The section of the avenue between the White House (which is sometimes referred to by its address, "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue") and Congress forms the basis for the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site and is sometimes referred to as "America's Main Street";[1] it is the location of official parades and processions, and periodic protest marches. Pennsylvania Avenue is an important commuter road and is part of the National Highway System.[2][3]
The avenue runs for 5.8 miles (9.3 km) in Washington, D.C., but the 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the United States Capitol building is far and away the most famed section of the avenue. It continues within the city for 3.5 miles (5.6 km), from the southeast corner of the Capitol grounds through the Capitol Hill neighborhood, and over the Anacostia River on the John Philip Sousa Bridge. Crossing most of Prince George's County, Maryland, it ends 9.5 miles (15.3 km) from the Washington, D.C. border in Maryland at the junction with MD 717 in Upper Marlboro, where the name changes to Stephanie Roper Highway, for a total length of 15.3 miles (24.6 km). Stephanie Roper Highway used to be Pennsylvania Avenue, but was renamed in 2012. In addition to its street names, in Maryland it is designated as Maryland Route 4.
An illustration of Pennsylvania Avenue and the U.S. Capitol before it was burned down by the British on August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812The intersection of 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., in 1921A southeast view down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Old Post Office Pavilion and U.S. Capitol
Although Pennsylvania Avenue extends six miles (10 km) in Washington, D.C., the expanse between the White House and the United States Capitol constitutes the ceremonial heart of the nation. George Washington called this stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue "most magnificent and most convenient".[4]
The first reference to the street as Pennsylvania Avenue was in a 1791 letter from Thomas Jefferson. One theory behind the avenue's name is that it was named for Pennsylvania as consolation for moving the capital from Philadelphia in 1800 and in recognition of Pennsylvania's historical significance in the nation's founding.[5] Both Jefferson and Washington considered Pennsylvania Avenue an important feature of the new capital. After inspecting L'Enfant's plan, President Washington referred to the thoroughfare as a "grand avenue".[citation needed] Jefferson concurred, and while the "grand avenue" was little more than a wide dirt road ridiculed as "The Great Serbonian Bog", he planted it with rows of fast-growing Lombardy poplars.[citation needed]
Pennsylvania Avenue was designed by Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant, and it was one of the earliest streets constructed in the city.
19th century
In 1832, in an effort to tame dust and dirt on Pennsylvania Avenue, it was paved using the macadam method. But over the years, other pavement methods were trialed on the avenue: cobblestones in 1849 followed by Belgian blocks and then, in 1871, wooden blocks.
In the early 1900s, the French ambassador to the U.S., Jean Jules Jusserand, popularized the use of L'Enfant's birth name, "Pierre Charles L'Enfant".[8]
Pennsylvania Avenue once provided an unobstructed view between the White House and the Capitol. The construction of an expansion to the Treasury Building blocked this view, and supposedly President Andrew Jackson did this on purpose. Relations between the president and Congress were strained, and Jackson did not want to see the Capitol out his window,[9] though in reality the Treasury Building was simply built on what was cheap government land.
In 1972, Congress created the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC) to rehabilitate the street between the Capitol and the White House, an area seen as blighted. The new organization was given the mandate of developing Pennsylvania Avenue "in a manner suitable to its ceremonial, physical, and historic relationship to the legislative and executive branches of the federal government".[5]
In 2010, the District of Columbia designated Pennsylvania Avenue from the southwestern terminus of John Philip Sousa Bridge to the Maryland state line to be a "D.C. Great Street". The city spent $430 million to beautify the street and improve the roadway.[12]
Parades and protests
The White House is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.The crossroads of K Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood
From William Henry Harrison to Gerald Ford, the funeral corteges of seven of the eight presidents who died in office and two former presidents followed this route. Franklin Roosevelt was the only president who died in office whose cortege did not follow this route.
In addition to serving as a location for official functions, Pennsylvania Avenue is a traditional parade and protest route of ordinary citizens. During the depression of the 1890s, Jacob Coxey marched 500 supporters down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol to demand federal aid for the unemployed. Similarly, on the eve of Woodrow Wilson's 1913 inauguration, Alice Paul masterminded a parade, the Woman Suffrage Procession, highlighting the women's suffrage movement. In July 1932, a contingent of the Bonus Expeditionary Force carried flags up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, where they formed picket lines.
After the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the Secret Service closed the portion of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to all vehicular traffic. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic, however, was still permitted on the sidewalk. After the September 11 attacks, all traffic in front of the White House was prohibited, and traffic near the White House is redirected to H Street or Constitution Avenue, both of which eventually link back with Pennsylvania Avenue.
In 2002, the National Capital Planning Commission invited several prominent landscape architects to submit proposals for the redesign of Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House, with the intention that the security measures would be woven into an overall plan for the precinct and a more welcoming public space might be created. The winning entry by a firm run by Michael Van Valkenburgh proposed a very simple approach to planting, paving, and the integration of required security steps. Construction was completed in 2004.[15]
The National Theatre and Warner Theatre use Pennsylvania Avenue mailing addresses, although the theaters are nearby on E Street and 13th Street respectively.
^McNichol, Dan (2005). "Chapter 4: Asphalting the Avenues". Paving the Way: Asphalt in America. Lanham, Maryland: National Asphalt Pavement Association. pp. 38–55. ISBN0-914313-04-5.
