(A local building in Washington then-known as the Executive Mansion. Civic leaders had to paint over the black scars of British arson).
We already talked about ANZAC Day, so we can turn to some anniversaries better remembered right here. There are some other interesting ones coming this year that will lend their names to these times of crisis. The ones we know about now are those that have generated echoes that will reverberate periodically on the way to November’s General Election.
Here are the ones that came up with one circuit of the bottle of Monkey’s Shoulder that went around the Writer’s Section on The Patio:
The 210th anniversary of the Burning of Washington, August , 24 1814. Among the buildings torched were the Capitol, the Executive Mansion, and the offices of the Treasury and War Departments. The sandstone Executive Mansion was restored after the burning and painted white to cover the scars and gave us the name by which the House is now known.
The Washington Aqueduct went into full operation 160 years ago, in July 1864. It still provides our tasty drinking water today.
In that same year of Civil War, Fort Stevens was attacked on July 12, 1864. It was the closest the Confederates came to invading Washington and it was nearly close enough. Fort Stevens was one of sixty-eight forts, ninety-three batteries, and over 800 cannon that defended the capital during the war, one of the most extensive defense networks ever created for a national capital. It was also the site where a young union officer named Oliver Wendell Holmes shouted at a tall fellow named Abraham Lincoln to “get his ass down” before he got shot. Lincoln was the only US President to come under fire in battle while serving as POTUS.
The Old Post Office was completed 125 years ago, in 1899, becoming the second-tallest structure in the District of Columbia, after the Washington Monument.
Old Post Office Exterior.
(Image of Old Post Office from the National Park Service).
It wasn’t all buildings. The National Capital Planning Commission was founded 100 years ago, in 1924, to shape the urban development of Washington in line with the principles first developed by master urban planner Pierre Charles L’Enfant.
Washingtonians were first allowed to vote in Presidential elections in 1964, sixty years ago. The act was part of the return of democratic principals to residents of the national capital, once ruled direct from Congress.
50 years ago, the “District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973” went into effect as Washingtonians elected their first mayor and city council members, ending the U.S. Government’s direct rule over Washington. The debate on Statehood for the District (with two Senators!) commenced in earnest and continues today.
The resignation of President Richard Nixon also occurred in 1974, on August 9, the culmination of the Watergate scandal. Or at least that part of the scandal that now affixes the term “gate” to any unpalatable public event. Will there be more to celebrate or revile in this remarkable and historic year? You bet!
The excitement about that matter is that we do not yet know what it is going to be! We will be watching for answers to that one with you across the rest of 2024!
– Vic