ABSTRACT
Dec. 24, 1814, ending War of 1812; 1816 St. John’s Episcopal Church built; Feb. 8, 1817 Confederate Gen. Richard Stoddert Ewell born at Georgetown (died 1872); Dec. 1817 rebuilding of White House completed; 1820 original section of District Court Building built, served as city hall until 1873, north extension completed 1881; March 3, 1820 Missouri Compromise passed, allowing slavery in Missouri but no other state north of Missouri’s southern boundary, repealed 1854; 1821 George Washington University established, originally Columbian College; Dec. 2, 1823 Monroe Doctrine declared giving protection to Western Hemisphere against aggression from outside forces; Feb. 4, 1826 surveyor, frontiersman Edward Beale born (died 1893); 1828 work begins on Chesapeake & Ohio Canal paralleling Potomac River; 1835 National Theater established; Feb. 16, 1840 Kentucky Cong. Henry Watterson born (died 1921); 1842 Treasury Building completed, previous structure destroyed by fire 1833; May 24, 1844 Samuel F.B.Morse sends first telegram message from U.S. Congress to Baltimore: “What hath God wrought?”; 1846 Virginia portion of District of Columbia (Arlington County) returned to that state; Smithsonian Institution established 17 years after death of donor, Englishman James Smithson, who had never been to U.S.; May 13, 1846 Pres. James K.Polk declares war on Mexico over Texas boundary dispute, Mexico declares war May 23; July 1, 1847 Franklin 5-cent, Washington 10-cent first adhesive stamps issued by U.S.; Dec. 17, 1849 Richard Wainwright born, naval commander during Spanish American War (died 1926); 1850 original Willard Hotel built, site occupied by hotels since 1818; 1852 Smithsonian Institution building completed; 1861 old U.S. Naval Hospital built; New York Avenue Presbyterian Church built, established 1803; Jan. 1, 1863 Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation declares all slaves free in Southern states; March 3, 1863 Congress approves military conscription, drafting men 20 to 45 years; Apr. 16, 1863 slavery abolished in District of Columbia; Aug. 1863 John T.Ford purchases abandoned First Baptist Church, establishes Ford’s Theatre; 1864 Gallaudet University for the hearing impaired established, originally named National College for the Deaf and Dumb; July 11, 1864 skirmishes by Confederate Gen. Jubal Early at Fort Stevens, in northern corner of D.C., observed by President Lincoln; Jan. 31, 1865 House of Representatives proposes 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, ratified Dec. 6; Apr. 14, 1865 John Wilkes Booth shoots Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln dies Apr. 15 at Petersen House hotel, Booth shot to death Apr. 26 near Port Royal, Virginia; 1867 Howard University established; Feb. 24, 1868 Pres. Andrew Johnson impeached by House of Representatives, acquitted by Senate May 1868; 1869 Corcoran Gallery of Art founded, opened 1897; 1871 municipal corporation established for District of Columbia, includes cities of Washington and Georgetown, and County of Washington; May 1, 1872 first postcard issued by U.S. Post Office; Feb. 27, 1873 in Credit Mobilier scandal, railroad construction company distributed shares to political figures, including Cong. James A.Garfield; Apr. 13, 1876 historian Sidney Bradshaw Fay born (died 1967); July 1, 1877 first black Army Gen. Benjamin Oliver Davis born (died 1970); 1878 U.S. Congress made governing body for District of Columbia; July 2, 1881 Charles Guiteau shoots Pres. James A.Garfield at railroad station; dies Sept. 19; June 20, 1883 Adm.
Department Building completed; Feb. 25, 1888 diplomat John Foster Dulles born, secretary of state under President Eisenhower (died 1959); 1890 National Zoological Park opened under direction of Smithsonian Institution; 1893 American University chartered by act of Congress; Naval Observatory opened, established 1809, later used as U.S. vice-president’s official residence; June 9, 1893 Ford’s Theatre building, used by U.S. Pension Bureau, collapses killing 22; Apr. 29, 1894 20,000 unemployed men descend on Washington led by Jacob S.Coxey, referred to as Coxey’s Army, following Panic of 1893; 1895 city of Washington annexes Georgetown; Jan. 1, 1895 J.Edgar Hoover born, director of Federal Bureau of Investigation 1924-1972 (died 1972); Nov. 6, 1895 composer, band leader John Philip Sousa, ‘The March King,” born (died 1932); Aug. 8, 1896 author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings born (died 1953); 1897 Trinity College established; July 2, 1898 Army Gen. Anthony C.McAulliffe born, commander at Battle of the Bulge, World War II (died 1975); 1899 old U.S. Post Office built; Feb. 11, 1899 lowest temperature ever recorded in D.C. reached, 15°F/26°C; Apr. 29, 1899 bandleader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington born (died 1974); Oct. 10, 1900 actress Helen Hayes born (died 1993); Jan. 31, 1902 anthropologist Julian Hayes Stoddard born (died 1972); 1903 District Public Library opened; 1905 Department of Agriculture Administration Building completed; Dec. 20, 1906 railroad accident, 53 killed; Sept. 29, 1907 cornerstone laid for National Cathedral, final west tower section completed 1990; Dec. 29, 1907 African-American economist Robert Clifton Weaver born (died 1997); 1908 Union Station completed; District Building completed, renamed John A.Wilson Municipal Building 