The original idea for the Mall — a grand, tree-lined avenue flanked by imposing buildings — goes back to the very origins of the capital city, Pierre L’Enfant’s plan conceived for George Washington. But in Washington, plans rarely go as planned, so the Mall has been a work in progress for more than 200 years. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the most recent addition but possibly not the last.
Notable structures, by year opened
The Mall is a loose term for the public lands around and between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol. Here are three different ways the National Park Service defines the area.
5 MILES
“The Mall”
Generally considered the green space between the Washington Monument and the Capitol building.
“The National Mall”
Includes the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, the Washington Monument as well as the “Mall” green space.
“Reserve”
Also includes the White House and the Capitol building.
5 MILES
“The Mall”
Generally considered the green space between the Washington Monument and the Capitol building.
“The National Mall”
Includes the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, the Washington Monument as well as the “Mall” green space.
“Reserve”
Also includes the White House and the Capitol building.
In the beginning, before Washington had been designated the nation’s capital, much of the Mall was an empty lowland along the Potomac, made yet marshier by the Tiber Creek, which flowed into the river not far from where the Washington Monument stands today. In the early 17th century, the most likely inhabitants of the land were members of the Nacotchtank tribe, but the incursion of European settlers into the area greatly depleted them. At the time Washington was chosen as the capital, and for long after, the whole area was prone to flooding, and was mainly used for grazing.
How the area looked before 1800
Original
shoreline
Current
shoreline
Current Mall
footprint
1. Native Americans hunted and gathered food from the estuary area around Tiber Creek, which was also called Goose or Tuber Creek.
Native Americans hunted and gathered food from the estuary area around Tiber Creek, which was also called Goose or Tuber Creek.
Original
shoreline
Current Mall
footprint
Current
shoreline
Native Americans hunted and gathered food from the estuary area around Tiber Creek, which was also called Goose or Tuber Creek.
Original
shoreline
Current
shoreline
Current Mall
footprint
Native Americans hunted and gathered food from the estuary area around Tiber Creek, which was also called Goose or Tuber Creek.
Original
shoreline
Current Mall
footprint
Current
shoreline
[In the stories it tells, the National Mall reflects America’s state of constant change]
1791-1860
The idea for the Mall came from L’Enfant, a French engineer commissioned by President Washington in 1791 to develop a plan for the country’s seat of government. L’Enfant imagined something more like a grand, tree-lined avenue, flanked by embassies and gardens. He also envisioned a canal running along its north side, crossing south in front of the Capitol, connecting to the Anacostia River. Few of the details of L’Enfant’s plan were realized, although the canal was finished by 1815, making much of this part of the city an island.
How the area looked in 1800
Future
site of the
Washington
Monument
1. The Capitol and the White House were the District’s first major public buildings, and both would need to be rebuilt after the British burned the city in 1814.
2. Pennsylvania Avenue, named by Thomas Jefferson in 1791, would become Washington’s first downtown street. L’Enfant intended it to connect the Capitol to the White House.
3. L’Enfant chose to put the Capitol building on Jenkins Hill, which he called “a pedestal waiting for a monument.” President Washington laid the cornerstone in 1793.
The Capitol and the White House were the District’s first major public buildings, and both would need to be rebuilt after the British burned the city in 1814.
Pennsylvania Avenue, named by Thomas Jefferson in 1791, would become Washington’s first downtown street. L’Enfant intended it to connect the Capitol to the White House.
President’s Palace
(White House)
Future site of
the Washington
Monument
Congress House
(north wing of future
Capitol building)
L’Enfant chose to put the Capitol building on Jenkins Hill, which he called “a pedestal waiting for a monument.” President Washington laid the cornerstone in 1793.
The Capitol and the White House were the District’s first major public buildings, and both would need to be rebuilt after the British burned the city in 1814.
Pennsylvania Avenue, named by Thomas Jefferson in 1791, would become Washington’s first downtown street. L’Enfant intended it to connect the Capitol to the White House.
President’s Palace
(White House)
Future site of
the Washington
Monument
Congress House
(north wing of
future Capitol
building)
L’Enfant chose to put the Capitol building on Jenkins Hill, which he called “a pedestal waiting for a monument.” President Washington laid the cornerstone in 1793.
The Capitol and the White House were the District’s first major public buildings, and both would need to be rebuilt after the British burned the city in 1814.
Pennsylvania Avenue, named by Thomas Jefferson in 1791, would become Washington’s first downtown street. L’Enfant intended it to connect the Capitol to the White House.
President’s Palace
(White House)
Future site of
the Washington
Monument
Congress House
(north wing of future
Capitol building)
L’Enfant chose to put the Capitol building on Jenkins Hill, which he called “a pedestal waiting for a monument.” President Washington laid the cornerstone in 1793.
