MyPLI

After 217 years as the nation's capital, Washington is a place brimming with a unique history of its own. It has developed as a complex and layered city with multiple personalities. As home to the federal government, it has attracted a diverse mix of government workers, members of Congress from every state, foreign emissaries, lobbyists, petitioners and protestors. While elected and appointed officials come and go giving the city its reputation as a transient community, many of the city's residents have called Washington home for multiple generations. Their stories give Washington its distinctive character as both a national and local city.