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The Star-Spangled Banner First Performance
In 1814 the Star-Spangled was first sung in public in Washington, D.C. which is known today as “601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW”. The most famous of several hotels on this block was Brown's Marble Hotel (1851-1935), an innovative Greek Revival landmark, where John Tyler and Abraham Lincoln were guests. In the 1830s, Beverly Snow, a free Black, operated the Epicurean Restaurant on the corner of 6the Street. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad building was completed at the same location in 1893. Its facade was incorporated into the present office building, erected by the B. F. Saul Company in 1985.
Other Star-Spangled Banner Facts:
· Made in Baltimore, Maryland, in July-August 1813 by flag maker Mary Pickersgill
· Commissioned by Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry
· Original size: 30 feet by 42 feet
· Current size: 30 feet by 34 feet
· Fifteen stars and fifteen stripes (one star has been cut out)
· Raised over Fort McHenry on the morning of September 14, 1814, to signal American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore; the sight inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner”
· Preserved by the Armistead family as a memento of the battle
· First loaned to the Smithsonian Institution in 1907; converted to permanent gift in 1912
· On exhibit at the National Museum of American History since 1964
· Major, multi-year conservation effort launched in 1998
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