NEA: 2008 Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly

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2008 Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly

A Brief History of Washington, D.C.

Andrew Ellicott

In 1790, a survey of the land for the District of Columbia was undertaken by Andrew Ellicott with the help of Benjamin Banneker, a free Black man from Maryland who was a self-taught mathematician and astronomer. (Banneker later went on to become an advisor to President Thomas Jefferson.) Forty boundary stones, laid at one-mile intervals, established the boundaries based on Banneker's celestial calculations.

Benjamin Banneker

The Potomac River was known to Native Americans as the Co-hon-ho-roo-ta. The first English explorers called it "Elizabeth."

The Residence Bill of July 16, 1790, established a site along the Potomac to be the capital. This federal district was first called the Territory of Columbia, and the federal city, the City of Washington. The name changed to the District of Columbia in 1793.

Little Known Facts About Washington D.C.

The most popular museum in D.C.—and the planet—is the National Air and Space Museum, which has had 219 million visitors in its first 25 years.
D.C. has 715 libraries—only 118 fewer than New York City.
Of adults 25 and older, 42% have at least a bachelor's degree. Washington, D.C., is second only to Silicon Valley, CA, in educational attainment.
Compared to the 50 states, D.C. has the smallest differential between male and female pay in the country.

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NEA: 2007 Annual Meeting

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