[untitled photograph of Capitol.].

Photographed right after the Civil War, this view of the Capitol shows the results of the enlargements and redesigns by architect Thomas U. Walter and engineer Montgomery Meigs in the 1850s. As the nation grew, so did its Congress; by 1850, there were sixty-two senators and 253 House representatives. Visible in the foreground are the tracks for the city’s first horse-drawn streetcar line, constructed in 1862, which ran from the Navy Yard on Capitol Hill to Georgetown.