of this heritage and an understanding of the African continent generally. When the museum opened to the public in May 1964, it was the first museum in the United States dedicated to African art exclusively. Today it is the only national museum in the United States dedicated to the collection, exhibition, conservation, and study of the arts of Africa.

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

In 1826, a French-born British citizen named James
Smithson drafted a clause in his Last Will and Testament that would
dramatically change the history of the United States and the city of
Washington, D.C. Smithson had lived a successful life as a scientist who published
at least 27 academic papers and was an active member of the scientific
community in Europe. Despite extensive travels, Smithson had never been to the
United States. Yet when Smithson died and left his estate to his nephew, the
will instructed that should his nephew die without heirs, Smithson’s estate
would be gifted to the United States. In 1835, after his nephew, Henry James
Hungerford, died, Smithson’s estate of $500,000 was given "to the United
States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian
Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”1Smithson’s gift ignited ten years of debates in Congress
that not only shaped the Smithsonian Institution, but also challenged the young
nation to better understand its federal authority. Congress wondered, is the
United States allowed to create a national institution? The Constitution gave
no such authority. Yet Federalist arguments for “increasing and diffusing
knowledge” won out, and the gift was formally accepted in 1836. Congress faced
yet another dilemma: what would this “Smithsonian Institution” be? They
considered a university, education fund, a research institute, a national
library, a publishing house, or a museum. After a decade of debate, they
settled on a museum with exhibits, collections, and a library. On August 10,
1846, President <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=1792">James K. Polk </a>signed the Smithsonian Institution into law, which
established a Board of Regents and a Secretary to oversee the Institution and commissioned
a new building within walking distance of the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=20279" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=20279">United States Capitol</a>. The
Smithsonian was a unique branch of the federal government in its time and it
remains such today. Unlike other federal organizations, the Smithsonian
controls only its buildings and grounds and is recognized as a 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt educational organization.2&nbsp;The Castle was designed to reflect
institutions of higher learning, like those in England, and to evoke themes of
the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. Architect James Renwick Jr. designed the Castle
in the Norman architectural style, a combination of late Romanesque and early
Gothic motifs. The Castle is built of Seneca Redstone, a type of sandstone mined
in Maryland’s Seneca Quarry. The bricks had a distinct red color caused by
rusted iron in the sandstone and were also fireproof. At the time of the Castle’s
construction, Seneca Quarry was owned by John Park Custis Peter, the
great-grandson of George Washington’s wife. Despite its aesthetic beauty, the
redstone was more than likely quarried by slaves. Scottish contractor Gilbert
Cameron managed construction. Once completed in 1855, the Castle was the first
building on what would become the National Mall in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth century. At the time, the land was an empty, isolated swamp.3&nbsp;Called the “nation’s attic,” the Castle
originally housed museum collections, exhibits, administrative offices, a
library, laboratories, lecture halls, and rooms for visitors to stay. Within
these walls, scientists made important discoveries, visitors explored wonders
of the world, speakers debated current events such as slavery and abolition,
and meteorologists fostered what would become the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.weather.gov/timeline" title="Link: https://www.weather.gov/timeline">National Weather Service</a>. General laborers also cared for the building and its exhibits on a day-to-day basis; one of whom, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/stories/solomon-brown-first-african-american-employee-smithsonian-institution ">Solomon Brown</a>, was the first African American employee at the Smithsonian and served as the Institution's "eyes and ears."&nbsp;The
first Secretary of the Smithsonian, <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://siarchives.si.edu/history/joseph-henry" title="Link: https://siarchives.si.edu/history/joseph-henry">Joseph Henry</a>, and his family resided in the
Castle’s East Wing.&nbsp;By the 1880s, the Smithsonian was rapidly outgrowing its
space. In 1881, the Smithsonian built its first museum, now called the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=46368">Arts and
Industries Building</a>. A few years later, in 1889, animals on the Castle
grounds were moved to the Rock Creek area to establish the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15072" title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=15072">National Zoo</a>.4The Castle’s purpose and physical nature has
changed over time. A fire destroyed large portions of the building in January
1865, when water sources to extinguish the fire were frozen. Most of
James Smithson’s papers were also lost in the fire. Such devastation to the
building and its resources prompted major fireproofing initiatives in the late
nineteenth century. The Castle welcomed telephones in the mid-1880s and
electric lighting in 1895. In 1901, the first children’s museum in Washington
was installed in the South Tower Room. The exhibit halls&nbsp;changed as collections moved out of the Castle and into new museums lining the National Mall.&nbsp;In the 1960s, the Castle
underwent a major renovation to include heating and air conditioning, new roofs
and staircases, elevators, and a restaurant. At one time, the Castle was home
to the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars.5Today, the Castle carries on its tradition of welcoming a diverse community of&nbsp;visitors&nbsp;and
administrators. It
houses an information center to orient visitors as they explore all that the
Smithsonian and Washington, D.C. has to offer. Two outdoor gardens, the Enid A. Haupt Garden and Folger Rose Garden, show the&nbsp;beauty of nature through flowers and fountains.&nbsp;Exhibits inside the Castle tell the history of the
Smithsonian Institution, which now comprises nineteen museums, research
centers, and a zoo. These branches of the Smithsonian&nbsp;are historically and architecturally important in and of themselves.
The Smithsonian Institution produces publications, including&nbsp;Smithsonian&nbsp;and&nbsp;Air &amp; Space&nbsp;magazines, and also manages invaluable&nbsp;libraries, archives, and collections. Although the epicenter of
the institution is Washington D.C., there are Smithsonian facilities in
other states and countries, including Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
York City, Virginia, and Panama. More than 200 other museums are considered
Smithsonian Affiliates.6




































One modest alcove of the Castle is also the
final resting place of James Smithson. When he died in 1829, Smithson was originally
buried near Genoa, Italy. Alexander Graham Bell championed the cause to bring Smithson's remains to the United States in 1904. Originally, the proposals for Smithson’s
tomb - such as sprawling gardens and monuments that would have&nbsp;made the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=18647">Lincoln Memorial</a>&nbsp;look small - proved too expensive for the government at this time. Instead, the Smithsonian chose a simpler
and more economical design that laid Smithson to rest in a chapel within the Castle.
His sarcophagus is topped with a pine cone, representing the seeds he sowed for
the “increase and diffusion of knowledge.”7

Completed in 1855, the Smithsonian Institution Building, commonly known as the Castle, was the first building of the Smithsonian Institution and also the first building on the National Mall. Its beautiful Norman, Romanesque, and Gothic architectural styles earned it the nickname “the Castle.” It was the first building to house Smithsonian exhibits and collections of natural history, history, anthropology, and art. Today, the Castle houses administrative offices, an information center, exhibits, and the crypt of James Smithson, the benefactor and namesake of the Smithsonian Institution. 

Smithsonian Institution Building, the Castle

Born
to a modest family in Albany, New York, in 1797, the young Joseph Henry worked &nbsp;nearly missed attending college due to finances.
After coming upon the popular Lectures on Experimental
Philosophy, Astronomy, and Chemistry&nbsp;(1808)
by George Gregory, Henry felt called to pursue scientific research. He entered Albany Academy at
the age of 21 and received a professor position there a few years after
graduating. From 1832 to 1846, Henry began a career at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton
University, and taught popular courses in natural philosophy, geology, and
architecture. Henry built a name for himself within the scientific communities
of the United States and Europe. He developed the most powerful electromagnets
of the time, using iron bars wrapped in metal coil to generate energy. His
discoveries led him to experiment with electric motors, the telegraph, and the
telephone. He also studied optics, acoustics, astrophysics, fluid dynamics, molecular
forces, and terrestrial magnetism, making him a well-rounded intellectual.

