Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as "Washington", "the District", or simply "D.C.", is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. The U.S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state.

The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria. Named in honor of George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia; in 1871, it created a single municipal government for the remaining portion of the District.

Washington had an estimated population of 672,228 as of July 2015. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the seventh-largest metropolitan statistical area in the country.

Union Station (Washington, D.C.)

Washington, D.C., Union Station is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's headquarters and the railroad's second-busiest station, with annual ridership of over 5 million. The station also serves MARC and VRE commuter rail services, the Washington Metro, and buses.

At the height of its traffic, during World War II, as many as 200,000 people passed through in a single day. In 1988, a headhouse wing was added and the original station renovated for use as a shopping mall. Today, Union Station is one of the busiest rail facilities and shopping destinations in the country, and is visited by over 40 million people a year.

History

Predecessor terminals

Before Union Station opened, each of the major railroads operated their own stations: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad trains arrived and departed from the New Jersey Avenue Station, while the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad) operated from its own station at 6th and B Street, NW—the current location of the National Gallery of Art.

Northeast, Washington, D.C.

Northeast (NE or N.E.) is the northeastern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It encompasses the area located north of East Capitol Street and east of North Capitol Street.

Northeast includes the neighborhoods of

A significant section of Capitol Hill is also located in Northeast, as is part of NoMa. The population of Northeast is predominantly African-American, particularly east of the Anacostia River.

Politically, Northeast includes most of Ward 5, much of Wards 6 and 7, and parts of Ward 4.

Landmarks

Northeast is home to Gallaudet University, a federally chartered private university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing located in the Trinidad neighborhood. It is also home to The Catholic University of America and Trinity Washington University, two of the Catholic institutions which give the Brookland neighborhood its nickname of "Little Rome" or "Little Vatican." Others include the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Saint John Paul II National Shrine, the Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery, and the headquarters of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.