From monumental mishaps (literally) to unusual voting laws, our nation’s capital has a strange history. Here are some Washington, D.C., facts you may not know.
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It’s not a state
That’s right: Washington, D.C., is not a state but a district. That’s where the “D.C.” bit comes in—it stands for “District of Columbia.” Although it operates as a state for all practical purposes and its population is well over 700,000, it’s not officially recognized as a state. Why does that matter? For starters, D.C. residents vote, pay taxes and serve on jury duty, but they have no governor or representation in Congress.
An interesting Washington, D.C., fact: In June 2020, the House of Representatives passed a bill for the first time to make Washington, D.C. a state, and while it got stalled in the Senate, it was still a major milestone. In January 2025, the State of Washington D.C. Admission Act (also known as H.R. 51) was introduced in both the Senate and the House. The next step would be to get the legislation passed so that it becomes a law.
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The Constitution prohibited its statehood
When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they didn’t want a single state to have the disproportionate power that they believed the capital would have. So they specifically wrote in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution that the seat of government would be a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress.
Both Virginia and Maryland gave up land to form the district, and its “southern” location was a compromise—the Compromise of 1790, wherein the federal government assumed the states’ remaining debt from the Revolutionary War. States like Maryland and Virginia had already paid off their debts and were reluctant to be taxed to help reduce the debts of other states, so the location of the capital was a bargaining chip.
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It’s only partly named after the first president
The history behind each state’s name is pretty intriguing, and the same goes for Washington, D.C. But it may not be the origin story you expect. The national capital district was named Columbia, which had been a nickname for America during the Revolutionary War, in honor of Christopher Columbus. But when the new federal city was added to the territory, the area became known as Washington—yes, after George.
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It could be getting a name change
Reflecting a modern understanding of history, the current bill proposing statehood for the district includes a name change. No, it will not be renamed something completely different! The new state will still be known as Washington, D.C., but those two little letters will take on new meaning.
Here’s some Washington, D.C., trivia for you: If passed, the bill will change “District of Columbia” to “Douglass Commonwealth,” paying tribute to the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who spent much of his life in the district. The name change would continue the trend of renaming or removing controversial monuments and statues around the world.
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George Washington never lived there
Even though the city is partly named after him, our first president never resided in the district, one of the many Washington, D.C., facts you never learned in school. Washington died before the White House was finished, though he did lay its cornerstone on Oct. 13, 1792. John Adams was the first president to live in our country’s capital.
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Only one U.S. president is buried in D.C.
Not every president gets the chance to be laid to rest in the capital after his death. In fact, there’s only one president buried in Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson. His body has been in the Washington National Cathedral since his death in 1924.
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Government buildings won’t be part of the new state
If you don’t live in or near the district, you probably think of the monuments, National Mall and government buildings when someone says “Washington, D.C.” But one of the most surprising Washington, D.C., facts about statehood is that, should the district become a state, those things won’t be part of the deal.
According to the statehood bill, H.R. 51, the federal buildings that are the most “visible” parts of the district (like the White House, the Supreme Court and the Capitol building) will be considered their own capital district, not part of any of the existing U.S. states. It’s the remaining 68.3 square miles that would become the state.
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There’s a crypt under the U.S. Capitol
Here’s an interesting fact about Washington, D.C., that you’ve probably never heard before: The U.S. Capitol is home to an empty crypt or burial chamber. George Washington was supposed to be buried in a crypt under the U.S. Capital, but he preferred to be laid to rest at his home in Mount Vernon, which is why the crypt rests empty.
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The Capitol building has a special statue
Made by Thomas Crawford in 1856, the Statue of Freedom is one of the crowning features of the building—literally. The bronze statue tops the building. It may seem small from far away, but it’s more than 19 feet tall and weighs around 15,000 pounds. It depicts a woman wearing a helmet in the shape of an eagle’s head, feathers and all.
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D.C. residents are a diverse bunch
Among the many Washington, D.C., facts you may not know is that it’s one of the top five most diverse places in the United States. The district comes in at 67.2% on the U.S. Census Bureau’s diversity index, higher than the national average of 61.1% and below only Hawaii, California, Nevada and Maryland.
According to Census Bureau data, residents of Washington, D.C., speak at least 168 different languages at home. The city also houses more than 177 embassies and international cultural centers.
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If you live in the district, your voting rights are fairly new
Before 1961, residents of Washington, D.C., couldn’t vote in presidential elections because of the Electoral College. The number of electoral votes each state gets depends on how many senators and members of the House of Representatives it has. Since Washington, D.C., isn’t a state, it has no voting representatives in Congress, so for years, residents couldn’t take part in elections.