In December 1846, the Smithsonian
Board of Regents selected Henry as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution. Henry and his wife, Harriett, and their four children moved from
Princeton to Washington, D.C. and made their home in the private residence of
the newly-constructed Castle. Henry did not particularly like Washington, D.C.,
preferring the pace of college towns and rural areas, and initially disapproved
of Smithsonian dollars going toward brick-and-mortar projects like the Castle. He
also lamented the heat and humidity of Washingtonian summers, writing that “the
thick walls of the [Smithsonian] building become like the sides of an oven
sufficiently hot to cook whatever they may enclose.”1 When he had the
opportunity, he escaped to less punishing environments where he could conduct
research, his most fundamental passion. His dedication to science and culture
put the Smithsonian Institution on an important path for the “increase and
diffusion of knowledge.”&nbsp;

In his tenure as Secretary of
the Smithsonian, Henry set a precedent for the position and the entire Smithsonian
Institution. His “Programme of Organization,” adopted in 1847, created a guide
for developing the Smithsonian Institution’s mission and values. He laid out
research and educational initiatives including research expeditions,
publications, collections, a museum, and a library, all of which emphasized
science, history, anthropology, and art. Under Henry, the Castle welcomed the
public to view exhibits and hear lectures. He oversaw numerous projects such as
the Smithsonian Meteorological Project, which developed a pattern of
recordkeeping that later transformed into the National Weather Service. Outside
of the Smithsonian Institution itself, Henry’s scientific network expanded as
did his influence. He founded and led the National Academy of Science and was
an active member of the Philosophical Society of Washington and the Light-House
Board.

The Civil War put a strain on
the Smithsonian’s resources, as with the rest of the United States government,
challenging Henry to continue scientific advancement amid hardships. He served
as a science advisor to President Abraham Lincoln, assisted the Union Army with
establishing a balloon corps, and worked with the Sanitary Commission and
Surgeon-General of the U.S. Army to better understand physical, mental, and
emotional wellbeing of soldiers. In 1865, an accidental fire destroyed much of
the Castle, including exhibitions, a lecture room, a laboratory, and Henry’s
office containing his papers, letters, diaries, and reports. Henry’s daughter,
Mary, called the event “one of the momentous and saddest events of lives.”2 In the following days, Henry
moved the surviving collections and initiated efforts to repair the building.
After the Civil War, more permanent repairs were completed and the building reopened
to visitors.

While
still serving as the Smithsonian Secretary, Henry died on May 13, 1878, after months
of suffering from Bright’s disease, a historical description of kidney disease.
&nbsp;His funeral was compared to the fanfare
of Abraham Lincoln’s and he was laid to rest in Oak Hill Cemetery in D.C. In
his memory, Congress passed an act to create a statue of Henry. The bronze
statue designed by William Wetmore Story was erected on the National Mall
grounds in 1883. Thousands attended the dedication ceremony, where John Philip
Sousa conducted the Marine Band’s first public&nbsp;performance of “The Transit of Venus March." The statue stands nine feet tall and features Henry
leaning against a pedestal where there is a relief of a horseshoe-shaped electromagnet.
A unit of induction is also named&nbsp;“the Henry” in his honor.&nbsp;In 1965, in honor of
the Bicentennial Celebration of James Smithson’s birth, the Joseph Henry statue
was turned to face the National Mall. He forever looks upon the numerous
Smithsonian museums that followed him. In the words of former Secretary I.
Michael Heyman, Joseph Henry “successfully
steered the Institution through many contentious and divisive issues during its
nascent years, setting the course for the great complex of museums and research
facilities we have today.”3

The statue of Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, welcomes visitors to the Smithsonian Institution Building, also known as the Castle. Joseph Henry (1797-1878) was renowned as a scientist who made important contributions to the study of electromagnetism and invention of the electric motor, telegraph, and telephone. The Smithsonian Board of Regents appointed him Secretary in 1846, and he spent the rest of his life laying essential groundwork for the Smithsonian Institution as it is today. The bronze statue in his memory, created by William Wetmore Story, was erected in 1883. 

Statue of Joseph Henry

The Discovery Theater initially did
not have its own building or its current purpose. At its founding in 1964, the
Discovery Theater was the Smithsonian Puppet Theater, a small show for children
that was performed in a small space in the Natural Museum of American History.
The Puppet Theater worked to bring learning to children just as the rest of the
Smithsonian strived for, and in became so popular that it was moved to the Arts
and Industries Building in 1979. With its new space, the Smithsonian Puppet
Theater renamed itself the Discovery Theater, as it began to feature new kinds
of performances, such as acoustic music, mimes, storytelling, and other such
events. This was merely a small part of the Theater’s mission to make learning
accessible to children, however.

By 1995, the Discovery Theater
began including performances that focused on cultures and heritage, as well as
performances that made math and science simple and accessible. It was the
inclusion of these new programs that made the Discovery Theater more accessible
as a location for learning, and it was made immensely popular among parents and
teachers, as well. As the Theater gained a great deal of visitors, it is no
surprise that by 2004, the Discovery Theater was in need of some renovations.
Soon after it closed, the Discovery Theater re-opened with newly refurbished amenities
and a boutique performance space that gave the Theater expanded opportunities
to fulfill their mission of spreading knowledge.

The Discovery Theater is a theater for children run by the Smithsonian Institute. Originally opened as a small puppet theater, the Discovery Theater works to give children diverse learning experiences on stage, putting on productions that allow children to discover and learn about different cultures, science, and diversity while having fun. Today, the Theater continues to offer numerous performances, striving for scientific and cultural accuracy, as well as the most fun that children can have learning.

The Discovery Theater

After a lucrative career in manufacturing and railroads, Charles
Lang Freer (1854-1919) of Detroit devoted his retirement to collecting art and
traveling. Though he began his art collection in the 1880s, he began actively
collecting upon his retirement in 1900, and by 1904, approached President
Theodore Roosevelt with the idea of donating his collection to the United
States government. Freer collected more than 9,000 pieces of art and manuscripts,
focusing on works from China, Japan, Egypt, India, and the Middle East. Freer
owned one of the largest collections of art by American artist James McNeill
Whistler, Asian-inspired works likely sparked Freer’s interest in Asian art.

Freer donated his private collection to the Smithsonian
Institution in 1906, with stipulations that the gallery could not loan the art to
other institutions nor receive loans from other institutions. He envisioned an
institution that was highly accessible to scholars and students of art. By
establishing a distinct art gallery outside the walls of the Smithsonian
Castle, the new Freer Gallery moved forward the Smithsonian’s broader vision of
creating more museums throughout the twentieth century.&nbsp;

The Italian Renaissance structure was constructed between
1916 and 1921, designed by American architect and landscape planner Charles A.
Platt. The Freer Gallery added another museum to the National Mall, joining the
Castle (1855), the Arts and Industries Building (1879), and the National Museum
of Natural History (1910). Its design also stood out from its neighboring
museums, which were built in either the Romanesque style (with red brick) or
the neoclassical style (with columnns and marble). Like the Natural History
Museum, the Freer Gallery’s interior incorporated rich limestone, marble, and
granite.

The Freer Gallery opened on May 9, 1923. Freer died in
1919 before his gallery opened, but his legacy lives on in his namesake museum.
Since its opening, the Freer Gallery has collected more than 22,000 objects
from Asia, the Middle East, India, and the Islamic world. In 1979, Congress
approved construction of three new structures and gardens near the Freer
Gallery, which would comprise a quadrangle behind the Smithsonian Castle. The
adjoining Sackler Gallery opened in 1987 as the Smithsonian’s second museum
dedicated to Asian art. Together, the Freer and Sackler Galleries are the
nation’s premier museums for Asian art.

