Did you know? Washington DC's "swamp"
Updated: Feb 22, 2020
This post is NOT about draining the swamp or any of those other catchy political phrases. I will leave all of that to the pundits. Rather, it's about the water that used to (and in some cases still does) run throughout what we now know as Washington, DC.
The city of Washington and the "Territory" of Columbia did not exist before 1791 when those names were settled on by a Commission appointed by President Washington and pursuant to the Residence Act. The federal district was originally 100 square miles and consisted of land allocated from both Virginia and Maryland, though today only the Maryland portion remains part of the District. Before the establishment of the city and district, the area was relatively rural, consisting of large farms and the small port cities of Georgetown and Alexandria. The land was well-forested and contained many rivers and their tributaries with the primary ones being the Potomac River and the Eastern Branch of it (today known as the Anacostia River). Tiber Creek (also known as Goose Creek), Rock Creek. and James Creek also cut through the area adding to the fertile land - and humidity in the hot summers.
The plans for the city were developed by Pierre L'Enfant and consisted of a base grid pattern of streets and buildings laid over and incorporating the existing landscape, for example the Capitol was to be built on the highest point (then called Jenkins Hill). He had to incorporate these bodies of water, though land was later "added" to expand the area of the National Mall (the Lincoln Memorial is build on some of this land). L'Enfant's design supported what would become the Washington City Canal, which incorporated the Tiber and James Creeks and connected the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers. Canals were in vogue at the time to support economic development and the Canal (as it was simply known in Washington) was opened in 1815. The canal was somewhat cursed from the beginning as it was not very deep nor built to sufficiently handle the tidal variations of the rivers - as a result, it often flooded over its banks or water was too low to be navigable.
The Federal and city governments continued to periodically improve the canal and in 1833 it was linked with the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal. In 1837 a lock keeper's house was built at the connection point of the C&O portion with the Tiber River portion. The lock keeper's role was to collect tolls, manage the canal, and maintain records related to traffic on the canal. This small, stone house still stands at Constitution Avenue and 17th Streets NW and is maintained by the National Park Service but not currently open to the public. It's among the oldest buildings in DC. An interesting note is that across from the lock keeper's house today sits one of the original Capitol guardhouses from the early 1800's.
The canal continued to operate but remained plagued by maintenance problems and competition from the growing railway system. By the 1850s it had fallen into disuse and had become an overflow system for the central city's drainage pipes and an open sewer. There was movement to rehabilitate or fill it in but the Civil War further delayed any action. Starting in the 1870's, the Tiber Creek portion of the canal was covered over and what is now Constitution Avenue NW was built over it. The creek still flows through pipes large enough to drive a bus through while traffic craws its way above. The other portions were eventually covered over or filled as well and little evidence of them remain today. Besides the lock keeper's house, only a small entrance to the original canal remains at the Washington Navy Yard.
When you visit Washington, be sure to check out these sites and try to imagine what the city looked like 200 years ago, Think about what may be lying just under your feet!
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