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127-550: The auditorium played a key role in desegregation at George Washington University and in Washington, D.C. ; its 1946 grand opening became a city-wide target for the desegregation of the city's theaters and a catalyst for George Washington students calling on the university to admit African American students. The auditorium seats 1,350 and is the home of the Washington Concert Opera . Lisner Auditorium extends

254-495: A cascading waterfall with Italian Renaissance -style architecture. Modern , Postmodern , contemporary , and other non-classical architectural styles are also seen in the city. The National Museum of African American History and Culture deeply contrasts the stone-based neoclassical buildings on the National Mall with a design that combines modern engineering with heavy inspiration from African art . The interior of

381-506: A sit-in to protest against police recruiters on campus. Two hundred fifty black students walked off campus in a successful amnesty bid for the protesters. On April 1, 1969, SDS members attempted to enter the administration building with a list of demands where they clashed with police. In response, the university revoked the Kent State SDS chapter charter. On April 16, a disciplinary hearing involving two protesters resulted in

508-486: A 2023 population of 6.3 million residents. A locally elected mayor and 13-member council have governed the district since 1973, though Congress retains the power to overturn local laws. Washington, D.C., residents are, on the federal level, politically disenfranchised since the city's residents do not have voting representation in Congress; the city's residents elect a single non-voting congressional delegate to

635-406: A bank window, setting off an alarm. The news spread quickly, and several bars closed early to avoid trouble. Before long, more people had joined the vandalism. By the time police arrived, a crowd of 120 had already gathered. Some people from the crowd lit a small bonfire in the street. The crowd appeared to be a mix of bikers, students, and transient people. A few crowd members threw beer bottles at

762-487: A center of the nation's internal slave trade . After its survey, the new federal city was constructed on the north bank of the Potomac River, to the east of Georgetown centered on Capitol Hill . On September 9, 1791, three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington. The same day, the federal district was named Columbia, a feminine form of Columbus , which

889-592: A confrontation between supporters and opponents of SDS. The Ohio State Highway Patrol was called, and fifty-eight people were arrested. Four SDS leaders spent six months in prison due to the incident. On April 10, 1970, Jerry Rubin , a leader of the Youth International Party (also known as the Yippies), spoke on campus. In remarks reported locally, he said: "The first part of the Yippie program

1016-456: A court order declaring a state of emergency that would ban further demonstrations and gave the impression that a situation akin to martial law had been declared; however, he never attempted to obtain such an order. During the day, some students came to downtown Kent to help with clean-up efforts after the rioting, actions which were met with mixed reactions from local business people. Mayor Satrom, under pressure from frightened citizens, ordered

1143-544: A curfew until further notice. Around 8 pm, another rally was held on the campus Commons. By 8:45 pm, the Guardsmen used tear gas to disperse the crowd, and the students reassembled at the intersection of Lincoln and Main, holding a sit-in with the hopes of gaining a meeting with Mayor Satrom and University President Robert White. At 11:00 pm, the Guard announced that a curfew had gone into effect and began forcing

1270-529: A demonstration with about 500 students was held on May 1 on the Commons, a grassy knoll in the center of campus traditionally used as a gathering place for rallies and protests. As the crowd dispersed to attend classes by 1 pm, another rally was planned for May 4 to continue the protest of the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia . There was widespread anger, and many protesters called to "bring

1397-469: A federal town". In Federalist No. 43 , published January 23, 1788, James Madison argued that the new federal government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety. The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution permits

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1524-474: A fenced-in corner. During this time, the bulk of the students assembled to the left and front of the guardsmen, approximately 150 to 225 ft (46 to 69 m) away, on the veranda of Taylor Hall. Others were scattered between Taylor Hall and the Prentice Hall parking lot, while still others were standing in the parking lot, or dispersing through the lot as they had been previously ordered. While on

1651-407: A few carrying shotguns with No. 7 birdshot and 00 buckshot munitions, and one officer carrying a 22 Beretta handgun. Before advancing, Company C was instructed to fire only into the air and for only a single guardsman to fire. It is unknown whether the other two National Guard groups received any instructions about firing. As the advancing guardsmen approached the crowd, tear gas was again fired at

1778-523: A few rocks were thrown at the Jeep as it drove by the crowd, with one rock striking the Jeep and a second one striking a guardsman, but without causing any damage. The crowd ignored repeated orders to disperse. After the crowd failed to follow the order to disperse, grenadiers were ordered to fire tear gas from M79 grenade launchers , but the canisters fell short and managed only to make the protesters retreat somewhat from their previous positions. The tear gas

1905-408: A garden-lined grand avenue about 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 400 feet (120 m) wide in an area that is now the National Mall inspired by the grounds at Versailles and Tuileries Gardens. In March 1792, President Washington dismissed L'Enfant due to conflicts with the three commissioners appointed to supervise the capital's construction. Andrew Ellicott , who worked with L'Enfant in surveying

2032-626: A group of white and Black ticket-holders, including the Dean of the Howard University Medical School , tried to attend a ballet performance but were denied entry based on race. Days later, Ingrid Bergman , star of the opening play, Joan of Lorraine , publicly denounced GW's racial exclusion policy and circulated a protest letter signed by the cast. GW students from the American Veterans Committee and

2159-463: A handgun into the air. The Guard was then ordered to regroup and move up the hill past Taylor Hall. Protesters began following the Guard as it retraced its steps up the hill. Some guardsmen claim to have been struck by rocks as they retreated up the hill. The crowd on top of the hill parted to allow the guardsmen to pass through. After reaching the crest of Taylor Hall, the Guard fired at the protesters following them. The guardsmen gave no verbal warning to