One of the most famous works at the Freer Gallery is the
Peacock Room, built by architect Thomas Jeckyll and redesigned as a work of
decorative art by James McNeill Whistler. The room originated from the London
mansion of Frederick R. Leyland, a British shipping magnate, and served as his
dining room. It also displayed Leyland’s collection of Chinese porcelain and
one of Whistler’s original paintings. Whistler reimagined the room between 1876
and 1877, painting Jeckyll’s Asian-inspired design in blue-green hues and
accenting in metallic gold leaf. Though Leyland disliked the redesign, Freer
was so captivated by the space that he purchased it after Leyland’s death. The
room was disassembled and shipped to Freer’s Detroit home until it was permanently
installed in the Freer Gallery.

Opened in 1923, the Freer Gallery of Art was the first art museum of the Smithsonian Institution. It is named for Charles Lang Freer, who donated his collection of Asian and American art to the United States government in 1906. With the adjoining Sackler Gallery, the Freer and Sackler Galleries comprise the nation’s premier collections and exhibits of Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian, and Islamic art, as well as the largest research library in the United States related to these forms of art. 

Freer Gallery of Art 

On November 1, 1978, President Jimmy Carter created the President’s Commission on the Holocaust. Commission members were tasked to create a report on the feasibility and cost of a Holocaust memorial that would provide a place of memory and education. The Commission was chaired by Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel. After almost a year of deliberation, the Commision created a plan for a memorial which included a museum, educational foundation, and a “Committee on Conscience.” The plan was unanimously approved by Congress in 1980 and the United States Holocaust Memorial Council was created to oversee the project.The federal government seized 1.9 acres of land adjacent to the Washington Monument. The director of the project was Richard Krieger and the project was also oversaw by chairman of the council Miles Lerman. Almost $190 million dollars were made to fund the construction and to expand attempts at collecting old artifacts for display. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan helped lay out the cornerstone of the museum and that was designed by architect James Ingo Freed. A dedication ceremony was hosted by American President Bill Clinton, Israeli President Chaim Herzog, chairman Harvey Meyeroff, and Elie Weasel. The museum officially opened in 1993 and the first visitor was the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.Today, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum welcomes millions of visitors per year and continues its educational mission with exhibits and programs. The permanent exhibit takes users through three floors of exhibits starting with the origins of the Second World War and the early history of racism and discrimination in Hitler's Germany. Visitors can view documents, photographs, film, and historical artifacts and there are also options for guided tours as well. Visitors can also observe personal objects from people who lost their lives in concentration camps. The self-guided walk through the museum displays a chronological narrative of events from the Holocaust. On average, it takes several hours to explore the entire memorial and museum. For those who wish to explore further, kiosks and computers are available and offer the chance to go into more depth about the history of the Holocaust.

Established in 1993, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is dedicated to educating citizens about the events of the Holocaust and strives to confront contemporary instances of genocide and anti-Semitism. The museum contains a permanent exhibit that operates on a free ticketing system owing to continued public demand and the importance of allowing each visitor to experience the exhibits at their own pace. The museum also offers a variety of temporary exhibits and special events such as conversations with Holocaust survivors and lectures by scholars and artists. The museum also operates a research library with a vast collection of publications, photographs, documents, and other artifacts related to the Holocaust.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The National World War II Memorial commemorates the United States' involvement in the deadliest and most widespread conflict in history. Between 1939 and 1945, Allied powers fought against the Axis powers' authoritarian and fascist regimes. The United States entered the war after the Japanese bombed a military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Soldiers and civilians mobilized to support the war, sacrificing their resources, time, and sometimes their lives.The first efforts to build a World War II memorial began in 1987, with veteran Roger Durbin and Ohio Representative Marcy Kaptur. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, legislation passed in the Senate and House in 1993 to establish a national memorial. On May 25, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the World War II Memorial Act into law. This law gave the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), an independent federal organization, and a Memorial Advisory Board (MAB) authority to develop the project. For the next eleven years, these authorities partnered with other organizations, including the National Park Service, the Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the General Services Administration.Choosing the memorial's location was one of the earliest and most important decisions. Congress passed a joint resolution in 1994, allowing the memorial to be built within the bounds of the National Mall. Protected by the National Park Service and nicknamed "America's Front Yard," the National Mall preserves and interprets to the world "the symbols and icons of our nation and its ideals." But choosing where on the National Mall, a space already cramped with monuments, museums, and tourists, would be a challenge. Seven sites around the National Mall were up for consideration. After almost a year, the involved organizations decided on a site between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Reflecting Pool. This open and central space would make the National World War II Memorial a very prominent part of the National Mall. Design plans would also incorporate the existing Rainbow Pool designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and Henry Bacon.With the location chosen, the next step was to find a winning design. Throughout 1996, more than 400 entries were submitted to an open competition. The ABMC and General Services Administration chose a grand proposal by Friedrich St. Florian, an Austrian-American architect. Because this memorial held great significance, debates continued over the location and design. Various stakeholders argued the memorial was too large, interrupted the view between the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool, and eliminated an open space traditionally used for demonstrations. Despite some criticism, construction began in September 2001 and moved quickly, as many expressed concern about losing veterans and witnesses to the war. Senator Bob Dole, a veteran, and Frederick W. Smith led the fundraising campaign that totaled $197 million; the federal government provided $16 million, and the rest came through generous donations.In April 2004, the National World War II Memorial opened to the public. In May, the memorial was dedicated in a ceremony with 150,000 attendees. The ABMC transferred ownership to the National Park Service, which maintains, operates, and interprets the memorial. Since 2007, the memorial has also been supported by the Friends of the National World War II Memorial, a nonprofit that raises funds and plans events such as observances of Veterans Day and Memorial Day.The memorial's large, sunken terrace and loud fountains give a powerful sense of the magnitude of war and the determination of its victors. The modified Rainbow Pool is the memorial's central feature, where water from surrounding fountains seems to join together. Though common in other parts of the National Mall, the National Park Service prohibits wading in the fountains of this monument. The pool is flanked by two granite arches symbolizing the war's Atlantic and Pacific Theatres. Encircling the memorial are 56 granite pillars, each representing U.S. states and territories involved in the war. One of the most prominent features of the memorial is the Price of Freedom Wall, which has 4,048 stars. Each of these stars represents 100 Americans killed in the war. Along the entrance walls, bronze bas-relief panels tell stories of American soldiers and citizens, depicting scenes such as military battles, preparing supplies and armaments, war bond drives, and victory.

Opened in 2004, the World War II Memorial honors the 16 million who served in the United States Armed Forces, the more than 400,000 members who made the ultimate sacrifice, and the millions who supported war efforts on the home front. This is the only memorial related to an event in the 20th century that appears in the central axis of the National Mall. It is part of the National Park Service's National Mall and Memorial Parks.

