It was on this day that the ceremonial cornerstone was laid.

It was called the White House simply because it was a white house in the middle of red brick buildings. It would be finished so that President John Adams could move in, in 1800.

The states of Maryland and Virginia had ceded territory around the Potomac River for the nation's capital, the District of Columbia. It was the geographic center of the new country, as it then was, and succeeded Philadelphia as the nation's capital.

Architects started work on the new city in 1791. The main architect was from France, Charles L'Enfant.