The Story of Washington Nationals

The Story of Washington Nationals — page 3
6 N a t i o n a l s A CAPITAL IDEA etween 1776 and 1790 the United States capital circulated among the cities of Philadelphia Baltimore York Princeton Annapolis Trenton and New York Finally in 1790 the U S Congress decided the country needed a permanent capital that was not part of any one state President George Washington a surveyor by trade carved out a diamond-shaped district that included parts of Maryland and Virginia After 10 years of planning and building the new capital was ready for occupancy in 1800 At the suggestion of then president John Adams the city was named Washington in honor of the former president who had died the year before As the U S government grew so did Washington By 1900 it was the country’s 15th-largest city with a population nearing 280,000 So it seemed logical that when professional baseball’s American League AL was formed in 1901 a franchise would be established in Washington Management debated whether to name the team the Senators or the Nationals before settling on Senators That franchise B