The Treasury Building: A National Historic Landmark

In the spring of the year 1800, the capital of the United States was preparing to move from the well-established city of Philadelphia to a parcel of tidewater land along the Potomac River. President John Adams issued an Executive Order on May 15th instructing the federal government to move to Washington and to be open for business by June 15, 1800. Arriving in Washington, relocated government employees found only one building completed and ready to be occupied: the Treasury Department building. Of the 131 federal workers who moved to Washington, over half of them (69) were housed in the Treasury Building. Nearby stood the partially completed White House, while almost a mile to the east at the terminus of Pennsylvania Avenue rose the Capitol building, still a work in progress. Few were so generous as to call Washington a “city” despite the arrival of the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. In 1800, Washington had a population of 3,210 with neighboring Georgetown (considered a separate municipality) at 2,993 – ranking them as the 31st and 32nd largest cities in the country at the time. By contrast, New York City's population was 60,515, Philadelphia was 41,220, and Baltimore was the third largest city with 26,514 inhabitants.