Here’s one of the interesting facts about Washington, D.C., that not many know of: The 23rd Amendment to the Constitution (passed in 1961) gave the district the electoral votes that it would have if it were a state, limited to the number of electors the least-populated state has. Currently, that state is Wyoming, with three electors. So per the Constitution, Washington, D.C., gets a maximum of three electoral votes.
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D.C. statues have their own history
The original statue in the Thomas Jefferson Memorial was made of plaster because metal had been rationed during World War II. The plaster statue was later replaced with the 19-foot bronze statue we see there today. There’s also an equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square, directly across from the White House, and it’s partially made of melted-down British cannons that had been used in the War of 1812.
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There’s only one World War I memorial
A lesser-known bit of Washington, D.C., trivia is that the city has just one memorial dedicated to World War I: the D.C. War Memorial in the National Mall, which honors locals who fought in that war.
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The Washington Monument used to be the tallest structure in the world
At 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches tall, the Washington Memorial held the title of “tallest building in the world” for five years after it was completed in 1884. Then, the Eiffel Tower came looming in at 984 feet, which was increased to 1,083 feet in the year 2022. Another interesting fact about Washington, D.C., and its signature monument is that it reportedly sways 0.125th of an inch at the peak, but only when the wind blows at least 30 miles per hour.
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The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library
Think your local library is impressive? Get this: The Library of Congress has more than 178 million objects in the collection, including a top-secret FBI interrogation manual. It’s available only because some guy copyrighted the secret document, and according to the law, anything copyrighted must be available to anyone with a library card at the Library of Congress.
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The U.S. Capitol isn’t totally American
The Capitol building was designed by a Scottish doctor named William Thornton. A fun Washington, D.C., fact about this iconic monument has to do with two Founding Fathers. As the story goes, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson held a contest to design the building, with a winning prize of $500, but they didn’t like any of the 17 entries they received. Thornton submitted his designs after the deadline, but Washington and Jefferson made an exception because they liked it so much.
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The famous cherry blossoms were a gift
The 3,000 cherry trees lining the Tidal Basin make Washington, D.C., a top spring travel destination, but they’re not indigenous to the city. They were a gift from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo in 1912. The National Cherry Blossom Festival, held annually for four weeks in spring, commemorates this event and the relationship between the U.S. and Japan.
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The city is missing a street
All lettered streets in Washington, D.C., occur in alphabetical order, except for J—because there is no J Street. The most likely explanation for this funny Washington, D.C., fact is that people thought it would be confused with I Street since the two letters were frequently used interchangeably during the 18th century.
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The Washington Monument is two different colors
The Washington National Monument Society ran out of funding during construction, so the project was put on hold. Twenty-five years later, the U.S. government took over the project, but it used marble from a different quarry. Over time, the stones have reacted differently to rain and erosion, which is why the bottom looks like a slightly different color than the top.
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Building the Lincoln Memorial took longer than expected
Congress created the Lincoln Memorial Association two years after the president’s 1865 assassination, but a lesser-known Washington, D.C., fact is that construction didn’t start until 1914. The memorial eventually opened in 1922.
Now, the Lincoln Memorial stands proud with 36 columns, representing each of the states in the Union when Lincoln died. Architect Henry Bacon purposely constructed it out of stones from six different states—Massachusetts, Colorado, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia—to show that a country torn apart by war can still unite to create something beautiful.
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The Lincoln Memorial has a typo
Though it’s one of the most imposing and memorable monuments in the nation’s capital, the Lincoln Memorial isn’t perfect. In fact, there’s a typo in the Lincoln Memorial‘s inscription of the president’s second inaugural address, which is etched into the wall. Instead of the word future, the engraver carved euture by mistake. If you know where to look, you can see the e that had its bottom line filled in to make it an f.
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Martin Luther King Jr. is one of four non-presidents honored on the Mall
You probably already know that Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. But you might not know these unique details about his own memorial: The sculptor behind the statue was Chinese artist Master Lei Yixin. He sculpted 80% of it in China, had it transported to the U.S. and then finished the rest in Washington, D.C.
The memorial is one of only four monuments on the National Mall dedicated to a non-president. The other three private citizens given this honor are lesser-known Founding Father George Mason, engineer and warship designer John Ericsson and Revolutionary War captain John Paul Jones.
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Sources:
- USA Today: “House passes bill to make DC the 51st state, but GOP opposition means bill unlikely to advance further”
- Mayor DC: “New Census Data Shows DC’s Population Surpasses 700,000 for the First Time in Five Years”
- Washington, D.C.: “The History of Washington, DC”
- State of Washington, D.C.: “Frequently Asked Questions about Statehood for the People of DC”
- U.S. Congress: “H.R.51 – Washington, D.C. Admission Act”
- USA Today: “Why doesn’t Washington have a governor like states do?”
- Architect of the Capitol: “Statue of Freedom”
- U.S. Census Bureau: “Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census”
