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Local History
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1787
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The Constitution is ratified; provides for creation of a separate national capital, and the search begins for a site
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1790
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Congress passes the Residence Act, giving George Washington the power to choose the site for the new capital
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1791
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President Washington selects a site along the Potomac for the federal district. Congress names the area the Territory of Columbia and the capital the City of Washington
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1791
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Pierre Charles L'Enfant is hired a city planner
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1791
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Presidential proclamation made by George Washington "to survey and limit a part of the territory of ten miles square on both sides of the river Potomac, so as to comprehend Georgetown, in Maryland, and extend to the Eastern Branch." Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker begin surveying city boundaries.
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1792
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L'Enfant, furious that a house being constructed in the city interfered with his plan, insisted the building be removed but the owner refused. L'Enfant then had city workers tear down the mansion. The furious owner complained to President Washington, who reprimanded L'Enfant and was eventually forced to dismiss the talented planner.
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1800
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Washington DC becomes the official capital of the United States. The federal government is transferred from Philadelphia to the site on the Potomac River now called the City of Washington, in the territory of Columbia. Congress meets for the first time in an unfinished Capitol building. President John Adams and wife Abigail move into a sparse White House.
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1801
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Congress assumes jurisdiction over the District of Columbia
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1802
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Congress grants the City of Washington its first municipal charter. Voters, defined as white males who pay taxes and have lived in the city for at least a year, receive the right to elect a 12-member council.
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1802
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Robert Brent is appointed mayor of the City of Washington by the president. He holds office 1802-1812.
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1806
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First public schools (for whites) open
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1807
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First public school (for freed blacks) open
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1812
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Congress amends the charter of the City of Washington to provide for an eight-member board of alderman and a 12-member common council. The alderman and the common council now elect the mayor.
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1814
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"Star-Spangled Banner" becomes the official national anthem
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1815
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Congress votes (barely) to keep Washington as nation's capital and votes funds for city's reconstruction
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1816
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St. John's Church opens in Lafayette Square
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1820
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Under the Act of 1820, Congress amends the Charter of the City of Washington for the direct election of the mayor by resident voters
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1824
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Layfayette park across from the White House is named as the Marquis de Layfayette is honored in city-wide ceremonies
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1835
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Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reaches Washington, initiating the decline of canal traffic through Georgetown and Washington
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1836
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Construction begins on new Treasury Building
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1836
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Patent Office Building burns, destroying entire patent collection
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1842
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Charles Dickens makes famous visit to Washington, which he finds to be a foolish and pretentious village, calling it the "city of magnificent intentions"
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1846
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Smithsonian Institution is founded
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1848
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Cornerstone of the Washington Monument is laid, however, because of the sandy soil the monument is not built at the exact spot where L'Enfant had specified a monumentstitution is founded
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1848
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Congress adopts a new charter for the City of Washington. Expands the number of elected offices to include a board of assessors, a surveyor, a collector and a registrar.
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1850
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Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is finally completed, too late to truly compete with railroad transportation. The cities of Georgetown, Alexandria and Washington made plans for a canal to Cumberland, MD at a cost of $4.5 million. However, the B&O railroad was the first to reach Cumberland in 1842 and captured the grain trade of the Shenandoah Valley.
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1851
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Fire at the Library of Congress destroys 2/3 of its collection. Many of the volumes have since been replaced, but nearly 900 are still missing.
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1853
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Work begins on aqueduct to bring water from Great Falls into Washington homes
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1855
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Washington Monument funds run out, and the construction stops at 55 feet
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1857
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"Know Nothing" riots in Washington kill six people
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1861
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Because of Washington's divided loyalties, Congress institutes strict loyalty oaths for all federal and local government employees
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1861
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Robert E. Lee is named commander of the Confederate forces of Virginia
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1861
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Maryland house of delegates votes against secession. Maryland's secession would have isolated the capital and put it in a hopeless position.
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1861
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Congress authorizes a call for 500,000 men to serve in the Union army.
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1861
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The US Capitol houses Union soldiers, providing medical attention and a place to sleep. The Capitol grounds served as a popular parade are for troops.
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1862
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Congress abolishes slavery in the federal district (the City of Washington, Washington County, and Georgetown). This action predates both the Emancipation Proclamation and the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
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1863
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President Lincoln meets with Frederick Douglass who pushes for full equality of Union "Negro troops"
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1864
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Arlington Cemetery is established
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1865
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Fire at Smithsonian castle destroys the Institution's collection of scientific artifacts
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1867
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Development of Washington's park system begins
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1867
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Overriding President Johnson's veto, Congress grants the male black citizens of DC the right to vote
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1871
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Alexander "Boss" Shepherd begins city improvement program as head of the Public Works commission
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1871
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Georgetown in annexed by the District of Columbia
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1871
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Howard University is founded
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1871
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The district is given "territorial" status. Now has governor and council appointed by the president, a popularly elected house of delegates, and a non-voting delegate to Congress.
