Crowds surrounding the Reflecting Pool during the 1963 March on Washington

Congress passed the Organic Act of 1871, which repealed the individual charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown, and a created a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia. President Grant appointed Alexander Robey Shepherd to the new position of governor in 1873. Shepherd authorized large-scale municipal projects, which greatly modernized the city. However, the governor spent three times the money that had been budgeted for capital improvements, which ultimately bankrupted the District. In 1874, Congress replaced the territorial government with an appointed three-member Board of Commissioners. The city's first motorized streetcars began service in 1888 and spurred growth in areas of the District beyond the City of Washington's original boundaries. In 1895, Washington formally annexed Georgetown, which until then had maintained a nominal separate identity. With a consolidated government and the transformation of rural areas within the District into urban neighborhoods, the entire city eventually took the name Washington, D.C. Increased federal spending as a result of New Deal legislation in the 1930s led to the construction of new government buildings, memorials, and museums in Washington. World War II further increased government activity, adding to the number of federal employees in the capital; by 1950, the District's population reached its peak of 802,178 residents. The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1961, granting the District three votes in the Electoral College for the election of President and Vice President, but still no voting representation in Congress. After the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968, riots broke out in the District, primarily in the U Street, 14th Street, 7th Street, and H Street corridors, centers of black residential and commercial areas. The riots raged for three days until over 13,600 federal troops managed to stop the violence. Many stores and other buildings were burned; rebuilding was not complete until the late 1990s. In 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, providing for an elected mayor and city council for the District. In 1975, Walter Washington became the first elected and first black mayor of the District. On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and deliberately crashed the plane into the Pentagon in nearby Arlington, Virginia. United Airlines Flight 93, believed to be destined for Washington, D.C., crashed in Pennsylvania when passengers tried to recover control of the plane from hijackers.

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