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Washington, D.C.

capital city of the United States of America

56 dated entries naming Washington, D.C., drawn from 46 separate years between 1210 CE and 2025 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as District of Columbia, Washington D.C., Washington DC, Washington, DC in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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13th century

  • 12101210–1211 – Shazi creates the Pen Box, from Persia (Iran) or Afghanistan (it is now kept at Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.).source

18th century

  • 1790July 16 – U.S. President George Washington signs the Residence Act into law, establishing a site along the Potomac River as the District of Columbia and the future site of the capital of the United States. The move comes after the bill is narrowly approved on July 1 by the Senate, 14 to 12, and on July 9 by the House, 32 to 29. At the same time, plans are made to move the national capital from New York to Philadelphia until the Potomac River site can be completed.source
  • 1791September 9 – The capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., is named after the incumbent 1st President George Washington.source
  • 1792October 13 – Foundation of Washington, D.C.: The cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House after 1818) is laid.source
  • 1793September 18 – United States Capitol cornerstone laying: President George Washington lays the cornerstone for the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1800June 3 – U.S. President John Adams moves to Washington. Because the President's Mansion is still under construction, President Adams takes up residence at Tunnicliffe's City Hotel near the unfinished U.S. Capitol Building.source

19th century

  • 1815February – The Hartford Convention arrives in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1815February 18 – The War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom (including Canada) officially ends, following ratification of the Treaty of Ghent (1814) in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1837Dorcas Allen kills two of her four children while imprisoned in a District of Columbia slave pen.source
  • 1844May 24 – The first electrical telegram is sent by Samuel F. B. Morse from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the B&O Railroad "outer depot" in Baltimore, Maryland, saying "What hath God wrought".source
  • 1846July 7 – Acting on instructions from Washington, DC, Commodore John Drake Sloat orders his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the United States annexation of California.source
  • 1846August 11 – Establishment of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1846September 7 – The portion of the District of Columbia in the United States that was ceded by Virginia in 1790 is re-ceded to Virginia.source
  • 1850January 14 – Malcolm Cameron visits Washington, D.C. about a trade reciprocity agreement.source
  • 1864April 8 – Gallaudet University is founded in Washington, D.C., as the first university for the deaf and hard of hearing.source
  • 1867January 8 – African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.source
  • 1875November 9 – Indian Wars: In Washington, D.C., Indian Inspector E. C. Watkins issues a report stating that hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne associated with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are hostile to the United States (the Battle of the Little Bighorn is fought in Montana the next year).source
  • 1881February 18 – Carlos Finlay introduces his discovery of the transmission of Yellow Fever by mosquitoes Aedes aegypti, in the Fifth International Sanitary Conference held in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1881November 17 – The trial of Charles J. Guiteau begins in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1884October – International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C., fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.source
  • 188422 October – The International Meridian Conference meeting in Washington, D.C., adopts the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian (voted on 13 October).source
  • 1888January 13 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1890October 11 – In Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.source
  • 1891January 7 – The Inter-American Monetary Commission meets in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1893June 9 – The front part of Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. collapses, killing 22 War Department clerks and injuring 68 others.source
  • 1894March 25 – Coxey's Army (of the unemployed), the first significant protest march in the United States, departs from Massillon, Ohio, for Washington, D.C.source

20th century

  • 1902February 12 – The 1st Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance takes place in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1912March 27 – Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki gives 3,000 Cherry blossom trees to be planted in Washington, D.C., to symbolize the friendship between the two countries.source
  • 1918May 15 – The United States Post Office Department begins the world's third regular airmail service, between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.source
  • 1918May 15 – The United States Post Office Department (later renamed the United States Postal Service) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).source
  • 1921November 12 – Washington Naval Conference opens at Memorial Continental Hall Hall in downtown Washington DC.source
  • 1922January 28 – Snowfall from the Knickerbocker storm, the biggest-ever recorded snowstorm in Washington, D.C., causes the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre to collapse, killing 98.source
  • 1930May 10 – The National Pan-Hellenic Council is founded in Washington, D.C.source
  • 19352 February - A trade agreement between the United States and Brazil is signed in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1939April 9 – African-American singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia. First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR because of their decision.source
  • 1941March 17 – In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.source
  • 1941September 11 – Construction on the Pentagon begins in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1944February 2 – The first issue of Human Events is published in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1948April – Children's Bargain Town, a predecessor of toy and child-related retailer Toys "R" Us, is founded in Washington, D.C., United States.source
  • 1949April 4 – The North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., creating the NATO defense alliance.source
  • 1956June 21 – Playwright Arthur Miller appears before the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1958January 27 – A Soviet-American executive agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges, also known as the "Lacy–Zarubin Agreement", is signed in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1961March 29 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote in presidential elections.source
  • 1976November 3 – Carrie, an American supernatural horror film directed by Brian De Palma, is premiered in 17 theaters in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area.source
  • 1979October 7 – Pope John Paul II ends his first U.S. papal visit in Washington, D.C., with his first-ever visit to the White House.source
  • 1979October 14 – National March for gay rights takes place in Washington, D.C., involving tens of thousands of people.source
  • 1982January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., United States, then falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.source
  • 1984November 6 – 1984 United States presidential election: Republican President Ronald Reagan defeats Democratic former Vice President Walter F. Mondale with 59% of the popular vote, the highest since Richard Nixon's 61% popular vote victory in 1972. Reagan carries 49 states in the electoral College; Mondale wins only his home state of Minnesota (by a mere 3,761 vote margin) and the District of Columbia.source
  • 1990April 19 – Washington, DC post-hardcore band Fugazi release their debut studio album Repeater on Dischord Records.source
  • 1991May 16 – Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress during a 13-day royal visit in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1991July 1 – In the U.S., telephone services go down in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and San Francisco as a result of a software bug, affecting nearly 12 million customers.source
  • 199528 September – The Oslo II Accord is officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington, DC by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and witnessed by US President Bill Clinton, which includes provision for the transfer of control of Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah, Tulkarm and some 450 villages to the Palestinian Authority.source
  • 1995October 16 – The Million Man March is held in Washington, D.C. The event was conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.source

21st century

  • 2003In Washington, D.C., Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Dana Rohrabacherintroduced the Access for Afghan Women Act into the United States Congress. The intention of the bill was to lay out a roadmap for incorporating women into Afghanistan's development process. Such incorporation would be achieved through funding organizations such as the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) and the National Human Rights Commission.source
  • 201121–22 July – New Zealand Prime Minister John Key visits Washington, D.C. in the United States to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama. During their meeting at the White House, Prime Minister John Key and U.S. President Obama send their condolences to the people of Norway following the tragic terrorist attacks in Oslo, and are a reminder that the entire world must work together to prevent future attacks since World War II.source
  • 2025January 29 – 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision: A United States Army Black Hawk helicopter with three occupants on board, collides with a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by PSA Airlines with 64 occupants on board in Washington, D.C., United States. There were no survivors.source

Named in the same entries