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1874
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"Boss" Shepherd's mismanagement and bankrupting of city's funds leads him to flee to Mexico and the federal government revokes the city's home rule, three commissioners are appointed by the President to govern the district
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1877
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Washington Post founded by Stilson Hutchins
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1877
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Frederick Douglass creates a stir when he moves into a whites-only section of Anacostia (Cedar Hill) and becomes a District of Columbia US Marshall
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1878
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The Organic Act establishes the District of Columbia government as a municipal corporation governed by three presidentially appointed commissioners - two civilian commissioners and a commissioner from the military corps of engineers. This form of government lasts until 1967.
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1884
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The Washington Monument is completed. Unfortunately, after construction was shut down in 1855 for lack of funds, the original quarry ran out of marble, so the color of the top 500 feet of the monument does not quite match the lower 55 feet.
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1885
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Washington Monument is dedicated before a crowd of thousands
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1887
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L'Enfant's original manuscript of the Plan Of the City of Washington is rediscovered
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1888
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First electric streetcar introduced in Washington
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1889
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Worst flood in city's history effects thousands
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1890
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National Zoo moves its animals from the Mall to its new home at Rock Creek Park
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1894
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Coxey's Army arrives in Washington to demand financial aid for unemployed Americans
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1897
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First automobiles drive on city streets
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1899
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After the fourteen-story Cairo apartment building aroused public dismay, Congress passed the Height of Buildings Act formalizing the generally accepted notion that no building should be taller than the Capitol dome.
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1900
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Potomac dredging work leads to creation of Potomac Parks and Tidal Basin
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1900
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Washington celebrates its one hundred year birthday
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1901
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McMillan Commission commences study to recommend city planning direction. Create the 1901 McMillan Plan, building on the core of government and monumental buildings.
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1907
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President Roosevelt presides over ground-breaking for the Washington National Cathedral
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1908
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Union Station opens
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1912
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The mayor of Tokyo presents First Lady Helen Taft with a gift of Japanese cherry trees which she plants in the recently drained Tidal Basin
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1914
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Construction of the Lincoln Memorial begins
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1917
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America enters World War I and Washington's population swells with war workers. Rows of temporary war buildings are erected around the Mall.
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1919
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"Red Summer" riots tear city apart, kill thirty people, and leave race relations in tatters
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1921
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Dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery
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1922
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Knickerbocket Theater roof caves in, killing 96
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1922
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Lincoln Memorial is dedicated
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1923
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Freer Galley of Art opens
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1924
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Key bridge is opened
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1924
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Washington Senators win the world series against the New York Giants 4 games to 3
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1925
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Mayflower Hotel receives its first guests
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1929
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Construction begins on Federal Triangle
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1931
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Hunger marchers come to Washington
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1932
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Bonus Army arrives in city, encamping in empty buildings and on banks of Anacostia. President Hoover refuses to meet with the Bonus Army, and Congress turns down the marchers' demand for bonus pay. General Douglas MacArthur's troops chase marchers from city in day of bitter violence.
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1932
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Arlington Memorial Bridge is completed
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1932
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Folger Shakespeare Library opens
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1933
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Eugene Meyer buys Washington Post at bankruptcy auction from McLean family
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1935
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First Cherry Blossom Festival takes place
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1937
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Washington Redskins win the National Football League championship 28-21 against the Chicago Bears
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1939
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The DAR refuses to let renowned African-American opera singer Marian Anderson sing at Constituion Hall because of a long-standing policy of racial segregation. With the help of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt , Anderson is invited to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. About 75,000 people, both black and white, gather to hear Anderson.
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1941
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First flights depart from National Airport
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1941
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National Gallery of Art opens
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1942
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Massive construction takes place in DC to fill wartime need for housing and office space
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1943
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The Pentagon, world's largest office building, opens
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1943
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Jefferson Memorial is dedicated
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1950
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President Truman and family move to Blair House as White House renovation begins
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1954
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Following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, Washington becomes the first major city to integrate its schools
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1957
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Congress approves the establishment of the Civil Rights Commission
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1961
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The Arena Stage, theater in the round opens near the river front
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1961
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Twenty-third Amendment is passed granting DC residents the right to vote for president
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1963
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President Kennedy's preservation push helps save buildings around Lafayette Square
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1963
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Perhaps the most dramatic single event of the civil rights movement, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom gathers more than 200,000 Americans of all races on the Washington Mall to urge Congress to deal with the issue of civil rights and poverty in America. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. deliveres his famous "I have a dream" speech.
