George Washington University

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  • Address
    801 22nd St NW, Foggy Bottom
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  • Phone
    994 6602
  • Website
  • Transport
    underground rail: Foggy Bottom-GWU

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George Washington left money in his will to endow a school of higher learning. In 1821, an Act of Congress created Baptist College, precursor to today's George Washington University. The school has played an important role in the city's gentrification, buying up townhouses and building new structures on such a scale that it has become the city's second biggest landowner after the federal government!

The school is spread over several blocks between F, 20th and 24th streets and Pennsylvania Ave in Foggy Bottom. The best bit of the campus is University Yard, between G and H and 20th and 21st Sts - Colonial-revival buildings flank a green park bedecked with red roses and a statue of - who else? - Washington. If you're interested in checking out the school itself, the Academic Center has campus maps and occasional student-led historical walking tours around the area. Famous alumni include J Edgar Hoover, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Colin Powell.