|
|
Article: Dupont Circle
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- March 26, 1987
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
Dupont Circle, one of 15 circles in the original L'Enfant Plan
for the nation's capital, was known in the 1880s as Pacific Circle
because of its location at the western end of the residential sector
of the city. In 1884, a bronze statue commissioned by the du Pont
family of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont, a Union Naval officer
and Civil War hero, was dedicated and the circle renamed in his
honor.
About 1920, the family moved the statue to a public park in
Wilmington, Del., and replaced it with the more elaborate marble
sculpture and fountain. Dedicated in 1921, it was designed by
sculptor Daniel Chester French and architect Henry Bacon, who
collaborated on the Lincoln Memorial.
...