Boundary markers of the original District of Columbia

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The boundary markers of the original District of Columbia are the 40 milestones that marked the four lines forming the boundaries between the states of Maryland and Virginia and the square of 100 square miles (259 km²) of federal territory that became the District of Columbia in 1801 (see: Founding of the District of Columbia). Working under the supervision of three commissioners that President George Washington had appointed in 1790 in accordance with the federal Residence Act, a surveying team led by Major Andrew Ellicott placed these markers in 1791 and 1792. Among Ellicott's assistants were his brothers Joseph and Benjamin Ellicott, Isaac Roberdeau, George Fenwick, Isaac Briggs and an African American astronomer, Benjamin Banneker.^[1]

Today, 36 of the original marker stones survive as the oldest federally placed monuments in the United States. Thirteen of these markers are now within Virginia due to the return of the portion of the District south and west of the Potomac River to Virginia in 1846 (see: District of Columbia retrocession).

^ (1) Bedini, Silvio A. (1969). "Benjamin Banneker and the Survey of the District of Columbia, 1791" (PDF). Records of the Columbia Historical Society. 69/70. Washington, D.C.: Columbia Historical Society: 7–30. JSTOR 40067703. OCLC 3860814. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2013 – via Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia..
(2) Bedini, Silvio A. (Spring–Summer 1991). "The Survey of the Federal Territory: Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker". Washington History. 3 (1). Washington, D.C.: Historical Society of Washington, D.C.: 81, 83, 86. JSTOR 40072968.
(3) Mathews, Catharine Van Cortlandt (1908). "Chapter IV: The City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia, 1791–1793". Andrew Ellicott: His Life and Letters. Grafton Press. pp. 81–86. Retrieved January 29, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
(4) Tindall, William (1914). Standard History of the City of Washington From a Study of the Original Sources. Knoxville, Tennessee: H. W. Crew and Company. pp. 150–151. OCLC 7059152. Retrieved March 31, 2016 – via Internet Archive.

[1] (1) Bedini, Silvio A. (1969). "Benjamin Banneker and the Survey of the District of Columbia, 1791" (PDF). Records of the Columbia Historical Society. 69/70. Washington, D.C.: Columbia Historical Society: 7–30. JSTOR 40067703. OCLC 3860814. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2013 – via Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia..
(2) Bedini, Silvio A. (Spring–Summer 1991). "The Survey of the Federal Territory: Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker". Washington History. 3 (1). Washington, D.C.: Historical Society of Washington, D.C.: 81, 83, 86. JSTOR 40072968.
(3) Mathews, Catharine Van Cortlandt (1908). "Chapter IV: The City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia, 1791–1793". Andrew Ellicott: His Life and Letters. Grafton Press. pp. 81–86. Retrieved January 29, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
(4) Tindall, William (1914). Standard History of the City of Washington From a Study of the Original Sources. Knoxville, Tennessee: H. W. Crew and Company. pp. 150–151. OCLC 7059152. Retrieved March 31, 2016 – via Internet Archive.

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