National World War II Memorial

John Paul Jones was born John Paul on July 6, 1747 in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. At the age of twelve, he commenced an apprenticeship with a Scottish merchant shipper, during which time he sailed to the colony of Virginia and paid a visit to his elder brother in Fredericksburg. In the late 1760s, Paul worked as a chief mate on a transatlantic slave ship. After two years, he quit and returned to Scotland. In 1772, Paul sailed to the West Indies and purchased a ship. The following year, however, he killed the ringleader of a mutinous crew. In an effort to escape possible punishment, he fled the West Indies and changed his name by adding the surname Jones. A few years later, he settled in Fredericksburg.  When the American Revolution broke out in the spring of 1775, Jones traveled to Philadelphia. There, he received a commission as a lieutenant in the fledgling Continental Navy and was assigned to USS Alfred. The following year, Jones received a promotion to the rank of captain and assumed command of USS Providence. From August to October 1776, he sailed the Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia to Bermuda, capturing eight ships and sinking eight more in the process. In June 1777, Congress appointed Jones commander of a newly constructed vessel, USS Ranger. Operating in St. George’s Channel and the Irish Sea, he raided English coastal towns and captured HMS Drake. In August 1779, Jones took command of USS Bonhomme Richard, which served as the flagship of a small American squadron. The following month, in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire, the American ships encountered a merchant fleet escorted by HMS Countess of Scarborough and HMS Serapis. During the engagement that followed, known to historians as the Battle of Flamborough Head, the Bonhomme Richard caught fire and began to sink. In response to a British request to surrender, Jones defiantly replied, “I have not yet begun to fight!” After a three-and-a-half-hour gunfight, the British warships surrendered. For the victory, King Louis XVI of France awarded Jones a gold-hilted sword and made him a chevalier of France.  Following the war, Congress awarded Jones the Congressional Gold Medal for his service to the country in 1787. Soon after, he accepted an offer to serve as a rear admiral in the Russian navy. Miserable in the position, Jones resigned and settled in Paris in 1790. On July 8, 1792, he died at the age of forty-five and was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1905, his remains were discovered, exhumed, and brought to the United States. Eight years later, Jones’s remains were reburied in a tomb at the United States Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland.  In June 1909, Congress allocated $50,000 for the construction of a memorial in honor of Jones. Dedicated in West Potomac Park in 1912, the memorial consists of a bronze statue of the Scottish-born naval commander backed by an elaborate marble stele fountain. Designed by sculptor Charles Henry Niehaus, the statue depicts Jones, dressed in full military uniform, standing and gazing into the distance with his left hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Etched into the back of the marble stele is a relief of Jones raising an American flag aboard the Bonhomme Richard. At the stele’s ends, near its base, two stylized fish spout water into two small basins.

This West Potomac Park memorial honors John Paul Jones (1747-1792), a Scottish-born naval commander who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolution. Referred to as the “Father of the American Navy,” he is best remembered for his victory at the Battle of Flamborough Head on September 23, 1779. During the naval engagement, Jones’s vessel, USS 'Bonhomme Richard,' caught fire and began to sink. In response to a British request to surrender, he defiantly replied, “I have not yet begun to fight!” In June 1909, Congress allocated $50,000 for the construction of a memorial in honor of Jones. Dedicated in 1912, the memorial consists of a bronze statue of the Scottish-born naval commander backed by an elaborate marble stele fountain. Designed by sculptor Charles Henry Niehaus, the statue depicts Jones, dressed in full military uniform, standing and gazing into the distance with his left hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Etched into the back of the marble stele is a relief of Jones raising an American flag aboard the Bonhomme Richard. At the stele’s ends, near its base, two stylized fish spout water into two small basins.

John Paul Jones Memorial

First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the trees on March 27, 1912. <a href="https://www.theclio.com/entry/122882" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">These two Yoshino cherry trees</a> were the first of over 3,000 given to the United States by the city of Tokyo. The trees began to bloom four years later, filling the U.S. capital with sakura, or cherry blossoms. In 1921, Japan offered the United States this lantern to complement its earlier gift. The lantern dates from the 17th century and weighs over 20 tons, and stood next to an identical lantern in Tokyo's Ueno Park. The lantern did not make the trip, however, as relations between the U.S. and Japan slowly deteriorated during the 1920s and 1930s. As Japan became more aggressive and expansionistic, the United States made the decision to halt trade of military items and eventually ceased trade of aviation fuel and other supplies. The decline of trade was a factor that led to Japan's decision to attack Pearl Harbor in hopes of crippling the American fleet. The main reason for the attack was Japan's ambition to take control over Southeast Asia at a time when the United States Navy was the only force capable of stopping these plans as the leading colonial powers of Europe were embroiled in a war for their survival and France had already surrendered much of their sovereignty over to Hitler. The attack on the United States led to a brutal era of total war between the two nations culminating with the firebombing of Japanese cities and the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After World War II, relations between the two nations healed remarkably quickly when considering the violence of the war years. In the early 1950s, Japanese ambassador Sadao Iguchi again offered the lantern to the city of Washington, and it was dedicated in this spot on March 30, 1954. The lantern was an important symbol of the return to peaceful relations between the two countries. On the opposite side of the tidal basin is a Japanese pagoda which also honors the event. A part of the Cherry Blossom festival every year, the National Park Service and National Council of State Societies light the lantern. The Embassy of Japan appoints a Cherry Blossom princess and the city welcomes the arrival of spring.

In 1912, after several years pursuing "landscape diplomacy," American and Japanese representatives planted the first cherry trees gifted by the city of Tokyo, Japan. A few years later, Japan offered this seventeenth-century stone lantern from Tokyo's Ueno Park as a gift to the city of Washington. However, deteriorating relations and the hostilities of World War II prevented the acceptance of the gift. In 1954, Japanese ambassador Sadao Iguchi worked with American diplomats to complete the gift. In March 1954, 33 years after the initial offer, the lantern was dedicated in this location. This stone lantern is central to Washington's celebration of the trees every spring, as lighting the lantern is part of the Cherry Blossom Festival every year. 

Japanese Stone Lantern, Tidal Basin

Nestled in a grove of trees alongside the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the District of Columbia War Memorial is an easily hidden yet meaningful tribute to the 26,000 D.C. residents who served in World War I. Also called the Great War, World War I was the largest international conflict at the time, involving 70 million military personnel from over two dozen countries between 1914 and 1917. The United States remained neutral until declaring war on Germany in April 1917 and entering the conflict as an independent power. 4.7 million Americans served in the war and more than 116,500 lost their lives.1 The District of Columbia War Memorial is often overlooked, much like the history of the war itself, though recent restorations and plans for a national memorial are drawing attention back to this early war memorial on the National Mall. Almost immediately after World War I ended, citizens of D.C. called for a memorial honoring local service members. It took years before their hopes came to fruition. The most popular idea came from Janet Noyes, a civic activist in D.C. Her idea involved replacing a wooden bandstand on the National Mall with a marble structure that would host military concerts and serve as "living memorial" to veterans and fallen service members. In 1924, Congress established the District of Columbia War Memorial Commission to coordinate this memorial. Janet Noyes served as head of the women's committee while her husband, Frank Noyes, the owner of the Washington Evening Star newspaper and president of the Associated Press, served as chairman. The commission, comprised of notable Washingtonians, hired local architects and construction contractors. Volunteers organized teams to solicit donations from street car and bus companies, radio broadcasting companies, motion picture theaters and vaudeville houses, hotels, banks, large stores, the Boy and Girl Scouts, police and fire departments, and women's clubs and organizations. President Calvin Coolidge made one of the first donations to the project, while superintendent of D.C. schools, Dr. Frank W. Ballou, encouraged the 70,000 schoolchildren to donate five cents to the project. Fundraising, however, was still a slow process that some attributed to the city's disenfranchisement of its citizens; Washingtonians, for example, did not receive the right to vote until 1961. Eventually, enough funds were raised to begin construction in the spring of 1931.2The memorial would be an architecturally beautiful and practical addition to the National Mall. The Commission of Fine Arts approved designs and determined it would be the first memorial in West Potomac Park. The memorial was designed by Frederick H. Brooke, Nathan C. Wyeth, and Horace W. Peaslee, all of whom were prominent architects in the D.C. community. The bandstand was a common feature of towns and cities across America, though the one on the National Mall would be more grand in design and materials. It was built in the neoclassical design reminiscent of ancient Greece and Rome. Neoclassicism became popular on the National Mall in the early twentieth century, with the Lincoln Memorial and National Museum of Natural History already constructed and the Jefferson Memorial to come. The memorial bandstand included 12 columnns, a domed roof, and marble from Vermont. 499 names were inscribed in the marble to commemorate those who died in service or due to an injury before the war ended; seven of these names belonged to women. As construction continued, landscaping also beautified the area with oak, beech, elm, and tulip trees. On the National Mall, the District of Columbia War Memorial would be a focal point for music and social gathering during periods of cultural change and economic depression.3The memorial's inscription reads: <blockquote>The names of the men and women from the District of Columbia who gave their lives in the World War are here inscribed as a perpetual record of their patriotic service to their country. Those who fell and those who survived have given to this and to future generations an example of high idealism courageous sacrifice and gallant achievement.4</blockquote>The District of Columbia War Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1931, the thirteenth anniversary of Armistice Day, which ended World War I. President Herbert Hoover presided and made an appeal to world peace, his address beginning at 11 o'clock, the same time the war had ended in 1918. Renowned musician John Philip Sousa brought the memorial to life. Sousa led a patriotic 20-minute performance with the United States Marine Band. Songs included "The Stars and Stripes Forever," "Taps," and "The Star Spangled Banner." The event welcomed thousands to the National Mall, including World War I veterans, Gold Star Mothers, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Disabled American Veterans. Americans across the nation listened on the radio. In the coming years, the memorial would be a significant concert venue, each performance honoring World War I service members.5Time and nature took a toll on the District of Columbia War Memorial. Not even a decade after construction, the memorial was already suffering water damage. In 1939, the Public Works Administration rehabilitated the walkways and mitigated water damage with gutters and an assortment of new tree species on the grounds. The use of the memorial as a bandstand also fell out of fashion, as new traditions, musical tastes, and memorials changed the culture of the National Mall. As the structure deteriorated, World War I veterans passed away. In 2008, the last living American veteran of World War I, Frank Buckles, called for the memorial to be restored and rededicated as a national memorial. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 set aside $7.3 million to restore the structure and grounds, which began in 2010. It reopened November 11, 2011, on the 93rd anniversary of Armistice Day. Though this memorial remains dedicated to D.C. residents, the National World War I Memorial in D.C. is under construction in Pershing Park. Today, music occasionally lofts from the memorial. It remains a hidden gem worth discovering in the National Mall and Memorial Parks.6

