Georgetown, District of Columbia

City: Georgetown

State: District of Columbia

Lat/Long: 38.9000, -77.0500

Located on the Potomac River, Georgetown is a former town located in the District of Columbia. Settlers established Georgetown in 1665. Town leaders platted the town in 1751. It was incorporated in 1789. Prior to Congress moving the national capital to the District, Georgetown had established itself as a major tobacco port. Environmental difficulties, however, stunted its development as a commercial port, so by the nineteenth century, Georgetown had transitioned from a trading port to a center of flour milling. Georgetown remained an independent city until 1871, when Congress repealed the city charter and merged Georgetown into the District.

Frederick Gutheim and Antoinette J. Lee, Worthy of the Nation: Washington, DC, From L'Enfant to the National Capital Planning Commission (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), 40-41; Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1997), 419; "An Act to Provide a Government for the District of Columbia," 21 February 1871, Statutes at Large of the United States 16 (1871):428-29.