2286-510: A large demonstration was underway on the campus, and the campus Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) building was burning. The arsonists were never apprehended, and no one was injured in the fire. According to the report of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest : Information developed by an FBI investigation of the ROTC building fire indicates that, of those who participated actively,

2413-502: A modern glass exterior and heavy curvature. CityCenterDC is home to Palmer Alley, a pedestrian-only walkway, and houses several apartment buildings, restaurants, and luxury-brand storefronts with streamlined glass and metal facades. Outside Downtown D.C., architectural styles are more varied. Historic buildings are designed primarily in the Queen Anne , Châteauesque , Richardsonian Romanesque , Georgian Revival , Beaux-Arts , and

2540-659: A mural by Augustus Vincent Track , and the Dimock gallery is located on the lower Lisner Lounge. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C. , is the capital city and federal district of the United States . The city is on the Potomac River , across from Virginia , and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. It

2667-440: A parking lot in front of Prentice Hall (slightly northeast of and perpendicular to Taylor Hall). The guardsmen pursued the protesters over the hill, but rather than veering left as the protesters had, they continued straight, heading toward an athletic practice field enclosed by a chain link fence. Here they remained for about 10 minutes, unsure of how to get out of the area short of retracing their path: they had boxed themselves into

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2794-431: A relatively high homelessness rate, despite its high living standard compared to many American cities. Washington, D.C., is divided into four quadrants of unequal area: Northwest (NW) , Northeast (NE) , Southeast (SE) , and Southwest (SW) . The axes bounding the quadrants radiate from the U.S. Capitol. All road names include the quadrant abbreviation to indicate their location. House numbers generally correspond with

2921-436: A significant portion weren't Kent State students. There is also evidence to suggest that the burning was planned beforehand: railroad flares, a machete, and ice picks are not customarily carried to peaceful rallies. There were reports that some Kent firemen and police officers were struck by rocks and other objects while attempting to extinguish the blaze. Several fire engine companies had to be called because protesters carried

3048-533: A snowstorm in January 1772. Hurricanes or their remnants occasionally impact the area in late summer and early fall. However, they usually are weak by the time they reach Washington, partly due to the city's inland location. Flooding of the Potomac River , however, caused by a combination of high tide, storm surge, and runoff, has been known to cause extensive property damage in the Georgetown neighborhood of

3175-676: A special committee charged with beautifying Washington's ceremonial core. What became known as the McMillan Plan was finalized in 1901 and included relandscaping the Capitol grounds and the National Mall, clearing slums, and establishing a new citywide park system. The plan is thought to have largely preserved L'Enfant's intended design for the city. By law, the city's skyline is low and sprawling. The federal Height of Buildings Act of 1910 prohibits buildings with height exceeding

3302-509: A student hit. He stumbled and fell, to where he was running towards the car. Another student tried to pull him behind the car, bullets were coming through the windows of the car. As this student fell behind the car, I saw another student go down, next to the curb, on the far side of the automobile, maybe 25 or 30 yards from where I was lying. It was maybe 25, 30, 35 seconds of sporadic firing. The firing stopped. I lay there maybe 10 or 15 seconds. I got up, I saw four or five students lying around

3429-473: A variety of Victorian styles. Rowhouses are prominent in areas developed after the Civil War and typically follow Federal and late Victorian designs. Georgetown 's Old Stone House , built in 1765, is the oldest-standing building in the city. Founded in 1789, Georgetown University features a mix of Romanesque and Gothic Revival architecture . The Ronald Reagan Building is the largest building in

3556-478: A women's dormitory. According to the National Register of Historic Places registration form, Lisner Auditorium's stripped classicism "expresses its modern roots in the basic geometric form of a cube." The structure is "sheathed in a tight skin of light colored limestone"; the "alternating limestone courses of square and rectangular blocks and the precise placement of joints present a pleasing pattern to

3683-911: Is generally popular among tourists and locals. In 2007, six of the top ten buildings in the American Institute of Architects ' ranking of America's Favorite Architecture were in the city: the White House , Washington National Cathedral , the Jefferson Memorial , the United States Capitol , the Lincoln Memorial , and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial . The neoclassical , Georgian , Gothic , and Modern styles are reflected among these six structures and many other prominent edifices in

3810-475: Is now University Yard. This combination of modernist Bauhaus and Art Deco styles represents the architects' interpretation of university president Cloyd Heck Marvin 's distaste for the Colonial Revival style and his insistence on "useful" architecture instead. Marvin and Faulkner's one exception in this era is Hattie M. Strong Hall, designed in a Georgian style they thought appropriately "domestic" for

3937-401: Is to kill your parents. They are the first oppressors." Two weeks after that, Bill Arthrell, an SDS member and former student, distributed flyers to an event where he said he was going to napalm a dog. The event turned out to be an anti-napalm teach-in . President Nixon announced that the " Cambodian Incursion " had been launched by United States combat forces. At Kent State University,

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4064-501: Is water. The district is bordered by Montgomery County, Maryland , to the northwest; Prince George's County, Maryland , to the east; Arlington County, Virginia , to the west; and Alexandria, Virginia , to the south. The south bank of the Potomac River forms the district's border with Virginia and has two major tributaries, the Anacostia River and Rock Creek . Tiber Creek , a natural watercourse that once passed through