Built in 1931, the District of Columbia War Memorial honors the 26,000 residents of D.C. who served in World War I. With architecture inspired by ancient Greece and Rome, it was designed as a functional bandstand for commemorative and military concerts that were popular in the early to mid twentieth century. Today, it is part of the National Park Service's National Mall and Memorial Parks, where it has recently undergone restoration. It is the only locally-focused memorial on the National Mall.

District of Columbia War Memorial

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born into a middle-class family on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. The second of four siblings, he was the eldest son of Martin Luther King, Sr., a Baptist minister, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher. Growing up, King attended the city’s segregated public schools. An extremely bright student, he graduated high school at the age of fifteen. King matriculated at Atlanta’s Morehouse College, where he studied medicine and law. While at Morehouse, he came under the mentorship of the college’s president, Dr. Benjamin Mays, a theologian and racial justice advocate. Inspired by Mays, King decided to follow in the family tradition by entering the ministry. After graduating from Morehouse in 1948, he enrolled at Crozer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in divinity in 1951. King then attended Boston University to complete his graduate studies. While attending the university, he joined Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and married Coretta Scott, a young woman from Alabama enrolled at the city’s New England Conservatory of Music. The marriage ultimately produced four children. After completing his required coursework at Boston University, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1954. The following year, the organizers of the Montgomery Bus Boycott selected him as their leader and official spokesman. The successful protest transformed King, then only in his late twenties, into a national figure and a leader of the civil rights movement. In 1957, he and other African American ministers formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization that he led until his death. An advocate of non-violent protest influenced by the likes of Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi, King organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, held in August 1963. At the landmark event, he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of between 200,000 to 300,000 people. The following year, King received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1964, he led a march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery, which helped influence the passage of the Voting Rights Act the following year. In the late 1960s, with racial segregation dismantled, federal protections for African American suffrage in place, and the rise of more militant Black leaders, King turned his attention to other issues affecting African Americans, including workers’ rights, poverty, and the Vietnam War. On the evening of April 4, 1968, while in Memphis to lend his support to striking sanitation workers, he was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel by James Earl Ray. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law establishing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a federal holiday. Nearly thirty years after King’s death, Congress authorized his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, to erect a memorial in his honor in the nation’s capital. After its formation, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation selected West Potomac Park’s Tidal Basin as the memorial’s site and held a design competition, which drew more than 900 entrants. In 2000, the foundation selected the proposal submitted by ROMA Design Group. To execute the work, the group hired Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin. Dedicated in 2011, the memorial consists of a thirty-foot-tall rough granite mountain with a large section sliced from it. The section features a relief of King, standing defiantly with arms crossed. The design was inspired by a line from the civil rights leader’s famous “I Have a Dream Speech” in which he states: “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” Soon after it was unveiled, the memorial generated controversy because of a paraphrased quote featured on it. Critics argued that the paraphrased quote (“I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness”) sullied King’s memory by making him seem arrogant. In late 2012, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced his decision to remove the controversial quote. The following year, Yixin removed the quote from the memorial.

This West Potomac Park memorial commemorates one of the leaders of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968). A Baptist minister and advocate of non-violent protest, he rose to prominence within the movement and became a national figure as a result of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956). Between 1957 and 1964, King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and received the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership efforts. On April 4, 1968, while in Memphis to lend his support to striking sanitation workers, he was assassinated by James Earl Ray. Nearly thirty years after King’s death, Congress authorized his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, to erect a memorial in his honor in the nation’s capital. After its formation, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation selected West Potomac Park's Tidal Basin as the memorial’s site and held a design competition, which drew more than 900 entrants. In 2000, the foundation selected the proposal submitted by ROMA Design Group. To execute the work, the group hired Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin. Dedicated in 2011, the memorial consists of a thirty-foot-tall rough granite mountain with a large section sliced from it. The section features a relief of King, standing defiantly with arms crossed. The design was inspired by a line from the civil rights leader’s famous “I Have a Dream Speech” in which he states: “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

First Lady Helen Herron Taft traveled to the Philippines in 1901 and saw Lunete, a beautiful park space that inspired her to develop a cultivated landscape in Washington, DC a years later when her husband was president. While she worked with DC socialites on developing new park spaces, Japanese chemist Jokichi Takamine heard her plans to plant cherry trees and suggested acquiring them from Japan to strengthen ties between the two countries. This "landscape diplomacy" transformed the city. Japan offered to donate 2000 cherry trees of several varieties, representing different regions of Japan. The first shipment of trees, arriving in Seattle in 1910, had to be burned after USDA officials discovered pests and disease during inspection. The second batch of over 3000 trees arrived in 1912 with a letter from the Mayoress of Tokyo, Yei Theodora Ozaki, wife of the city's mayor. The first planting took place March 27, 1912. Helen Taft and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted two Yoshino cherries (Prunus x yedoensis), the first of over 3700 cherry trees planted in the capital. Taft gave the VIscountess a bouquet of American Beauty roses at the event. The trees began to bloom four years later. The city held its first Cherry Blossom Festival in 1935. Some trees were vandalized after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, but the landscape diplomacy continued after the end of World War II with the US giving budwood from the trees to the city of Tokyo to replenish the cherry grove of Adachi Ward. Fewer than 200 of the over 3000 original trees from the first plantings survive. Several times throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, more trees have been planted by American and Japanese diplomats in commemoration of the original planting ceremony and as a symbol of international friendship.