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1964
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The most comprehensive civil-rights bill in the history of the nation, the Civil Rights Act is passed
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1965
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Watergate East apartment building opens; two-bedroom unit sells for $45,000
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1965
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Capital Beltway completed
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1967
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President Lyndon Johnson appoints Walter Washington as mayor-commissioner of DC. The three-commissioner system is changed to a single presidentially appointed commissioner and an appointed nine-member council.
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1968
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First phase of L'Enfant Plaza is finished
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1968
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District residents receive the right to elect a Board of Education
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1968
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Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis setting off riots in Washington that kill several people and destroy much of the city
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1970
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The district gains an elected non-voting delegate to the US House of Representatives
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1971
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May Day protest in Washington leads to thousands of arrests
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1971
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Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opens
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1972
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City loses Senators baseball team for a second time, as the team leaves Washington to become the Texas Rangers
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1972
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Break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate office complex leads to greatest political scandal in nation's history, and Pulitzer Prize for the Washington Post.
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1972
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Republic of China gives America a pair of giant pandas, Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling, and they become the stars of the National Zoo
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1973
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The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, establishes an elected mayor and a 13-member council
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1974
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Voters of DC approve the establishment of advisory neighborhood commissions
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1975
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The newly elected Mayor Walter Washington and the first elected council take office
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1976
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Metro opens its first subway stations
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1976
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National Air and Space Museum opens on the Mall
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1976
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Bicentennial celebrations draw a million people to the Mall for the city's greatest fireworks display
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1978
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East Building of the National Gallery of Art opens
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1979
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Pope John Paul II delivers a mass on the Mall
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1979
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Marion Barry takes office as Mayor for his first term
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1982
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Air Florida flight crashes into 14th Street Bridge, killing almost all on board. The same day, Metro suffers its worst accident, also resulting in several fatalities.
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1982
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The Washington Convention Center opens, spurring downtown development
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1984
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The renovated Old Post Office opens, heralding the rebirth of Pennsylvania Ave.
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1985
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The DC Voting rights Amendment, giving the District voting representation in Congress and approved in 1978, dies after 13 states reject it
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1987
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The Smithsonian Quadrangle opens
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1990
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Mayor Marion Barry is caught smoking crack cocaine by surveillance team
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1990
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Washington National Cathedral completed after 73 years of construction
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1990
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DC voters elect a "shadow" congressional delegation to lobby congress for statehood
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1991
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Cinco de Mayo riots in Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan cause unrest in city for several days
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1991
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Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon, the first black woman elected to head a major US city takes office
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1993
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DC Delegate to congress Eleanor Holmes Norton, supported by other leaders, introduces a measure in the US House of Representatives to grant statehood to the District of Columbia. The measure is defeated.
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1993
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The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum open.
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1994
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Marion Barry is re-elected Mayor for an unprecedented fourth (non-consecutive) term
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1995
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Congress authorizes the appointment of a five-member control board with power over the District's budgetary and administrative policies. Subject to congressional approval, the control board may override the mayor and city council in managing District spending
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1995
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Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated
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1995
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President Clinton signs law creating a presidentially appointed District of Columbia Financial Control Board and a mayorially appointed Chief Financial Officer
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1998
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The Planning Commission recommends developing North and South Capitol streets, removing railroad tracks and a freeway that divide the city, reinforcing the connection between the Capitol and the Anacostia River and improving the Anacostia waterfront areas from Georgetown to the National Arboretum.
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1999
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Mayor Anthony Williams takes office
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Federal City
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1787
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The Constitution is ratified; provides for creation of a separate national capital, and the search begins for a site
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 1789-
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George Washington is sworn in as the first President of the United States
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1790
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First session of the US Supreme Court
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1790
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Congress passes the Residence Act, giving George Washington the power to choose the site for the new capital
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1791
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President Washington selects a site along the Potomac for the federal district. Congress names the area the Territory of Columbia and the capital the City of Washington
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1791
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Bill of Rights, first ten Amendments to the Constitution is ratified
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1791
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Pierre Charles L'Enfant is hired a city planner
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1791
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Presidential proclamation made by George Washington "to survey and limit a part of the territory of ten miles square on both sides of the river Potomac, so as to comprehend Georgetown, in Maryland, and extend to the Eastern Branch." Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker begin surveying city boundaries.
