lumbia. On March 30, 1791, an act was passed to fix the boundaries of the city and to locate the public squares and buildings. Washington himself determined these points, which were then laid out by Andrew Ellicott. On April 15, 1793, the corner stone of the Capitol was laid. It appears to have been the wish of President Washington that the city should be named the “Federal City,” but the present name was adopted in his honor, Sept. 9, 1791. The city was incorporated May 3, 1802. The English captured it Aug. 24, 1814, and burned the Capitol and other public buildings. In 1871 the municipal government of the city was abolished, Georgetown was consolidated with it and a territorial government established for the District of Columbia. But in 1874 Congress changed the government and placed it under control of three commissioners, abolishing the suffrage. In 1878 the government by commissioners was made permanent in the act of June 11, 1878, termed by the United States Supreme Court, the “Constitution of the United States.” The city of Washington has had no government of its own. During the Civil War Washington was the scene of great military operations. It was fortified by a cordon of 68 massive earthworks or forts shortly after the beginning of the war. These works extended over a perimeter of 14 miles.
WASHINGTON, a city of Indiana, the county-seat of Daviess co. It is on the Evansville and Indianapolis, and the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern railroads. Its industries include the manufacture of lumber, flour, plows, etc. It has the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern railroad shops. Pop. (1910) 7,854; (1920) 8,743.
WASHINGTON, a borough and county-seat of Washington co., Pa.; on Chartiers creek, and on the Waynesboro and Washington, the Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, and the Baltimore and Ohio railroads; 31 miles S. W. of Pittsburgh. It contains Washington and Jefferson College (q. v.), the Lemoyne Cremation plant, numerous churches, court house, public library, National and private banks, and several daily and weekly newspapers. It has carriage shops, broom factory, cigar factories, stove foundries, tanneries, woolen and flour mills, etc. Pop. (1910) 18,778; (1920) 21,480.
WASHINGTON, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational non-sectarian institution in Seattle, Wash.; founded in 1861; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 210; students, 2,457; president, H. Suzzallo, Ph. D.
WASHINGTON, BOOKER TALIAFERRO, an American educator; born a slave in Hale's Ford, Va., about 1859. After the Civil War he removed with his mother to West Virginia, where he worked in the mines, attending school in the winter. In 1875 he was graduated with honors at the Hampton Institute, Va.; was a teacher there till in 1881, when he was elected by the State authorities of Alabama principal of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, which he organized and built up. He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard University in 1896; was a speaker on educational and racial subjects, and wrote: “Sowing and Reaping” (1900); “Up From Slavery” (1901); “The Negro in Business” (1907); “The Story of the Negro” (1909); “The Man Farthest Down” (1912). He died in 1915.
WASHINGTON, BUSHROD, an American jurist; born in Westmoreland co., Va., in 1762; was nephew of George Washington, and became heir to his papers and library; was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and of the Virginia ratifying convention in 1788; associate justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1798-1829. He took great interest in the organization of the American Colonization Society, and was appointed its first president. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1829. His nephew, Augustine Washington, came into possession of the Washington residence, at Mount Vernon, and died in 1832. He was the author of “Reports of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.”
WASHINGTON, GEORGE, an American statesman, military officer, and 1st President of the United States; born of English stock in Westmoreland co., Va., Feb. 22, 1732. His father died early, but his mother, Mary Ball, gave him an admirable training, which was continued later by his elder half-brother, Augustine. Of actual schooling he had little, save such as sufficed to make him a practical surveyor. He spelt badly, but was able to do accounts well; he wrote poor verses, but was careful to copy out 50 odd “rules of behavior”; he had as little of the true literary afflatus as any youth of genius could well have, but he tamed the wildest horses and dominated the most unruly of his schoolmates. In short, he was a young Virginian Cyrus, riding well, shooting well, and telling the truth. But if it was fortunate for his country that he escaped becoming an epic poet, it was equally fortunate that he gave up the idea of entering the English service as a midshipman on account of a dutiful