4191-633: The American Civil War in 1861 led to the expansion of the federal government and notable growth in the city's population, including a large influx of freed slaves. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act in 1862, which ended slavery in the district, freeing about 3,100 slaves in the district nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation . In 1868, Congress granted

4318-435: The Anacostia River to the east. Washington, D.C.'s street grid was extended, where possible, throughout the district starting in 1888. Georgetown's streets were renamed in 1895. Some streets are particularly noteworthy, including Pennsylvania Avenue , which connects the White House to the Capitol; and K Street, which houses the offices of many lobbying groups. Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue , located on

4445-459: The Bauhaus style of flanking Bell Hall (1935) and Stuart Hall (1936). Hall of Government (1939) was the first university building clad in limestone (and in 1951, he designed the adjoining Monroe Hall in similar style). These 1930s modernist additions represented a sharp departure from the university's 1920s Harris Plan, which had called for a full block of Georgian Revival buildings enclosing what

4572-544: The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park , the National Mall and Memorial Parks , Theodore Roosevelt Island , Columbia Island , Fort Dupont Park , Meridian Hill Park , Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens , and Anacostia Park . The District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation maintains the city's 900 acres (3.6 km ) of athletic fields and playgrounds, 40 swimming pools, and 68 recreation centers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture operates

4699-584: The House of Representatives in 2021 but was not adopted by the U.S. Senate . To become law it would have to be passed by the Senate and signed by president; it would have renamed the city Washington, Douglas Commonwealth and shrunk the Federal District to about the size of the national mall. Designed in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant , the city is divided into quadrants , which are centered around

4826-628: The International Monetary Fund , the Organization of American States , and other international organizations. Home to many of the nation's largest industry associations, non-profit organizations, and think tanks , D.C. is known as a lobbying hub, with K Street as the industry center. The city had 20.7 million domestic visitors and 1.2 million international visitors, ranking seventh among U.S. cities as of 2022. The Algonquian -speaking Piscataway people , also known as

4953-536: The National Mall , was fully enclosed underground during the 1870s. The creek also formed a portion of the now-filled Washington City Canal , which allowed passage through the city to the Anacostia River from 1815 until the 1850s. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal starts in Georgetown and was used during the 19th century to bypass the Little Falls of the Potomac River, located at the northwest edge of

5080-588: The Ohio Army National Guard . Because of the rumors and threats, Satrom feared that local officials would not be able to handle future disturbances. Following the meeting, Satrom decided to call Rhodes and request that the National Guard be sent to Kent, a request granted immediately. The decision to call in the National Guard was made at 5:00 pm, but the guard did not arrive in town that evening until around 10 pm. By this time,

5207-535: The Pentagon later during the day. Upon his arrival he was greeted by a group of Pentagon employees; with one female employee commenting in regards to Nixon's speech announcing the launch of the Cambodian Incursion: "I loved your speech. It made me proud to be an American". This prompted Nixon's controversial response: "You see these bums, you know, blowing up the campuses. Listen, the boys that are on

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5334-623: The Washington Metro stations and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden are designed with strong influence from the 20th-century Brutalism movement. The Smithsonian Institution Building is built of Seneca red sandstone in the Norman Revival style. The Old Post Office building, located on Pennsylvania Avenue and completed in 1899, was the first building in the city to have a steel frame structure and

5461-607: The White House , the Capitol, the Supreme Court Building , and multiple federal departments and agencies . The city is home to many national monuments and museums , located most prominently on or around the National Mall , including the Jefferson Memorial , the Lincoln Memorial , and the Washington Monument . It hosts 177 foreign embassies and serves as the headquarters for the World Bank ,

5588-545: The 1830s, the district's southern territory of Alexandria declined economically, due in part to its neglect by Congress. Alexandria was a major market in the domestic slave trade and pro-slavery residents feared that abolitionists in Congress would end slavery in the district . Alexandria's citizens petitioned Virginia to retake the land it had donated to form the district, a process known as retrocession . The Virginia General Assembly voted in February 1846, to accept

5715-472: The 446-acre (1.80 km ) United States National Arboretum in Northeast Washington, D.C. Washington's climate is humid subtropical ( Köppen : Cfa ), or oceanic ( Trewartha : Do bordering Cf downtown). Winters are cool to cold with some snow of varying intensity, while summers are hot and humid. The district is in plant hardiness zone 8a near downtown, and zone 7b elsewhere in

5842-535: The 9,122 acres (36.92 km ) of city land owned by the U.S. government. Rock Creek Park is a 1,754-acre (7.10 km ) urban forest in Northwest Washington, which extends 9.3 miles (15.0 km) through a stream valley that bisects the city. Established in 1890, it is the country's fourth-oldest national park and is home to a variety of plant and animal species, including raccoon, deer, owls, and coyotes. Other National Park Service properties include

5969-641: The Canadas , the British set fire to government buildings in the city, gutting the United States Capitol , the Treasury Building , and the White House in what became known as the burning of Washington . However, a storm forced the British to evacuate the city after just 24 hours. Most government buildings were repaired quickly, but the Capitol, which was largely under construction at the time, would not be completed in its current form until 1868. In

6096-488: The Capitol Building and include 131 neighborhoods . As of the 2020 census , the city had a population of 689,545. Commuters from the city's Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area , which includes parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia , is the country's seventh-largest metropolitan area , with