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1792
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L'Enfant, furious that a house being constructed in the city interfered with his plan, insisted the building be removed but the owner refused. L'Enfant then had city workers tear down the mansion. The furious owner complained to President Washington, who reprimanded L'Enfant and was eventually forced to dismiss the talented planner.
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1792
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Cornerstone of the White House laid
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1793
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Cornerstone of Capitol is laid by George Washington
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1800
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Congress appropriates $5000 for the establishment of a reference library. The largest library in the world, the Library of Congress has more than 115 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The Library receives some 22,000 items each working day and adds approximately 10,000 items to the collection daily.
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1800
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The federal government is transferred from Philadelphia to the site on the Potomac River now called the City of Washington, in the territory of Columbia. Congress meets for the first time in an unfinished Capitol building. President John Adams and wife Abigail move into a sparse White House.
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1800
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President John Adams addresses the first joint session of Congress in the Capitol
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1801
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Supreme Court arrives in Washington from Philadelphia
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1801
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The Judiciary Act is passed, creating a separate system of circuit court of appeal, standing beneath the federal district court and the Supreme Court
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1803
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The Supreme Court decision Marbury v. Madison makes the Court the arbiter of the Constitution, the final authority on what the document means, and the Court becomes an equal partner in the government
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1812
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The first wedding at the White House. Dolley Madison's widowed sister, Lucy Payne Washington, to Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd.
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1814
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During the War of 1812, the British burn Capitol, White House and other buildings. With only moments to spare, First Lady Dolley Madison rescues many of the Executive Mansion's treasures, including Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington, before fleeing in a carriage.
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1815
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Congress moves into temporary quarters in Old Brick Capitol
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1815
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Thomas Jefferson's personal library is purchased for the Library of Congress to replace collection burned by the British in 1814
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1817
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President Monroe returns to rebuilt White House after the British burning of 1814
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1818
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Congress designates the American flag with 13 stripes and one star for each state
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1819
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The Congress moves back into Capitol after the British burning of 1814
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1819
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The Supreme Court case McCulloch v Maryland upholds the "implied powers of Congress"
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1820
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Missouri Compromise is passed by Congress to settle the debate over slavery in the Louisiana Purchase area. The compromise temporarily maintained the balance between free and slave states.
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1820
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Maria Hester Monroe is the first president's daughter wed in the White House. She marries her cousin, Samuel Laurence Governeur, in a private ceremony.
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1824
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The Capitol Rotunda is completed. The symbolic and physical heart of the US Capitol, the Rotunda, is 96 feet in diameter and 180 feet in height. It is the principal circulation space in the Capitol, connecting the House and Senate sides, and is visited by thousands of people each day.
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1833
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Treasury building burns to the ground
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1835
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Would-be assassin makes attempt on life of President Jackson during a state funeral at the Capitol
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1844
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Samuel F.B. Morse transmits first telegraph message "What hath God Wrought!" from Supreme Court Chambers in Capitol, to a waiting operator in Baltimore
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1846
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Smithsonian Institution is founded
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1850
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The Compromise of 1850 abolishes the slave trade in Washington, DC. It also establishes the Texas—New Mexico border and declares Congress cannot interfere in regulating interstate slave trade.
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1851
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Fire at the Library of Congress destroys 2/3 of its collection. Many of the volumes have since been replaced, but nearly 900 are still missing.
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1854
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The Kansas-Nebraska act repeals the Missouri Compromise and established Kansas and Nebraska as territories whose settlers could vote on slavery
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1855
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James Renwick's red castle is completed on the Mall to house the Smithsonian Institution
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1856
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Charles Sumner bitterly attacks the Compromise of 1850, which attempted to balance the demands of North against South. Two days later Congressman Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina invades the Senate, labels the speech a libel on his state and then severely beats Sumner with a cane. It takes three years for Sumner to recover from the beating.
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1857
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The Dred Scott Decision handed down by Supreme Court denying slaves the right to sue in Federal Courts.
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1857
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House of Representative moves into current home in south wing of the Capitol
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1859
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The Senate moves into the enlarged north wing of the Capitol; it is the same structure that the Senate resides in today
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1860
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Supreme Court moves from its basement courtroom in the Capitol to the former Old Senate Chamber
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1860
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South Carolina is the first state to secede from the Union
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1861
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Congress institutes strict loyalty oaths for all federal and local government employees
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1861
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The Civil War begins as confederates fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC. After 34 hours of bombardment, Fort Sumter is forced to surrender to the Confederates.
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1861
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Maryland house of delegates votes against secession. After Virginia withdrew from the Union in April, many wondered whether Maryland would follow. Maryland's secession would have isolated the capital and put it in a hopeless position.
