X-Nico

55 unusual facts about Washington, D.C.


1 Pace Plaza

The architect designers of One Pace Plaza were Otto R. Eggers and Daniel P. Higgins firm Eggers & Higgins of New York, architects of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

17th Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 17th Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia in 1941.

18th Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 18th Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia in 1942, by the E.W. Scripps Company, the last National Spelling Bee before the outbreak of World War II.

21st Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 21st Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia in 1948, by the E.W. Scripps Company.

25th Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 25th Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia in 1952, by the E.W. Scripps Company.

27th Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 27th Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia in 1954, by the E.W. Scripps Company.

28th Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 28th Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia in 1955, by the E.W. Scripps Company.

31st Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 31st Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia in 1958, by the E.W. Scripps Company.

32nd Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 32nd Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia in 1959, by the E.W. Scripps Company.

33rd Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 33rd Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia in 1960, by the E.W. Scripps Company.

ACDI/VOCA

ACDI/VOCA is a private, international development nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C, United States.

Afghanistan–Uzbekistan barrier

Days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, when America announced the start of military operations against the Taliban regime based in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan fortified the border fence in the province of Surkhandaria to stop any illegal migrants or refugees crossing the border.

Battery Kemble Park

Battery Kemble was completed during the Autumn of 1861, as part of the Civil War Defenses of Washington, also known as the Fort Circle.

It is considered part of the Palisades neighborhood.

Bomb Queen

This pleased politicians in Washington, D.C., due to the lowered crime rates in other states.

British Embassy, Washington

It is located at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue, NW in Washington, D.C.

The embassy is situated in a compound that is home to both the ambassador's residence and the old and new chanceries.

Camerata Ireland

During 2007 Camerata Ireland had performed in London, Paris, Dublin and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., as part of the Rediscover Northern Ireland programme.

Christylez Bacon

Christylez Bacon (pronounced: chris-styles) is a Grammy Nominated Progressive Hip-Hop artist and multi-instrumentalist from Southeast, Washington, D.C. As a performer, Christylez multi-tasks between various instruments such as the West African djembe drum, acoustic guitar, and the human beat-box (oral percussion), all while continuing the oral tradition of storytelling through his lyrics.

Didarganj Yakshi

The statue's nose was damaged during a travelling exhibition, The Festival of India, en route to Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA.

Edgar T. Wherry

He lived in Washington, D.C. from 1912 to 1930, part of this time working as an assistant curator of mineralogy for the U. S. National Museum, and also for the Bureau of Chemistry of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Edward B. Bunn

In partnership with Dr. Hurst Anderson, president of American University, Bunn developed an pan-institutional program for students in Washington, D.C. to take courses in several schools and allow credits to accumulate toward a degree in any school.

Ethel Armes

Born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Col. George Augustus Armes and Lucy Hamilton Kerr, Ethel was brought up in Washington, D.C. where she attended private schools.

Florence Fleming Noyes

In 1912 she opened her first dance studio in Carnegie Hall and in 1913 she dressed as Liberty at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. as part of a living tableaux to bring publicity for the cause of women's right to vote.

Frederick Gutheim

He is noted for writing The Potomac, a history of the Potomac River and the 40th volume in the Rivers of America Series, and Worthy of a Nation a history of the development of Washington, D.C..

High Heel Drag Queen Race

The High Heel Drag Queen Race is an informal costumed drag queen race in Washington, D.C. Each year on the Tuesday before the Halloween holiday, thousands of spectators come to Dupont Circle to watch as 100 or so costumed drag queens show off their elaborate outfits and race down 17th Street.

Jerome Liebling

His photographs are in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Fogg Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The Jewish Museum in New York, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

John Simpkins

Simpkins was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Congresses and served from March 4, 1895, until his death in Washington, D.C., on March 27, 1898.

Kalervo Kallio

The bust is placed at the United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection in Washington, D.C..

L'Enfant

Pierre Charles L'Enfant, an architect and civil engineer credited with planning the city of Washington, D.C.

Lafayette Square

Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C., northernmost part of President's Park in Washington, D.C.

Lewis Grandison Alexander

Lewis Grandison Alexander (July 4, 1900 - 1945) was an American poet, actor, playwright, and costume designer who lived in Washington, D.C. and had strong ties to the Harlem Renaissance period in New York.

