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The 1850s saw many improvements and expansions to the mansion's existing conveniences. By this time many Americans who had gaslight wondered how they had ever lived without it. President Zachary Taylor ordered an enlargement of the gas system into the White House's offices, family quarters, and basement. Millard Fillmore determined that the house should be comfortable in any season and
President John Quincy Adams was an avid gardener who expanded the White House garden to two acres. An iron garden pump with "nine spout holes" was attached to a well at the Treasury building and provided water for the grounds. The Committee on Public Buildings discussed piping running water into the house in 1829 for fire protection, not convenience. President James
President Ulysses S. Grant was once said to have known "only two tunes. One is ‘Yankee Doodle,’ and the other isn’t." But the great military hero of the Civil War, General Grant did, in fact, enjoy the music of the Marine Band, which gave concerts regularly on the White House grounds every Saturday during summer and early fall. As Americ
Electric lighting was installed in the White House in 1891. Few people at the time had enough faith in electric lighting to use it exclusively-its use was barely a decade old. The electrical work at the White House was planned as part of a well-funded project for wiring the State, War & Navy building next door. The Edison company installed a
E-mail was introduced to the White House in 1992. President George H.W. Bush became the first president to use this new technology. The White House's first web site was developed during the William J. Clinton administration and made its debut in 1994. Several updated versions of the site followed, establishing the online presence of the White House as a "Gateway to