6223-513: The City of Washington in 1895. However, the city had poor housing and strained public works, leading it to become the first city in the nation to undergo urban renewal projects as part of the City Beautiful movement in the early 20th century. The City Beautiful movement built heavily upon the already-implemented L'Enfant Plan , with the new McMillan Plan leading urban development in

6350-521: The Conoy, inhabited the lands around the Potomac River and present-day Washington, D.C., when Europeans first arrived and colonized the region in the early 17th century. The Nacotchtank , also called the Nacostines by Catholic missionaries , maintained settlements around the Anacostia River in present-day Washington, D.C. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes ultimately displaced

6477-645: The Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland . Nine cities served as capitals to the Continental Congress and under the Articles of Confederation . New York City was the first capital upon the adoption of the Constitution , succeeded by Philadelphia , which was capital from 1790 to 1800. On October 6, 1783, after the capital

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6604-705: The Trustees did not drop the racial exclusion of African Americans until 1954. In 1971, Lisner Auditorium was the site of a follow-up protest against Marvin's segregationist policies. In March 1970, in the wake of the Kent State shootings , students had dedicated their new student center, opened in 1969, as the Kent State Memorial Student Center. In 1971, the university renamed it the Cloyd Heck Marvin Center, holding

6731-542: The U.S. House of Representatives. The city's voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment , passed in 1961. Washington, D.C. anchors the southern end of the Northeast megalopolis . As the seat of the U.S. federal government , the city is an important world political capital . The city hosts the buildings that house federal government headquarters, including

6858-651: The University Veterans Club printed flyers and, with the Southern Conference on Human Welfare, picketed outside. The National Symphony Orchestra canceled performances. In 1947, the Board of Trustees changed the theatre policy to admit African-Americans to sponsored public events, but President Marvin often denied such public uses. As students began to call for the desegregation of the university itself, Marvin publicly defended segregation, and

6985-504: The area. Blizzards affect Washington once every four to six years on average. The most violent storms, known as nor'easters , often impact large regions of the East Coast . From January 27 to 28, 1922 , the city officially received 28 inches (71 cm) of snowfall, the largest snowstorm since official measurements began in 1885. According to notes kept at the time, the city received between 30 and 36 inches (76 and 91 cm) from

7112-515: The area. Police eventually succeeded in using tear gas to disperse the crowd from downtown, forcing them to move several blocks back to the campus. City officials and downtown businesses received threats, and rumors proliferated that radical revolutionaries were in Kent to destroy the city and university. Several merchants reported they were told that their businesses would be burned down if they did not display anti-war slogans. Kent's police chief told

7239-424: The band The Waitresses , was there with his friend Jeffrey Miller. Butler said that as the guardsmen formed in a kneeling position and pointed their rifles, "Everybody laughed, because, c'mon, you're not going to shoot us." Another unidentified person told UPI: The shots were definitely coming my way, because when a bullet passes your head, it makes a crack . I hit the ground behind the curve, looking over. I saw

7366-592: The borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point; many of these stones are still standing. Both Maryland and Virginia were slave states , and slavery existed in the District from its founding. The building of Washington likely relied in significant part on slave labor, and slave receipts have been found for the White House, Capitol Building, and establishment of Georgetown University. The city became an important slave market and

7493-596: The building's function as a prominent center for the performing arts in Washington." Lisner Auditorium's resonance with the 1938 and 1939 First Medal winners of the Beaux Arts Institute's Paris Prize Competitions speaks to its communication with international movements in architecture at the time. Construction of Lisner Auditorium was initially funded by Abram Lisner, a German-born owner of Washington's Palais Royale department store. Additional funding for

7620-462: The city , primarily in the U ;Street, 14th Street, 7th Street, and H Street corridors, which were predominantly black residential and commercial areas. The riots raged for three days until more than 13,600 federal troops and Washington, D.C., Army National Guardsmen stopped the violence. Many stores and other buildings were burned, and rebuilding from the riots was not completed until

7747-480: The city at the Atlantic Seaboard fall line . The highest natural elevation in the district is 409 feet (125 m) above sea level at Fort Reno Park in upper northwest Washington, D.C. The lowest point is sea level at the Potomac River. The geographic center of Washington is near the intersection of 4th and L streets NW. The district has 7,464 acres (30.21 km ) of parkland, about 19% of

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7874-490: The city but bankrupted its government. In 1874, Congress replaced the territorial government with an appointed three-member board of commissioners. In 1888, the city's first motorized streetcars began service. Their introduction generated growth in areas of the district beyond the City of Washington's original boundaries, leading to an expansion of the district over the next few decades. Georgetown's street grid and other administrative details were formally merged with those of

8001-493: The city of Kent especially, probably the most vicious form of campus-oriented violence yet perpetrated by dissident groups... they make definite plans of burning, destroying, and throwing rocks at police and at the National Guard and the Highway Patrol. ...this is when we're going to use every part of the law enforcement agency of Ohio to drive them out of Kent. We are going to eradicate the problem. We're not going to treat

8128-819: The city throughout the movement. Much of the old Victorian Mall was replaced with modern Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts architecture ; these designs are still prevalent in the city's governmental buildings today. Increased federal spending under the New Deal in the 1930s led to the construction of new government buildings, memorials, and museums in the district, though the chairman of the House Subcommittee on District Appropriations, Ross A. Collins of Mississippi , justified cuts to funds for welfare and education for local residents by saying that "my constituents wouldn't stand for spending money on niggers." World War II led to an expansion of federal employees in

