The bank that helped fund the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Alaska met its downfall after helping Augusto Pinochet launder money.

This statue of one of baseball’s greatest pitchers looks like something out of a sci-fi horror movie.

The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.

The tunnel under the Capitol Building where Congress takes out its trash.

The grand marble structure next to the White House is Andrew Carnegie's temple to Pan-American diplomacy.

One critic described it as "middle Mussolini, early Ramses, and late Neiman-Marcus." Another called it an architectural "natural disaster."

Corn-inthian columns with a uniquely American take on neoclassical architecture.

A line of blue paint marks the route of the inaugural parade.

A 1,100-ton train fell through the floor in 1953. Workers got it patched up in just 72 hours.

A derelict bit of infrastructure from the canal that once ran through D.C. is landlocked in the heart of the city.

An overlooked memorial honoring the local Washington residents who died in World War I.

Look closely and you’ll notice that the color changes a third of the way up the tower.

A hidden passageway now marks the site of an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan that some say broke a 140-year-old curse.

This seemingly out-of-place gas station by the Watergate hotel was once described as the most expensive gas station in the world.

The school tested mustard gas for the U.S. Army during World War I.

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution written entirely from vanity license plates hangs in the Smithsonian museum.

The little-known, 300-year history of the area includes former lives as a bustling tobacco port, parking lot, and industrial dump.

When it comes to handsignals (and colonialism) rock always beats scissors.

Architecture lovers won’t stop touching the National Gallery's 19.5 degree marble prow.

Washington's iconic carousel has a nice piece of Civil Rights history.

Those with a sharp eye can find the hidden image of a German Shepherd on the memorial's Mural Wall.

Legend has it that President Grant’s frequent drinking in the lobby gave rise to the term “lobbyist.”

A historic ruin just 20 feet away from a busy highway onramp.

An unassuming, powerful monument north of the U.S. Capitol bears witness to the resilience of Japanese Americans during a time of grave injustice.