Georgetown is a historic neighborhood and commercial and entertainment district located in Northwest Washington, D.C., along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751 in the Province of Maryland, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years. Georgetown remained a separate municipality until 1871, when the United States Congress created a new consolidated government for the whole District of Columbia. A particular act, passed in 1895, specifically repealed Georgetown’s remaining local ordinances and renamed Georgetown’s streets to conform with those in the City of Washington.
The primary commercial corridors of Georgetown are the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, which contain high-end shops, bars, restaurants, and the Georgetown Park enclosed shopping mall. The Washington Harbor waterfront restaurants are located at K Street, between 30th and 31st Streets. Georgetown is home to the main campus of Georgetown University and numerous other landmarks, such as the Volta Bureau and the Old Stone House, the oldest house in Washington. The embassies of Cameroon, France, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Mongolia, Sweden, Thailand, Ukraine, and Venezuela are located in Georgetown.
History
Situated on the Fall Line, Georgetown was the farthest point upstream that oceangoing boats could navigate the Potomac River. In 1632, English fur trader Henry Fleet documented an American Indian village of the Nacotchtank people called Tohoga on the site of present-day Georgetown and established trade there. The area was then part of the Province of Maryland, an English colony.
George Gordon constructed a tobacco inspection house along the Potomac in approximately 1745. When the inspection house was built, the site was already a tobacco trading post. Warehouses, wharves, and other buildings were then constructed around the inspection house, quickly becoming a small community. It did not take long before Georgetown grew into a thriving port, facilitating trade and goods shipments from colonial Maryland. EZ DC Junk Removal
Landmarks
- Canal Square Building, 1054 31st Street, NW, former home of the Tabulating Machine Company, a direct precursor of IBM
- The City Tavern Club, built-in 1796, is the oldest commercial structure in Washington, D.C.
- The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal began in 1829. Dumbarton Oaks, 3101 R Street, NW, former home of John C. Calhoun, U.S. vice president, where the United Nations charter was outlined in 1944.
- Evermay, built-in 1801 and restored by F. Lammot Belin
- The Forrest-Marbury House, 3350 M Street, NW, where George Washington met with local landowners to acquire the District of Columbia. Currently, the Embassy of Ukraine.
- Georgetown Lutheran Church was the first church in Georgetown and dated back to 1769. The current church structure, the fourth on the site, was built in 1914.
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