Northwest No. 4 Boundary Marker of the Original District of Columbia
5906 Dalecarlia Pl., NW, Washington, DCNorthwest #4 boundary stone was the first marker to be located in Maryland. It was originally located more than a mile from Northwest #3, the last stone in Virginia, due to the fact that the mile mark fell in the Potomac River gorge, The stone was sited at its present location for practical purposes. Northwest #4 was the first marker laid in 1792. It was also the first stone to have a fence erected around it. The fence was dedicated on July 12, 1915, by the Columbia Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Local significance of the object:
Community Planning And Development; Politics/government
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
About National Register Listings
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.
The city was built on a swamp: The area that is now Washington, D.C. was originally a swampy, marshy region along the Potomac River. The construction of the city involved extensive drainage and landfill projects to make the land suitable for building.