White House Cornerstone Laid

I’m out of the building a lot this week as I help our sister station Q97.9 (WJBQ) with their annual breast cancer fundraiser, “Cans For A Cure” in the Maine Mall parking lot. This annual can and bottle drive raises thousands each year for the Maine Cancer Foundation and the Cancer Community Center. If you can stop by and donate either bottles/cans or CASH, it would be greatly appreciated!

As such, the blogs will take a bit of a backseat the rest of this week-I will try to post interesting stuff-----in brief!

It was on this date in 1792 that the cornerstone of the White House was laid. Although George Washington hired the architects and oversaw the project, he never lived in the White House, as it was completed in 1800. President John Adams and his wife Abigail were the first residents.

In August of 1814, it almost burned to the ground after being set ablaze by the British during the War of 1812. The mansion was also substantially reconstructed during the Eisenhower Administration.

When John F. Kennedy moved into the Executive mansion in 1961, his wife Jacqueline took it upon herself to restore much of the inside-here is a video clip of that story:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlMwEiCG_yQ

At one time or another the White House—which officially got its name after Theodore Roosevelt ordered it embossed on his stationery—has sported a variety of amenities, from horse stables, a bowling alley, a jogging track, movie theatre and solar panels.

If you venture to D.C., it is well worth the wait to take the tour of the White House, even though much of the residence is now off-limits to tourists.

If you’d like my blog in your box weekdays, let me know! Tim.moore@citcomm.com
It’s free!