Thomas Circle in Washington DC - 1888

Thomas Circle -- 1888

(Figuring out photos is going to take me a bit of time.) This series of photos has to do with the reconstruction of Thomas Circle. Thomas Circle has been chopped up in favor of speeding up automobile transportation. However, DC's Department of Transportation, under the leadership of agency director Dan Tangherlini, is reconstructing this circle to bring it back to its origins as one of L'Enfant's beautiful circles, a park for people.

From the DDOT press release:

Thomas Circle is an historic landmark in the Old City* of Washington, D.C. One of the original elements of the L’Enfant Plan, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Circles formed a defense perimeter for the area north of the White House and were placed strategically throughout the city. At the heart of the circle is a statue of General George Henry Thomas, a brilliant commander and administrator in the Civil War. The statue is considered by some to be the finest equestrian statue in the city. It was funded by the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, which Thomas (1816-1870) commanded upon his promotion to brigadier general.

* The "Old City" refers to the original "City of Washington" that was designed by Peter (Pierre) Charles L'Enfant in 1791. At that time, the District of Columbia was made up of the City of Washington, Georgetown, Washington County (the part of the current District of Columbia outside of the original "City of Washington" boundary), and Alexandria and Alexandria County (the non-City of Alexandria piece of this area is modern day Arlington County) in Virginia.