The original Corcoran Gallery of Art Building stands at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Seventeenth Street.
No. 22 Jackson Place, now the home of the Women’s City Club, was the house of President Polk’s Secretary of War, William L. Marcy. The house was occupied by President and Mrs. Roosevelt for a few months while the White House was being restored in 1901.
GEORGETOWN
Georgetown was laid out pursuant to an act of the Province of Maryland dated June 8, 1751, passed in response to a petition of a number of inhabitants, who stated that “there was a convenient place for a town on the Potomac River above the mouth of Rock Creek,” and recommended that 60 acres be there laid out for a town. The town was never incorporated as a city, but was commonly called the city of Georgetown as a consequence of the casual reference to it by that title in numerous acts of Congress.
The general supposition is that Georgetown was so named in honor of George II, then the reigning sovereign of Great Britain, but it is also contended that it was named as a compliment to George Gordon and George Beall, the owners of the 60-acre tract, and from whom the site was obtained. The town was subsequently surveyed and divided into 80 lots. On December 25, 1789, the town was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly of Maryland, with a mayor, recorder, aldermen, and common council. The first mayor was appointed for a term of one year, to commence January 1, 1790.
The streets in the part of Georgetown laid out under the act of June 8, 1751, were acquired by the public in practically the same manner in which the title to the original streets of the city of Washington was derived.
Georgetown was enlarged by numerous additions, until, as calculated by the surveyor of the District of Columbia, it embraced about 543 acres. Its charter was revoked by the act of Congress of February 21, 1871, by which its name was retained as a topographical designation until its consolidation with Washington by the act of February 11, 1895, which stated it “shall be known as and shall constitute a part of the city of Washington.” By this act the Commissioners of the District of Columbia were authorized to change the names of the streets and avenues of Georgetown to conform to those of Washington as far as practicable. At the time of the consolidation the population of Georgetown was about 15,000.
OLD AQUEDUCT BRIDGE