1860-1900
Through much of the 19th century, the canal was effectively a sewer, and the Mall was a chaotic, mixed-use free-for-all. Its first major building, the Smithsonian Castle, was a Romanesque pastiche style design, and for a while, it seemed the architecture of the city and the Mall might lean toward brick, and color, and Northern European styles. The Civil War transformed Washington from a muddy group of villages to a bustling national center. The mall became a more established space, though it lacked the open, axial clarity that L’Enfant had originally planned.
How the area looked in 1860
1. The Old Canal Lockkeeper’s House was built along the Washington City Canal, which ran through the Mall in the 1800s and linked to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. President Washington hoped the District would be a major port, but it was not to be. The city canal was filled in in the 1870s.
2. Political squabbling halted construction of the Washington Monument in 1858. For decades, it was merely a stump.
3. Construction on the Smithsonian Castle began in 1847, a year after the Smithsonian Institution was established.
4. The imposing, red-brick Army Medical Museum and Library building stood here from the 1880s until 1969, when it was razed to make way for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
The Old Canal Lockkeeper’s House was built along the Washington City Canal, which ran through the Mall in the 1800s and linked to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. President Washington hoped the District would be a major port, but it was not to be. The city canal was filled in in the 1870s.
Lockkeeper’s House
Washington Monument
Political squabbling halted construction of the Washington Monument in 1858. For decades, it was merely a stump.
Construction on the Smithsonian Castle began in 1847, a year after the Smithsonian Institution was established.
The imposing, red-brick Army Medical Museum and Library building stood here from the 1880s until 1969, when it was razed to make way for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
The Old Canal Lockkeeper’s House was built along the Washington City Canal, which ran through the Mall in the 1800s and linked to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. President Washington hoped the District would be a major port, but it was not to be. The city canal was filled in in the 1870s.
Construction on the Smithsonian Castle began in 1847, a year after the Smithsonian Institution was established.
Lockkeeper’s House
Washington Monument
Political squabbling halted construction of the Washington Monument in 1858. For decades, it was merely a stump.
The imposing, red-brick Army Medical Museum and Library building stood here from the 1880s until 1969, when it was razed to make way for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
The Old Canal Lockkeeper’s House was built along the Washington City Canal, which ran through the Mall in the 1800s and linked to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. President Washington hoped the District would be a major port, but it was not to be. The city canal was filled in in the 1870s.
Lockkeeper’s House
Washington
Monument
Political squabbling halted construction of the Washington Monument in 1858. For decades, it was merely a stump.
Construction on the Smithsonian Castle began in 1847, a year after the Smithsonian Institution was established.
The imposing, red-brick Army Medical Museum and Library building stood here from the 1880s until 1969, when it was razed to make way for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
[Researcher finds slaves quarried sandstone used to build Smithsonian Castle]
1900-1940
In 1902, a Senate commission issued the McMillan Plan, which reimagined the Mall as the centerpiece of a larger, grander federal district. The Mall was conceived as a symbolic memorial to the Civil War and reconciliation, with the Lincoln Memorial at one end, a memorial to Grant at the Capitol and Arlington Memorial Bridge linking the North to the South. The plan got rid of gardens, trees, old buildings and railroad tracks and extended the vast esplanade to the west. In the following decades, the major classical-inflected federal buildings we know today were built, and the east end of the Mall emerged as a center for cultural buildings.
How the area looked in 1900
1. In the late 1800s, a dredging project created land that would become West Potomac Park.
2. In 1912, the first 3,020
of Washington’s cherry trees arrived from Japan and were planted in and around the Mall after a previous batch of unhealthy ones had to be destroyed.
3. Railroad tracks ran in and out of a station, which sat where the National Gallery of Art West Building is now.
Railroad tracks ran in and out of a station, which sat where the National Gallery of Art West Building is now.
Future
West Potomac
Park
In the late 1800s, a dredging project created land that would become West Potomac Park.
In 1912, the first 3,020
of Washington’s cherry trees arrived from Japan and were planted in and around the Mall after a previous batch of unhealthy ones had to be destroyed.
Railroad tracks ran in and out of a station, which sat where the National Gallery of Art West Building is now.
Future
West Potomac
Park
In the late 1800s, a dredging project created land that would become West Potomac Park.
In 1912, the first 3,020 of Washington’s cherry trees arrived from Japan and were planted in and around the Mall after a previous batch of unhealthy ones had to be destroyed.
Railroad tracks ran in and out of a station, which sat where the National Gallery of Art West Building is now.
Future
West Potomac
Park
In the late 1800s, a dredging project created land that would become West Potomac Park.
In 1912, the first 3,020
of Washington’s cherry trees arrived from Japan and were planted in and around the Mall after a previous batch of unhealthy ones had to be destroyed.