8255-730: The city's classical-style architecture include buildings constructed in the French Second Empire style, including the Eisenhower Executive Office Building , and the modernist Watergate complex . The Thomas Jefferson Building , the main Library of Congress building, and the historic Willard Hotel are built in Beaux-Arts style , popular throughout the world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Meridian Hill Park contains

8382-416: The city's total area, the second-highest among high-density U.S. cities after Philadelphia . The city's sizable parkland was a factor in the city being ranked as third in the nation for park access and quality in the 2018 ParkScore ranking of the park systems of the nation's 100 most populous cities, according to Trust for Public Land , a non-profit organization. The National Park Service manages most of

8509-421: The city, was then tasked with completing its design. Though Ellicott revised the original L'Enfant plans, including changing some street patterns, L'Enfant is still credited with the city's overall design. By the early 20th century, however, L'Enfant's vision of a grand national capital was marred by slums and randomly placed buildings in the city, including a railroad station on the National Mall. Congress formed

8636-408: The city. Summers are hot and humid with a July daily average of 79.8 °F (26.6 °C) and average daily relative humidity around 66%, which can cause moderate personal discomfort. Heat indices regularly approach 100 °F (38 °C) at the height of summer. The combination of heat and humidity in the summer brings very frequent thunderstorms, some of which occasionally produce tornadoes in

8763-530: The city. Many of the government buildings, monuments, and museums along the National Mall and surrounding areas are heavily inspired by classical Roman and Greek architecture. The designs of the White House, the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court Building , Washington Monument , National Gallery of Art , Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial are all heavily drawn from these classical architectural movements and feature large pediments, domes, columns in classical order, and heavy stone walls. Notable exceptions to

8890-406: The city. Precipitation occurs throughout the year. The highest recorded temperature was 106 °F (41 °C) on August 6, 1918, and on July 20, 1930. The lowest recorded temperature was −15 °F (−26 °C) on February 11, 1899 , right before the Great Blizzard of 1899 . During a typical year, the city averages about 37 days at or above 90 °F (32 °C) and 64 nights at or below

9017-469: The city; by 1950, the district's population reached its peak of 802,178 residents. The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1961, granting the district three votes in the Electoral College for the election of president and vice president, but still not affording the city's residents representation in Congress. After the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, riots broke out in

9144-414: The college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities, and here they are burning up the books, storming around this issue. You name it. Get rid of the war there will be another one." Trouble exploded in town around midnight when people left a bar and began throwing beer bottles at police cars and breaking windows in downtown storefronts. In the process, they broke

9271-585: The command of Brigadier General Robert Canterbury, attempted to disperse the students. The legality of the order to disperse was debated during a subsequent wrongful death and injury trial. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that authorities did indeed have the right to disperse the crowd. At about noon, the National Guard obtained a bullhorn from the university police department and used it to order

9398-644: The construction project was provided by the George Washington Memorial Association and the Dimock Estate. The building was designed by Faulkner & Kingsbury and built by Charles H. Tompkins Company. The groundbreaking ceremony was in 1940; work commenced on the Auditorium in 1941; it opened in 1946. Lisner Auditorium's opening set the stage for a city-wide effort to desegregate the venue. In early October 1946,

9525-405: The creation of the capital district along the Potomac River. The city was founded in 1791, and the 6th Congress held the first session in the unfinished Capitol Building in 1800 after the capital moved from Philadelphia . In 1801, the District of Columbia, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia and including the existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria , was officially recognized as

9652-400: The crowd to disperse. However, the announcement was too faint to hear as it elicited no response from the crowd. Campus patrolman Harold Rice, accompanied by three guardsmen, then approached the crowd in a National Guard Jeep, again using the bullhorn to order the students to disperse. Students responded by making obscene gestures at the Jeep, singing protest songs, and chanting. At some point,

9779-419: The crowd, making the protesters retreat. At this point, some protesters threw stones at the Guard to no significant effect. Some students may have brought rocks to the protest anticipating a confrontation. The students retreated up and over Blanket Hill, heading out of the Commons area. Once over the hill, the students, in a loose group, moved northeast along the front of Taylor Hall, with some continuing toward

9906-439: The district with a total area of about 3.1 million square feet (288,000 m ). Washington Union Station is designed in a combination of architectural styles. Its Great Hall has elaborate gold leaf designs along the ceilings and the hall includes several decorative classical-style statues. Kent State shootings The Kent State shootings (also known as the Kent State massacre or May 4 massacre ) were

10033-486: The district's African American male residents the right to vote in municipal elections. By 1870, the district's population had grown 75% in a decade to nearly 132,000 people, yet the city still lacked paved roads and basic sanitation. Some members of Congress suggested moving the capital farther west, but President Ulysses S. Grant refused to consider the proposal. In the Organic Act of 1871 , Congress repealed

10160-658: The east and north of the Potomac and the County of Alexandria to the west and south. After the Act's passage, citizens in the district were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, which ended their representation in Congress. On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812 , British forces invaded and occupied the city after defeating an American force at Bladensburg . In retaliation for acts of destruction by American troops in

10287-604: The establishment of a "District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States". However, the constitution does not specify a location for the capital. In the Compromise of 1790 , Madison, Alexander Hamilton , and Thomas Jefferson agreed that the federal government would pay each state's remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing

10414-556: The federal district was a square measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side and totaling 100 square miles (259 km ). Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown , founded in 1751, and the port city of Alexandria, Virginia , founded in 1749. In 1791 and 1792, a team led by Andrew Ellicott , including Ellicott's brothers Joseph and Benjamin and African American astronomer Benjamin Banneker , whose parents had been enslaved, surveyed

