Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and its western section was greatly lengthened and widened between 1925 and 1933. It received its current name on February 26, 1931, though it was almost named Jefferson Avenue in honor of Thomas Jefferson.
Signage on the 1900 block of Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
Junction of Constitution and Virginia Avenues NW, the western terminus of B Street between 1873 and roughly 1897
The width of Constitution Avenue varied along its length between 1926 and 1933, as shown by the shift in sidewalks at its junction with Henry Bacon Drive, NW.
The original western terminus of Constitution Avenue NW on the shores of the Potomac River was severed in the mid-1950s.
The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and various memorials, sculptures, and statues. It is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit of the National Park System. The park receives approximately 24 million visitors each year.
The National Mall with the Lincoln Memorial and its reflecting pool (foreground), the Washington Monument behind it, and the United States Capitol (background) in 2010
National Mall proper and adjacent areas (April 2002). The Mall had a grassy lawn flanked on each side by unpaved paths and rows of American elm trees as its central feature. (Numbers in the image correspond to numbers in the list of landmarks, museums and other features below.)
Andrew Jackson Downing Urn in May 2012
June 2004 view from the United States Capitol facing west, over the Grant Memorial and Capitol Reflecting Pool in the foreground, and across the National Mall towards the Washington Monument