These Yoshino cherry trees, or sakura, were a gift from the city of Tokyo, Japan to the United States and were planted in 1912 in a small ceremony with First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador to the United States. The trees symbolized the friendship between the two nations, and was the culmination of several years' work trying to transport trees to the US without disease or pests. These trees were the first of over 3,000 trees from Japan planted in the nation's capital. The city began celebrating the Cherry Blossom festival in 1935 and the symbolic planting of two cherry trees has been a reoccurring event in Japanese-American diplomacy for decades.

Japanese Cherry Trees

The Korean War began in 1950 when a Soviet backed North Korea invaded South Korea. Five years earlier, Soviet Premier Stalin and American President Truman agreed to the division of Korea at the 38th parallel. The USSR was to occupy the industrial north while the United States occupied the agricultural south. From split until war, the United States became preoccupied with rebuilding Western Europe and did not list Korea under the American defense perimeter in Asia. Eager to reunite North and South Korea, the newly appointed Prime Minister of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, asked for Stalin’s blessing to invade his southern neighbor while American attention was elsewhere. On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea. In response, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling member states to aide South Korea and send military assistance. The bulk of the fighting force was American, and the famous General Douglas MacArthur became Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Command.  The War was fought in five distinct phases, each more trying than the last. The first phase was defensive and led to UN forces being driven back to Seoul, the capital of South Korea. It was not until the second phase that the UN forces went on the offensive under Operation CHROMITE. This military operation involved reinforcing the cornered forces and cutting off supply lines to the North. Upon completion of Operation CHROMITE, MacArthur famously claimed that American troops would be, “home by Christmas.” It seemed that the conflict would end quickly and the establishment of a non-communist government in a unified Korea. Unfortunately, the fighting was just beginning as Chinese forces entered the fray. Upon arrival, the Chinese turned the tide back in favor of the North Koreans and forced the longest retreat in American military history. The Chinese entrance into the Korean War changed the political scope of the engagement. The goal of the war became unclear and ultimately resulted in General MacArthur being excused from his commanding role. MacArthur sought to invade China and believed that without significant increases in troop numbers, the original aim to unify Korea was unachievable. This war’s connection to the Cold War began to show how difficult it would be to achieve even limited objectives against communism. With the Soviet Union, China, and the United States involved in the Korean War, the stage was set for future conflicts to become ideological rather than for land. As the UN forces mounted a counteroffensive against the Chinese advance, improvements in either sides territorial gain became limited. Negotiations for a cease fire continued throughout the last phase of war. Eventually, North and South Korea agreed to cease hostilities but did not sign a formal treaty. As a result of the Korean War, over 37,000 Americans lost their lives. The numbers lost by the native armies were much more staggering. More than 250,000 South Koreans perished and nearly 1.3 million are thought to have lost their lives on the North Korean and Chinese side of fighting. To this day, the United States maintains a strong presence in South Korea along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The Korean War Veterans Memorial was built to honor the memories of those soldiers. The memorial was commissioned by the U.S. Congress on October 28, 1986 and the design and construction of the monument was jointly managed by the Korean War Veterans Memorial Advisory Board and the American Battle Monuments Commission. The memorial was finished being built in 1995 and its dedication occurred on July 27th of that year. As the number 38 has significance of the conflict, it is also important within the memorial. The Korean War Veterans Memorial contains nineteen statues of soldiers. When viewed in the reflecting pool, these soldiers become thirty-eight. This is representative of the 38th parallel and the thirty-eight months that the Korean War raged. On top of its beauty, the Korean War Veterans Memorial serves as a reminder of the importance of America’s influence in Asia and its fight against communism during the twentieth century.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial, situated just off of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, honors those who served in the Korean War. The memorial was commissioned by the U.S. Congress on October 28, 1986 and the design and construction of the monument was jointly managed by the Korean War Veterans Memorial Advisory Board and the American Battle Monuments Commission. The final design selected for the monument was created by Washington architectural firm Cooper-Lecky, following a bitter dispute that involved a government-sponsored design contest and four students from The Pennsylvania State University (see NY Times article below). The groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 14, 1992 and the memorial was dedicated on the 42nd anniversary of the end of the conflict-- July 27, 1995. The memorial is managed by the National Mall and Memorial Parks division of the National Park Service. 


Korean War Veterans Memorial

John Ericsson was born in Sweden on July 31, 1803. As a teenager, he joined the Swedish army and served as a lieutenant of topographical engineers. In 1826, Ericsson immigrated to England, settling in London. While residing in the city, he designed plans for installing naval engines below the waterline to protect them from enemy gunfire, and in 1836 received a patent for a screw propeller. Ericsson’s work caught the attention of a Captain Robert F. Stockton, a captain in the U.S. Navy who was in England at the time. Stockton convinced the U.S. Navy to order a small iron steamer outfitted with Ericsson’s screw propeller and an engine below the waterline. The vessel, named the Robert F. Stockton, arrived on America’s shores in May 1839. Ericsson immigrated to the United States a few months later and settled in New York City, where he would live for the remainder of his life. Soon after, Ericsson designed the machinery for the USS Princeton, the U.S. Navy’s first steam-powered screw warship. Launched in 1843, the vessel became infamous the following year when one of its guns exploded during a pleasure cruise on the Potomac River attended by President John Tyler and many federal government officials. The blast killed U.S. Secretary of State Abel Upshur and U.S. Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer, and injured Stockton and others. Fortunately, Tyler was unharmed. Shaken by the disaster, Ericsson, who designed the gun, decided not to work for the U.S. Navy again, and shifted his focus to designing commercial ships.Ericsson’s feelings changed, however, during the Civil War. Following the outbreak of the conflict, the U.S. Navy abandoned Norfolk, Virginia. In the process, it scuttled the USS Merrimack, a steam frigate. Shortly after, the Confederacy raised the vessel and secretly rebuilt it as an ironclad. Commissioned the CSS Virginia in February 1862, it looked to break the federal blockade. When the U.S. Navy learned of the Confederacy’s clandestine plans, it moved to create ironclads of its own. Ericsson submitted a design and the U.S. Navy accepted it. Dubbed the USS Monitor and launched on January 30, 1862, the steam-powered ironclad vessel featured a low, long hull, screw propeller, and single revolving turret. Just over a month later, on March 9, the Monitor battled the Virginia to a draw at Hampton Roads. In December of that same year, Ericsson’s revolutionary ship sunk in stormy seas off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Despite the fate of the Monitor, the U.S. Navy ordered Ericsson to build new classes of Monitor-like ironclads.After the war, Ericsson continued to design new naval technology. He worked on torpedoes ships and solar-powered engines. Ericsson died in New York City on March 8, 1889 at the age of eighty-five. The next year, the Swedish government requested the return of his remains, which were reinterred in Filipstad. Following Ericsson’s death, Scandinavian-Americans petitioned Congress to erect a memorial in honor of him in Washington, D.C. In 1916, Congress appropriated $35,000 and established a commission to oversee the project. The John Ericsson Memorial Committee then raised an additional $25,000, and in cooperation with the Commission of Fine Arts chose sculptor James Earle Frasier to design the memorial. After the commission selected a site in West Potomac Park, Frasier arranged for a large piece of pink granite to be shipped there in the winter of 1925-1926. The artist planned to carve the memorial on site during the spring. Frasier, however, was working with a tight deadline. The memorial’s unveiling was set to coincide with a May visit to the United States from Sweden’s Crown Prince Gustavus Adolphus and his wife. True to the prediction of many in the nation’s capital, Frasier did not finish the project in time. For the dedication on May 29, he tinted his full-size plaster model pink to make it appear as if it was the real memorial, which Frasier did not complete until the following spring. The memorial depicts Ericsson seated in a chair with a cloak draped around him. With his head tilted down and slightly to the side, he appears deep in thought. An ode to the engineer and inventor’s Scandinavian roots, Frasier included in the composition the Yggdrasill, the tree of life in Norse mythology, which rises behind Ericsson. Standing around the tree are three allegorical figures that represent “Adventure,” Labor,” and “Vision.”

