Stretching from the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool is the largest in Washington, D.C., and one of the capital’s most visited landscapes. Designed by Henry Bacon and dedicated with the memorial in 1922, it was created as a broad mirrored setting for the surrounding monuments, trees, and sky. Over time it also became a national gathering place, hosting Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert, the 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, later protests, commemorations, and memorial events. Major rebuilding in 2010–2012 and another disputed renovation in 2026 reflected continuing efforts to maintain this symbolic civic space.