1940-present
Not everything in the McMillan Plan came to pass. The postwar decades became a period of increasingly contentious argument about the design, meaning and purpose of the Mall. Maya Lin’s evocative-but-radical design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial sparked furious debate and eventually changed the meaning of the Mall and memorialization. The grand, celebratory and mainly classical style was no longer the reflexive architectural response, though it would recur in the design of the National World War II Memorial in the new century.
How the area looked in 1940
1. “Temporary” war buildings lasted until 1971, when they were razed to make way for Constitution Gardens.
2. The iconic Reflecting Pool was constructed in 1922. When viewed at certain angles, the pool reflects images of the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument.
3. Builders moved a sea wall and filled in land to align the Jefferson Memorial with the White House. The unstable ground has been a problem ever since.
“Temporary” war buildings lasted until 1971, when they were razed to make way for Constitution Gardens.
Lincoln
Memorial
The iconic Reflecting Pool was constructed in 1922. When viewed at certain angles, the pool reflects images of the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument.
Jefferson
Memorial
Builders moved a sea wall and filled in land to align the Jefferson Memorial with the White House. The unstable ground has been a problem ever since.
“Temporary” war buildings lasted until 1971, when they were razed to make way for Constitution Gardens.
Lincoln
Memorial
Jefferson
Memorial
The iconic Reflecting Pool was constructed in 1922. When viewed at certain angles, the pool reflects images of the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument.
Builders moved a sea wall and filled in land to align the Jefferson Memorial with the White House. The unstable ground has been a problem ever since.
“Temporary” war buildings lasted until 1971, when they were razed to make way for Constitution Gardens.
Lincoln
Memorial
The iconic Reflecting Pool was constructed in 1922. When viewed at certain angles, the pool reflects images of the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument.
Jefferson
Memorial
Builders moved a sea wall and filled in land to align the Jefferson Memorial with the White House. The unstable ground has been a problem ever since.
[Stories of grief, love and penance live among what’s left at the Vietnam Wall]
In 2003, in response to concerns that the Mall was becoming overstuffed with buildings and monuments, Congress declared that it was “a substantially completed work of civic art.” But the allure of the Mall remains as powerful as ever, and advocates of new memorials and museums are often determined to secure a spot on the nation’s most symbolically powerful open space. A new visitors center for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is coming, and the Smithsonian plans to radically reconfigure its south Mall campus. Pressure could build to place a planned Latin American museum on the Mall as well.
How the area looks now
1. The centerpiece of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, finished in 1982, is not a soaring building but a solemn, sunken, black marble wall that lists more than 58,000 names of those who died.
2.The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was dedicated on Aug. 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and his “I Have a Dream” speech.
3. The curved limestone facade of the National Museum of the American Indian is meant to evoke wind-swept rock formations, part of the natural world that is so prominent in Native American culture.
The centerpiece of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, finished in 1982, is not a soaring building but a solemn, sunken, black marble wall that lists more than 58,000 names of those who died.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was dedicated on Aug. 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and his “I Have a Dream” speech.
The curved limestone facade of the National Museum of the American Indian is meant to evoke wind-swept rock formations, part of the natural world that is so prominent in Native American culture.
The centerpiece of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, finished in 1982, is not a soaring building but a solemn, sunken, black marble wall that lists more than 58,000 names of those who died.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was dedicated on Aug. 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and his “I Have a Dream” speech.
The curved limestone facade of the National Museum of the American Indian is meant to evoke wind-swept rock formations, part of the natural world that is so prominent in Native American culture.
The centerpiece of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, finished in 1982, is not a soaring building but a solemn, sunken, black marble wall that lists more than 58,000 names of those who died.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was dedicated on Aug. 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and his “I Have a Dream” speech.
The curved limestone facade of the National Museum of the American Indian is meant to evoke wind-swept rock formations, part of the natural world that is so prominent in Native American culture.
[‘Nation to Nation’: Full of the intriguing, often maddening details of history]
The National Museum of African American History and Culture doesn’t look like anything else on the Mall. Nearly every design detail was inspired by something in African American culture, from its external latticework “corona” that is shaped like Yoruban wood carvings to the shaded entrance porch that is meant to evoke family gathering and storytelling spots. When builders were excavating the site, they found gate pieces from the old canal that crossed the area in the 19th century.
Three-tiered
corona
Porch
(main
entrance)
Three-tiered
corona
Porch
(main entrance)
Three-tiered
corona
Porch
(main
entrance)
Three-tiered
corona
Porch
(main entrance)
More about the museum
Two-story house symbolizing freedom for former slaves to be displayed in new museum
A first look inside the Smithsonian’s African American museum: Stunning views, grand scale
Painful but crucial: Why you’ll see Emmett Till’s casket at the African American museum
Download a PDF of the print graphic
In the stories it tells — and that we bring to it — the Mall reflects America’s state of constant change.
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