This memorial commemorates Swedish-born engineer and inventor, John Ericsson (1803-1889). He is best remembered for designing the U.S. Navy’s first ironclad, the Monitor, during the Civil War. Following Ericsson’s death, Scandinavian-Americans petitioned Congress to erect a memorial in honor of him in Washington, D.C. In 1916, Congress appropriated $35,000 and established a commission to oversee the project. The John Ericsson Memorial Committee then raised an additional $25,000, and in cooperation with the Commission of Fine Arts chose sculptor James Earle Frasier to design the memorial. Dedicated on May 29, 1926 in West Potomac Park, it depicts Ericsson seated in a chair with a cloak draped around him. With his head tilted down and slightly to the side, he appears deep in thought. An ode to the engineer and inventor’s Scandinavian roots, Frasier included in the composition the Yggdrasill, the tree of life in Norse mythology, which rises behind Ericsson. Standing around the tree are three allegorical figures that represent “Adventure,” Labor,” and “Vision.”

John Ericsson Memorial

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born into a wealthy and well-connected family on January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. The only child of James and Sara Delano Roosevelt, he was educated at home by private tutors and at the elite Groton School in Massachusetts before enrolling at Harvard College. Following his graduation from Harvard in 1903, Roosevelt attended law school at Columbia University. During this time, he married a distant cousin and niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. The marriage produced six children, five of whom survived to adulthood. After passing the bar, Roosevelt left law school before earning his degree and took a job with a prominent New York City law firm.  In 1910, Roosevelt entered politics when he successfully ran for a seat in the New York State Senate as a Democrat. Three years later, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him assistant secretary of the Navy, a position he would occupy for seven years. In 1920, the Democratic Party chose Roosevelt to be its vice-presidential nominee. That November, he and his running mate, Ohio Governor James Cox, were soundly defeated by Republicans Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. Less than a year later, in the summer of 1921, a paralytic illness (most likely Guillain-Barré syndrome, not polio as it was believed to be at the time) robbed Roosevelt of the use of his legs in the prime of his life. Determined to overcome the devastating development, he endured years of physical therapy and learned to walk short distances with heavy leg braces and the help of an aid. Roosevelt resumed his political career in 1928, when he successfully ran to become governor of New York. Two years later, the people of New York reelected him by a wide margin. In 1932, as the country slipped deeper into the Great Depression, Roosevelt captured his party’s nomination for President of the United States and trounced incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in the general election.  Roosevelt ultimately won reelection to the presidency three consecutive times (1936, 1940, and 1944), serving for a total of just over twelve years. During his time in office, he enacted the New Deal, the collective term used to describe a series of government programs and reform measures aimed at combating the effects of the Great Depression and preventing something like it from happening again. Some of the lasting features of the New Deal include Social Security and the FDIC. Later in his tenure, Roosevelt shepherded the nation through the Second World War, the deadliest conflict in human history. Although he was popular among most Americans at the time, his failed attempt to pack the Supreme Court and purge his party of conservatives, in addition to a self-inflicted recession in 1937, tarnished his reputation. On April 12, 1945, while vacationing in Warm Springs, Georgia, Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was sixty-three years old.  Following Roosevelt’s death, Congress established the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission in 1955. After nearly two decades of delay, the commission chose landscape architect Lawrence Halprin to design the memorial in 1974. Dedicated on May 2, 1997 by President Bill Clinton, it consists of five loosely-defined outdoor areas, four of which focus on Roosevelt’s four terms in office. Constructed of over four and a half tons of South Dakota red granite and utilizing 100,000 gallons of water, the memorial features several bronze sculptures and reliefs designed by various artists, in addition to a large waterfall, reflecting pool, and numerous quotations etched into the granite walls. After the National Organization on Disability criticized the memorial for not adequately addressing Roosevelt’s disability, a bronze sculpture of the president in his wheelchair was added in 2001.

This West Potomac Park memorial commemorates the thirty-second President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945). Elected to the presidency four consecutive times (1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944), he served for a total of just over twelve years. During his time in office, Roosevelt enacted the New Deal to combat the effects of the Great Depression and prevent something like it from happening again. Later in his tenure, he shepherded the nation through the Second World War, the deadliest conflict in human history. On April 12, 1945, while vacationing in Warm Springs, Georgia, Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of sixty-three. Following his death, Congress established the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission in 1955. After nearly two decades of delay, the commission chose landscape architect Lawrence Halprin to design the memorial in 1974. Dedicated on May 2, 1997 by President Bill Clinton, it consists of five loosely-defined outdoor areas, four of which focus on Roosevelt’s four terms in office. Constructed of over four and a half tons of South Dakota red granite and utilizing 100,000 gallons of water, the memorial features several bronze sculptures and reliefs designed by various artists, in addition to a large waterfall, reflecting pool, and numerous quotations etched into the granite walls. After the National Organization on Disability criticized the memorial for not adequately addressing Roosevelt’s disability, a bronze sculpture of the president in his wheelchair was added in 2001. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

George Mason was born into a prosperous planter family on December 11, 1725 in what is now Fairfax County, Virginia. Growing up, he received little formal education, but did enjoy the luxury of taking instruction from private tutors. Additionally, Mason read voraciously from the vast library of his uncle, prominent Virginia lawyer John Mercer. In March 1835, when he was just nine years old, his father tragically died while attempting to cross the Potomac. As eldest son, Mason inherited most of his father’s substantial fortune when he came of age, which included thousands of acres of land and hundreds of slaves. In 1747, he became a member of the Fairfax County Court, ultimately serving for thirty years. Two years later, Mason invested in the Ohio Company and soon after become its treasurer. In 1750, Mason married Ann Eilbeck, the daughter of an eminent Maryland merchant and planter. The marriage was a happy one and produced nine children who survived to adulthood. Between 1755 and 1759, Mason oversaw the construction of Gunston Hall, his stately mansion near the Potomac River. In time, he became close friends with neighboring landowner, George Washington. As tensions rose between the American colonists and the British Crown in the late 1760s and early 1770s, Mason gradually grew to become a leader of the independence movement in Virginia. In 1769, he participated in and helped to organize a Virginia boycott of British goods to protest the Townsend Acts. Five years later, with the help of Washington, Mason penned the Fairfax Resolves, a bold series of resolutions that not only challenged Britain’s authority over the American colonies, but also called for inter-colonial cooperation to safeguard colonists’ rights as freeborn Englishmen. In 1775, the same year the American Revolution began, the voters of Fairfax County elected him to serve on the county’s committees of public safety and correspondence. The following year, while attending the Fifth Virginia Convention, Mason drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights and most of the first Constitution of Virginia. The former document not only served as a model for the U.S. Bill of Rights, but also influenced Thomas Jefferson’s writing of the Declaration of Independence. More than a decade later, Mason played a significant role in the debate surrounding the creation and ratification of the U.S. Constitution. In 1787, he traveled to Philadelphia to attend the Constitutional Convention. During the proceedings, Mason actively participated, being among the most frequent delegates to speak. In the end, after the Constitution was drafted, he refused to sign it. Mason objected to the Constitution’s lack of a bill of rights. Additionally, he was appalled that it permitted the continuation of the slave trade until 1808. Ironically, despite being a slaveowner himself, Mason abhorred the institution. The following year, as his home state debated ratification, he once against voiced his concerns. Despite this, Virginia voted to ratify the Constitution. Many others, however, shared Mason’s concerns about the Constitution. In order to win their support for the Constitution, pro-ratification forces agreed to allow for a U.S. Bill of Rights to be added to it. After his home state voted in favor of ratification, Mason retired to Gunston Hall, where he died on October 7, 1792. Roughly two hundred years after Mason’s death, the Board of Regents of Gunston Hall provided funds to erect a memorial in honor of the Virginia Founding Father in Washington, D.C. Designed by architect Faye B. Harwell and dedicated by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist on April 9, 2002 in East Potomac Park, the memorial features a seventy-two-foot-long, nine-foot-tall curved pergola. Beneath it, on a granite bench, sits a life-sized bronze sculpture of Mason. Designed by sculptor Wendy M. Ross, the statue depicts him sitting casually with his legs crossed. He holds a book in his right hand while gazing into the distance, as if deep in thought. Two thick bronze books are stacked on the bench to his left, while his tri-corner hat and walking stick are on his right. Flanking the sculpture and bench are two, four-foot-tall granite walls inscribed with some of Mason’s most profound quotations.

