![]() The center of the square is west of the Ellipse and north of the Mall, within the grounds of the headquarters of the Organization of American States. These axes are not the lines used to define the four geographical quadrants of the District ( N.E., N.W., S.E., and S.W.), commonly appended to Washington street addresses, which are delimited generally by North Capitol Street, East Capitol Street, South Capitol Street, and the National Mall. The north-south axis of the District's current boundaries extends southward from the District's north corner near East-West Highway (Maryland Route 410), travels between 17th and 18th Streets, N.W., and continues south across the National Mall to the far shore of the Potomac River the east-west axis is between the present Constitution Avenue and C Street, N.E. The specified orientation results in a diamond shape for the District's original boundaries on most maps. The sides of the square were each 10 miles (16 km) long. The District of Columbia (initially, the Territory of Columbia) was originally specified to be a square 100 square miles (260 km 2) in area, with the axes between the corners of the square running north-south and east-west, The square had its southern corner at the southern tip of Jones Point in Alexandria, Virginia, at the confluence of the Potomac River and Hunting Creek (later the site of the Jones Point Lighthouse). Library of Congress1835 map of the District of Columbia Thirteen of these markers are now within Virginia due to the return of the portion of the District south and west of the Potomac River to Virginia in 1846 (see: District of Columbia retrocession). Today, 36 of the original marker stones survive as the oldest federally placed monuments in the United States. Among Ellicott's assistants were his brothers Joseph and Benjamin Ellicott, Isaac Roberdeau, George Fenwick, Isaac Briggs and an African American astronomer, Benjamin Banneker. Working under the supervision of three commissioners that President George Washington had appointed in 1790 in accordance with the federal Residence Act, a surveying team that Major Andrew Ellicott led placed these markers in 17. The boundary markers of the original District of Columbia are the 40 milestones that marked the four lines forming the boundaries between the states of Maryland and Virginia and the square of 100 square miles (259 km 2) of federal territory that became the District of Columbia in 1801 (see: Founding of the District of Columbia). 2 Boundary Marker, along D.C./Maryland line, at 6980 Maple Street NW, Washington, D.C., with fence erected by the DAR Map all coordinates in "Boundary markers of the original District of Columbia" using: OpenStreetMap
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