# Alexander Robey Shepherd: The Man Who Built the Nation's Capital

John Richardson, who did much of his research at the Library of Congress, discussed his book, on Alexander Robey "Boss" Shepherd, the District of Columbia's powerful head of public works from 1871 until 1873 and D.C. governor in 1873 and 1874. Shepherd was a self-made man who accrued his fortune in the plumbing and gas-fitting trade, which inspired his fight to establish the city's physical infrastructure at a time when opposition forces were calling for the nation's capital to be moved to the Mississippi Valley, closer to the center of the country.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2016
- By: Library Of Congress. Center For The Book
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021690356/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021690356?play=1)