Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
Rectangular reflecting pool in Washington, D.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is the largest of the many reflecting pools in Washington, D.C. Dedicated in 1922, it is a 2,028-by-167-foot (618 by 51 m)[3] concrete-bottomed roughly rectangular pool that as of 2012 holds about 4 million US gallons (15,000 m3) of water.[4] The pool is located on the National Mall, in between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.[5]
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after the 2026 renovations, facing east towards the Washington Monument on June 17, 2026 | |
 Interactive map of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool | |
| Location | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 38°53′21″N 77°02′42″W |
| Designer | Henry Bacon |
| Builder | Federal government of the United States |
| Type | Reflecting Pool |
| Material | Granite edging and walkways with a concrete bottom coated in a blue polyurea coating |
| Length | 2028 ft |
| Width | 167 ft |
| Visitors | Around 24 million visitors a year |
| Dedicated date | 1922 |
| Restored date | 2009 under president Barack Obama[1] 2026 under president Donald Trump[2] |
The Reflecting Pool attracts 24 million visitors annually.[6] It is lined by walking paths and trees on both sides. Depending on the viewer's vantage point, it reflects the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Mall's trees, and the sky.[7]
Many marches and events have been held at the Reflecting Pool, such as the March on Washington[8] and the Commitment March.[9] A celebration of the then soon to occur inauguration of Barack Obama named the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was held in the area on January 18, 2009.[10]
The pool was originally built with a bottom of asphalt and tile, and was supplied from the city's drinking water supply. Starting in 2009, the pool was completely rebuilt and the bottom was replaced with concrete slabs supported by timber pilings.[11] The Reflecting Pool was also changed to be supplied with water from the Tidal Basin, instead of the earlier-used D.C. potable water.[12]
In 2026, the pool was resurfaced at the order of U.S. president Donald Trump with a blue polyurea coating, and a nanobubbler filtration system was added.[2] The renovation engendered public intrigue after only a matter of days, as the coating began to peel and the Reflecting Pool sustained an algal bloom. Trump claimed that the pool was vandalized, but his claims were never substantiated. The U.S. Justice Department later admitted[13][14][15] in a legal filing that the 2026 renovation had been "hasty and botched", and the problems were not caused by vandalism.[13]
Description
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was designed by Henry Bacon. The groundbreaking for the Lincoln Memorial and the pool was on February 12, 1914, and they were dedicated on May 30, 1922.[7] During construction, the pool was nicknamed by some sources as a "water mirror".[16] When originally constructed, it was approximately 2,028 feet (618 m) long and 167 feet (51 m) wide.[17] It was completely rebuilt between 2010 and 2012.[11] The pool was originally built with an asphalt and tile bottom,[18] but was replaced with concrete in the 2009 restoration. The nearby walkways and the rim of the Reflecting Pool are made of granite.[19]
Before the 2009 restoration the Reflecting Pool held 6.75 million U.S. gallons (25.6 million liters) of water.[19] According to former U.S. secretary of the interior Ken Salazar, it now holds about 4 million U.S. gallons (15 million liters) of water.[4]
2009 restoration
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Using funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the National Park Service reconstructed the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.[19] The project was managed by the Louis Berger Group.[1] Construction on the 18-month, $30.74 million project began in November 2010. In May 2011, workers began sinking the first of 2,133 wood pilings into a 40-foot-deep (12-meter) layer of soft, marshy river clay and some dredged-up material atop bedrock to support a new pool.[11] The pool's water supply system was updated to eliminate stagnant water by circulating water from the Tidal Basin; the pool was formerly filled using potable water from the city.[12] Paved walking paths were added to the north and south sides of the pool to replace worn grass and to prevent erosion.[20] The pool reopened on August 31, 2012.[1]
Post-restoration operation
Within weeks of the pool's reopening in 2012, it had to be drained and cleaned for $100,000 due to algae in the pool. The algae growth almost completely covered the surface of the pool.[21] The National Park Service said that, using an ozone disinfectant system installed during the restoration,[22] they would double the amount of algae-killing ozone in the pool in an effort to control future outbreaks.[21] In 2013, construction on the National World War II Memorial damaged the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool. National Park Service workers closed the eastern 30 feet (9 meters) of the pool in August 2015 to repair the basin, work that was completed in the summer of 2016.[23] The Reflecting Pool was completely drained in June 2017 to control a schistosome outbreak. The parasite, which causes swimmer's itch, infected the snails that inhabited the pool and ultimately killed more than 80 ducks and ducklings in a few weeks during spring 2017.[24]