Malek Jandali

In July 2011 Jandali performed Watani Ana at a protest in Lafayette Park.

Medicine in the American Civil War

After the Battle of Bull Run, the United States government took possession of several private hospitals in Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Virginia, and surrounding towns.

Mirza Khazar

In October 1985, he was invited to Washington, D.C. to be editor-in-chief of the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Voice of America.

National Business Aviation Association

National Business Aviation Association or NBAA, is a non-profit and nonpartisan 501(c)6 corporation based in Washington, DC, United States.

Oxon Run Parkway

The Oxon Run Parkway, is a roadway and small park in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of Washington, D.C..

Party for the Grown and Sexy

Party for the Grown and Sexy is the debut EP by You, Me, and Everyone We Know, a rock band from Washington, D.C. It was released independently in 2006 and re-released on Rushmore Records with extra tracks on January 28, 2008.

Pierce, Butler and Pierce Manufacturing Company

By January 1916, the industry was classified as "domestic engineering and mechanical contracting" and the company was listed as sellers of heating and steam in New York City, Brooklyn, Boston, Worchester, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C..

Pierre Bellocq

By 1954, Bellocq's work had achieved international recognition and he was contracted by Laurel Park owner John D. Schapiro to do drawings for the inaugural running of the Washington, D.C. International Stakes.

Poughkeepsie Bridge Route

The Poughkeepsie Bridge Route was a passenger train route from Washington, D.C. to Boston, Massachusetts, via Baltimore, Maryland and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Rico McCoy

A native of South East Washington, D. C., McCoy attended St. John's College High School, where he was a three-year starter, playing tailback as sophomore and linebacker final two seasons.

Roderick N. Matheson

He traveled to Washington, D.C., for Abraham Lincoln's inauguration in 1861, intending to stay only a few weeks, but found himself swept up in the fever of approaching war.

Roy Geiger

Geiger spent most of his enlisted time at the Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. where he was also promoted to Corporal on June 2, 1908.

Roy Marlin Voris

In the Summer of 1947, Voris was attached to the Naval Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington, D.C. (where he spent the next two years); he also married his high school sweetheart, Thea.

Rudolph Lennhoff

In 1912 he attended the 15th International Congress on Hygiene and Demography, which opened 23 September 1912, in Washington, D.C..

Seedco

Seedco's headquarters are located in New York City and the organization does work in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, D.C. Seedco also invests in low-income communities in many areas of the country through its subsidiary, Seedco Financial, to create jobs and support small business owners.

Tabi Bonney

He was a science teacher at Roosevelt High School in Petworth, Washington, D.C. for two years after college.

The Moving Wall

The Moving Wall is a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was devised by John Devitt after he attended the annual commemoration celebrated in Washington for Vietnam veterans.

The Orioles

Sonny Til (born Earlington Carl Tilghman, 18 August 1928, Baltimore, Maryland — died 9 December 1981, Washington, D.C.) (lead tenor)

Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society

On 10 April 1967, a meeting was held in Washington, D.C. to introduce the charter membership and elect the Society officers and Executive committee.

Virginia Squires

Attendance was no better in Washington than it was in Oakland because the Coliseum was located in the Near Northeast neighborhood, and that was the hood back in the day.

Wally Bruner

He then landed a job as Capitol Hill Correspondent for ABC News and he moved to Washington, D.C..

WGMS

WGMS-FM, a now-defunct station in Washington, D.C. that broadcast from 1947 until 2005 at 103.5 FM (and from 2005 to 2007 at 103.9/104.1 FM) with a classical music format.

Yadkin River Veterans Memorial Bridge

The bridge was not only a bottleneck for traffic moving between Charlotte and Greensboro (and between the larger metropolitan areas of Atlanta and Washington, D.C.); it was also structurally deficient and in need of replacement.


Alzheimer's Association, Central New York Chapter

Regional offices are located in the Nichols Notch Building at 401 Hayes Avenue in Endicott; 258 Genesee Street in Utica; and the HSBC Bank Building at 120 Washington Street, Suite 419, in Watertown.

Any Bonds Today?

Barry Wood introduced the song (along with another Berlin composition called "Arms for the Love of America") on Arsenal Day, June 10, 1941, at the War College in Washington, D.C.; he also recorded the song in the same week for RCA Victor.

