# Washington D.C. -- how big is it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-d-c-how-big-is-it/189616>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 19, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-d-c-how-big-is-it/189616 "2003-07-19T18:55:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![superbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@superbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superbob)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-d-c-how-big-is-it/189616/1 "2003-07-19T18:55:04Z")

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Cecil,

```
I remembered from my school days that Washington, D.C. consisted of a 10-mile square straddling Maryland and Virginia. Upon my recent visit to our nation's capitol, I was corrected by 'schoolniks' who said that "DC" is a federal district residing only in Maryland. The portion of the 'square' that falls in Virginia is Arlington county of Virginia. Pray tell, what have our beloved politicians done to the district's original boundaries? And please tell me that the shrinking capitol was not due to budget cutbacks.

```

Bob  
Bronx, NY

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**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-d-c-how-big-is-it/189616/2 "2003-07-19T19:16:24Z")

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I was born and raised in Maryland. If I recall correctly, Maryland and Virginia both donated land to be used as a federal district independent from both states. Technically, it does not reside in Maryland.

At some point, Virginia took back all or most of the land it donated. If I remember correctly, the Virginia land was not being used by D.C. and Virginia had use for it.

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-d-c-how-big-is-it/189616/3 "2003-07-19T19:23:08Z")

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January 24, 1791: President George Washington selects a site that includes portions of Maryland and Virginia.

February 27, 1801: Congress divides the [District] into the counties of Washington and Alexandria.

July 9, 1846: Congress passes a law returning the city of Alexandria and Alexandria County to the state of Virginia.

You can see the current configuration here: [http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm\_htm/district.htm](http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/district.htm)

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**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-d-c-how-big-is-it/189616/4 "2003-07-19T20:58:47Z")

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Yep, was 100 square miles…now about 64 or so.

And it isn’t ‘in’ Maryland. It belongs to itself and isn’t beholden to any state.