2026 renovations
In April 2026, U.S. president Donald Trump announced the resurfacing of the concrete bottom of the pool, in a color he called "American flag blue" (most likely Old Glory Blue)[25], had begun.[2][26] The reason given by Trump and his administration for this project was to make the pool "beautiful" and to remove algae.[2] On May 4, Trump stated that the improvements to the Reflecting Pool "will last for at least 50 years and you'll never have a leak".[27]
On May 8, the Interior Department said they planned to pay $13.1 million for the project.[28]
Trump chose the various factors of the changes without reviews by federal agencies, opportunity for public comment, or congressional approval.[29] Atlantic Industrial Coatings (AIC), was provided its first federal contract, a no-bid contract, to fix leaks from the joints in the Reflecting Pool and waterproof the pool's concrete bottom.[30][31] Trump originally stated that AIC had previously performed work for him, but later retracted that claim, stating instead that the contract had been awarded by the Department of the Interior.[32] The project also included a new nanobubbler water purification system installed by the company Greenwater Services, which is owned by a neighbor of Trump's at Mar-a-Lago;[33] the company also secured a no-bid contract for the work.[34][35] The contractor who had previously renovated the pool declined the Trump administration's offer to do the new renovations because, according to two employees interviewed by CNN, the 2026 project was "unfeasible".[36]
Trump's motorcade drove through the pool to inspect it before the Reflecting Pool was filled with water after its completion.[37][38][39]
On May 11, nonprofit group the Cultural Landscape Foundation sued the Trump administration to prevent the project from continuing.[40]
Post-renovations operation
The work was completed on June 5.[41] Within days of the refilling of the pool, algae bloomed in the pool.[42] National Park Service workers poured hydrogen peroxide into the pool and manually vacuumed the pool in an effort to remove the algae.[43] The New York Times spoke to employees of Greenwater Services, who said the National Park Service had asked them to remove the nanobubbling purifier systems from the pool's rim for Trump's UFC Championship set on the White House lawn.[44] According to the same employees; by the time they were reinstalled 36 hours later, the algae was in full bloom.[44]
Scientific American identified the blue thick-film elastomeric coating as a brand of polyurea coating from Rhino Linings called Pipeliner 5000.[45] According to two experts in elastomeric coating interviewed by WBAL-TV, this polyurea coating has been frequently used before in water features to create a waterproof barrier as it cures quickly and remains flexible.[46] As it began to peel off the bottom of the pool soon after the completion of the project,[47][48] various engineers and pool experts interviewed by the American media postulated that the peeling might have been caused by a variety of factors, such as, but not limited to: the resurfacant used, heat, UV radiation, the presidential motorcade driving over the pool after its completion, the use of hydrogen peroxide in the pool and the adhesion of the coating used to granite.[45][44][46][49][50] In addition to the Pipeliner sealant, AIC used Rhino 406 epoxy primer and Rhino 11-35 polyurea.[51][52][53]
Trump claimed in late June that both the algae and the peeling of the new material in the pool were caused by vandalism; multiple media outlets reported at the time that there was no evidence for these claims.[54][55][56] A Trump administration official later told CBS News that, in regards to the alleged vandalism, 14 police reports were filed, with five citations issued and five arrests made, including that of Olympic athlete David Hearn.[57][58] Hearn was indicted by a grand jury on a federal charge that he had, in the words of US attorney Jeanine Pirro, "woefully destroyed property".[59][60] He pled not guilty.[61]
On June 23, Trump announced that the pool would be drained for repairs.[62] Atlantic Industry Coatings also confirmed this.[63] On June 24, during the aforementioned Cultural Landscape Foundation lawsuit, a statement on the so-called vandalism was published by Frank Lands, Deputy Director for Operations at the National Park Service.[64] In the statement, Lands alleged that on June 9, the United States Park Police responded to a National Park Service report of vandalism to the pool, which included the reported cutting of "caulk over the foam sealant" and destruction "of delaminating surface material".[64] The Trump administration later deployed National Guard soldiers to the pool, and established surveillance to counter possible vandalism.[65]