Ardeshir Zahedi

In the mid-1970s, Zahedi became known as a companion of the American movie star Elizabeth Taylor, with the two being dubbed "the hottest couple" in Washington D.C., according to the writer Barbara Howar.

Carlos Washington Lencinas

Carlos Washington Lencinas (November 13, 1888 - November 10, 1929) was an Argentine politician and governor of Mendoza, Argentina.

Cary Sherman

He is an officer of the board of the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C., and has also served in advisory roles for the Anti-Defamation League, BNA’s Patent, Trademark and Copyright Journal, the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, The Computer Law Association, the Copyright Society, and The Computer Lawyer.

Columbia Bar

The Columbia Bar is part of a set of major marine coastal hazards along the Pacific Northwest coast, including Cape Flattery at the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula and Cape Scott, which is at the north tip of Vancouver Island.

David Corn

In the Washington Post, Roger Warner called it "an impressive feat of research"; but, in the New York Times, Joseph Finder claimed Corn was seriously distorting history to blame Shackley for a series of CIA failings.

Dean Richmond

In 1861, as President-Elect Abraham Lincoln made his way to Washington, D.C., the engine that pulled the train was The Dean Richmond.

Dixie Network

Marston also was elected to the National Association of Broadcasters Board of Directors in 1970 Edward B. Fritts, who began his broadcast career at WENK, Union City, Tennessee, was elected President of The National Association of Broadcasters, Washington, D.C., where he led the national trade association with distinction.

East Washington Avenue Bridge

The East Washington Avenue Bridge was a movable Strauss underneath-counter weight deck-girder bascule bridge in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Edge city

Garreau's classic example of an edge city is the information technology center, Tysons Corner, Virginia, west of Washington, D.C. As recently as the end of World War II, it was a country crossroads, but it now has more office space than downtown Atlanta.

Edith Pfau

Pfau's education ministry included eleven years teaching at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, eleven years at Immaculata Junior College in Washington, D.C., and ten years at Providence University in Shalu, Taichung, Taiwan.

Education in Spokane, Washington

Higher education institutions in Spokane include two private universities, Gonzaga and Whitworth, Washington State University and Eastern Washington University at the Riverpoint Campus, and the public Community Colleges of Spokane system as well as an ITT Tech campus.

Ellsworthite

Bulletin of the National Research Council, Number 77, Physics of the Earth - I Volcanology, By the Subsidiary Committee on Volcanology, Published by the National Research Council of The National Academy of Sciences Washington, D.C., (1931)

Embassy Row

The first purpose-designed embassy building in Washington appears to have been the embassy of the Kingdom of Siam, now the Consular Services of the Embassy of Thailand on 2300 Kalorama Road NW, built in the 1920s.

George J. Walker

He served tours in France, Germany, Korea and Vietnam as well as stateside assignments at Seneca Army Depot, Romulus, New York; Fort Holabird, Maryland; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Fort Hood, Texas; Washington, DC; and Fort McPherson, Georgia.

Got Live If You Want It

Got Live If You Want It is the third album of Washington, D.C. based band Dead Meadow.

In the News

Three new one-minute segments were produced each week, narrated by CBS Radio News Washington Correspondent Dan Raviv.

Inclusive capitalism

Allen Hammond is Vice President of Special Projects and Innovation at the World Resources Institute: a Washington, DC-based, non-profit, environmental, think tank created in 1982 through a $15 million donation by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago (World Resources Institute website 2008).

Isa Genzken

Genzken's work is included in the collections of many institutions internationally, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; the Generali Foundation, Vienna; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis; the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden; and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven.

Jack L. Tilley

The Sergeants Major of the Army, Daniel K. Elder, Center of Military History, United States Army Washington, D.C. 2003.

Japheth J. Omojuwa

Omojuwa has graced speaking platforms on universities and in cities across Nigeria and around the world from Washington to London, Lagos, Accra, Cape Town, Abuja, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, New York, Cologne, Dortmund and other cities.

Jhoon Goo Rhee

Rhee is well known in the Washington, D.C. area for a television commercial that has a jingle by Nils Lofgren and features the catch phrase, "Nobody bothers me," followed by "Nobody bothers me, either."

