On this day in 1800, President John Adams became the first acting president to take up residence in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the White House (or President’s Mansion or President’s House as it known at the time), was still unfinished, so Adams moved into temporary digs at Tunnicliffe’s City Hotel near the also half-completed Capitol building. The final site for the nation’s capital had been selected by George Washington while he was still president in 1790. Construction on the President’s House commenced in 1792, but was not completed until late 1800. When Adams first arrived in Washington on June 3, he wrote to his wife Abigail that he was pleased with the new site for the federal government and had explored the soon-to-be President’s House with contentment. However, he showed weariness at being unsettled. On November 1, Adams finally moved into his official residence, with the paint and plaster still drying and the building surrounded by weeds. Abigail Adams arrived in ...

Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, is undoubtedly one of the least remembered commanders-in-chief in the nation's history. He was born on this day in 1822 in Delaware, Ohio. Though not born into a wealthy family, Hayes went on to study law at Harvard University. As a young lawyer, he lived in his office briefly to save money while building his practice. Hayes, an honest and principled man who didn't drink, was nicknamed “Old Granny” for his attention to manners. He and his family were also temperance reformers and fervent abolitionists. His wife Lucy is believed to have insisted that her husband ban all alcohol from the White House -- an act that shocked visiting dignitaries and earned her the moniker “Lemonade Lucy.” However, it was originally Hayes’ idea to impose temperance on White House visitors. Cabinet members and advisors would frequently join Hayes and his family in prayer and in singing hymns. Supporters appreciated Hayes’ sense of f...

Did you know that a U.S. president once got married in the White House? That's right. On this day in 1886, President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) became the first sitting president to marry in the executive mansion. Cleveland entered the White House as a bachelor and left a married man and father of two. His new wife was Frances Folsom, a gorgeous young woman 27 years his junior. Cleveland had literally known Frances, the daughter of a former law partner and Cleveland’s legal ward, since she was born. When she was 11, Frances’ father died and Cleveland became her legal guardian, maintaining close ties with her mother. People thought Cleveland would marry his friend’s widow and were taken aback when he instead married Frances as soon as she turned 21. In another White House first, Frances and Cleveland’s second daughter Esther had the distinction of being first child born to a president in a White House bedroom. Cleveland's pet name for Frances was Frank. It must h...

On this day in 1800, President John Adams (1735-1826) ordered the federal government to pack up, leave Philadelphia, and set up shop in the nation’s new capital -- Washington, D.C. After Congress adjourned its last meeting in Philadelphia on May 15, Adams told his cabinet to make sure Congress and all federal offices were up and running in their new headquarters by June 15, 1800. Philadelphia served as the nation’s capital from 1790 until June 10, 1800. Official archives and documents were transferred from Philadelphia to the new capital via ship over inland waterways. President and Mrs. Adams did not move in to the president’s mansion, which sat unfinished, until November of that year. Settling in to the White House was no walk in the park for the new first lady. In December, Abigail Adams wrote to a friend that she had to line-dry their clothes in what eventually was dubbed the East Room. John Adams was the first president to live in the White House. It was President Theodore...