A fascinating story in the Washington Post Magazine explains how Illinois Congressman and Speaker of the House Joe Cannon (who has a House office building named in his honor) fought the establishment of the Lincoln Memorial on what was then a swamp along the banks of the Potomac, preferring a smaller memorial near Union Station; years later, he admitted he was glad he had lost that fight. Via Save the Mall.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.