In 1791, French Engineer Pierre L'Enfant was appointed by President George Washington to create a plan for the development of the nation's capital. At the center of the plan, L'Enfant conceived the National Mall, a grand open promenade that would serve as the nation's monumental core. However L'Enfant's vision (see drawing) of grand vistas with neo-classical monuments would not be fulfilled until the 20th century. Although a monument to George Washington was begun in 1846, the Civil War interrupted its construction and it was not completed until 1885. For much of the 19th century sheep grazed near the half completed Washington Monument. Also disrupting the L'Enfant Plan for the Mall was a red brick medieval style museum with the funds donated by Englishman, George Smithson and the insertion of a railroad terminal cut into the Mall.

In 1901 a new plan for Washington D.C. was created by a commission headed by Senator James McMillan and comprised of city planners Daniel Burnham, Charles F. McKim, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Augustus St. Gaudens, all of whom had been involved in creating the great Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. A City Beautiful movement that was influencing city building throughout the nation inspired them. The McMillan plan created monumental vistas and promoted Beaux-Arts architecture for the capital. They succeeded in legitimizing a growing governmental structure by using the landscaping of the Mall to re-enforce symbolic relationships (the North-South and East-West axes of which the Capitol, the White House, and the Washington Monument are the focus.) Their plans were completed in 1922 with the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial.

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