Washington D.C. in 20th century.

The first half of the 20th Century was an explosive time in Washington, socially, economically, and especially culturally. Between 1910 and 1935, many new museums and concert halls were dedicated, including the new Smithsonian Institution building, now called the Natural History Museum, the Freer Gallery of Oriental Art, the Folger Shakespeare Library and Theater, and the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress. During the same time, the Daughters of the American Revolution built Constitution Hall which is Washington's largest concert and lecture hall, with a seating capacity of 4,001.

Washington's population increased dramatically before 1950. New public parks and picnic areas were created throughout the city. The popular summer spots included the fashionable Meridian Hill Park, Griffith Baseball Stadium, and the bathing beach near the Tidal Basin. By the 1920s, the Belasco Theater, the new National Theater, and the Howard Theater all added tremendously to the entertainment scene.

The beautification of Washington became a serious concern in the early part of the 20th century. Japanese cherry blossom trees were planted around the Tidal Basin. They were a gift to Washington from the people of Japan in 1912. The National Capital Park and Planning Commission was created in 1920, and the Fine Arts Commission was organized a few years earlier. The Lincoln Memorial was under construction from 1915 until 1922.

America's entry into World War I changed Washington forever. With the arrival of the government "girls", there was a great need for housing and more office space. Temporary buildings were constructed between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial site. They were used for 50 years, creating quite an eye sore on the otherwise attractive landscape. There was a new mobilization of wealth, manpower, and industry, which resulted in the establishment of new government agencies.

With the arrival of the Great Depression, social life, as established in the city during the 19th century, essentially ceased to exist by the mid-1930s. Many of the magnificent mansions along Massachusetts Avenue were put up for sale. The only buyers seemed to be foreign governments that needed new quarters for their embassies. Many of these old palatial homes were converted into both offices and residences for ambassadors.

Washington's population has always radically increased because of wars or economic depressions. Two world wars and the Great Depression rocketed the city into a new dimension. It emerged as a powerful and cosmopolitan metropolis during the 1940s.

World War II transformed the nation's capital in to the command center of the United States. For the first time since the Civil War, the city was fortified. The population exploded to 950,000 residents. More temporary buildings were added to the old ones near the memorials. The new Pentagon building was suddenly alive with offices, shops, and restaurant s to serve the 40,000 workers stationed there.

Washington in the 1940s had become a lively and exciting world center. The new airport on the Potomac became a popular place; the main attraction was the huge new restaurant. The opening of the National Gallery of Art in 1941 exposed a whole population to the beauties of western European masterpieces. When the war ended, Washington began to relax a little, and feelings of restrained optimism were combined with a sense of confidence in the future of the nation.

In the four decades following the Truman years, Washington developed into a modern city, unrecognizable to those who knew the city before World War II. A sense of rising prosperity came with the Republican administration under Eisenhower in the 1950s. The new buildings in downtown Washington stimulated rezoning of close-in residential areas for more office buildings. These buildings were needed to accommodate the multitude of new workers in both private and public sectors. The gorgeous old late 19th century mansions and homes disappeared one by one as land values escalated, as the economics of the times no longer justified their existence.

A mass exodus of Washington's white population in the 1950s was partly because of the enticement of the suburbs. The suburbs were fashionable, the houses were new, the schools were better, and the population was homogeneous. School integration in the city in 1954 accelerated these changes. For the first time, the racial balance in Washington was changing. The city had always counted between 20 and 35 percent of its population to be of African heritage. By 1970, that had changed to 70 percent.

Southwest Washington became part of an experiment called Urban Renewal. Some later renamed it urban removal. Whole neighborhoods were declared slum areas. Beginning in 1956, more than 4,500 buildings in Southwest Washington were bulldozed. Most of these houses were considered substandard, although they were just blocks from the Capitol. The concept of housing rehabilitation and restoration had been dismissed without discussion. Huge impersonal federal office buildings were built in the newly cleared areas. A freeway was constructed through the old Southwest neighborhood. Large, mundane, but not inexpensive, apartment complexes were constructed. The old residents were displaced with few places to go. Communities were broken apart, their churches and synagogues destroyed. Public housing complexes were constructed across the Anacostia River in Southeast, and those who could not afford to move anywhere else were relocated across the Anacostia River.

John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, caused Washingtonians to reevaluate many of their recently conceived ideas in the 1960s. The old houses on Lafayette Square were ready to be torn down to make way for new office buildings. The old Corcoran Gallery across form the White House was also to be bulldozed. A new appreciation for history, however was beginning to awaken in a few residents. Establishing a cultural center was an idea President Kennedy promoted. Although he did not live to see it, the Kennedy Center was opened and dedicated to him in 1972. There seemed to be a mad rush into the future.

This was also the beginning of increased transportation problems in the city. Streetcar service was ended in 1962, but the subway was not opened until 14 years later. Traffic problems escalated as more people became commuters. Washington was deserted in the evenings. The city had few good restaurants clubs, or theaters to attract locals to remain in town after house. By the mid-1970s, a new generation of young, urban professionals began to make different demands on the city. They did not want to commute; rather they wanted to live in town and enjoy what the city offered.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s there was an influx of blacks to Washington from rural areas, particularly the South. Some were well educated, middle-class, professional people, but many were poorly educated, "refugees" seeking jobs and the psychological support of others. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech from the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 brought hope to blacks who were searching for a better life. Five years later, the situation had not radically improved, and when Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, the ensuing race riots caused suffering to both white-owned and minority-owned businesses. By the end of the 1960s, anti-Vietnam War protestors flowed into the nation's capital on a regular basis. Everyone seemed disillusioned with the city. Stable communities were broken up as fear drove away some of the last long-time residents, black and white.

By 1968, Congress granted the residents the right to vote for president and allowed a local government to be set up. Mayor Walter Washington was appointed as the first mayor. Later he became the city's first elected mayor. In the elections in 1976, Mayor Washington was defeated by Marion Barry for Democratic nomination. Barry went on to win easily in the general election.

The Smithsonian Institution expanded significantly in the 1960s and 1970s. The National Museum of History and Technology (later renamed the National Museum of American History) opened in 1964. In the late-1960s, Joseph Hirshhorn gave his collection of contemporary art and sculpture to the Smithsonian. The next decade saw the opening of the National Air and Space Museum, The East Building of the National Gallery, as well as the National Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery. In 1987, collections of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the national Museum of African Art filled the new Smithsonian Quadrangle underground complex.. Millions of tourists continued to come to the city, which was becoming more conscious of the importance of tourism to the local economy. A new convention Center lured large groups for meetings in the 1980s. New luxury hotels mushroomed throughout the downtown sector of the city. Neighborhoods began to take pride in their uniqueness, offering festivals, parades, or special holiday observances.

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