1996; 1909 Senate Office Building completed; 1910 National Museum of Natural History completed; 1912 Anacostia Park system established; Dec. 18, 1912 Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. born, appointed as first African-American Air Force general 1965; Feb. 25, 1913 federal individual income tax started; Dec. 23, 1913 Federal Reserve Bank System created; 1914 U.S. Post Office completed; Bureau of Engraving and Printing building completed; 1917 North Interior Department Building completed, South Building completed 1936; 1918 U.S. Naval Air Station established at Anacostia in southern part of D.C.; Jan. 29, 1919 18th Amendment prohibiting alcoholic beverages ratified, takes effect Jan. 16, 1920; Oct. 26, 1919 African-American Massachusetts Sen. Edward William Brooke born; 1920 American Civil Liberties Union founded; Nov. 8, 1921 Washington Daily News newspaper founded; 1922 Lincoln Memorial dedicated; Jan. 28, 1922 Knickerbocker Movie Theatre roof collapse kills 98; 1924 National Academy of Sciences building completed; Feb. 3, 1924 former Pres. Woodrow Wilson dies at age 67 after long illness; Sept. 9, 1924 actress Jane Greer born; 1925 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Building completed; 1927 National Arboretum established; June 11, 1927 aviator Charles Lindbergh honored by President Coolidge; Feb. 9, 1928 newscaster Roger Mudd born; March 12, 1928 writer Edward Albee born; Nov. 1, 1929 in Teapot Dome Scandal, Secretary of Interior Albert Fall found guilty of accepting bribe by oil company for land lease in Wyoming; Jan. 13, 1930 actress Frances Sternhagen born; March 8, 1930 former Pres. William Howard Taft dies after month long illness; July 20, 1930 highest temperature ever recorded in D.C. reached, 106°F/41°C; 1932
13, 1933 Congress passes Pres. Franklin D.Roosevelt’s National Recovery Act (NRA); Dec. 5, 1933 Prohibition repealed in U.S. with ratification of 21st Amendment; 1934 Reflecting Basin built, designed by Bennett, Parsons, and Frost; Department of Justice Building completed; Post Office Department Building completed; Jan. 30, 1934 actor Rip Taylor born; Sept 16, 1934 basketball player for Los Angeles Lakers Elgin Baylor born; Oct. 3, 1934 actress Madlyn Rhue born; 1935 Supreme Court Building completed; National Archives Building completed; Internal Revenue Service Building completed; May 27, 1935 NRA voided by Supreme Court; 1937 Federal Reserve Building completed; Apr. 18, 1937 actor Robert Hooks born; 1939 Library of Congress opened; Jan. 17, 1939 TV personality Maury Povich born; Apr. 2, 1939 singer Marvin Gaye born (died 1984); Apr. 9, 1939 TV actress Michael Learned born; Apr. 23, 1939 TV actor David Birney born; Sept. 8, 1939 limited national emergency proclaimed by Pres. Roosevelt in response to war in Europe; 1940 Social Security Administration Building completed; 1941 National Gallery of Art opened; War Department Building completed, incorporated later into State Department Building; Washington National Airport opened at Arlington; Aug. 1, 1941 African-American official Ronald H.Brown born, secretary of commerce under President Clinton, killed in plane crash in Bosnia 1996; May 27, 1941 President Roosevelt expands limited national emergency to full emergency; 1942 District National Guard Armory completed; 1943 Thomas Jefferson Memorial dedicated; July 21, 1943 actor Edward Hermann born; March 7, 1945 actor John Heard born; Nov. 21, 1945 actress Goldie Hawn born; Jan. 31, 1947 actor Jonathan Banks born; 1948 actress Blair Brown born; March 31, 1948 Vice-Pres. Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. born, Democratic presidential candidate 2000; Nov. 1, 1949 Eastern DC-4 rammed by Bolivian P-38 killing 55; March 20, 1950 actor William Hurt born; Nov. 1, 1950 assassination attempt on President Truman by two Puerto Rican nationalists, shootout at Blair House, guard killed, two wounded; Nov. 21, 1951 TV personality Jayne Kennedy born; Apr. 8, 1952 steel mills seized by President Truman, declared illegal by Court June 2, strike June 3, settled July 24; Apr. 28, 1952 Truman lifts national emergency, in effect since 1941; Dec. 22, 1953 Dr. J.Robert Oppenheimer’s security clearance revoked, Communist dealings charged; May 17, 1954 school segregation ruled unconstitutional in 21 states and D.C.; Dec. 2, 1954 Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin charged with contempt following investigation of committee on subversive activities; 1955 Washington Hebrew Congregation dedicated, founded 1856; Jan. 27, 1957 TV personality Katie Couric born; Nov. 25, 1957 President Eisenhower suffers mild stroke, recovers; 1958 American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) founded by Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus; Apr. 15, 1959 Pres. Fidel Castro of Cuba begins 11-day goodwill tour of U.S.; Sept. 15, 1959 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev begins 13-day tour of U.S.; Oct. 6, 1959 Congressional hearings open to investigate quiz show rigging, $64,000 Question, others; Feb. 6, 1960 House committee recommends penalties in broadcast payola scandal; May 9, 1960 birth control pill Enovid, produced by Searle company, approved by FDA; Oct. 20, 1960 U.S. places embargo on all exports to Cuba; Oct. 1961 Washington (“D.C.”) Stadium opened, renamed Robert F.Kennedy (“RFK”) Stadium following his 1968