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1861
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Congress authorizes a call for 500,000 men to serve in the Union army. 50,000 of these men were in the Washington area to serve in the Army of the Potomac.
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1861
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The US Capitol houses Union soldiers, providing medical attention and a place to sleep. The Capitol grounds served as a popular parade are for troops. Army activities kept the war effort visible in central Washington.
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1863
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"Statue of Freedom" is placed atop the Capitol. The bronze Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford is the crowning feature of the dome of the United States Capitol. The statue is a classical female figure of Freedom wearing flowing draperies.
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1865
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Congress establishes the Freedmen's Bureau to provide health care, education and technical assistance to emancipated slaves
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1865
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Fire at Smithsonian castle destroys the Institution's collection of scientific artifacts
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1865
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Celebrations break out in Washington at the end of the Civil War
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1866
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Congress passes the first civil rights bill, making African Americans US citizens. The bill also empowers the government to intervene in state affairs when necessary to protect the rights of American citizens.
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1867
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Frederick Douglass appeals to Congress for impartial suffrage
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1870
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Hiram Revels of Mississippi is sworn in as the first African American member of the Senate. He fills Jefferson Davis' open seat and serves only one year.
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1874
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Blanche K. Bruce, an ex-slave from Mississippi, is elected to the Senate. Bruce is the first African American to serve a full six-year term.
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1877
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Lucy Hayes sponsors the first Easter egg-rolling contest at the White House
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1879
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The Capitol gets electric lighting
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1879
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Women permitted to practice before the Supreme Court
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1886
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49 year-old President Cleveland marries 21 year-old Frances Folsom in the first presidential White House wedding
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1890
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White House gets electric lighting
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1896
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In Plessy v. Ferguson the US Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the Louisiana Supreme Court, stating that "separate but equal" railroad cars for blacks and whites were not unconstitutional. The "separate but equal" precedent paved the way for further segregation and discrimination against blacks.
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1897
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Library of Congress building opens
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1901
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Theodore Roosevelt officially adopts the name White House for the presidential residence
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1913
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The 17th Amendment allows that the Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.
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1916
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Jeannette Rankin of Montana is the first woman elected to Congress
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1932
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Arkansas' Hattie Wyatt Caraway is the first woman to enter the Senate by election, not appointment
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1932
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Having used borrowed quarters for 143 years, the Supreme Court moves to its own building
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1939
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The DAR refuses to let renowned African-American opera singer Marian Anderson sing at Constituion Hall because of a long-standing policy of racial segregation. With the help of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt , Anderson is invited to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. About 75,000 people, both black and white, gather to hear Anderson.
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1951
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The US Captiol is modernized
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1952
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White House renovation completed after a literal gutting and rebuilding
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1954
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Surpeme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education overturns "sepearte but equal" edict and spurs massive Civil Rights overhauls
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1961
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First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy commences White House redecoration program
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1962
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CIA moves to Langley headquarters
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1966
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Robert Weaver becomes the first African American to serve in the cabinet when Lyndon B. Johnson appoints him Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
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1976
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National Air and Space Museum opens on the Mall
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1976
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Bicentennial celebrations draw a million people to the Mall for the city's greatest fireworks display
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1978
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East Building of the National Gallery of Art opens
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1981
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Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman Supreme Court Justice, appointed
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1987
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The Smithsonian Quadrangle opens
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1991
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Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon, the first black woman elected to head a major US city takes office
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1993
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The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum open.
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1995
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Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated
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African American Heritage
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1787
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Constitutional Convention approves Three-Fifths Compromise, counting slaves as three fifths of a person for census purposes.
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1791
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Presidential proclamation made by George Washington "to survey and limit a part of the territory of ten miles square on both sides of the river Potomac, so as to comprehend Georgetown, in Maryland, and extend to the Eastern Branch." Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker begin surveying city boundaries
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1807
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First public school (for freed blacks) opens in DC
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1808
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Congress prohibits Americans from participating in African slave trade
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1829
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First petition to Congress to abolish slavery in Washington
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1848
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Emancipation debate intensifies when abolitionists free 77 Washington house slaves and spirit them away on a boat, The Pearl, only to be stopped and the slaves recaptured.
|
|
1848
|
A major voice of the movement to free slaves, the National Era is attacked by angry mobs
|
|
1849
|
As a Senator, Abraham Lincoln offers legislation to emancipate DC slaves
|
|
1850
|
The Compromise of 1850 abolishes the slave trade in Washington, DC. It also establishes the Texas-New Mexico border and declares Congress cannot interfere in regulating interstate slave trade.