A July 16 report from The Washington Post showed photos correlating the areas where the coating failed with seams between applications of various coatings. The records assembled by the newspaper indicated that in some cases the contractor violated manufacturer instructions as to the minimum or maximum times between coats as well.[66][46]
At the end of July, the United States Department of Justice and Jeanine Pirro admitted[13][14][15] that the damage was the result of a "hasty and botched" renovation,[13] and that the contractor had performed a "flawed installation".[67] Prosecutors found "extensive peeling of the lining throughout the Reflecting Pool" which was due to poor quality-control and was "not vandalism".[68] The DOJ moved to have the case against Hearn dismissed;[67][13][14] days later a judge granted this request, dropping the felony charge against Hearn.[69][70]
The Justice Department claimed that the Department of the Interior withheld information from the Justice Department that demonstrated the problematic contracting work, and instead falsely blamed vandals.[71] The next day, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he disagreed "100%" with Pirro's decision to drop the charges, restating his claims about vandalism but admitting that other factors were in play.[72][73] Within days of the move to dismiss the case against Hearn, prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi, resulting in dropped misdemeanor charges and dismissed cases against three other individuals who were accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.[74][75]
Aftermath
Pirro's decision infuriated Trump, according to multiple people who spoke to the New York Times with knowledge of White House developments.[76] The Times reported that Pirro had privately come to view Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum as an "incompetent liar" for his failure to oversee the renovation project and promotion of the vandalism narrative. She concluded that the prosecutions would likely have been thrown out by a judge.[76] Trump maintained that Pirro had "folded like an umbrella" and again insisted the pool had been damaged by vandals.[76] During an Oval Office meeting in early August, Pirro directly confronted Burgum, accusing him of misleading the president. According to The New York Times, she "made the case that Mr. Burgum had promoted a self-serving cover story to conceal his own missteps." The Times surmised that, uncharacteristically for Trump's appointees, she may have felt empowered to cross him by dint of her independently established career, as opposed to one that relies on Trump's benefaction to sustain.[76]
Events
The area of and around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been the site of many historic events, including:
- In 1939, singer Marian Anderson was denied permission to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington because she was an African American. Instead, an open-air concert was held on Easter Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial and the surrounding area with a crowd of over 75,000 people.[77]
- On August 28, 1963, the March on Washington used the area for its civil rights movement rally. It was there that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered to a crowd of 250,000 people.[8]
- On October 21, 1967, 100,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters met at the pool and memorial to begin the March on the Pentagon.[78]
- In 2009, We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was held, with a crowd of 400,000 people.[10]
- On August 28, 2013, the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech was commemorated by an all-day event.[79] The event featured various speakers including then president Barack Obama and John Lewis, the only living speaker from the original rally.[79]
- On August 28, 2020, the Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks was organized and held by Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III. The march came in the wake of the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests. Speakers included Sharpton, King, then vice-president nominee Kamala Harris, as well as family members of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, and other victims of racial violence.[9]
- On January 19, 2021, then president-elect Joe Biden and then vice president-elect Kamala Harris held a memorial honoring the 400,000 Americans who had by that time died in the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[80]
In popular culture
The Reflecting Pool was featured in the following films:
- The 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington[81]
- The 1994 film Forrest Gump[82]
- The 2004 film National Treasure[83]
- The 2005 film Wedding Crashers[84]
- The 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon[85]
- The 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier[86]
- The 2017 film Spider-Man: Homecoming[87]
- The 2020 film Wonder Woman 1984[88]
