[Wash., D.C. White House looking across pool and South Lawn filled with tourists]

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The view runs across the pool toward the South Lawn, where the crowd of visitors gives a sense of how the White House grounds were used as a public space in the 1890s. The date is recorded only as ca. 189-, so the picture most likely dates from that decade, when the President's house was a common stop for Washington sightseers and out-of-town tourists. Look at the people spread across the grass to see how casually visitors moved through the grounds, a different scene from the tightly controlled access of later years.

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