This memorial in East Potomac Park commemorates an often-overlooked Founding Father, George Mason (1725-1792). In 1776, he drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a document that not only served as a model for the U.S. Bill of Rights, but also influenced Thomas Jefferson’s writing of the Declaration of Independence. Later, Mason was one of the few men who attended the Constitution Convention of 1787 to not sign the U.S. Constitution. He died at Gunston Hall, his stately mansion in Virginia near the Potomac River, on October 7, 1792. Roughly two hundred years after Mason’s death, the Board of Regents of Gunston Hall provided funds to erect a memorial in honor of the Virginia Founding Father in Washington, D.C. Designed by architect Faye B. Harwell and dedicated by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist on April 9, 2002 in East Potomac Park, the memorial features a seventy-two-foot-long, nine-foot-tall curved pergola. Beneath it, on a granite bench, sits a life-sized bronze sculpture of Mason. Designed by sculptor Wendy M. Ross, the statue depicts him sitting casually with his legs crossed. He holds a book in his right hand while gazing into the distance, as if deep in thought. Two thick bronze books are stacked on the bench to his left, while his tri-corner hat and walking stick are on his right. Flanking the sculpture and bench are two, four-foot-tall granite walls inscribed with some of Mason’s most profound quotations.

George Mason Memorial

The
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission was created by an Act of Congress in 1934,
to design a memorial honoring the Founding Father and third President of the
United States. This memorial was part of larger efforts throughout the
twentieth century to populate the National Mall and surrounding areas with
memorials and monuments to American history and culture. With the Washington Monument
and Lincoln Memorial already completed, federal planners, including President
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Commission of Fine Arts, felt that a memorial to
Jefferson was an appropriate next step. Additionally, the Jefferson Memorial fulfilled
part of the McMillan Commission Plan of 1902, used as a guide for urban
planning in Washington, D.C., which envisioned a grand memorial on the Tidal
Basin on the cross axis of the White House and Washington Monument. Originally,
this was a proposed site for the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial.&nbsp;

In 1937,
the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission chose the Tidal Basin as the site and
hired architect John Russell Pope, designer of the National Gallery of Art. Frederick
Law Olmstead, Jr. oversaw landscape design, which redirected streets,
established grassy areas, and removed some trees to improve the viewshed. Though
it may have seemed like all the pieces were coming together, there were a
number of debates over the memorial location and design. Some members of the Commission
of Fine Arts and the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission disliked
the Pantheon design or thought the neoclassical architecture was too similar to
the Lincoln Memorial. Due to delays, President Roosevelt overrode the authority
of the Commission of Fine Arts and ordered construction begin. The President laid
the cornerstone on November 15, 1939, in which a number of documents were
placed: copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the 1939 Thomas
Jefferson Memorial Commission Report, the "Writings of Thomas
Jefferson" by Paul Leicester Ford, Jefferson's “The Life and Morals of Jesus
of Nazareth,” and one edition each of four prominent Washington, D.C., newspapers.
It was dedicated on April 13, 1943, the bicentennial of Jefferson's birth.

Architect
John Russell Pope took inspiration for the memorial from civilizations both
young and old. He borrowed designs from Jefferson’s most famous buildings,
Monticello and the University of Virginia Rotunda, along with the ancient Pantheon
in Rome, which Jefferson admired. These designs reflected Jefferson’s
architectural tastes. Pope planned a memorial that would symbolize all the roles
Jefferson played in American history—statesman, architect, drafter of the
Declaration of Independence, founder of the University of Virginia, and President
of the United States. Pope designed a circular, open air structure with 54
columnns. The porch, or portico, supports a triangular pediment with sculptures
by Adolph A. Weinman depicting Jefferson and members of the Declaration of Independence
drafting committee. Jefferson stands at the center, with (from left to right) Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. The granite steps
lead up to a floor of pink Tennessee marble, with Georgia marble on the
interior walls.

The
interior of the memorial contains five of Jefferson’s most famous quotations. The
memorial designers often edited or combined quotes so that they would fit on
the wall panels:

<ul><li>Inscription under the dome: Jefferson’s statement on
protecting “against every form of tyranny over the mind of man,” taken from an
1800 letter to Founding Father Benjamin Rush.</li><li>"We hold these truths to be self-evident..."&nbsp;is the introduction the 1776 Declaration of Independence,
affirming “all men are created equal.”</li><li>"Almighty God hath created the mind free..." addresses&nbsp;Jefferson’s view on the freedom of
religion, from his 1779 “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom.”</li><li>"God who gave us life gave us liberty..." is a&nbsp;combination of six quotes from a
variety of writings, including his 1786 “Notes on Virginia” and “Summary View”
on the topics of slavery and public education, his autobiography, and letters.</li><li>"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions..." captures&nbsp;Jefferson’s sentiments on establishing laws and institutions that are both strong and adjustable to "keep pace with the times." This is inspired by&nbsp;an 1816 letter to Virginia lawyer Samuel Kercheval.</li></ul>









Rudulph
Evans designed the 19-foot statue of Jefferson at the center of the memorial
rotunda. His design was selected from a group of 101 proposals in a nationwide
competition. From 1943 to 1945, the memorial displayed a temporary plaster
statue because of wartime restrictions on metal. After the war, the plaster
statue was replaced with a 5-ton bronze replica on a granite pedestal, which
has stood in the Jefferson Memorial ever since. The statue depicts a
middle-aged Jefferson looking toward the White House and holding the
Declaration in Independence in his left hand.




















Protected
by the National Park Service, the Jefferson Memorial is an iconic part of the National
Mall. Walkways along the Tidal Basin provide beautiful views of the Jefferson
Memorial, while the vista from the memorial of Washington, D.C. and the Potomac
is equally stunning. Cherry trees brought from Japan in 1912 bloom each spring
around the Tidal Basin. The statue of Jefferson continues to look toward the
White House and the democracy he helped found.

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington, D.C. dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, an American Founding Father and the third President of the United States. Built between 1939 and 1943, the Jefferson Memorial was designed by John Russell Pope in neoclassical architecture styles reminiscent of Jefferson's estate Monticello, the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, and the Pantheon in Rome. The memorial interior includes a bronze statue of Jefferson by Rudulph Evans and five of Jefferson's notable quotations. It is situated on the picturesque Tidal Basin on the National Mall, managed by the National Park Service.

Highlights of the National Mall With Tidal Basin

Constitutional Gardens Pond and Memorial to the Signers of the Declaration

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information