Shortly after midnight on this day in 1961, East German soldiers begin laying
down barbed wire and bricks as a barrier between Soviet-controlled East
Berlin and the democratic western section of the city.

After World War II, defeated Germany was divided into Soviet, American,
British and French zones of occupation. The city of Berlin, though technically
part of the Soviet zone, was also split, with the Soviets taking the eastern part
of the city. After a massive Allied airlift in June 1948 foiled a Soviet attempt to blockade West Berlin, the eastern section was drawn even more tightly into
the Soviet fold. Over the next 12 years, cut off from its western counterpart
and basically reduced to a Soviet satellite, East Germany saw between 2.5
million and 3 million of its citizens head to West Germany in search of better opportunities. By 1961, some 1,000 East Germans—including many skilled
laborers, professionals and intellectuals—were leaving every day.

Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge, as workers began excavating
3.25 million cubic feet of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages.

Following the Gold Rush boom that began in 1849, speculators realized the
land north of San Francisco Bay would increase in value in direct proportion
to its accessibility to the city. Soon, a plan was hatched to build a bridge that
would span the Golden Gate, a narrow, 400-foot deep strait that serves as the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, connecting the San Francisco Peninsula with
the southern end of Marin County.

Although the idea went back as far as 1869, the proposal took root in 1916. A
former engineering student, James Wilkins, working as a journalist with the
San Francisco Bulletin, called for a suspension bridge with a center span of
3,000 feet, nearly twice the length of any in existence. Wilkins’ idea was
estimated to cost an astounding $100 million. So, San Francisco’s city
engineer, Michael M. O’Shaughnessy (he’s also credited with coming up
with the name Golden Gate Bridge), began asking bridge engineers whether
they could do it for less.

Engineer and poet Joseph Strauss, a 5-foot tall Cincinnati-born Chicagoan,
said he could.

Eventually, O’Shaughnessy and Strauss concluded they could build a pure suspension bridge within a practical range of $25-30 million with a main span
at least 4,000 feet. The construction plan still faced opposition, including
litigation, from many sources. By the time most of the obstacles were cleared,
the Great Depression of 1929 had begun, limiting financing options, so officials convinced voters to support $35 million in bonded indebtedness, citing the
jobs that would be created for the project. However, the bonds couldn’t be
sold until 1932, when San-Francisco based Bank of America agreed to buy
the entire project in order to help the local economy.

Workers set the capstone on top of the Washington Monument on
Dec. 6, 1884.

On this day in 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers (above) place a nine-inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction
of an impressive monument to the city’s namesake and the nation’s first
president, George Washington. As early as 1783, the infant U.S. Congress
decided that a statue of George Washington, the great Revolutionary War
general, should be placed near the site of the new Congressional building, wherever it might be. After then-President Washington asked him to lay out
a new federal capital on the Potomac River in 1791, architect Pierre L’Enfant
left a place for the statue at the western end of the sweeping National Mall
(near the monument’s present location).

It wasn’t until 1832, however–33 years after Washington’s death–that anyone
really did anything about the monument. That year, a private Washington
National Monument Society was formed. After holding a design competition
and choosing an elaborate Greek temple-like design by architect Robert Mills,
the society began a fundraising drive to raise money for the statue’s
construction.

The Washington Monument is under construction in 1859 in
Washington D.C.

The Washington Monument in 1888, the year it was
open to the public.

The Monument reopened to the public in September after a three-
year closure for elevator repairs and other updates.

Depiction of George Washington laying the cornerstone for the White House in a freemason ceremony.

The cornerstone is laid for a presidential residence in the newly designated
capital city of Washington. In 1800, President John Adams became the first president to reside in the executive mansion, which soon became known as
the “White House” because its white-gray Virginia freestone contrasted
strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings.

The city of Washington was created to replace Philadelphia as the nation’s
capital because of its geographical position in the center of the existing
new republic. The states of Maryland and Virginia ceded land around the
Potomac River to form the District of Columbia, and work began on
Washington in 1791.

    
 
  The original design of the White House in 1800. 
     

    
    
    

An artist’s interpretation of the construction of the White House.

The White House as it looks today.

On this day in 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam begins. Over the next
five years, a total of 21,000 men would work ceaselessly to produce what
would be the largest dam of its time, as well as one of the largest manmade structures in the world.

Although the dam would take only five years to build, its construction was
nearly 30 years in the making. Arthur Powell Davis, an engineer from the
Bureau of Reclamation, originally had his vision for the Hoover Dam back
in 1902, and his engineering report on the topic became the guiding
document when plans were finally made to begin the dam in 1922.

Arthur Powell Davis
(February 9, 1861 – August 7, 1933)

Construction Site for Hoover Dam – Black Canyon.

The "Superflag" (255ft x 505ft) once held the title of the largest flag
in the world and was displayed over Hoover Dam to commemorate
the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay.