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Building the Nation's Capital is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on how Washington, D.C. was planned and grew from fields into a capital, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.5.3-5. It prints 6 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 13 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Building the Nation's Capital

D2.Geo.5.3-5

NameDate

Read the information text and answer its questions, then circle the best answers.

1.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

Measuring the Edges of the Capital

An information text written for this worksheet. Before a city can be built, its edges must be measured and marked. In 1791 Andrew Ellicott, a surveyor, was hired to measure the boundary of the new federal district, a square ten miles on each side. He hired Benjamin Banneker, a free African American astronomer and mathematician from Maryland, to help. Banneker watched the stars at night with a telescope to fix exact points, and he looked after the clock used for the measurements. The team placed 40 boundary stones, about one every mile along the edges of the square. Banneker worked on the survey for about three months before returning home, where he wrote and published almanacs. Many of the boundary stones still stand today.

  1. 1. How did Banneker fix exact points?
  2. 2. How many boundary stones did the team place?
  3. 3. Why can people still see this survey's work today?
  4. 4. What shape was the new federal district?
2.Why do people remember L'Enfant and Banneker today?
  • A.They wrote the Constitution
  • B.They were the first two Presidents
  • C.Their plan and survey shaped the nation's capital
3.What is the National Mall today?
  • A.An indoor shopping center
  • B.A farm for growing wheat
  • C.A long park lined with museums and monuments
4.Why did the United States build a new capital city in the 1790s?
  • A.To build a whaling port
  • B.To have one permanent home for the national government
  • C.To make a new state
5.Who lived on the land where Washington, D.C. now stands, long before the city?
  • A.French soldiers
  • B.American Indian peoples, such as the Nacotchtank
  • C.Settlers from Spain
6.What did L'Enfant's wide avenues and circles give the city?
  • A.A tall wall around the city
  • B.Only narrow, crowded alleys
  • C.Open spaces and long views between important buildings

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.5.3-5 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Building the Nation's Capital

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. He watched the stars at night with a telescope. 2. 40 boundary stones, about one every mile. 3. Many of the boundary stones still stand. 4. A square ten miles on each side.
  2. 2.Their plan and survey shaped the nation's capital
  3. 3.A long park lined with museums and monuments
  4. 4.To have one permanent home for the national government
  5. 5.American Indian peoples, such as the Nacotchtank
  6. 6.Open spaces and long views between important buildings

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.5.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.