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President's Park
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Boy Scout Memorial The Boy Scout Memorial is a bronze and granite sculpture honoring the Boy Scouts of America. It is located on the White House Ellipse on the site of the 1937 Boy Scout Jamboree. Built without any public funds, Boy Scouts raised all the money for the memorial themselves by collecting dimes. Then Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson authored legislation permitting the memorial on the Mall. The sculpture includes a Boy Scout flanked by idealized figures of adults. Scrolls at the base of the memorial list the names of each Boy Scout who participated in the dime-collecting effort.
National Museum of Natural History First known as the new National Museum, the National Museum of Natural History's building opened in 1910 after nearly 10 years of construction. The Museum's Beaux Arts design features a domed rotunda, columns, and a portico. The Museum first housed art, culture, history, geology, and natural history collections until the 1960s when the Museum of Natural History became a separate museum. Today, it is one of the most visited museums in the world, and displays such diverse objects as the Hope Diamond, a complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, and a live butterfly collection.
Cuban Friendship Urn
The Cuban Friendship Urn originally stood in Cuba to honor American deaths on the USS Maine and during the Spanish-American War. After the urn was damaged in a 1926 hurricane, it was sent to the United States and placed outside the Cuban Embassy. Some time in the 1960s, it disappeared following the deterioration of Cuban-American relations. In 1992, the National Park Service located the urn and placed it in its present position in East Potomac Park.
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Andrew Jackson Downing Urn This urn memorializing horticulturist Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) was installed on the Mall in 1856 near the present location of the National Museum of American History. The urn was moved several times before it arrived in the Enid A. Haupt Garden in the Smithsonian in 1999. Downing's friend and architectural partner Calvert Vaux designed the urn and inscribed it with a quote by Downing which contains the line, "Plant spacious parks in your cities, and loose their gates as wide as the morning, to the whole people."
World War II Temporary Buildings These buildings were erected by the federal government during World War II to create offices for the many workers who came for new, war-related jobs. The buildings were never meant to be permanent, and were referred to by locals as "tempos." Temporary housing was constructed in front of the National Gallery of Art and on the grounds of the Washington Monument. There was a group of office buildings where the National Museum of American History is today, as well as by the Reflecting Pool. Some of these buildings remained until the 1970s.
Capitol Reflecting Pool
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Mary Ann Hall's Brothel Mary Ann Hall’s brothel was the largest and most luxurious of more than 100 known bordellos in Washington during the 1800s. Hall’s three-story establishment stood where the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is today. According to Union Army records, she employed 18 women. Archaeological excavations indicate that Hall imported French wine and champagne for her clients. She ran her establishment until 1883, dying in 1886 with a net worth of $87,000. Although Washington police frequently harassed and arrested prostitutes, the profession remained legal in DC until 1914.
National World War II Memorial The National World War II Memorial opened in 2004 to honor American soldiers and civilians who served during World War II. Supporters spent over 15 years gathering Congressional support and raising money to fund the construction of this memorial. To highlight the national scope of the war effort, 56 granite pillars represent each of the 48 states and 8 US territories in 1945. Two arches stand at the opposite ends of the memorial symbolizing the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of the War. To remember more than 400,000 Americans who died during World War II, the Freedom Wall includes 4,048 gold stars.
Bartholdi Fountain Originally created for the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition, sculptor Frederic Bartholdi had hoped to sell the fountain after the exposition concluded. The only offer to purchase it was made by Congress, who bought the work for $6,000. The sculpture was moved from Philadelphia to Washington and placed at the site of the original botanical garden, which stood where the Capitol Reflecting Pool is today. In 1927 the sculpture was moved to its present home in the newly-established Bartholdi Park.
Bulfinch Gatehouses Architect of the Capitol, Charles Bulfinch, designed the gatehouses and matching gateposts in the 1820s. They originally flanked a grand pedestrian entrance on the west side of the Capitol. They were removed in 1874 and placed in their present locations in 1880. Currently, one gatehouse and three gateposts are in place at the corner of 15th and Constitution Avenue; the other gatehouse is at the corner of 17th and Constitution, and the remaining gateposts are located at the entrance to the National Arboretum in north-eastern Washington.
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Center Market Once the largest commercial market in Washington, Center Market opened in 1801. The original buildings were replaced in 1872 by a building designed by Adolph Cluss. The market was close to the Washington City Canal, railroads, and streetcar lines. It was demolished in 1931 and is the current site of the National Archives. Vendors sold all manner of goods inside: produce, meat and fish, and staples. Because of its access to transportation, Center Market was able to sell goods that had been grown or produced far away; fast, dependable railroads and streetcars made it possible to offer fresh foods before they spoiled.
Constitution Gardens The Constitution Gardens were dedicated in May 1976 as part of the United States Bicentennial and were declared a living legacy to the US Constitution by President Ronald Reagan in September 1986. During World War I, the US government built temporary offices on this site. Those buildings remained until the early 1970s when President Nixon ordered their removal and replacement by a park. On a small island in the middle of the lake lies a memorial to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, dedicated in 1984.
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Uncle Beazley Generations of children climbed on Uncle Beazley, a fiberglass triceratops, who lived on the National Mall in front of the Museum of Natural History. For a slow-moving dinosaur, Uncle Beazley is widely traveled. Before coming to the Mall in the 1970s, his home was the Smithsonian's Anacostia Neighborhood Museum. In 1994, Uncle Beazley moved from the Mall to his current residence, the National Zoo. Beazley was constructed in 1967 for "The Enormous Egg" TV special that aired the next year. The Sinclair Company subsequently donated Beazley to the Smithsonian.
Lincoln Memorial
Constructed between 1914 and 1922, the Lincoln Memorial consists of a large, columned, classically inspired structure with a statue of Lincoln in the interior. Inscribed on the interior walls are Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and his Gettysburg Address. The site has become a frequent stage for the civil rights demonstrations. African American opera singer Marian Anderson performed there after being barred from performing at then segregated Constitution Hall in 1939. In 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
George Mason Memorial George Mason (1725-1792), author of Virginia's Declaration of Rights, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He refused to sign the Constitution because of the absence of a Bill of Rights and a disagreement over the issue of standing armies. The memorial was funded through an effort by the Board of Regents of Gunston Hall, Mason's home in Fairfax, Virginia, which now operates as a museum. The site of the memorial was home to a garden called the Pansy Garden in the 1920s. The memorial was approved in 1990, but groundbreaking did not take place until 2000.
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Summerhouse Frederick Law Olmsted designed the Summerhouse so that visitors to the Capitol could sit and rest as they toured the Capitol grounds. It contains intricate brickwork, several windows, wrought iron gates, and seating space for up to 22 people. The Summerhouse is hexagonal in shape. A fountain in the center once offered drinking water, but now is simply decorative. Olmsted originally intended to build a second summerhouse, but Congress objected.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Established in 1966 as part of the Smithsonian Institution, the Hirshhorn collects and exhibits modern and contemporary art building on founder Joseph Hirshhorn's collection of 6,000 art works. Hirshhorn was a Latvian immigrant to the United States. His collection contained pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Edward Hopper and sculptures by August Rodin and Alexander Calder. The Museum opened in 1974, designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft as a large piece of modern sculpture. The elevated hollowed-center cylinder building distinguishes it from other museums on the Mall. Curved exterior concrete walls open to visitors through a large window offering a full view of the Mall and the Sculpture Garden below.