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Jefferson Pier, Jefferson Stone, or the Jefferson Pier Stone, in Washington, D.C., marks the first meridian of the United States,[1] even though it was never officially recognized, either by presidential proclamation or by a resolution or act of Congress. The monument is a 2 foot (0.7 m) square, two foot tall granite obelisk. It is located 390 feet (119 m) WNW from the center of the Washington Monument.

Two previous Washington meridians were transitory: the first was a suggestion by Pierre Charles L'Enfant that the meridian be one mile east of the Capitol, the second was a meridian surveyed through the Capitol by Andrew Ellicott in 1793 at the direction of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. All city streets in L'Enfant's plan of Washington were oriented to the Capitol. Jefferson wished for the United States to become scientifically as well as politically independent from Europe, so he wished for the new national capital itself to be a new "first meridian". It is not known why he requested a meridian through the President's House (White House) in 1804 when he had already requested a meridian through the Capitol eleven years earlier. The meridian of the United States was changed to the center of the small dome of the old Naval Observatory in 1850, and finally replaced by the Greenwich Meridian as the legal prime meridian for both boundaries and navigation in 1912. Source:
Wikipedia




POSITION OF JEFFERSON
PIER ERECTED DEC 13, 1804
RECOVERED AND RE-ERECTED
DEC 2, 1889

Note: The flags visible in the background are among those that encircle the WashingtonMonument

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0001000/01020_0000014380 (added ca. 2006)


The World War IIand Lincolnmemorials are visible in the background.

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0001000/01020_0000014390 (added ca. 2006)


With the Jefferson Memorialin the background

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0001000/01020_0000027630 (added ca. 2006)


With the Washington Monumentin the background

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0001000/01020_0000027640 (added ca. 2006)

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Related subjects: History, American; US Presidents; Thomas Jefferson
Location: Constitution Ave & 16th St NW (Slightly W & N of the Wash Monument) Washington, D.C.

Nearest Metro: Federal Triangle(Orange - Blue - Silver) (click station name for all sculptures nearby) (dcMem ID #1020 )

Links & other sources
ADC Greater Washington, DC Street Map Book (173)
'Who is That Man Anyway?' on Jefferson pier
Wikipedia article on Jefferson Pier (& other meridians)(17)
NPS.gov List of Classified Structures on Jefferson Pier
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JEFFERSON Pier near the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

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