Devil Doc
When Death smiles, Corpsmen smile back
It was on this day in 1793 that President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the United States Capitol building. He had led a procession of local masons from the banks of the Potomac up Jenkins Hill to the Capitol's construction site. A mason himself, Washington was wearing his Masonic apron that day. He had an umbrella for the sun, but he gave it to a woman in the crowd, saying, "I have been exposed to the sun before in the course of my life." He then used a silver trowel to lay the cornerstone atop a silver plaque.
The Capitol building was subject to numerous additions, improvements, and repairs for the first fifty years of its history. It started life much smaller, with a copper dome. The original 32 senators and 106 representatives had no office space, but worked at desks, like school children. The public area under the dome served as a flea market, where vendors sold everything from silk to light machinery.
The completed version of the building, basically what we know as the Capitol today, was finished in the middle of the Civil War.
Doc.
The Capitol building was subject to numerous additions, improvements, and repairs for the first fifty years of its history. It started life much smaller, with a copper dome. The original 32 senators and 106 representatives had no office space, but worked at desks, like school children. The public area under the dome served as a flea market, where vendors sold everything from silk to light machinery.
The completed version of the building, basically what we know as the Capitol today, was finished in the middle of the Civil War.
Doc.
