> before two World Wars made Washington the capital of the free world
More like before FDR's massive expansion of the federal government. Today, it's hard to believe how unimportant the federal government was in most areas of peoples lives.
That's largely due to the arbitrary way county lines are drawn. Parts of San Francisco and Manhattan are far wealthier than the DC suburbs, but they share a county with lots of poor people who drag the median household income down.
More like before FDR's massive expansion of the federal government. Today, it's hard to believe how unimportant the federal government was in most areas of peoples lives.