1. Washington, D.C. is not named after George Washington.
Okay, it totally is. But don’t forget the District of Columbia, which The History Channel reminds us is affectionately named after, you guessed it, Christopher Columbus.
2. There is no J Street in D.C.
When urban planner Pierre L’Enfant set out to design the city, he streamlined the process by going with numbered and lettered street names. While his surveying skills may have been A+, should less merit should be given to his kindergarten knowledge? Not so fast – rumor has it that L’Enfant intentionally left out a J Street because he had a long-held grudge Chief Justice John Jay, according to The Washington Post. Ouch.
3. “The highest court in the land” is not actually the Supreme Court.
Instead, ABC News reminds us that title is reserved for the Supreme Court gym, located on the top floor.
4. Statistically speaking, the District of Columbia averages more rainfall per year than Seattle.
The Washington Post states that D.C. averages 39.7 inches of rain per year, beating Seattle’s 37 inches.
5. Residents of the District weren’t given the right to vote in presidential elections until 1961.
Talk about unfair! While representation in the District has been a constant source of debate, TIME reports that citizens of D.C. were granted the right to vote in the presidential election as a result of the Twenty-Third Amendment, which was passed just 56 years ago. According to The New York Times, in 2008 almost 93% of the District went for Obama in the general election, giving him three electoral votes (DC is granted the same amount of votes as the least populated state, Wyoming).
6. D.C.’s population nearly doubles every weekday.
Besides tourists, WAMU states that this increase is due to the influx of workers making their way into the city each day.
7. Resident Concepcion Picciotto held a 31-year long political protest across from the White House, the longest known protest to take place within the United States.
Spanish-born peace activist Picciotto protested nuclear arms on the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue from August of 1981 until her death in 2016, claims The Washington Post. The District’s congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, co-wrote a nuclear disarmament and conversion act with the activist, but it has never reached the floor for a vote.