Pierre L’Enfant had originally planned the City of Washington around a right triangle, with the eastern portion at the Capitol, the northern portion at the White House and the 90 degree angle close to where the Washington Monument sits today. Thomas Jefferson marked this spot in 1793 with a wooden post, which was replaced in 1804 with the Jefferson Pier.
What if the Washington Monument was built as a pyramid instead of an obelisk? It could have been if this design came to fruition.
Working under commissioners that President Washington had appointed in 1790 in accordance with the Residence Act, Major Andrew Ellicott led a team that placed these markers in 1791 and 1792.
![Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government of t[he] United States : projected agreeable to the direction of the President of the United States, in pursuance of an act of Congress, passed on the sixteenth day of July, MDCCXC, "establishing the permanent seat on the bank of the Potowmac"](https://ghostsofdc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2014/06/ct001333-768x553.jpg)
Here is a terrific old map of the plan for the federal city. Source: Library of Congress
This is a really old map of the Carroll family plot in Washington in 1793. Source: Library of Congress
Here’s a map that we haven’t come across before. This shows the Territory of Columbia and the City of Washington surrounded by Maryland in 1795. Click on it for a much larger version. Source: University of Pittsburgh Darlington Digital Library
The map was done in 1874 and represents Washington as it would have looked before 1792.
The town of Centreville was established in 1792, near the intersection of present day Lee Highway and Sully Road. At the time, it was a village named Newgate.
That’s right, the Patawmack River, not the Potomac. Check out this cool map of what would become the City of Washington. It was done around 1893, near the city’s centennial. Source: Library of Congress
Check this out. What a fascinating old letter we found in the National Archives. This was penned by President John Adams on July 2nd, 1798, nominating George Washington of Mount Vernon to Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief of All