|
|
1854
|
The Kansas-Nebraska act repeals the Missouri compromise and establishes Kansas and Nebraska as territories whose settlers could vote on slavery.
|
|
1862
|
Congress abolishes slavery in the federal district (the City of Washington, Washington County, and Georgetown). This action predates both the Emancipation Proclamation and the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
|
|
1862
|
Freedman's Hospital is founded. Major Alexander Augusta, a black surgeon, is placed in charge. The hospital changed its name to Howard University Hospital 100 years later.
|
|
1863
|
Emancipation Proclamation takes effect, legally freeing slaves in the South
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|
1865
|
Congress establishes the Freedmen's Bureau to provide health care, education and technical assistance to emancipated slaves
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|
1865
|
The 13th Amendment is passed, declaring "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude … shall exist within the United States."
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|
1866
|
Congress passes the first civil rights bill, making African Americans US citizens. The bill also empowers the government to intervene in state affairs when necessary to protect the rights of American citizens.
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|
1867
|
Overriding President Johnson's veto, Congress grants the male black citizens of DC the right to vote
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|
1867
|
Congress passes the Reconstruction Acts, which called for the enfranchisement of former slaves in the South
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|
1867
|
Howard University is chartered and named after General Howard, who was then the commisioner of the Freedmen's Bureau
|
|
1867
|
Frederick Douglass appeals to Congress for impartial suffrage
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|
1868
|
The 14th Amendment ratified establishing residence for citizenship and African American citizenship
|
|
1870
|
Hiram Revels of Mississippi is sworn in as the first African American member of the Senate. He fills Jefferson Davis' open seat and serves only one year. Revels serves on the District of Columbia Committee, and urges integration of DC public schools.
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|
1870
|
15th Amendment passed, stating the right of citizens of the US to vote shall not be denied because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
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1874
|
Blanche K. Bruce, an ex-slave from Mississippi, is elected to the Senate. Bruce is the first African American to serve a full six-year term.
|
|
1877
|
Frederick Douglass creates a stir when he moves into a whites-only section of Anacostia (Cedar Hill) and becomes a District of Columbia US Marshal.
|
|
1882
|
First edition of the Washington Bee, a widely read African American newspaper, is published
|
|
1901
|
Anna Cooper becomes principal of M Street High School (later renamed Dunbar)
|
|
1902
|
NAACP is founded
|
|
1912
|
Washington chapter of NAACP opens. This soon became the center of NAACP's government activities.
|
|
1915
|
Carter Woodson founds the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in Washington
|
|
1917
|
Two weeks before the US enters World War I, blacks from DC National Guard are called to duty to protect the capital
|
|
1919
|
"Red Summer" riots tear city apart, kill thirty people, and leave race relations in tatters
|
|
1921
|
Langston Hughes' poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is published in Crisis
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|
1925
|
Alain Locke publishes The New Negro
|
|
1927
|
Calvin Coolidge pardons Marcus Garvey, who had been convicted on a tenuous mail fraud charge
|
|
1933
|
Black Washingtonians form the New Negro Alliance to fight employment discrimination. Members include Walter Washington, William Hastie, and Robert C. Weaver
|
|
1936
|
Mary McLeod Bethune becomes the first black woman to head a federal agency, the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration
|
|
1937
|
Negro League baseball champions, the Homestead Grays move to Washington. They play at Griffith Stadium, home of the Senators
|
|
1938
|
Supreme Court allows the New Negro Alliance to picket white businesses that refuse to hire black employees
|
|
1939
|
The DAR refuses to let renowned African American opera singer Marian Anderson sing at Constituion Hall because of a long-standing policy of racial segregation. With the help of first Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Anderson is invited to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. About 75,000 people, both black and white, gather to hear Anderson.
|
|
1939
|
Catholic University desegregates
|
|
1940
|
Mary Church Terrell publishes her autobiography A Colored Woman in a White World
|
|
1941
|
To prevent A. Philip Randolph's plans for a large-scale march on Washington, Franklin Roosevelt signs an executive order outlawing discrimination in the defense industry
|
|
1953
|
Supreme Court rules that Thompson's Restaurant in DC cannot exclude African Americans because of an 1872 municipal law. As a result, all public services are desegragated in the city.
|
|
1954
|
Following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, Washington becomes the first major city to integrate its schools
|
|
1957
|
Congress approves the establishment of the Civil Rights Commission
|
|
1963
|
Perhaps the most dramatic single event of the civil rights movement, The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom gathers more than 200,000 Americans of all races on the Washington Mall to urge Congress to deal with the issue of civil rights and poverty in America. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
|
|
1964
|
The most comprehensive civil-rights bill in the history of the nation, the Civil Rights Act is passed.
