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Laying of the Cornerstone

When: October 13, 1792
Where: Federal District
Part of: Laying of the White House Cornerstone

The cornerstone of the Executive Mansion was laid at noon on October 13, 1792, marking the start of construction.

Construction began at noon on October 13, 1792, with the laying of the cornerstone. The building was part of the new federal city designed by L'Enfant. The site was in the district surveyed by Ellicott and Banneker. The exterior walls were later built with Aquia Creek sandstone.

Sources

White House Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29
Washington, D.C. Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-01

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.