Katherine Washington

Katherine Washington is a former American women's basketball player, who played on the first two U.S. women's national teams, earning world championships in 1953 and 1957.

Kurt Schork

After Schork died, as per his personal wishes, upon cremation half of his ashes was buried next to his mother in Washington, D.C., and half at "Groblje LAV" (The Lion Cemetery) in Sarajevo, next to the grave of Boško and Admira, the central figures in Schork's acclaimed story.

Lauren Kessler

She is also author of Washington Post best-seller Clever Girl: Elizabeth Bentley, the Spy Who Ushered in the McCarthy Era, a biography of Elizabeth Bentley, and the Los Angeles Times best-seller and Oregon Book Award finalist The Happy Bottom Riding Club, a biography of aviator Florence Pancho Barnes.

Lawrence Edwards

Advocated for the New York City region as well as a Boston to Washington line by the Regional Plan Association, — the invention was praised by Secretary of Transportation John Volpe as well as editorials in The New York Times and professional and scientific journals.

Maryland Route 231

Before reaching the river, the state highway passes to the north of the village of Benedict, which was the site of the landing of British troops to march toward Washington prior to the Battle of Bladensburg during the War of 1812.

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision is a 1994 documentary film made by Freida Lee Mock about the life of American artist Maya Lin, whose best-known work is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Michael Brunson

In 1973, Brunson became ITN Washington Correspondent, where he remained until 1977, covering Watergate and the 1976 US Presidential election between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

Mrs. Washington

"Mrs. Washington" is a song written and performed by Gigolo Aunts and the title song from their 1993 and 1994 singles.

North Admiral, Seattle

North Admiral (or simply the Admiral District) is the oldest neighborhood in West Seattle, Washington.

Old Lyme, Connecticut

John McCurdy (b.1724), whose home was the resting place for George Washington on April 10, 1776 while traveling to New York City to take on the British Army and Navy (source: Papers of George Washington, Connecticut State Library); grandfather of Connecticut Supreme Court judge Charles McCurdy

Olin Kreutz

It was also the second consecutive year in which the Bears selected an offensive lineman from Washington, after Bob Sapp in 1997.

Ozette

Ozette, Washington, an unincorporated community in Clallam County, Washington, United States

Ozette Lake, a lake in the state of Washington in the United States

Pat Goss

Goss is the master technician on the television program MotorWeek, where he hosts a segment called Goss' Garage, and hosts a weekend radio show about cars on WJFK-FM in Washington, DC.

Paul Schenck

The Schenck brothers work side by side on Capitol Hill in Washington where Robert is president of Faith and Action, an ecumenical mission, and Paul is chairman of the National Pro-Life Center.

Peter Daniel Young

At the age of nine, he moved to Mercer Island, Washington, near Seattle, where he graduated from Mercer Island High School.

Quillayute

Quillayute Airport, formerly known as Quillayute State Airport, a public airport in Clallam County, Washington, United States

Robert Kennicutt

He shared the 2009 Gruber Prize in Cosmology with Wendy Freedman of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Jeremy Mould of the University of Melbourne School of Physics, for their leadership in the definitive measurement of the value of the constant of proportionality in Hubble's Law.

Robert Stewart Sparks

In 1925, the 5th District was bounded by Washington Street on the north, the city limits on the east, Exposition Boulevard on the south and Vermont Avenue on the west.

SeaPerch

Currently, 112 schools in seven states are participating across the United States in Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Connecticut.

SM UB-65

National Archives and Records Service, U.S. General Services Administration, Washington: 1984

Track of the Cat

The outdoor scenes were filmed on Mount Rainier, Washington and Mitchum regarded shooting in the deep snow and cold as the worst filming conditions he had ever experienced.

Tractorcade

Tractorcade was a protest in Washington, D.C. by the American Agriculture Movement.

William Greaves

Since then, Greaves has produced numerous works, including From These Roots, Nationtime: Gary, Where Dreams Come True, Booker T.Washington: Life and Legacy, Frederick Douglass: An American Life, Black Power in America: Myth or Reality?, The Deep North, and Ida B. Wells: An American Odyssey, which was narrated by Nobel Prize in Literature and Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison.