The interior of the circle includes the equestrian statue of George Henry Thomas, a Union Army general in the Civil War.

A few large houses were built around the circle before the Civil War, but major changes took place in the second half of the 19th-century.

The statue of Thomas was dedicated in 1879, the same year one of the city's first apartment buildings was constructed, the Portland Flats.

The horse-drawn rail car was replaced with streetcars, allowing more people to travel north of the circle and build homes in new neighborhoods.

During the first half of the 20th-century, the imposing National City Christian Church was built on the northwest edge of the circle.

The sidewalks intersect at a smaller circle that is surrounded by wrought-iron fencing, a grassy area, and the equestrian statue of George Henry Thomas.

[1] The area where present-day Thomas Circle is located was once part of a large tract of land named Port Royal.

The following year Andrew Ellicott released an updated map, and instead of an intersection, the area was planned to be a circle.

The first large building to be constructed on the circle was on the northwest corner, the residence of Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford.

[6] In 1867, the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds leadership wanted to create a park in the middle of the circle.

[1][6][7] In dedication of the lives lost during the war and as a symbol of peace, the ornate Luther Place Memorial Church was built on the north side of the circle in the early 1870s.

That same year the bronze equestrian statue of Civil War General George Henry Thomas was erected.

The statue's dedication ceremony was attended by thousands of soldiers and prominent individuals, including President Rutherford B. Hayes.

During the same decade, the horse-drawn railway on 14th Street was replaced with an electric streetcar, leading to neighborhoods forming north of the circle.

[9] North-south running through-traffic lanes cutting through the center of the circle were added in 1952 to improve traffic flow, but left a minimal oval-shaped space around the statue which pedestrians could not access without jaywalking.

The Annie Cole House survived until 1974 when it was demolished and replaced with the National Association of Home Builders headquarters.

The Lutheran church and statue were added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on July 16, 1973.

The statue of Thomas was included in the Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C., collective listing on the NRHP and DCIHS, on September 20, 1978, and March 3, 1979, respectively.

The Greater Fourteenth Street historic District was expanded in 2007, which included the National City Christian Church and an adjoining apartment building, on January 18 (DCIHS) and May 15 (NRHP).