1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Washington (District of Columbia)

WASHINGTON, District of Columbia (see ), the capital city of the United States, increased in pop. from 331,069 in 1910 to 437,571 in 192, a gain of 106,502, or 32.2% as compared with 52,351 or 18.8%, in the preceding decade. Of the 1920 pop. 326,860 were white, 109,966 negro and 745 of other races (chiefly Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Indian). With the entrance of the United States into the World War in 1917 Washington not only assumed new importance among world capitals, but it became the centre from which practically every significant activity in the United States, commercial and industrial as well as military and naval, was directed. Existing Government bureaus were expanded beyond precedent and many new ones were created. These activities brought to Washington within a single year 60,000 new residents, a large percentage of whom remained after the war came to an end. An acute shortage of housing facilities developed, and the Government was forced to commandeer every available building, as well as to construct a number of new ones.

(J. C. P.*)