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The Pentagon Facts & Worksheets

The Pentagon is a five-sided building that serves as a headquarters of the US Department of Defense and three of its military services, Army, Navy, and Air Force.

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The Pentagon is a five-sided building that serves as a headquarters of the US Department of Defense and three of its military services, Army, Navy, and Air Force. Built during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency and World War II, the Pentagon symbolizes the American military and its war-making capabilities.

See the fact file below for more information on the Pentagon or alternatively, you can download our 24-page The Pentagon worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

BASIC FACTS

  • The Pentagon is located in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Construction began on September 11, 1941, and was completed on January 15, 1943.
  • It is the largest low-rise office building in the world, with 3.7 million square feet of space.
  • It is about 71 feet in height, with five floors, a basement, and a partial mezzanine.
  • It has 7,754 windows and 17.5 miles of corridors, but it only takes about 7 minutes to walk between the furthest two points of the building because of its spoke and ring design.
  • Around 26,000 civilian and military employees work in the Pentagon, along with another 3,000 non-defense support personnel.

CONSTRUCTING THE LARGEST BUILDING

  • The US Department of War offices were scattered around 17 buildings across the District of Columbia. This dilemma conceived the idea of having a structure that can house the whole department.
  • In June 1941, the Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, suggested to President Roosevelt that they needed a building that will house the department under one roof. As Hitler’s action in Europe meant an impending war, they needed it as soon as possible.
  • Congress approved the funding, which came out in July. The location selected was in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River. It would be naturally swampy and uneven, which would make the construction more complicated. Additionally, the land was an irregular pentagon shape.
  • The building’s height was strictly limited to 77 feet so as not to obstruct the view around Arlington National Cemetery.
  • Brigadier General Brehon B. Somervell, chief of the construction division in the quartermaster general’s office, was the motivating power during the planning. They gave the responsibility of overseeing the project construction to Colonel Leslie Groves.
  • They used the design suggested by G. Edwin Bergstrom, which aligned with the irregular shape of the land.
  • They hired several contractors, including John McShain, Inc., who built several landmarks in Washington, such as the Washington International Airport. Wise Contracting Company, Inc. also joined the project.
  • On the same day the contracts were finalized, the groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 11.
  • When the Pearl Harbor attack transpired on December 7, 1941, the need to finish the construction become a national priority. 14,000 workers labored 20 hours a day as Sommerville demanded that 1,000,000 square feet be available for occupation by April 1, 1943.
  • During all of this haste, Bergstrom resigned as the project’s chief architect after some controversy that was not related to the Pentagon. David J. Witmer replaced him on April 11.
  • The construction officially finished after 16 months, and the building ready for occupancy in January 1943.
  • President Franklin Roosevelt was included in every bit of planning and decision making regarding the construction of the Pentagon.
  • There was a plan to convert it into a hospital or some peacetime facilities, but the Cold War, which was escalating, required the government to maintain intense military preparedness.

THE 9/11 ATTACK

  • Sixty years after the Pentagon had its groundbreaking ceremony, an American Airlines Flight 77 crashed on the west side on the Pentagon after being hijacked.
  • The attack killed all of the airline’s 184 passengers, as well as 125 Pentagon employees.
  • The west side of the Pentagon was coincidentally under construction, making the casualties less than it could have been. Under normal circumstances, the crash could have killed more than 800 employees.
  • Furthermore, the part of the Pentagon where the plane crashed was the most prepared for such an attack, as it recently underwent major renovation and improvements on security features, including walls and windows with greater blast resistance.
  • The contractors involved in the renovation undertook the additional task of rebuilding the damaged section. It was named the “Phoenix Project”.
  • The 9/11 Memorial was built exactly where the airline struck the Pentagon. It commemorates the lives of the 184 people who died on American Airlines Flight 77 and the 125 people killed inside the Pentagon.

THE FACILITIES AT THE PENTAGON

  • The Pentagon can be likened to a small city, with almost 26,000 people arriving every day from Washington D.C. and other nearby suburbs.
  • Its 16 parking lots can accommodate about 8,700 vehicles. It has a shopping center with bus and taxi terminals for Pentagon employees.
  • It has a Remote Delivery Facility, which receives more than 250 truck deliveries per day and handles over 3.75 million packages per year.
  • A Pentagon Athletic Center was located in the basement, along with the Pentagon Conference Center, which hosts 7,800 meetings a year.
  • The Pentagon Library conducts over 2.4 million literature searches annually.
  • There are 4,200 clocks, 691 water fountains, and 284 restrooms. It has a restaurant, one dining room, two cafeterias, six snack bars, and an outdoor snack bar. A total of 230 staff members operate the Pentagon’s food services

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE PENTAGON

  • When racial discrimination was still persistent, President Roosevelt made the Pentagon the first desegregated building in Virginia. He insisted on removing the labels used for racial segregation. However, its building plan had to follow state law, which required the structure to have separate facilities for whites and blacks. Thus, the building ended up having more restrooms than needed.
  • Colonel Leslie Groves was not only trusted in overseeing the construction of the Pentagon, he was also assigned to direct the Manhattan Project – the group who built the Atomic Bomb.
  • For a while, there was a private apartment between the walls of the Army’s Ordnance Division. Groves’ subordinate, Army Maj. Robert Furman, who was required to spend an ample amount of time inside the construction zone, had the contractors build him a secret apartment where he and the other deputies could grab shower and rest. He turned over the keys to his officers after being discovered in 1943.

The Pentagon Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Pentagon across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use The Pentagon worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Pentagon which is a five-sided building that serves as a headquarters of the US Department of Defense and three of its military services, Army, Navy, and Air Force. Built during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency and World War II, the Pentagon symbolizes the American military and its war-making capabilities.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • The Pentagon Facts
  • The President’s Support
  • A Desegregated Building
  • The Darkest Day
  • Men At Work
  • The Road to Completion
  • The Pentagon Inquiry
  • Pentagon Numbers
  • Interesting Facts
  • Attacking America
  • An Architect In You

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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