About This Stamp
With the issuance of this stamp in 2003, the U.S. Postal Service celebrated the District of Columbia — and Washington, the dynamic city within its boundaries. The stamp is shaped like a diamond, as was the original 100-square-mile tract of land chosen to be the permanent site of the nation’s capital.
The top quadrant of the stamp features a detail from a plan of Washington developed by Pierre Charles L’Enfant in 1791. This French-born engineer and architect was asked by President Washington to design the plan for the city. Though L’Enfant was dismissed from his job the next year, much of his plan was eventually implemented and can be seen in the wide avenues radiating from the White House ("President’s House" on the plan) and the U.S. Capitol ("Congress House" on the plan). L’Enfant also envisioned the sweeping view from the Capitol westward along the National Mall — the long expanse of green visible near the center of the plan, as shown on the stamp.
The right quadrant of the stamp shows typical row houses in a Washington neighborhood. These particular houses are on T Street NW in the Shaw neighborhood. Shaw was designated a historic district in 1985.
Cherry blossoms fill the bottom quadrant of the stamp. In 1912, Japan presented Washington with cherry trees as a symbol of international friendship, and today more than 3,700 trees grow around the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial; in East Potomac Park; and on the Washington Monument grounds. Each spring, hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors celebrate Washington’s famous blooms at the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.
The left quadrant of the stamp is a view along the National Mall featuring three of the most widely recognized structures in the country: the U.S. Capitol (background), the Washington Monument (center), and the Lincoln Memorial (foreground). The red towers of the Smithsonian Institution Building, or "Castle," also can be seen just to the right of the Washington Monument.
Stamp Art Director
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.