All the regularly scheduled flights to the nation's capitol were packed. So were the trains and buses.
More than 2,000 chartered buses, 21 chartered trains and 10 chartered flights from across the country came into town. No one knows how many cars crowded the city, coming from as far away as California.
The crowd that gathered 60 years ago today was estimated at between 200,000 and 300,000. Most were black, though all races were represented. There were rich and poor, working class and millionaires, movie stars and ministers and everything in between.
They came to the National Mall for what was billed as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Today we mostly remember it as simply the March on Washington.
It was August 28, 1963. The day was hot and tensions were high. No one knew what to expect. Nearly 6,000 Washington police were on duty in addition to 6,000 troops from the U.S. Army an National Guard. Liquor sales were banned throughout the city as a precaution.
Even the organizers of the march were not sure what would happen. The planning had not been easy and there were plenty of disagreements among those in charge. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was convinced the whole thing was a communist plot, as were many Southern lawmakers. There had been death threats and bomb threats.
Then the big day came. And it was magic.
The huge crowd marched peacefully from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, where a podium had been readied for speakers.
Civil rights leaders spoke. A. Philip Randolph, chief organizer of the march. Roy Wilkins of the NAACP. John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Whitney Young Jr. of the Urban League. Floyd McKissick of the Congress of Racial Equality.
Labor leader Walter Reuther gave a speech. Religious leaders prayed. Marian Anderson sang "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" and Mahalia Jackson sang "How I Got Over." Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Odetta and Peter, Paul and Mary were also part of the program.
But what most people remember today about the march are remarks by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King--the "I Have a Dream" speech.
Carried live by all three television networks, millions of American head King speak that night. His words made history.
"And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
"I have a dream today!
"I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of '"interposition" and "nullification'--one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
"I have a dream today!
"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
"This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with."
The March on Washington was a turning point for our nation. In its wake would come sweeping civil rights legislation. But there would still be many battles ahead over equality for black Americans. Just a couple of weeks after the march four young girls would die in a church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. Just a few months later three civil rights workers would be murdered in Mississippi.
King would be assassinated less than five years after giving his speech that day 60 years ago. But the legacy of the man and the March on Washington will live forever.