Question: In what city did the first presidential inauguration take place?
Answer: New York City. On the afternoon of April 30, 1789, George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States. Washington had to travel over 200 miles from his home in Mount Vernon, Va, to New York for the ceremony. The next inauguration, of John Adams, took place in Philadelphia. It wasn’t until Thomas Jefferson took the oath of office in 1801 that Washington D.C. took center stage.