# The New Student's Reference Work/Washington, D. C.

See also Washington, D.C. on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
​Washington, D. C., the capital of the United States, is in the District of Columbia on the Potomac River, 39 miles southwest of Baltimore. The city was laid out under the direction of Washington, on a plain 40 feet above the river, with wide streets and 21 broad avenues, named after the states. Three streets, known as North, South and East Capitol Streets, radiate from the Capitol, and with a line of public parks divide the city into four quarters. The avenues run diagonally, and where they cross circles are formed, with triangles at their intersection with the streets, and besides these ornamental spaces there are a number of squares with trees, shrubbery, fountains and statues. Pennsylvania Avenue is the main street of the city, and Massachusetts Avenue the finest.
The chief public building is the Capitol, of which the corner-stone was laid by Washington in 1793, and the structure finished in 1827. An extension of two wings was finished in 1867. The building covers about 3½ acres, and is 751 feet long and 348 feet broad. The dome, 287½ feet high, is crowned by a bronze statue of Liberty. The rotunda under the dome, senate chamber, hall for the house of representatives and one for the supreme court are some of the interior rooms. The White House, the residence of ​the president of the United States, is a mile and a half from the Capitol. It was first used by President Adams in 1800. The other public buildings are the treasury, state, war, navy, interior and post-office departments, pension building, Smithsonian Institute, observatory, arsenal and the new Congressional Library building, in modified Italian-renaissance style, which has a capacity for 4,500,000 volumes and is one of the finest of all the capital buildings. The National Deaf-Mute College, the only one in the world, Howard University, Columbian University and the Catholic University are among the educational institutions. The government hospital for the insane, naval hospital, soldiers' home and Columbian Institution for the deaf and dumb are a part of its charities. The Corcoran Art Gallery contains one of the finest collections in America. The Washington monument, 555 feet above the foundations, the highest in the world; the Lafayette monument, naval monument, Abraham Lincoln with the proclamation of emancipation, a statue of Jackson, made from the cannon captured at New Orleans, and one of Scott, from cannon taken in the Mexican War; and statues of Washington, Garfield, Greene, Marshall, Dupont, Farra-gut, Franklin, Luther and Marquette are some of the best known of the monuments of the city. The site of Washington was selected by General Washington in 1791, and Congress met there for the first time on Nov. 17, 1800. In 1814 it was occupied by the British and the public buildings burned. Though several times threatened during the Civil War, it was never attacked. Since 1871 the city has been improved at great expense, making it now one of the most beautiful cities in the world Population (1910), 331,069. See District of Columbia and articles under titles as above.
* THE CAPITOL