Why they called the city "Washington"

Factual Questions
21

Part of Alexandria was in the District until it was retroceded to Virginia in the 1830s. It’s one of several neighborhoods/cities that kinda sprawled across L’Enfant’s District line over the years (Chevy Chase and Takoma Park also had trouble being confined to a single government area).

Up until the 1950s, a lot of DC’s outer neighborhoods considered themselves to be “towns” in their own right. A letter from DC would likely have “Georgetown, DC” or “Brookland, DC” on it. Many residents of the DC leg of Takoma Park still write “Takoma, DC” on their letterheads. It’s kinda pretentious, but as long as they put the right ZIP code on it, they get their mail.

Arlington across the river has similar oddities. Although Arlington is generally regarded as a city, on paper it’s a county and it’s neighborhoods are towns (Rosslyn, Crystal City, Clarendon, Lyon Village, Shirlington, etc).

I really love DC; moreso when I don’t actually live in it.

22

“Arlington across the river has similar oddities. Although Arlington is generally regarded as a city, on paper it’s a county and it’s neighborhoods are towns (Rosslyn, Crystal City, Clarendon, Lyon Village, Shirlington, etc).”

Sorry, but Rosslyn, Crystal City, Clarendon, Lyon Village, Shirlington are not towns - towns are separate political subdivisions here in VA, with their own charters and municipal responsibilities.

23

To add to what plnnr said, these neighbourhoods in Arlington County are not legal jurisdictions.

24

I have seen many resolutions from Congress or other government branches that all seem to end with the following boiler plate: “Done at the city of Washington in the year of our Lord 1999, and of the independence of the United States the two hundred twenty-third”, or some such, so apparently they still believe there is such a place.