10541-408: The federal district; initially, the city was a separate settlement within the larger district. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia , including the city of Alexandria. In 1871, it created a single municipality for the remaining portion of the district. There have been several unsuccessful efforts to make the district into a state since the 1880s; a statehood bill passed

10668-554: The fire hose into the Commons and slashed it. The National Guard made numerous arrests, mostly for curfew violations, and used tear gas; at least one student was slightly wounded with a bayonet . During a press conference at the Kent firehouse, an emotional Governor Rhodes pounded on the desk, which can be heard in the recording of his speech. He called the student protesters un-American, referring to them as revolutionaries set on destroying higher education in Ohio. We've seen here at

10795-684: The first to use electrical wiring in its design. Notable contemporary residential buildings, restaurants, shops, and office buildings in the city include the Wharf on the Southwest Waterfront , Navy Yard along the Anacostia River , and CityCenterDC in Downtown . The Wharf has seen the construction of several high-rise office and residential buildings overlooking the Potomac River . Additionally, restaurants, bars, and shops have been opened at street level. Many of these buildings have

10922-404: The freezing mark (32 °F or 0 °C). On average, the first day with a minimum at or below freezing is November 18 and the last day is March 27. Washington, D.C., was a planned city , and many of the city's street grids were developed in that initial plan. In 1791, President George Washington commissioned Pierre Charles L'Enfant , a French-born military engineer and artist, to design

11049-505: The ground. Some assumed the Guard was firing blanks and reacted only after they noticed the bullets striking the ground around them. Several present related what they saw. An unidentified person told UPI : Suddenly, they turned around, got on their knees, as if they were ordered to, they did it all together, aimed. And personally, I was standing there saying, they're not going to shoot, they can't do that. If they are going to shoot, it's going to be blank. Chris Butler , who later formed

11176-448: The guardsmen. The number of rock throwers is unknown, with estimates of 10–50 throwers. According to an FBI assessment, rock-throwing peaked at this point. Tear gas was again fired at crowds at multiple locations. Just before departing the practice field, some members of Troop G were ordered to kneel and aim their weapons toward the parking lot. The troop did so, but none of them fired. At the same time, one person (likely an officer) fired

11303-436: The individual charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown , abolished Washington County , and created a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia. These steps made "the city of Washington...legally indistinguishable from the District of Columbia." In 1873, President Grant appointed Alexander Robey Shepherd as Governor of the District of Columbia. Shepherd authorized large projects that modernized

11430-831: The killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State University campus. The shootings took place on May 4, 1970, during a rally opposing the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by United States military forces as well as protesting the National Guard presence on campus and the draft . Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers fired about 67 rounds over 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis . Students Allison Krause , 19, Jeffrey Miller , 20, and Sandra Scheuer , 20, died on

11557-437: The late 1990s. In 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act providing for an elected mayor and 13-member council for the district. In 1975, Walter Washington became the district's first elected and first black mayor. Since the 1980s, the D.C. statehood movement has grown in prominence. In 2016, a referendum on D.C. statehood resulted in an 85% support among Washington, D.C., voters for it to become

11684-435: The lot. By this time, it was like mass hysteria. Students were crying, they were screaming for ambulances. I heard some girl screaming, "They didn't have blank, they didn't have blank," no, they didn't. Another witness was Chrissie Hynde , a Kent State student who would become the lead singer of The Pretenders . In her 2015 autobiography Hynde described what she saw: Then I heard the tatatatatatatatatat sound. I thought it

11811-463: The mayor that according to a reliable informant, the ROTC building, the local army recruiting station, and the post office had been targeted for destruction that night. There were unconfirmed rumors of students with caches of arms, plots to spike the local water supply with LSD , and of students building tunnels to blow up the town's main store. Satrom met with Kent city officials and a representative of

11938-450: The modernist ethos favored by its architect, Waldron Faulkner (1898-1978), who was born in Paris, France , educated at Yale University , and became influential in Washington, D.C., area architecture, where he designed numerous institutional and residential structures. His work at GW began in the 1930s. Lisner Hall (housing Lisner Library), in whitewashed brick, was completed in 1939 to match

12065-497: The name Washington, Douglas Commonwealth (thus keeping the same abbreviation Washington, D.C.). The legalities, reasons, and impact of statehood have been heavily debated in the 2020s. Washington, D.C., is located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. East Coast . The city has a total area of 68.34 square miles (177 km ), of which 61.05 square miles (158.1 km ) is land and 7.29 square miles (18.9 km ) (10.67%)

12192-801: The naming ceremony in Lisner Auditorium across the street. Students attended the ceremony en masse, verbally denounced Marvin, and staged a walkout, citing Marvin's racism as a key reason for their actions. The first known public performance at Lisner without racial restriction was the 1955 National Symphony Orchestra concert. A diverse schedule soon followed through the late 1950s and early 1960s, with opera singers Licia Albenese and Giuseppe Campora, folk singer Pete Seeger , and blues harmonica player Sonny Terry , rock and roll stars Jackie Wilson , Bo Diddley , Jerry Lee Lewis , and folk singer Joan Baez . On December 14, 1963, Bob Dylan performed there on his first national tour outside of coffeehouses;

