A HISTORY OF WASHINGTON, D.C. The history of the city plan for Washington, D.C. is not quit what most citizens of the United States might expect. It appears to be more of a private venture than a public project. Private in more ways than one. The newly formed Congress established as one of the newly elected Presidents first duties to chose the location of the city to be the Capital of the United States. After a location was determined, a new city would be established for the Nations Capital. It was the responsibility of George Washington to determine the sight for the Capital. But, was this location already chosen before the forming of the United States? Washington, D.C. is found in the same general geographic location as Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Most history books tell us that Washingtons location was established as a compromise between the Southern and Northern States. But, Baron De Graffenried (a Swiss baron) tried to establish a colony at the exact location of Washington, D.C. as the preferred site for his project. De Graffenried states, I believe that there are scarcely any places in the world more beautiful and better situated than this of the Potomac... There is a very pretty island (Theodore Roosevelt Island) of very good ground, and facing it, an angle between the great Potomac River and another little river named Gold Creek (now Rock Creek). The land on which much of the Capital City is built today was owned by Ninian Beall, a Scot who owned a 1,503-acre track called Inclosure. Two other tracks called Bealls Levels and the Rock of Dumbarton make up current day Washington, D.C. and Georgetown. Was George Washington continuing a project established by De Graffenried and Beall 60 years earlier?
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 12:28:55 +0000
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