The original boundaries that were established in 1800, along 9th and M Street SE, are still marked by a white painted brick wall that surrounds the Yard on the north and east landward sides.

During the War of 1812, the Navy Yard was important not only as a support facility but also as a vital strategic link in defense of the federal capital city.

Sailors of the Navy Yard were part of the hastily assembled American militia army, which, at the tragic defeat at the August 1814 Battle of Bladensburg in Bladensburg, Maryland, northeast outside the District of Columbia capital, opposing the British Army invading forces marching overland on Washington, after landing further east at Benedict, Maryland, having sailed portions of their Royal Navy fleet up the nearby Patuxent River from the Chesapeake Bay.

An independent volunteer militia rifle company of civilian workers in the Washington Navy Yard was organized by the United States naval architect William Doughty (1773-1859), earlier in 1813, and they regularly drilled after working hours.

In 1814, Captain Doughty's volunteers were designated as the Navy Yard Rifles and assigned to serve under the overall command of Major Robert Brent (1764-1819, served 1802-1812), commanding the 2nd Regiment of the District of Columbia Militia (who was also the first mayor of Washington City 1802-1812, in the federal capital city in the District of Columbia under its first municipal government in the 19th century).

Together, they effectively used devastating artillery / cannon fire and finally fought in hand-to-hand combat with cutlasses and pikes against the British Redcoats regulars before being overwhelmed.

On August 30, 1814, Mary Stockton Hunter, an eyewitness to the vast fiery conflagration, wrote a letter to her sister, saying: "No pen can describe the appalling sound that our ears heard and the sight our eyes saw.

All the vessels of war on fire-the immense quantity of dry timber, together with the houses and stores in flames produced an almost meridian brightness.

[7] From its beginning, the Navy Yard had one of the biggest payrolls in town, with the number of civilian mechanics and laborers and contractors expanding with the seasons and the naval Congressional appropriation.

[8] Before the passage of the Pendleton Act on 16 January 1883, applications for employment at the Washington Navy Yard were informal, mainly based on connections, patronage, and personal influence.

"[9][10] On occasion, a dearth of applicants required a public announcement; the first such documented advertisement was by Commodore Thomas Tingey on 15 May 1815 "To Blacksmiths, Eight or Ten good strikers capable of working on large anchors, and other heavy ship work, will find constant employ and liberal wages, by application at the Navy Yard, Washington" [11] Following the War of 1812, the Washington Navy Yard never regained its prominence as a shipbuilding facility.

During the next decade, the Navy Yard grew to become by 1819 the largest employer in the federal national capital city of Washington, D.C. among all the many departments, bureaus and boards in the District, with a total number of approximately 345 employee / workers.

The whole interior of the yard exhibits one continual thundering of hammers, axes, saws, and bellows, sending forth such a variety of sounds and smells, from the profusion of coal burnt in the furnaces, that it requires the strongest nerves to sustain the annoyance.

During the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Union Navy hired about two dozen women as seamstresses in the Ordnance Department, Laboratory Division.

[15] Their work was dangerous, for there was always the risk of a single errant spark igniting nearby gunpowder or pyrotechnics with catastrophic results, such as the tragic huge explosion and fire on 17 June 1864 that killed 21 young women working at the U.S. Army's Washington Arsenal[16][17] During World War II (1939/1941-1945), the Washington Navy Yard at its peak, employing over 20,000 civilian workers, including 1,400 female ordnance workers.

The steam engine was the high-tech marvel of the early District of Columbia life and often commented on by numerous authors and touring visitors.

Samuel Batley Ellis, an English immigrant, was the first steam engine operator, and in 1810 was paid the exorbitant sum of a high wage of $2.00 per day.

For the first thirty years of the 19th century, the Navy Yard was the District's principal employer of enslaved and some free African Americans.

[24] The use of enslaved labor became an in issue in December 1808, when purser Samuel Hanson wrote to Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith alleging that Commodore Thomas Tingey and his deputy John Cassin had both allowed enslaved laborers on the navy yard payroll.Hanson's charges were serious, namely that Tingey had financially benefited from shipbuilding and lumber contracts.

[25][26]"In the end, Robert Smith must have felt Hanson's charges were simply too embarrassing for the Jefferson administration and the Department of the Navy to air in a public inquiry, hence, the case was never brought to court.

Newly inaugurated 16th President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865, served 1861-1865), who held Dahlgren in the highest esteem, was a frequent visitor to the Yard, a few city blocks southeast from the White House.

In 1804 at the request of President Thomas Jefferson, navy yard blacksmith Benjamin King built the first White House water closet/toilet.

For which Architect Benjamin Latrobe reminded King, " How shall I get the president of the United States into good humor with you about his Water Closet, & his side roof which you were to make?

Hamilton also added "You will prepare and transmit to Mr. Fulton at New York your objections to his system..."[38] In September 1810 Secretary Hamilton agreed to test Fulton's torpedo, and Commodore Thomas Tingey was directed to transport via stage coach two torpedo harpoon guns from Washington Navy Yard to New York "for Mr.

Navy Yard technicians applied their efforts to medical designs for prosthetic hands and molds for artificial eyes and teeth.

During the Civil War, a small number of women worked at the Navy Yard as flag makers and seamstresses, sewing canvas bags for gunpowder.

[41] Women again entered the workforce in the 20th century in significant numbers during WWII, where they worked at the Naval Gun Factory making munitions.

In the modern era, women working at the Yard have increased their presence in executive, managerial, administrative, technical, and clerical positions.

[30] Due to declining visitors to the ship, the expensive renovations she required, and the District's plans to build a new bridge that would trap her in the Anacostia River, Barry was towed away during the winter of 2015-2016 for scrapping.

Features include two wind turbines, five geothermal wells, a battery energy storage system, one-hundred thirty-two 235 kW solar photovoltaic panels, and windows of electrochromic smart glass.