12319-503: The nation's 51st state . In March 2017, the city's congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced a bill for statehood. Reintroduced in 2019 and 2021 as the Washington, D.C., Admission Act , the U.S. House of Representatives passed it in April 2021. After not progressing in the Senate, the statehood bill was introduced again in January 2023. The bill would have made D.C. into a state with one representative and two senators, with

12446-496: The new capital. He enlisted the help of Isaac Roberdeau, Étienne Sulpice Hallet and Scottish surveyor Alexander Ralston to help lay out the city plan. The L'Enfant Plan featured broad streets and avenues radiating out from rectangles, providing room for open space and landscaping. L'Enfant was also provided a roll of maps by Thomas Jefferson depicting Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Paris, Orleans, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Turin, and Milan. L'Enfant's design also envisioned

12573-604: The new national capital in the Southern United States . On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act , which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River . Under the Residence Act, the exact location was to be selected by President George Washington , who signed the bill into law on July 16, 1790. Formed from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of

12700-552: The north and south sides of the National Mall, respectively, are home to many of Washington's iconic museums, including many Smithsonian Institution buildings and the National Archives Building . Washington hosts 177 foreign embassies ; these maintain nearly 300 buildings and more than 1,600 residential properties, many of which are on a section of Massachusetts Avenue informally known as Embassy Row . The architecture of Washington, D.C., varies greatly and

12827-404: The number of blocks away from the Capitol. Most streets are set out in a grid pattern with east–west streets named with letters (e.g., C Street SW), north–south streets with numbers (e.g., 4th Street NW), and diagonal avenues, many of which are named after states . The City of Washington was bordered on the north by Boundary Street (renamed Florida Avenue in 1890); Rock Creek to the west, and

12954-653: The occasion of the issue involved. Such use of force is, and was, deplorable." President John F. Kennedy increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War , sending 16,000 advisors in 1963, up from the 900 that President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent. Lyndon B. Johnson significantly escalated involvement, raising the number of American troops in Vietnam to 100,000 in 1965 , and eventually to more than 500,000 combat troops in 1968 with no tangible results and with increasing opposition and protests at home. When Richard M. Nixon

13081-406: The police and then started yelling obscenities at them. The entire Kent police force was called to duty, as well as officers from the county and surrounding communities. Kent Mayor LeRoy Satrom declared a state of emergency , called the office of Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes to seek assistance, and ordered all of the bars to be closed. The decision to close the bars early only increased tensions in

13208-421: The practice field, the guardsmen generally faced the parking lot, about 100 yards (91 m) away. At one point, the guardsmen formed a loose huddle and appeared to be talking to one another. They had cleared the protesters from the Commons area, and many students had left. Some students who had retreated beyond the practice field fence obtained rocks and possibly other objects with which they again began pelting

13335-466: The proceedings more than 300 feet (91 m) from the firing line; like most observers, they watched the protest during a break between their classes. The shootings triggered immediate and massive outrage on campuses around the country. It increased participation in the student strike that began on May 1. Ultimately, more than 4 million students participated in organized walk-outs at hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools. The shootings and

13462-413: The protesters before opening fire. During their climb back to Blanket Hill, several guardsmen stopped and half-turned to keep their eyes on the students in the Prentice Hall parking lot. At 12:24 pm, according to eyewitnesses, a sergeant named Myron Pryor turned and began firing at the crowd of students with his .45 pistol. Several guardsmen nearest the students also turned and fired their rifles at

13589-463: The quality of the recording, are crisp, with precisely the kind of moments live albums should catch and usually don't." It was certified Gold in 1979. Outside of the Auditorium is the River Horse sculpture. In 1996 George Washington University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg presented this bronze statue of a hippopotamus as a gift to the university's Class of 2000. The auditorium contains

13716-419: The return of Alexandria. On July 9, 1846, Congress went further, agreeing to return all territory that Virginia had ceded to the district during its formation. This left the district's area consisting only of the portion originally donated by Maryland. Confirming the fears of pro-slavery Alexandrians, the Compromise of 1850 outlawed the slave trade in the district, although not slavery itself. The outbreak of

13843-478: The ringing of the campus's iron Victory Bell (which had historically been used to signal victories in football games) to mark the beginning of the rally, and the first protester began to speak. According to most estimates, some 200–300 protesters gathered around the Victory Bell on the Commons, with some 1,000 more gathered on a hill behind the first crowd. The crowd was largely made up of students enrolled at

13970-482: The scene, while William Schroeder , 19, was pronounced dead at Robinson Memorial Hospital in nearby Ravenna shortly afterward. Krause and Miller were among the more than 300 students who gathered to protest the expansion of the Cambodian campaign, which President Richard Nixon had announced in an April 30 television address. Scheuer and Schroeder were in the crowd of several hundred others who had been observing

14097-433: The seventeen tracks on Little Feat 's 1978 double LP, Waiting for Columbus , were recorded at Lisner on August 8, 9, and 10, 1977, as were five additional tracks included on the "deluxe" 2002 two-CD re-release, along with three more tracks first issued on the 1981 compilation Hoy-Hoy and also included on the 2002 re-release. Stereo Review's 1978 review praised the album's "spontaneity," declaring that "the performances, like

14224-746: The show sold out, and three rows of overflow seating was placed on stage behind the singer. The 1970s brought Rush , Pink Floyd , Kiss , Little Feat , Emmylou Harris , Grand Funk Railroad , Joe Cocker , B.B. King , Derek and the Dominoes , Jimmy Buffett , Billy Joel , Blondie , and the Jerry Garcia Band. In the 1980s, Lisner hosted The Replacements , Alex Chilton , Billy Bragg , Midnight Oil , The Church , 10,000 Maniacs , Michelle Shocked , The BoDeans , Thomas Dolby , A Flock of Seagulls , and Red Hot Chili Peppers . Several live recordings of shows at Lisner have been produced. Nine of

