Photo by ndupress.

Many people can see this building from across the Anacostia: it’s a beautiful Beaux Arts style structure that seems so mysterious. The brick building has beautiful features: Ionic columns, Greek-style details, a statue of a bald eagle. I had the pleasure, as a part of my old job, to have access to Fort McNair (in the SW quadrant near the Waterfront), which is where this building resides.

It’s Roosevelt Hall, home of the National War College. Built between 1906 and 1907 and designed by the New York architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, the building has housed the Army War College, the Headquarters of US Army Ground Forces, and now the National War College, since its inception in 1947. The McKim, Mead, and White firm also built the National Museum of American History on the Mall, the Manhattan Municipal Building, as well as the renovation of the East and West Wing of the White House in 1903.

Higher ranking military officers who are likely to be promoted to the most senior positions study at the National War College in preparation for their presumptive new positions. It certainly is a place of power and intrigue.

Fort McNair itself was established in 1791, the oldest active Army post in existence today. The fort was engaged in warfare during the War of 1812 against the British. Most of the structures on the base were destroyed during an explosion while the British invaded. They were later rebuilt.

The conspirators of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination were hanged at Fort McNair. Mary Surratt, one of those hanged, was the first woman ever executed under federal orders.

So the next time someone mentions this huge, old-school building they saw across the Anacostia you’ll know about Roosevelt Hall, of the National War College.