|
|
1965
|
Marion Barry moves to Washington to open local chapter of SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee).
|
|
1966
|
Robert Weaver becomes the first African American to serve in the cabinet when Lyndon B. Johnson appoints him Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
|
|
1967
|
Edward Brooke III is sworn in as the first black Senator since Reconstruction.
|
|
1967
|
President Lyndon Johnson appoints Walter Washington as mayor-commissioner of DC. The three-commissioner system is changed to a single presidentially appointed commissioner and an appointed nine-member council.
|
|
1967
|
Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first black justice of the US Supreme Court
|
|
1969
|
Shirley Chisholm is sworn in as the first black female to be elected to Congress
|
|
1981
|
100,000 marchers come to Washington to rallly for a Martin Luther King holiday
|
|
1983
|
Ronald Reagan signs the bill establishing Martin Luther King Day
|
|
1984
|
Jesse Jackson becomes the first African American to mount a serious presidential campaign
|
|
1991
|
Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon, the first black woman elected to head a major US city takes office
|
|
1993
|
DC Delegate to congress Eleanor Holmes Norton, supported by other leaders, introduces a measure in the US House of Representatives to grant statehood to the District of Columbia. The measure is defeated.
|
|
1994
|
Marion Barry is re-elected Mayor for an unprecedented fourth (non-consecutive) term.
|
|
1999
|
Mayor Anthony Williams takes office
|
|
US Presidents
|
|
1787
|
George Washington is elected President of the Philadelphia convention
|
|
1789
|
George Washington is sworn in as the first President of the United States
|
|
1793
|
Cornerstone of Capitol is laid by George Washington
|
|
1797
|
John Adams is inaugurated
|
|
1800
|
President John Adams addresses the first joint session of Congress in the Capitol
|
|
1801
|
Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated
|
|
1805
|
Thomas Jefferson takes his second oath of office
|
|
1809
|
James Madison is inaugurated
|
|
1813
|
James Madison takes his second oath of office
|
|
1815
|
Thomas Jefferson's personal
library is purchased for the Library
of Congress to replace collection burned by the British in 1814
|
|
1817
|
James Monroe is inaugurated
|
|
1817
|
President Monroe returns to rebuilt White House after the British burning of 1814
|
05">
|
1821
|
James Monroe takes his second oath of office
|
|
1821
|
"Hail to the Chief" played for the 1st time, at President Monroe's 2nd inaugural
|
|
1823
|
President Monroe asserts the Monroe Doctrine in a message to Congress. The policy states that American continents were not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers, and that the United States would not interfere in Europe's internal affairs.
|
|
1825
|
John Quincy Adams is inaugurated
|
|
1826
|
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on the same day
|
|
1829
|
Andrew Jackson is inaugurated
|
|
1833
|
Andrew Jackson takes his second oath of office
|
|
1835
|
Would-be assassin makes attempt on life of President Jackson during a state funeral at the Capitol
|
|
1837
|
Martin Van Buren is inaugurated
|
|
1841
|
William Henry Harrison is inaugurated
|
|
1841
|
John Tyler is inaugurated
|
|
1841
|
President William Henry Harrison dies from pneumonia, probably contracted during his inauguration, leaving office after the shortest presidential term in history
|
|
1844
|
John Tyler is the first president to be married in office
|
|
1845
|
James Polk is inaugurated
|
|
1848
|
Cornerstone of the Washington Monument is laid, however, because of the sandy soil the monument is not built at the exact spot where L'Enfant had specified
|
|
1849
|
Zachary Taylor is inaugurated
|
|
1850
|
President Taylor dies in office, serves 1 year 227 days. After participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument on a blistering July 4, Taylor fell ill; within five days he was dead. He was the second president to die in office.
|
|
1850
|
Millard Fillmore is inaugurated
|
|
1853
|
Franklin Pierce is inaugurated
|
|
1853
|
Clark Mill's statue of Andrew Jackson is dedicated in Lafayette Square
|
|
1855
|
Washington Monument funds run out, and the construction stops at 55 feet
|
|
1857
|
James Buchanan is inauguarated
|
|
1861
|
Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th president of the United States
|
|
1862
|
President Lincoln's son Willie dies of typhoid fever in the White House
|
|
1863
|
President Lincoln meets with Frederick Douglass who pushes for full equality of Union "Negro troops"
|
|
1863
|
Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in territory held by Confederates
|
|
1863
|
Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address
|
|
1865
|
Abraham Lincoln is elected for a second term. Lincoln defeats George B. McClellan to win the election of '64 by a landslide, carrying all but 3 states.