14351-406: The stonework." The "projecting box-like portico offers the only relief to the severe geometrical form of the building," with its "scale and abstracted columns echo[ing] classical qualities." Doors, grates, and lighting features of "loosely" Art Deco origin provide minimal ornamentation, a theme continued on the interior. Overall, "its modern and formal character are skillfully manipulated to speak [to]

14478-440: The strike affected public opinion at an already socially contentious time over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War . Eight of the shooters were charged with depriving the students of their civil rights , but were acquitted in a bench trial . The trial judge stated, "It is vital that state and National Guard officials not regard this decision as authorizing or approving the use of force against demonstrators, whatever

14605-420: The students back to their dorms. A few students were bayoneted by Guardsmen. On Monday, May 4, a protest was scheduled to be held at noon, as planned three days earlier. University officials attempted to ban the gathering, handing out 12,000 leaflets stating that the event was canceled. Despite these efforts, an estimated 2,000 people gathered on the university's Commons, near Taylor Hall. The protest began with

14732-481: The students. In all, at least 29 of the 77 guardsmen claimed to have fired their weapons, using an estimated 67 rounds of ammunition. The shooting was determined to have lasted 13 seconds, although John Kifner reported in The New York Times that "it appeared to go on, as a solid volley, for perhaps a full minute or a little longer." When the Guard began firing, many protesters ran while others dropped to

14859-561: The symptoms. ...and these people just move from one campus to the other and terrorize the community. They're worse than the brown shirts and the communist element and also the night riders and the vigilantes. They're the worst type of people that we harbor in America. Now I want to say this. They are not going to take over [the] campus. I think that we're up against the strongest, well-trained, militant, revolutionary group that has ever assembled in America. Rhodes also claimed he would obtain

14986-414: The university, with a few non-students (that included Kent State dropouts and high school students) also present. The crowd appeared leaderless and was initially peaceful and relatively quiet. One person made a short speech, and some protesters carried flags. Companies A and C, 1- 145th Infantry and Troop G of the 2- 107th Armored Cavalry , Ohio National Guard (ARNG), the units on the campus grounds, under

15113-707: The war home." A group of history students buried a copy of the United States Constitution to symbolize that Nixon had killed it. A sign was put on a tree asking: "Why is the ROTC building still standing?" A further protest organised by the Black United Students (BUS) also took place during the afternoon, to demonstrate solidarity with antiwar protests at Kent State University and at The Ohio State University; attracting around 400 students, and ending peacefully at 3:45 pm. Further issues arose following President Nixon's arrival at

15240-443: The war into Cambodia angered those who believed it only exacerbated the conflict and violated a neutral nation's sovereignty. Across the U.S., campuses erupted in protests in what Time called "a nation-wide student strike", setting the stage for the events of early May 1970. In April 1970 Nixon told Congress that he would end undergraduate student draft deferments by Executive Order if authorized by Congress to do so. This request

15367-541: The width of the adjacent street plus 20 feet (6.1 m). Despite popular belief, no law has ever limited buildings to the height of the United States Capitol or the 555-foot (169 m) Washington Monument , which remains the district's tallest structure. City leaders have cited the height restriction as a primary reason that the district has limited affordable housing and its metro area has suburban sprawl and traffic problems. Washington, D.C., still has

15494-419: Was a poetic name for the United States commonly used at that time. Congress held its first session there on November 17, 1800. Congress passed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 , which officially organized the district and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal government. The area within the district was organized into two counties, the County of Washington to

15621-556: Was elected in 1968 , he promised to end the conflict, claiming he had a secret plan. The Mỹ Lai massacre by American troops of between 347 and 504 Vietnamese villagers, exposed in November 1969, heightened opposition to the war. On April 29, 1970, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces invaded eastern Cambodia in what they claimed was an attempt to defeat the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops based there. The expansion of

15748-669: Was also made ineffective by the wind. Some protesters lobbed the canisters back at the Guard to the crowd's merriment. The crowd also began to chant "Pigs off campus". Another demand to disperse was made over the loudspeaker but simply elicited more oppositional chanting. After repeatedly failing to disperse the crowd, a group of 96 National Guard troops from A Company and Company C, 145th Infantry, and Troop G, 107th Armored Cavalry, were ordered to advance. The guardsmen had their weapons "locked and loaded" (according to standard Ohio National Guard rules) and affixed with bayonets. Most carried M1 Garand rifles , with some also carrying .45 handguns,

15875-546: Was approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 23. After the draft reforms students could only postpone their service until the end of the semester. This is still the law today. During the 1966 Homecoming Parade, protesters walked dressed in military paraphernalia with gas masks. In the fall of 1968, the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Black United Students staged

16002-583: Was forced by the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 to move to Princeton, Congress resolved to consider a new location for it. The following day, Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts moved "that buildings for the use of Congress be erected on the banks of the Delaware near Trenton , or of the Potomac , near Georgetown , provided a suitable district can be procured on one of the rivers as aforesaid, for

16129-439: Was named after George Washington , the first president of the United States . The district is named after Columbia , the female personification of the nation . The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress . As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of any state , and is not one itself. The Residence Act , adopted on July 16, 1790, approved

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