Washington Navy Yard, DC news and local guide

The original boundaries of 1800 along 9th and M streets SE are still marked by a white painted brick wall on the north and east, and the north wall was built in 1809 with a guardhouse now called the Latrobe Gate, after the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe. The yard grew over the years with landfill along the river. In its early decades it was the Navy's largest shipbuilding and fitting facility, building 22 vessels, from 70-foot gunboats to the 246-foot steam frigate USS Minnesota, and the frigate Constitution came there in 1812 to refit for war. During the War of 1812 the yard was a vital link in the defense of the capital. Its sailors fought in the hastily assembled army defeated at Bladensburg, and a volunteer rifle company of its civilian workers, organized in 1813 by the naval architect William Doughty, served as the Navy Yard Rifles. After the British occupied and burned Washington in August 1814, Tingey recommended raising the eastern wall to ten feet, citing both the burning and looting during the occupation. Today the yard is a ceremonial and administrative center for the Navy. Sources Wikipedia: Washington Navy Yard