|
|
1865
|
President Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford's Theater
|
|
1865
|
Andrew Johnson is inagurated
|
|
1865
|
Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia
|
|
1868
|
President Andrew Johnson is impeached in House for disregarding the Tenure of Office Act of 1867. President Johnson avoids impeachment in the Senate by one vote -- Johnson is not removed from office.
|
|
1869
|
Ulysses S. Grant is inaugurated
|
|
1873
|
Ulysses S. Grant takes his second oath of office
|
|
1877
|
Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated
|
|
1881
|
James Garfield is inaugurated
|
|
1881
|
Mortally wounded at B&P Railroad Station on the Mall, President Garfield lingers for several months before finally dying after being taken to recuperate at seashore
|
|
1881
|
Chester Arthur is inaugurated
|
|
1885
|
Washington Monument is dedicated before a crowd of thousands
|
|
1885
|
Grover Cleveland is inaugurated
|
|
1886
|
49 year-old President Cleveland marries 21 year-old Frances Folsom in the first presidential White House wedding
|
|
1889
|
Benjamin Harrison is inaugurated
|
|
1893
|
Grover Cleveland takes his second oath of office, becoming the only president to serve non-consecutive terms
|
|
1897
|
William McKinley is inaugurated
|
|
1901
|
President McKinley is assassinated by Leon Czolgosz, a factory worker who was an anarchist at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.
|
|
1901
|
Theodore Roosevelt is inaugurated
|
|
1901
|
Theodore Roosevelt officially adopts the name White House for the presidential residence
|
|
1905
|
Theodore Roosevelt takes his second oath of office
|
|
1909
|
William H. Taft is inaugurated
|
|
1913
|
Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated
|
|
1914
|
Construction of the Lincoln Memorial begins
|
|
1917
|
Woodrow Wilson takes his second oath of office
|
|
1921
|
Warren Harding is inaugurated
|
|
1922
|
Lincoln Memorial is dedicated
|
|
1923
|
President Harding dies of a heart attack
|
|
1923
|
Calvin Coolidge is inaugurated
|
|
1925
|
Calvin Coolidge takes his second oath of office
|
|
1929
|
Herbert Hoover is inaugurated
|
|
1933
|
The 20th Amendment changes the date of the President's inauguration from March 4 to January 20
|
|
1933
|
Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated
|
|
1937
|
FDR takes his second
oath of office
|
|
1941
|
FDR is inaugurated for the third time
|
|
1943
|
Jefferson Memorial is dedicated
|
|
1945
|
FDR takes the oath of office for the fourth time
|
|
1945
|
President Franklin Roosevelt dies
|
|
1945
|
Harry S Truman is inaugurated
|
|
1949
|
Harry S Truman takes his second oath of office
|
|
1950
|
President Truman and family move to Blair House as White House renovation begins
|
|
1950
|
Puerto Rican nationalists attempt to assassinate Truman at Blair House, murdering a special agent instead
|
|
1951
|
22nd Amendment is passed limiting president to two terms
|
|
1953
|
Dwight Eisenhower is inaugurated
|
|
1957
|
Dwight Eisenhower takes his second oath of office
|
|
1961
|
John F. Kennedy is inaugurated
|
|
1963
|
President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas
|
|
1963
|
Lyndon B. Johnson is inaugurated
|
|
1965
|
Lyndon B. Johnson takes his second oath of office
|
|
1967
|
President Lyndon Johnson appoints Walter Washington as mayor-commissioner of DC. The three-commissioner system is changed to a single presidentially appointed commissioner and an appointed nine-member council.
|
|
1969
|
Richard Nixon is inaugurated
|
|
1971
|
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opens
|
|
1972
|
Break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate office complex leads to greatest political scandal in nation's history, and Pulitzer Prize for the Washington Post.
|
|
1973
|
Richard Nixon takes his second oath of office
|
|
1974
|
President Nixon becomes first President in U.S. history to resign, because of the Watergate scandal. Impeachment had been pending
|
|
1974
|
Gerald Ford is inaugurated
|
|
1977
|
Jimmy Carter is inaugurated
|
|
1981
|
Ronald Reagan is inaugurated
|
|
1981
|
President Reagan shot and nearly killed in assassination attempt outside the Washington Hilton
|
|
1985
|
Ronald Reagan takes his second oath of office
|
|
1989
|
George Bush is inaugurated
|
|
1993
|
William Jefferson Clinton is inaugurated
|
|
1997
|
Bill Clinton takes his second oath of office
|
|
1998
|
President Clinton impeached and charged with perjury and obstruction of justice
|
|
2001
|
George W. Bush is inaugurated
|