Capitol Hill, aside from being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington D.C., stretching easterly in front of the U.S. Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the oldest residential communities in Washington, and with roughly 35,000 people in just under two square miles, it is also one of the most densely populated.
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| - Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
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| - Capitol Hill, aside from being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington D.C., stretching easterly in front of the U.S. Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the oldest residential communities in Washington, and with roughly 35,000 people in just under two square miles, it is also one of the most densely populated.
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| - Capitol Hill, aside from being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington D.C., stretching easterly in front of the U.S. Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the oldest residential communities in Washington, and with roughly 35,000 people in just under two square miles, it is also one of the most densely populated. As a geographic feature, Capitol Hill rises in the center of the District of Columbia and extends eastward. In the 18th century the hill was called Jenkins Hill or Jenkins Heights by Pierre L'Enfant in 1791 as he began to develop his plan for the new Federal City. He chose to locate the "Congress House" on the crest of the hill, facing the city, a site that L'Enfant characterized as a "pedestal waiting for a superstructure." But it is important to recall that the site of the Capitol is located on a tract of land that had for many years belonged to the Carroll family and was noted in their records of ownership as "New Troy." While it was rumored that a man named Jenkins had once pastured some livestock at the site of the Capitol (and thus his name was associated with the site), artist John Trumbull, who would paint several murals inside the Capitol's rotunda, reported in 1791 that the site was covered with a thick woods. Hence it was unlikely that any livestock had ever grazed there and further Mr. Jenkins must have grazed his cows somewhere else. The Capitol Hill neighborhood today straddles two quadrants of the city, Southeast and Northeast, and a large portion is now designated as the Capitol Hill historic district. The name Capitol Hill is often used to refer to both the historic district and to the larger neighborhood around it. To the east of Capitol Hill lies the Anacostia River, to the north is the H Street corridor and to the south is the Southeast/Southwest Freeway and the Washington Navy Yard.
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