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The City Before It Was Torched

It’s thanks to President George Washington that the city of Washington is located where it is. He chose its
site on the Potomac River.

It was the vision of Frenchman Pierre Charles L’Enfant that gave the United States a capital of grand
buildings and wide streets. At the center would be the Capitol Building on Pennsylvania Avenue framed
by poplar trees.

The illustration at right shows L’Enfant’s vision of what the Capitol would look like when it was finished.
But by 1811, money for the building was being used for the war with Great Britain. So the two wings of the
building were connected by a temporary wooden walkway. This is the structure that the British army set
fire to on the night of August 24, 1814.

The White House stood at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.