The Almost Forgotten Columns -- 2
by Cora Wandel
Title
The Almost Forgotten Columns -- 2
Artist
Cora Wandel
Medium
Photograph
Description
These twenty-two Corinthian columns were part of the East Portico of the United States Capitol beginning in 1828 when the Capitol was completed. For 130 years, until 1958, the columns proudly held up the East Portico where many presidents from Andrew Jackson in 1829 to Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957 were sworn in. In 1958 renovation commenced on the Capitol and the East Portico was enlarged, requiring the removal of these columns for much larger ones. These historic columns were disposed of in a warehouse and forgotten for thirty years until Ethel Garrett, a benefactor of the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., remembered that the columns existed, and began a campaign to have the columns become the centerpiece of the National Arboretum. Thanks to Garrett and her supporters, these columns now stand proudly on a knoll in a meadow just inside the arboretum grounds.
The United States National Arboretum was established in 1927 by an act of Congress and is operated by the Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. It conducts extensive research on trees, flowering plants, shrubs and turf, as well as the development of plants. The arboretum is 446 acres in size, and is located 2.2 miles from the Capitol building at 24th and R Streets, NE, in Washington, DC.
Uploaded
May 13th, 2013
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