Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wakefield, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Wakefield, town (1990 pop. 24,825), Middlesex co., NE Mass., a suburb N of Boston; settled 1639, inc. 1812. Chiefly residential, the town has some light industry, such as the production of plastics an...

Wakefield, estate, United States

(Encyclopedia)Wakefield, family estate of George Washington, on the Potomac River, E Va.; part of the George Washington Birthplace National Monument (see National Parks and Monuments, tablenational parks and monume...

War Department, United States

(Encyclopedia)War Department, United States, federal executive department organized (1789) to administer the military establishment. It was reconstituted (1947) as the Dept. of the Army when the military administra...

Warrington, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Warrington, uninc. residential town (1990 pop. 16,040), Escambia co., extreme NW Fla., a suburb of Pensacola, on Pensacola Bay. Although chiefly residential, it has shipyards and waterfront industries...

Washington Island, United States

(Encyclopedia)Washington Island, c.20 sq mi (50 sq km), NE Wis., in NW Lake Michigan, just off the northern tip of the Door Peninsula. The island was visited by the French explorers Pierre Radisson (1657) and Rober...

United States Military Academy

(Encyclopedia)United States Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y.; for training young men and women to be officers in the U.S. army; founded and opened in 1802. The original act provided that the Corps of Engineers...

United States Naval Academy

(Encyclopedia)United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md.; for training young men and women to be officers of the U.S. navy or marine corps. George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, founded and opened (1845) it a...

United States Naval Observatory

(Encyclopedia)United States Naval Observatory, a federal astronomical observatory, located in Washington, D. C. It evolved from the Navy's oldest scientific institution, the Depot of Charts and Instruments, founded...

Browse by Subject